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NEW  AND   COMPLETE   HISTORY 

OF  THE 


HOLY    BIBLE '^^^^^^ 


AS   CONTAINED   IN   THE 


?Lieim  st«v^ 


OLD  AID    NE¥   TESTAMEITS, 

FROM   THE 

CREATION  OF  THE  WORLD  TO  THE  FULL  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  CHRISTIANITY: 

CONTAINING 

A    CLEAR    AND    COMPREHENSIVE    ACCOUNT    OF    EVERY    REMARKABLE    TRANSACTION 

RECORDED  IN  THE  SACRED  SCRIPTURES  DURING  A  PERIOD  OF 

UPWARD  OF  FOUR  THOUSAND  YEARS. 

WITH  COPIOUS  NOTES,  CRITICAL  AND  EXPLANATORY, 

FORMING   AN 

ILLUSTRATED  COMMENTARY  OF  THE  SACRED  TEXT. 

WITH  NUMEROUS  ENGRAVINGS. 

PART  I.— THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  HIS'IORY. 
BY    ROBERT    SEARS. 

AIDES  BY  THE  WRITINGS  OF  OUR  MOST  CELEBRATED  BIBLICAL  SCHOLARS,  AND  OTHER  LEABNED 
PERSONS,    WHO    HAVE    MADE    THE    SCRIPTURES    THEIR    STUDY. 

« 

TWO   VOLUMES  IN   ONE. 

EIGHTH    EDITION. 

NE  W    YORK: 

PUBLISHED  BY  ROBERT  SEARS,  128  NASSAU  STREET. 

J.  S.  REDFIELD.  CLINTON  HALL.— EDWARD  WALKER.— NAFIS  &  CORNISH.— 
BOSTON:  SAXTON  &  KKLT,  133i  VV^ASHINGTON  ST.— PHILADELPHIA  :  C.  E.  TOOTHAKER- 
THOMAS,  COWPERTHWAIT,  &  CO.;  JOHN  JONES;  LINDSAY  &  BLAKISTON.— ALB  ANY,  N.  Y. :  W.  C.  LIT- 
TLE.—UTICA.  N.  Y.:  BENNETT,  BACKUS,  &  HAWLEY.— PITTSBURG,  PA.:  B.  L.  FAH  NESTOCK.— BALTIMORE  • 
PARSONS  &  PRESTON.— RICHMOND,  VA.:  L.  M.  HARROLD:  PERKINS  &  BALL.— CHARLESTON,  S.  C. :  SILAS 
HOWE.— PENNFIELD,  GA,:  W.  RICHARDS.- MOBILE,  ALA.:  T.  P.  MILLER.— EUTAVV :  F.  P.  STROTHER.— 
NEW  ORLEANS:  J.  C.  MORGAN. -ST.  LOUIS,  MO.:  JOHN  BARNHU  RST.— LOUIS  V)  LLE,  KY. :  EDGAR  HAY- 
CRAFT.— DETROIT,  MICH.:  A.  M'FARREN.— CHICAGO,  ILL.:  ELLIS  &  FERGUS —PEOM  A,  ILL.:  J.  Y.  GREEN.— 
ST  JOHN,  N.  B. :  G.  &  E.  SEARS.— HALIFAX,  N.  S.:  A.  &  W.  MACKINLAY  ;  JOSEPH  GRAHAM;  C.  H.  BELCHER. 
SOLD   ALSO   BY    BOOKSELLERS    AND   AUTHORIZED   AGENTS    THROUGHOUT    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


MDCCCXLIX. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1842, 

By    ROBERT    SEARS, 

in  the  Clerk's  OflGlce  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York 


8TKRE0TTPED    BY   REDFIELD   ft  SATAOE, 
13  Chnmben  Street,  N.  Y. 


PREFACE. 


¥* 


It  is  impossible  duly  to  estimate  the  change  produced  in  the  world  since  the 
rapid  multiplication  of  books  by  the  modem  facilities  of  printing  has  brought  at 
least  some  measure  of  Knowledge  to  every  man's  door.  Indisputably,  much 
advantage  has  resulted  from  the  wide  promulgation  of  Truth  ;  but  it  may  be 
doubted  whether  a  habit  of  superficial  reading  has  not  also  been  fostered,  and 
whether  the  mind,  instead  of  being  concentrated  on  a  little  which  is  most  im- 
poitant,  has  not,  in  traversing  a  larger  field,  gathered  much  that  is  of  no  value. 
Perhaps  its  fine  gold  has  been  alloyed,  and  its  wine  diluted  with  water.  Per- 
haps, when  heretofore  The  Bible  was  the  principal  subject  of  study,  its  atten- 
tion has  been  since  diverted  from  that  to  merely  human  expositions. 

"  Hast  thou  ever  heard 
Of  such  a  book  ?     The  author,  God  himself  ; 
The  subject,  God  and  man,  salvation,  life, 
And  death — eternal  life,  eternal  death — 
Dread  words  1  wliose  meaning  has  no  end,  no  bounds ; 
Most  wondrous  book  I  bright  candle  of  the  Lobd  ! 
Star  of  eternity  I  the  only  star 
By  which  the  bark  of  man  could  navigate 
The  sea  of  life,  and  gain  the  coast  of  bliss 
Securely  1  only  star  which  rose  on  Time, 
And,  on  its  dark  and  troubled  billows,  still,    ' 
As  generation,  drifting  swii^tly  by, 
Succeeded  generation,  threw  a  ray 
ff  Of  heaven's  own  light,  and  to  the  hills  of  God, 

The  eternal  hills,  pointed  the  sinner's  eye. 
By  prophets,  seers,  priests,  and  sacred  bards, 
Evangelists,  apostles,  men  inspired, 
And  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  anointed  set 
Apart,  and  consecrated  to  declare 
'  To  earth  the  counsels  of  the  Eternal  One, 

This  book,  this  holiest,  this  sublimest  book 
Was  sent." 

The  Bible,  therefore,  ought  to  be  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  all  religious 
reading ;  it  is  the  standard  by  which  everything  else  must  be  measured — the 
touchstone  by  which  every  other  book  must  be  tried.  Other  authors  are  val- 
uable as  they  direct  our  attention  to  this ;  they  are  profitable  only  as  they  de- 
rive their  knowledge  from  this  source.  They  must  make  their  continual  appeal 
"  to  the  law,  and  to  the  testimony ;  if  they  speak  not  according  to  this  word, 
it  is  because  there  is  no  light  in  them."  The  errors  which  have  been  intro- 
duced into  the  world  have  sprung  either  from  the  perversion  or  from  the  neg- 
lect of  The  Bible.  Men  have  put  away  the  divine  teacher,  and  have  leaned 
to  their  own  understandings,  or  they  have  not  chosen  to  receive  its  declarations 
in  simplicity  of  heart,  and  have  put  interpretations  upon  them  which  they  never 
were  intended  to  bear.  And  as  even  in  the  best  and  wisest  book  that  ever  pro- 
ceeded altogether  from  a  human  pen,  there  is  much  that  is  uncertain,  and  much 
that  is  imperfect,  no  man  can  be  assured  of  his  security  in  the  way  of  truth, 
imless  he  is  perpetually  examining  the  guides  which  men  have  set  up,  by  that 
light  which  was  given  from  on  high  to  be  a  lantern  to  his  path. 


4  PREFACE. 

We  consider  the  present  volume  as  Scripture  itself,  teaching  the  luiowledge 
of  its  own  divine  precepts,  and  urging  the  practice  of  them  by  interesting  ex- 
amples. Young  Persons  of  superior  education,  whose  natural  inquisitiveness 
has  been  quickened  by  intelligence,  are  especially  intended  to  be  benefited  by  it, 
aiding  them  in  their  studies,  while  eagerly  inquiring  for  sacred  knowledge,  ;ind 
seeking,  with  deeply-felt  interest,  for  a  more  comprehensive  acquaintance  with 
the  Oracles  of  God. 

There  is  not  among  the  many  interesting  traits  of  Christian  character  with 
which  the  history  of  the  early  Christians  abounds,  one  that  stands  out  more  fre- 
quently in  beautiful  and  prominent  relief,  than  the  tender  solicitude  and  the  win- 
ding arts  which  they  employed  to  imbue  the  susceptible  minds  of  the  youn^ 
with  the  knowledge  and  the  faith  of  the  Scripture.  Whiie  .hey  were  fondled  on 
the  knee,  and  still  watched  by  the  careful  eyes  of  their  nurse,  the  first  words 
they  were  taught  to  lisp  and  articulate  were  the  sacred  names  of  God  and  the 
Saviour.  And  the  whole  range  of  nursery  knowledge  and  amusement  was 
comprised  in  narratives  and  pictures,  illustrating  episodes  in  the  life  of  the  holy 
child,  or  parables  the  most  simple  and  interesting  in  the  ministry  of  Christ. 
As  their  minds  expanded,  they  were  taught,  along  with  the  grand  doctrines  of 
Scripture,  which,  according  to  the  approved  fashion  of  those  days,  were  ren- 
dered familiar  by  apposite  similitudes  from  nature,  the  Proverbs  of  Solomon,  and 
those  passages  of  the  sacred  volume  which  relate  particularly  to  the  economy 
of  life. 

Religion,  in  short,  was  the  grand  basis  of  education,  the  only  subject  which, 
during  the  first  years  of  life,  they  allowed  their  children  to  be  taught ;  and  in 
order  to  present  it  to  their  minds  with  the  greater  attractions,  and  entwine  it 
with  their  earliest  and  purest  associations,  they  adopted  the  happy  expedient  of 
wedding  it  to  the  graces  of  poetry,  and  rendering  it  more  memorable  by  the 
melody  of  numbers.  From  the  earliest  period  of  Christian  antiquity  there  were 
authors  who,  like  Watts  in  modern  times,  "  condescended  to  lay  aside  the 
scholar,  the  philosopher,  and  the  wit,  to  write  little  poems  of  devotion,  adapted  to 
the  wants  and  capacities  of  children,"  and  these,  set  to  well-known  and  favorite 
airs,  borrowed  from  the  profaner  songs  of  the  heathen,  were  sung  by  the  Chris- 
tians at  their  family  concerts,  which  enlivened  their  meals,  and  by  which  alone 
the  still  and  peaceful  tranquillity  of  their  homes  was  ever  broken.  Ere  long, 
their  children  were  taught  common,  and  frequently  short-hand  writing,  in  lines 
taken  from  the  Psalms,  or  in  words  of  sententious  brevity,  in  which  the  leading 
doctrines  of  the  gospel  were  stated  ;  and  at  a  later  period,  when  the  progress  of 
toleration  allowed  Christian  seminaries  to  be  erected,  the  school-books  in  use 
consisted  chiefly  of  passages  of  the  Bible  versified,  and  of  the  poetical  pieces 
which  illustrated  or  enforced  the  great  subjects  of  faith  and  duty.  The  most  eel 
ebratcd  of  these  were  compositions  of  the  two  Apollinaries,  grammarians  of  high 
reputation  in  SjTia — the  elder  of  whom,  in  imitation  of  Homer,  wrote  the  An- 
tiquities of  the  Jews  in  heroic  verse,  down  to  the  reign  of  Saul,  while  the  first 
of  the  sacred  story  he  described  in  such  metrical  forms  as  corresponded  to  the 
verses  of  the  Greek  tragedians,  and  the  lyrical  ballads  of  Pindar.  The  depart- 
ment undertaken  by  his  son  was  that  of  reducing  the  history  of  the  evangelists 
and  the  epistles  of  Paul  into  the  form  and  style  of  Plato's  dialogues ;  and  with 
so  much  taste  and  elegance  were  both  of  these  works  compiled,  that  on  their  first 
appearance  they  took  their  place  among  the  most  esteemed  productions  of  the 
Fathers.  Besides  these,  there  was  a  collection  of  miscellaneous  poems  on  sacred 
subjects,  and  in  all  sorts  of  verse,  by  the  famous  Gregory  Nazianzen,  in  very  ex- 
tensive circulation.  By  means  of  these,  and  of  many  other  evangelical  books 
which  have  long  ago  become  the  prey  of  time,  the  Christian  youth  were  intro- 


PREFACE. 


duced  to  the  elements  of  pure  and  undefiled  religion,  and  their  taste  for  knowl- 
edge and  the  beauties  of  learning  created  and  formed  by  works  in  which  salva- 
tio5  was  held  up  as  the  one  thing  needful,  and  no  achievements  described,  no 
characters  lauded,  but  such  as  were  adorned  with  the  fruits  of  righteousness 
Thus  did  the  pious  care  of  the  primitive  Christians  intermingle  religion  with  all 
the  pursuits  and  recreations  of  the  young,  and  never  allow  them  to  engage  in  the 
study  of  science,  or  to  plunge  into  the  business  of  the  world,  until  they  had  heon 
first  taught  to  view  everything  in  the  spirit  and  by  the  principles  ol  the  Word  of 

God.  ff         r)         )»  u 

"A  New  AND  Complete  Universal  History  of  the  Holy  Bible  has 
loner  been  needed.  We  have,  with  great  care,  study,  and  expense,  been  enabled 
to  present  one  to  the  public.  Commentators,  lexicographers,  oriental  travellers, 
and  biblical  critics  of  the  greatest  name,  have  been  extensively  consulted  in  prepar- 
incr  this  work.  The  attention  of  the  reader  is  respectfully  requested  to  the 
copious  supply  of  notes,  critical  and  explanatory,  at  the  foot  of  the  pages,  de- 
signed to  render  the  publication  intelligible  and  instructive  to  all  classes  oi  read- 
ers. Literature,  profane  and  sacred,  is  here  united  with  the  arts  of  printing  and 
engravincr,  to  produce  a  work,  which  shall  be  a  valuable  addition  to  the  biblical 
literature  of  our  country.  Something  more,  however,  than  a  mere  compiler  is 
required  to  do  it  justice.  Patient  labor  will  effect  much  ;  but  without  searching 
discrimination,  without  great  power  of  original  conception,  a  dull  and  ponderous 
work  will  be  the  result,  the  perusal  of  which  will  take  up  as  much  time  as  did 
the  composition  of  it,  and  leave  as  little  clear  and  pleasing  impression  on  the 
reader,  as  the  author  had  distinct  conception  of  his  subject  or  real  love  for  it. 
The  Scripture  History  ought,  least  of  all,  to  be  overlaid  with  tediousness.  Too 
little  is  understood  of  the  character  of  the  revealed  dispensations,  and  the  mode 
in  which  they  were  communicated ;  and  that  writer  does  a  great  beneht  to  his 
race  who  familiarizes  the  Sacred  History,  by  giving  a  plain  and  easy  narration  of 
the  events  which  it  records,  and  elucidating  the  circumstances  and  peculiarities 
of  the  people  who  were  originally  concerned  in  them.        , ,      ,  .  .  , 

In  preparing  the  present  Work  we  have  endeavored  to  blend  instruction  and 
entertainment  in  such  a  manner  that,  while  the  reader  is  sensibly  pleased,  he 
will  find  himself  imperceptibly  improved,  and  be  amazed  at  his  extensive  knowl- 
edge of  the  Scriptures,  acquired  in  so  rapid  a  manner.  A  complete  History 
OF  THE  Bible  is  indeed  absolutely  necessary  to  accompany  that  sacred  booMn 
order  to  elucidate  many  important  matters,  which,  in  this  age,  might  not  be  under- 
stood by  many  pious  and  well-disposed  people.  The  sacred  writers,  lorin- 
stance,  often  named  places  which  they  did  not  describe,  because  those  to  whom 
their  writings  were  addressed  well  knew  them.  It  is  our  business,  thereiore,  to 
point  out  the  situation,  together  with  the  ancient  and  modern  state  o  those 
places.  They  mentioned  customs  peculiar  to  the  early  ages,  and  oriental  coun- 
tries in  which  they  lived,  and  which  we  have  here  illustrated  with  great  care 

and  expense.  •      i •    r  u 

The  Editor  refers  here  with  pleasure  to  the  gratifying  reception  his  former  pub- 
lications have  met  with— more  than  Ftftv  Thousand  Copies  of  his  diHerent 
volumes  having  been  circulated  throughout  the  United  States  and  British  JNorin 
America,  within  the  short  period  of  two  years— his  own  expectations  ot  their 
success  having  been  more  than  fully  realized.  It  would  be  unnatural,  it  not  irre- 
ligious, for  him  not  to  feel  honored  and  delighted  whh  the  numerous  favorable 
testimonials,  relative  to  their  character  and  design,  he  has  received  from  the  pub- 
lic press,  both  political  and  religious  ;  together  with  the  unsolicited  recommen- 
dations of  numerous  leading  Clergymen  of  all  denominations,  Instructors  of 
Youth,  Sunday  School  Teachers,  &c.,  beside  knowing  the  fact,  that  there  is,  at 


6  PREFACE. 

the  present  time,  a  continual  and  growing  demand  for  them  throughout  the 
country.  « 

We  respectfully  offer  the  present  volume  to  the  patronage  of  Christian  Pas- 
tors, Instructers,  and  Parents.  In  preparing  it  for  the  press,  we  have  found 
much  more  .labor  than  we  expected,  to  render  the  whole  instructive  and  agreeable 
to  modern  and  intelligent  readers.  In  every  part  of  it  we  have  studied  brevity, 
and  labored  at  condensation.  Without  this,  it  would  have  been  an  easy  matter 
to  double  its  size  with  more  extended  matter,  or  additional  notes ;  but  these, 
however,  in  various  respects  desirable,  have  been  omitted,  for  the  purpose  of 
preserving  the  size  of  the  volume  within  moderate  limits,  that  it  might  be  more 
generally  possessed  by  every  class  of  Christians.  "  The  Bible,"  says  an 
amiable  and  universally-admired  writer,  "  is  a  light  to  our  feet,  and  a  lamp  to  our 
path.  It  points  us  to  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life.  It  is  our  guide  while 
we  live,  and  our  trust  when  we  die.  It  is  the  charter  of  our  salvation,  and  the 
pledge  of  our  immortality.  If  there  were  but  one  Bible  in  the  world,  all  the 
wealth  of  ^hat  world  would  not  be  adequate  to  the  value  of  that  Bible."  Another 
old  writer  observes  :  "  Happy  is  the  man  that  findeth  wisdom,  and  the 

MAN  that  GETTETH  UNDERSTANDING  ;  FOR  THE  MERCHANDISE  OF  IT  IS  BETTER 
than  THE   MERCHANDISE  OF  SILVER,  AND  THE  GAIN  THEREOF  THAN  FINE  GOLD. 

She  IS  MORE  precious  than  rubies  ;  and  all  the  things  thou  canst  de- 
sire ARE  NOT  TO  BE  COMPARED  UNTO  HER.  LeNGTH  OF  DAYS  IS  IN  HER  RIGHT 
hand  ;  AND  IN  HER  LEFT  HAND  RICHES  AND  HONOR.  HeR  WAYS  ARE  WAYS  OF 
PLEASANTNESS,  AND  ALL   HER  PATHS  ARE  PEACE."       PrOVCrbs,  ill.   13-17. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  FRONTISPIECE. 
THE  JUDGMENT  OF  SOLOMON; 

AFTER   THE   ORIGINAL,   BY   PETER    PAUL   RUBENS. 

Then  came  there  two  women  unto  the  king,  and  stood  before  him.  And  the  one  woman 
said,  O  my  Lord,  I  and  this  woman  dwell  in  one  house :  and  I  was  delivered  of  a  child  with 
her  in  the  house.  And  it  came  to  pass  the  third  day  after  that  I  was  delivered,  that  this 
woman  was  delivered  also  :  and  we  were  together ;  there  was  no  stranger  with  us  in  the 
house,  save  we  two  in  the  house,  and  this  woman's  child  died  in  the  night ;  because  she  over- 
laid it.  And  she  arose  at  midnight,  and  took  my  son  from  beside  me,  wliile  thine  handmaid 
slept,  and  laid  it  in  her  bosom,  and  laid  her  dead  child  in  my  bosom.  And  when  I  rose  in 
the  morning  to  give  my  child  suck,  behold  it  was  dead :  but  when  I  had  considered  it  in  the 
morning,  behold  it  was  not  my  son  which  I  did  bear.  And  the  other  woman  said,  Nay ;  but 
the  living  is  my  son,  and  the  dead  is  thy  son.  And  this  said.  No;  but  the  dead  is  thy  son, 
and  the  living  is  my  son.     Thus  they  spake  before  the  king. 

Then  said  the  king,  The  one  saith,  This  is  my  son  that  liveth,  and  thy  son  is  dead :  and 
the  other  saith.  Nay ;  but  thy  son  is  dead,  and  my  son  is  the  living.  And  the  king  said, 
Bring  me  a  sword.  And  they  brought  a  sword  before  the  king.  And  tlie  king  said.  Divide 
the  living  child  in  two,  and  give  half  to  the  one,  and  half  to  the  other.  Then  spake  the 
woman  whose  the  living  child  was,  unto  the  king,  /or  her  bowels  yearned  upon  her  son, 
and  she  said,  O  my  Lord,  give  her  the  living  child,  and  in  no  wise  slay  it.  But  the  other 
said,  Let  it  be  neither  mine  nor  thine,  but  divide  it.  Then  the  king  answered  and  said. 
Give  her  the  living  child,  and  in  no  wise  sl.iy  it :  she  is  the  mother  thereof. 

And  all  Israel  heard  of  the  judtrment  wliich  the  king  had  judged :  and  they  feared  the  king, 
for  they  saw  that  the  wisdom  of  God  was  in  him,  to  do  judgment.  (1  Kings,  iii.  16-28.) 

Such  a  mode  of  decision  as  this  which  Solomon  adopted,  was  not  unknown,  under  absolute 
monarchies,  in  the  east. 

Ariopharncs,  king  of  Thrace,  being  appointed  to  arbitrate  between  three  young  men,  each 
claiming  to  be  the  son  of  the  king  of  the  Cimmerians,  discovered  the  real  son  by  desiring 
each  to  shoot  an  arrow  into  the  dead  body  of  him  they  called  their  father.  Two  of  the 
claimants  obeyed  without  hesitation,  but  the  tliird  refused,  upon  which  the  arbitrator  judged 
him  to  be  tlie  genuine  prince. 


LIST  OF  THE  PRINCIPAL  ILLUSTRATIONS 


HISTORY   OF   THE    BIBLE. 


PAIIT  I.— OLD  TESTAMENT. 

Pa?e 
Frontispiece. — Judgment  of  Solomon,  after  the  Original,  by  Peter  Paul  Rubens. 

"  And  the  King  said.  Divide  the  living  Child  in  two." — 1  Kings,  iii.  25  .         .     — 

Engraved  Title  to  the  Bible  History — 

The  Deluge. — N.  Poussm ' .        .        .27 

The  Mountains  of  Ararat 29 

Babylon  Inundated,  from  a  Drawing  by  J.  B.  Eraser,  Esq 31 

Nineveh,  from  Rich 35 

Island  of  Aradus,  from  Laborde's  "  Voyage  en  Orient" 37 

The  Jordan  issuing  from  the  Lake         .         .         .         . 41 

Women  of  Egypt,  lower  Class,  from  "  L'Egypte — Etat  Moderne" 45 

The  Dead  Sea,  from  a  Drawing  by  Mr.  Arundale 49 

Cromlech  at  Plas  Newydd,  from  Painting  in  British  Museum 55 

Druidical  Circle,  Jersey,  from  Grose's  Antiquities  .......     55 

Camels,  from  Laborde's  "  Voyage  en  Orient" 59 

Great  Officer  on  a  Journey,  composed  from  Lane •         .     65 

Mountains  of  Seir,  from  Laborde's  "  Arabia'"' 75 

Tents,  from  Laborde's  Travels 79 

Egyptian  Females  of  Priestly  Families,  Official  Dresses,  from  Rossellini,  &c.  .  .  89 
Modern  Syrian  Carts,  of  ancient  Form,  from  Laborde     .......     99 

Carts  of  the  Tartar  Nomades,  from  Sebastian  Ide's  Travels 99 

King  (the  Sultan)  on  his  Throne,  from  D'Ohsson     .......         101 

Eelauts  in  Persia,  from  Malcom's  "  Persia" 107 

The  River  Nile  under  its  usual  Appearance     .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         117 

Ornaments  of  Egyptian  Females,  "  Jewels  of  Gold,  and  Jewels  of  Silver,"  composed 

from  various  Egyptian  Paintings  and  Sculptures        ......         123 

A  Departure  from  Egypt  in  the  present  Day,  composed  from  Laborde,  &c.         .         .         125 

Adjeroud,  from  «  L'Egypte — Etat  Moderne" 127 

Suez,  from  the  northeast,  from  "  L'Egypte — Etat  Moderne"  .....  129 
Egyptian  War-chariots,  composed  from  "  L'Egypte — Antiquities"  .  .  .  .  131 
Egyptian  Soldiers  of  different  Corps,  from  "  L'Egypte — Antiquities"  .         .         .         133 

Dance  of  Females,  with  Timbrels,  from  "L'Egypte — Antiquities,"  and  Rossellini     .         135 

Ain  Mousa,  from  a  Drawing  by  Mr.  Arundale 137 

A  wild  Palm-tree  at  the  Foot  of  Mount  Sinai 139 

Summit  of  Mount  Sinai,  from  Laborde 141 

Setting  up  the  Tabernacle  in  the  Wilderness 147 

The  Table  of  Showbread 149 

Costume  of  the  High- priest 151 

The  High-priest  on  the  Day  of  Atonement,  and  a  Levite  (Leviticus  xvi.  4)      .        .         153 

General  View  of  the  Mountains  of  Sinai 155 

Bedouin  Encampment  in  a  Valley  of  Sinai,  from  Taylor's  "  La  Syrie"      .         .         .         157 

A  Valley  in  Sinai,  from  Taylor's  "  La  Syrie" 159 

Bedouins  collecting  Fruits  in  Palestine — Costume  from  Cassas  ....  163 
Mount  Hor,  from  Laborde       ....  169 


8  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

View  in  the  Land  of  Moab,  from  Buckingham 173 

Valley  of  Shechem,  with  Mounts  Ebal  and  Gerizim,  from  Laboide  ....  177 
Ancient  Syrian  Chief  addressing  the  People,  from  Syrian  Figures  in  ancient  Egyptian 

Paintings 179 

Plain  of  Jericho,  from  a  Sketch  by  Mr.  Arundale 183 

Summer-parlor  on  the  Nile,  from  Mayer           ........  195 

Market  at  Gate,  composed  from  Lane      .........  197 

Gaza 207 

Victor  greeted  with  "  Timbrels  and  Dance,"  Costume  from  Figures  of  Syrians  in 

ancient  Egyptian  Paintings       ..........  211 

Supporting-pillars  of  Eastern  Buildings,  composed  from  "  L'Egypte — Etat  Moderne"  2l7 

Ethiopian  Car  drawn  by  Oxen,  from  Wilkinson        ...         ....  221 

Indian  Car  drawn  by  Oxen,  from  Mandeslo 221 

Monuiiienlal  Pillars,  from  Laborde            .........  223 

Runners  attending  a  Chariot,  composed  from  Egyptian  Sculptures     ....  227 

A  Meeting  near  Mount  Tabor — modern  Syrian  Costume 229 

A  Musical  Procession — modern  Syrian  Costume — Instruments,  ancient  Egyptian         .  231 

V^iew  of  Rama — Forbin 237 

Throwing  a  Javelin — modern  Syrian  Costume           .         .         .         ...         .         .  245 

Escape  from  a  Window — modern  Syrian  Costume     .......  245 

Eastern  Forms  of  Obeisance,  from  "  L'Egyi)te — Etat  Moderne ;"  &c.         .         .         .  247 

Presents  to  a  Bedouin  Chief,  adai)ted  from  Laborde,  &c.   ......  252 

Bedouins,  with  Captives  and  Spoil            .........  255 

The  Pursuer  slain,  Costume  from  Canaanitish  Warrior  used  in  Williinson         .         .  258 

Hebron,  from  Laborde's  "  Syria" 259 

Rocky  Valley  in  tlie  Vicinity  of  Petra 269 

Ruins  of  Ammon,  from  Taylor's  "  Syria"           ........  271 

Flight  on  Mules,  Bedouin  Costume 275 

Absalom's  Sej)ulchre,  from  a  Drawing  by  Mr.  Arundale    ......  279 

Race  of  Messensjers         ............  281 

Howdah  of  the  Great  Mogul,  from  Mandeslo 291 

Great  Mogul  on  Throne,  from  "  L'Histoire  Generale  des  Voyages"            .         .         .  291 

Solomon  approaching  Jerusalem       ..........  293 

Pools  of  Solomon,  from  a  Drawing  by  Mr.  Arundale          ......  299 

Tadmor  (Palmyra),  from  Laborde             .........  303 

Tribute-bearers,  composed  from  ancient  Egyptian  Sculptures 306 

Baalbec,  from  a  Sketch  by  Mr.  Arundale 307 

Egy])tian  Worship,  composed  from  "  L'Egypte — Antiquities,"  Russellini,  Wilkinson, 

&c 311 

Samaria  (Sabaste),  from  Laborde 316 

The  Walls  of  Jerusalem,  and  Part  of  the  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat  (2  Sam.  xv.  23-30 ; 

2  Kings  xviii.  18) 317 

Terrace  Cultivation,  from  the  "Jewish  Expositor"— 1834 327 

Defile  in  Idumea 337 

Egyptian  Vintage,  compiled  from  Rossellini,  '•  L'Egypte,"  &c.          ....  345 

Sepulchre  of  the  Kings,  from  a  Drawing  by  Mr.  Arundale 351 

Sidon 361 

Collecting  Dung  for  Fuel,  from  "  L'Egypte— Etat  Moderne"             ....  365 

"  Record  Cliamber"  (Library  at  Constantinople),  from  D'Ohsson     ....  383 

An  Encampment,  from  Lane's  "  Arabian  Nights" 385 

Tartar  or  Turkish  Courier,  from  D'Ohssan 385 

Ancient  Persian  Cup-bearers,  composed  from  Persian  Sculptures  engraved  in  Porter  387 

Modern  oriental  Gate,  Babel-Nasr,  Cairo,  from  Lane's  "Arabian  Nights"         .         .  389 

Tomb  of  Ezra 393 

Alexandria,  from  a  Drawing  by  Mr.  Arundale 399 

Elephants  employed  in  War 405 

Antioch,  from  Cassas 407 

Elephants  employed  in  the  Execution  of  Criminals            ......  413 

Roman  Standan  s              423 

The  River  Jordan,  from  a  Drawing  by  Mr.  Arundale 429 

Askalon,  from  Forbin 433 

Roman  Consul 447 

Onicnlal  Builders 4S9 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PART  II.— NEW  TESTAMENT  HISTORY. 

Frontispiece. — Christ  bearing  his  Oross,  from  the  Original  by  Audran  (John  xix. 

13-18) 472 

Vignette  in  Title — the  Birth  ol  Christ 473 

Bethlehem,  from  a  Drawing  by  Mr.  Arundale 47v 

Cana 481 

Pool  of  Bethesda 483 

Lake  and  Town  of  Tiberias 487 

Defile  between  Jerusalem  and  Jericho     .........  491 

Jerusalem,  with  its  Walls — northwest  view  (Luke  xxi.  24) 405 

Olive-trees  now  standing  in  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane 499 

Interior  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre             .         .         .         .         .         .         .  503 

Jerusalfm  (No.  2),  fiom  Laborde 516 

Ruins  of  Csesarea             627 

A  View  of  the  present  City  of  Damascus 627 

Joppa,  from  Forbin 531 

Tliyatira 541 

Mars'  Hill,  Athens .M6 

Corinth  (Acts  xviii.  1-18.) 547 

Ephesus — Ruins  of  the  Temple  of  Diana 649 

Corinth — a  View  of  the  modern  Town 549 

View  of  Ephesus 653 

View  of  Malta 567 

View  of  Colossae 569 

Roman  Officers 669 

The  Mamertine  Prison,  Rome — the  subterranean  Cell  in  which  St.  Paul  and  St.  Peter 

are  said  to  have  been  confined 573 

Ruins  of  the  Palace  of  Nero,  Rome          .        .        - 577 

A  View  of  Smyrna 583 

A  View  of  Patmos 685 

A  View  of  Pergamos 697 

A  View  of  Sardis 599 

A  View  of  Philadelphia .601 

A  View  of  Laodicea 603 

Roman  Army  approaching  Jerusalem 615 

The  Forum,  Rome 629 

Arch  of  Titus,  Rome 633 

Present  Appearance  of  Jerusalem             633 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  FRONTISPIECE. 
CHRIST    BEARING    HIS    CROSS. 

FROM  THE  ORIGINAL  BY  AUDRAN 

When  Pilate  therefore  heard  that  saying,  he  brought  Jesus  forth,  and  sat  down  in  the  judgment-seat,  in 
a  place  that  is  called  the  Pavement,  but  in  the  Hebrew,  Gabbatha.  And  it  was  the  preparation  of  the 
passover,  and  about  the  sixth  hour  ;  and  he  saith  unto  the  .lews,  Behold  >our  King  I  But  they  cried  out 
Away  witli  him,  away  with  him,  crucify  him.  Pilate  saith  unto  them,  Shall  I  crucify  your  king?  The 
chief  priests  answered.  We  have  no  king  but  Cesar.  Then  delivered  he  him  therefore  unto  them  to  be 
crucified.  And  they  took  .Fesus,  and  led  him  away.  And  he  bearing  his  cross  went  forjh  into  a  place  called 
the  place  of  a  scull,  which  is  called  in  the  Hebrew,  Golgotha  :  Where  they  crucified  him,  and  two  others 
with  him,  on  either  side  one,  and  Jesus  in  the  midst. — John  xix.  13-18. 

The  path  "  Via  dolorosa,"  by  which  our  Saviour  was  conducted  from  the  palace  of  Pilate  to  Mount  Cal- 
vary, is  still  pointed  out  by  old  traditions,  with  a  pardonable  minuteness  of  detail.  The  house  in  which 
Christ  was  condemned  is  a  ruined  Roman  edifice,  containing  several  spacious  apartments,  to  each  of  which 
is  assigned  some  particular  destination  in  the  narrative  of  Christ's  last  sufferings  on  earth.  In  one  he  was 
mocked,  in  another  butVeted,  and  scourged  in  a  third.  An  arch  that  is  thrown  across  the  street,  is  called 
the  arcli  of  "  Ecce  Homo,"  from  its  proximity  to  the  window  at  which  the  Redeemer  was  shown  to  the 
people,  wearing  a  crown  of  thorns,  and  clothed  in  a  purple  robe.  At  two  places,  within  the  length  of  the 
Via  dolorosa,  which  is  about  an  Knglish  rnile,  the  Saviour  is  said  to  have  sunk  beneath  his  burden,  and  at  a 
third,  he  placed  his  hand  against  the  wall  to  support  him  from  falling;  credulity  professes  to  discover  the 
impression  of  his  sacred  hand  in  the  stone.  At  a  station  less  than  one  hundred  yards  still  further,  the  sol- 
diers, compassionating  his  weakness,  compelled  Simon  the  Cyrenian  to  succeed  to  the  burden  of  the  cross, 
'■d  carry  A  to  that  spot  where  the  great  oblation  for  the  sins  of  the  world  was  offered. 


10 


CONTENTS   OF    THE    WHOLE    WORK. 


PART  I.— THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  HISTORY. 

1.  Address  to  the  reader. — The  Scriptures  of  divine  authority.— A  brief  notice  of  the 

characters  of  the  compilers  or  writers  of  the  books  contained  in  the  Old  Test- 
ament. 

2.  The  history  of  that  stupendous  work  the  creation  of  the  world,  with  suitable  notes 

and  reflections. 
.3.  The  creation  of  Adam  and  Eve — their  temptation,  fall,  and  expulsion  from  para- 
dise— its  fatal  consequences,  fire. 
,  4.  The  history  of  mankind  before  the  flood — their  wickedness — the  general  deluge 
— preservation  of  Noah  and  his  family,  &c.,  &c. 
5.  The  buildinjj  of  Babel,  confusion  of  tongues,  and  dispersion  of  the  people. 
•  6.  History  of  Abraham  and  his  family.^ — Destruction  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  &c. 

7.  Persecutions  of  the  Israelites  by  Pharoah,  king  of  Egypt,  with  the  various  trans- 

actions that  took  place  previous  to  their  being  miraculously  released  from 
bondage. 

8.  A  full  and  particular  account  of  thejoumeyingsand  encampments  of  the  Israelites, 

with  the  great  miracles  wrought  in  their  favor  by  Divine  interposition,  before 
their  settlement  at  Jerusalem. 

9.  History  of  Samson.  Saul  and  Jonathan,  David,  Naomi,  Ruth,  and  all  the  principal 

Scripture  characters. 

10.  History  of  the  Babylonish  captivity,  with  a  full  description  of  that  magnificent 

building,  Solomon's  temple,  &c.,  &c. 

11.  The  various  predictions  of  the  prophets,  concerning  the  coming  and  offices  of  the 

Messiah,  &rc.,  Sec. 
,12.  Particular  accounts  of  the  lives  and  transactions  of  the  most  eminent  patriarchs, 
prophets,  and   other  servants  of  God,  who,  by  an  inspired  grace,  have  dis- 
tinguished themselves  in  the  display  of  divine  wisdom. 

PART  II.— THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  HISTORY. 

13.  History  of  the  life,  transactions,  and  miracles  of  our  BLESSED  REDEEMER, 

from  his  birth  to  his  crucifixion,  resurrection,  and  ascension. 

14.  Also,  the  lives,  travels,  doctrines,  suff'erings,  and  various  martyrdoms  of  the  holy 

evangelists,  Matthf.w,  Mark,  Luke,  and  John;  with  the  lives  of  the  holy 
apostles,  and  other  disciples;  particularly  St.  Peter,  Paul,  Andrew,  James 
the  Great  and  Less,  Philip,  Bartholomew,  Simon,  Jude,  Matthias,  Barna- 
bas, Stephen,  Tii\iothy,  Titus,  &c.,  &c.,  who  were  made  instruments,  by 
divine  grace,  in  promoting  the  establishment  of  Christianity,  the  foundation 
whereon  are  built  all  our  liopes  of  eternal  salvation. 

15.  An  account  of  the  seven  churches  of  Asia. 

16.  An  account  of  the  final  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Romans,  as  foretold  by 

our  blessed  Redeemer  a  short  time  before  his  death. 

17.  Also  the  various  observations,  comments,  and  illustrations,  of  the  most  learned  bib- 

lical scholars  and  divines,  ecclesiastical  and  other  authentic  ancient  and  modem 
historians,  who  have  hitherto  written  on  the  Scriptures.    To  which  is  added 

A  LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  THE  HOLY  BIBLE. 

The  whole  calculated  to  enlighten  the  understanding,  purify  the  heart,  and  promote 
that  knowledge  by  which  we  may  obtain  happiness  in  this  world,  and  eternal 
salvation  in  that  which  is  to  come. 


TO   THE   READER. 


T-tE  providence  of  God  is  particularly  manifested  in  the  preservation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  To  th* 
Jews  were  c.inmitted  the  Oracles  of  God  ;  and  so  faitliful  have  they  been  to  this  sacred  trust,  that  when 
copies  of  the  law  or  the  prophets  were  transcribed,  the;  not  only  dihgent ly  compared  the  one  with  the 
other,  but  even  counted  the  number  of  letters  in  each  book,  and  compared  the  numbers. 

No  sooner  did  the  gospel  spread  through  the  nations,  than  it  was  found  necessar>-  to  translate  the  Bible 
tor  each  into  its  proper  language.  .Some  affirm  that  the  five  books  of  Moses  and  tha  of  Joshua  were 
tonslated  into  Greek  before  the  days  of  Alexander  the  Great.  But  the  most  remarkable  translatmn  of  the 
Old  Testament  is  called  the  Septuagint,  wliich,  if  the  opmion  ot  some  eminent  writers  is  to  be  credited 
was  made  in  the  reign  of  PtolemV  Philadelphus.  about  2^0  years  before  the  Christian  era  At  any  rate,  it 
.s  undoubtedly  the  most  ancient  that  is  now  e.vtant,  and  on  many  accounts  deserving  notice,  though  not  to 
be  put  on  a  level  with  the  Hebrew  text,  as  has  been  sometimes  done. 

Other  translations  of  the  Old  Testament  into  Greek  were  made,  f^om  A  D  128  to  200  It  is  generally 
believed  that  the  church  of  Antioch  was  favored  with  a  Syrian  version  of  the  Bible  in  the  year  100  The 
Ethiopians  of  Abyssinia  have  a  version  of  the  Bible,  winch  they  ascribe  to  Frurnentius,  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury ChrysostrJm.  who  lived  m  the  end  of  the  fourtli,  and  Theodoret  who  lived  in  th«  middle  of  the 
fifth  century,  both  inform  us  that  they  had  the  Syrian.  Indian.  Persian,  Armenian  Eth.op.c,  Scythian,  and 
Samaritan  versions  The  ancient  Egyptians  had  the  Scriptures  translated  into  their  language.  The 
Georgians  hav^  a  version  in  their  ancient  language.  The  Old  Testament  of  all  these  versions,  except  the 
Syrian,  is  taken  from  the  Septuagint. 

The  famous  Latin  translaUon  of  the  Bible  called  the  Vulgate,  which  is  now,  and  has  been  for  many 
ages  of  Authority  in  the  church  of  Rome,  is  of  great  antiquity.  It  is  by  some  said  to  have  been  writte_n, 
ofat  least  copied  and  improved,  by  St.  Jerome  in  the  fourth  century  ;  probably  the  last  was  the  case,  for 
there  existed  before  hi*  time  a  Latin  version,  which  Augustine  calls  the  Italian,  Jerome  the  \ulgate,  and 
Cre-orv  Nazeazen  the  ancient  version.  In  the  year  1200,  Peter  de  Vaux  translated  the  Bible  into  Frencn  ; 
^ml°ahnnt  the  same  time  the  Spanish  translation  was  made.  There  have  been  many  translations  both 
fnto  Frerch  and  Spanish  since  that  time.  The  Polish  version  was  published  A.  D.  1390;  and  the  first 
Italian  version.  A.  D.  1471.  Luther  composed  his  version  of  the  Bible,  in  the  German  language,  between 
the  rears  15"1  and  1532;  and  what  is  remarkable,  not  only  the  Popish  translations,  but  those  ol  the 
Protestants  for  a  considerable  time  after  the  reformation,  were  made,  not  from  the  Hebrew  of  the  Old,  and 
Greek  of  the  New  Testament,  but  from  the  Latin  of  the  Vulgate.  We  are  told  that  early  in  the  sixteenth 
centurv'  the  Bohemians  took  their  first  version  from  the  Vulgate  ;  but  that  toward  the  close  of  that  cen- 
turv  eight  divines  were  employed  to  compose  another  from  the  original  text. 

We  will  now  give  some  account  of  the  translations  of  the  Bible  into  the  English  language.  There  have 
been  some  who  have  affirmed  that  Adelme,  Bishop  of  Shemorn,  who  lived  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighth 
century,  translated  the  Psalms  into  the  Sav».r:  tongue.  1  ha*.,  ho-.vever,  is  uncertain,  as  some  of  the  best 
historians  make  no  mention  of  it ;  yet  it  is  possible,  as  he  was  a  man  of  great  parts,  and  of  great  learning 
for  those  times,  and  said  to  be  the  first  Englishman  who  wrote  m  the  Latin  language.  About  the  same 
time  or  a  little  after,  Bede,  commonly  called  the  Venerable  Bede,  translated  some  parts  of  the  New 
Testament— some  say  the  whole  Bible,  hut  that  is  not  probable.  Near  two  hundred  years  later,  King 
Alfred  translated  the  Psalms  into  the  same  language.  In  1382,  Wickliff  finished  his  translation  of  the 
Bible  which  is  yet  extant  ;  that  is  to  say,  there  are  copies  of  it  in  some  public  and  private  hbraries.  All 
these  translations  were  made  from  the  Vulgate.  In  the  leign  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  several  editions  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  were  published  in  Enslish :  one  of  the  most  remarkable  is  that  of  Wilham 
Tyndal  in  '  530  The  translation  of  the  New  Testament  was  made  from  the  original  Greek,  but  probably 
the  Old  Testament  either  from  the  Latin  of  the  Vulgate,  or  the  Greek  of  the  Septuagint.  This  was  soon 
followed  by  the  improvements  of  Coverdale  and  Mathews  By  order  of  the  king,  Tonstal,  Bishop  of 
Durham  and  Heath,  Bishop  of  Rochester,  made  a  new  translation,  which  was  pubhshed  in  1541  ;  but,  not 
pleasing  Henry,  it  was  suppressed  by  authority.  In  the  reign  of  King  Edward  the  Sixth,  another  transla- 
tion was  made,  two  editions  of  which  v.'ere  pubUshed,  one  in  1549,  and  the  other  in  1551.  In  the  reign  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  another  translation  was  made,  which,  being  revised  by  some  of  the  most  learned  of  the 
bishops  went  by  the  name  of  the  Bishops'  Bible.  This  professed  to  be  translated  from  the  Hebrew 
of  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  Greek  of  the  New,  though  in  some  instances,  when  there  was  a  difference, 
it  preferred  the  Septuagint  to  the  Hebrew. 

This  last  circumstance,  with  some  others,  induced  King  James  the  First  to  select  fifty-four  persons, 
eminent  in  learning,  and  particularly  well  acquainted  with  the  original  languages  in  which  tn?  Old  and 
New  Testaments  were  written,  to  make  a  new  translation  of  the  whole  Bible.  In  the  year  IbOi,  forty- 
seven  of  those  persons,  the  other  seven  probably  having  died,  assembled  together,  and  arranged  themselves 
into  committees,  to  each  of  which  a  portion  was  given  to  translate.  They  were  lavored  not  only  with  tlie 
best  translations,  but  with  the  most  accurate  copies,  and  the  various  readings  of  the  original  text.  Alter 
about  tliree  years'  assiduous  labor,  they  severally  completed  the  parts  assigned  thern.  They  then  met 
together  •  and  while  one  read  the  translation  newly  formed,  the  rest  had  each  a  copy  of  the  origina.1  text  m 
his  hand,  or  some  one  of  the  ancient  versions,  and  when  any  difficulty  occurred  they  stopped,  till  by 
common  consultation  it  was  determined  what  was  most  agreeable  to  the  inspired  original.  T tas  transla- 
tion was  first  published  A.  D.  1610,  and  is  the  one  which  has  been,  ever  since  that  time,  generaUy  approved 
by  men  of  learning  and  piety  of  all  denominations  , 


BOOKS  OF  THE  OLD  AND  NEW  TESTAMENTS. 


OLD  TESTAMENT  BOOKS,— HISTORICAL,  MORAL,  AND  DEVOTIONAL. 


NAMES. 

AUTHORS. 

DATES  IN  YEARS  B.  C. 

Genesis 

From  4004  to  1635 

2180  or  2130 

From  1635  to  1490 

1490 
From  1490  to  1451 

1451 
From  1451  to  1425 
From  1425  to  1120 
From  1241  to  1231 
From  IITI  to  1055 
From  1055  to  1015 

)  At  various  times— Those  by  David 

)            from  1060  to  1015 
About  1010 
About  1000 
About  977 

1  Kings  rrom  1015  to  896 

2  Kings  from  896  to  562 

From  4001  to  562 

From  536  to  450 
From  521  to  495 
From  455  to  420 

Moses 

Moses 

Levilicus 

Numbers 

Deuteronomy 

Joshua  

Samuel 

Samuel 

1  Samuel  ) 

2  Samuel  j       

J  Samuel,  Nathan,       

(      Gad  and  others 

David  and  others 

Solomon    .    .                  .... 

Solomon 

Solomon's  Song 

Ecclesiastes 

2  Kings  ! 

1  Chronicles  j 

2  Clironicles  j        

I  Nathan,  Gad, 

}  Ahijah,  Iddo,  Isaiah,  and  ; 
I     others      j 

Ezra  and  others 

Esther 

Nehemiah 

Ezra 

Nehemiah 

PROPHETICAL   BOOKS  IN  CHRONOLOGICAL  ORDER. 

BETWEEN  THE  YEARS 

NAMES. 

B.    C 

KINGS  OF  ISRAEL. 

Jonah  

856  and  784 

j  Joash,  Amaziah, 

1       or  Azariah 

Jehu  and  Jehoahaz, 
or  Joash  and  Jeroboam  II. 

Amos 

810  and  725 

Uzziah,  ch.  i.  1 

Jeroboam  TI. 

Hosea 

810  and  725 

Uzziah,  Jotham,  Ahaz,  Hezekiah 

Jeroboam  II. 

Isaiah 

810  and  698 

j  Uzziah,  Jotham.  Ahaz,  Heze-  ( 
1      kiah  and  Manasseh     .     .      \ 

Zechai.ah,    Shallum.  Mena- 
hem,Pekaiah,PeliaU  &.  Hosea 

Joel     .         ... 

810  and  660  or  later 

Uzziah  or  Manasseh 

Do. 

Micah 

758  and  699 

(  Jotham,  Ahaz.  and  Hezekiah,  ) 
)      ch.  i.  1 j 

Pekah  and  Hosea 

Nahum     .     .    .    . 

720  and  698 

Hezekiah,  close  of  his  reign. 

Zephaniah      .    .  . 

640  and  609 

Josiah,  ch.  i.  1. 

Jeremiah  .    .     . 

628  and  586 

Josiah  and  Captivity. 

Lamentations     .  . 

About  588 

Captivity. 

Habakkuk     •     .    . 

612  and  598 

Jehoiakini. 

606  and  534 

Captivity. 

Obadiah    .    .     .     . 

588  and  583 

After  Nebuchadnezzar's  siego. 

Ezekiel 

595  and  536 

Captivity. 

Haggai      .     .    .    . 

520  and  518 

After  the  return  from  Babylon. 

Zechariah      .     .  . 

520  and  510 

After  tlie  return  from  Babylon. 

Ualachi    .    .    .     . 

436  and  397 

Alter  the  return  from  Babylon. 

NEW  TESTAMENT  BOOKS. 


BOOKS. 


1.  Matthew,  in  Hebrew. 

—  in  Greek 

2.  Thessalonians  I.  .     . 

3.  Thessalonians  II.  .  . 

4.  Galatians    .     .     .     . 

5.  Corinthians  I.     .    .  . 

6.  Romans 

7.  Corinthians  II.  .    .  . 

8.  James 

9.  Mark 

10.  Ephesians    .     .     .    . 

11.  Philippians     .     .    .  . 

12.  Colossians   .     .    .    . 

13.  Philemon  .     .    ,    .  . 

14.  Hebrews       .    .     .     . 

15    Luke 

16.  Acts 

17.  Timothy  I 

18  Titus 

19.  Peter  I 

20.  Jude     ...... 

21.  Peter  H 

22.  Timothy  H.      .    .    . 

23.  John  I 

24.  John  II.   .     ;     .     .     . 

125.  John  111 
26  Revelation  .  .  .  . 
27.  John      


Matthew 
Matthew 
Paul 

Paul   .     . 
Paul      . 
Paul    .    . 
Paul 

Paul  .  . 
James  . 
Mark 
Paul  . 
Paul  .  . 
Paul  . 
Paul  .  . 
Paul      . 

Luke  .     . 

Luke 
Paul  .  . 
Paul   . 
Peter   . 
Jude 
Peter   . 
Paul   . 
John  .  . 
John 
John  .  . 
John 
John  .  . 


WHERE    WRITTEN. 


Judea     .    . 
Judea 
Corinth  .     . 
Corinth 
Corinth    . 
Ephesus 
Ephesus 
Macedonia 
Judea 
Rome     .    . 
Rome  .    . 
Rome     .    . 
Rome   .     . 
Rome 
Italy    .    . 

Greece  .    . 


Greece  .  . 
Macedonia 
Macedonia  . 
Babylon  or  Rome 
Unknown  . 
Babylon  or  Rome 
Rome  .  . 
Ephesus 
Epliesus 
Ephesus  .  . 
Patmos  .  . 
Ephesus 


FOR  WHOSE  USE. 


Hebrew  Christians 


Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 


Gentile 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Jewish  nation 

Gentile  Christians       .    .     .  . 

Do.  Do 

Do.  Do 

Do  Do 

Philemon    .     .         

Hebrew  Christians  .  .  . 
j  Theophilus  and  Gentile  ) 
I      Chiistians \ 

Do  Do 

Timothy 

Titus 

General 

Do 


!Do.     .     .     . 
Timothy   .     . 
General 
L.-\(iy  Electa 
Gaius     .     . 
General 

Dr.  .        .        . 


A.D. 


38 
fO 
54 
54 
54 
59 
60 
60 
61 
62 
62 
63 
63 
63 
63 

63 

64 
65 
65 
64 
65 
65 
66 
65 
■69 
69 
97 
93 


NEW   AND   COMPLETE 

HISTORY    OF    THE  'bIBLE. 


PART    I. 

CONTAINING  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT. 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 

THE  word  Bible  signifies  The  Book;  and  is  applied  by  way  of  eminence  to 
that  sacred  volume  which  was  Avritten  by  Divine  authority  and  which  con- 
tains the  will  of  God  revealed  to  man.  It  comprises  the  Old  Testament  and  the 
New,  or  the  Jewish  and  Christian  Scriptures,*  and  consists  of  history,  prophecy,  doc- 
trines, precepts,  and  devotional  exercises.  In  some  of  the  larger  editions  of  the  Biblt 
there  is  a  set  of  pieces  called  the  Apocrypha,  inserted  between  the  two  Testaments 
but  as  they  are  not  attended  with  evidences  of  Divine  authority,  they  make  no  part  ol 
the  Bible.  These  apocryphal  books  appear  to  contain  a  portion  of  authentic  history 
and  many  moral  lessons,  with  much  fiction  and  some  gross  absurdities. 

The  first  five  books  of  the  Old  Testament  (which  are  called  the  Pentateuch),  have 
all  along  been  considered  as  written  by  Moses  ;t  the  others,  chiefly  by  those  whose 
names  they  bear ;  or  where  they  do  not  appear  under  the  name  of  any  person,  by 
some  one  qualified  and  authorized  for  that  purpose.  The  books  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment show  the  names  of  the  writers  to  whom  they  are  ascribed,  except  the  "  Acts 
of  the  Apostles,"  which  bears  no  name,  but  evidently  appears  to  have  been  writtai 
by  the  Evangelist  Luke.| 

The  Holy  Scriptures  are  the.  gracious  gift  of  God,  an  invaluable  blessing  vouch- 
safed to  mankind.  They  carry  with  them  nidubilable  marks  of  their  Divine  original ; 
and  that  they  are  "  written  by  inspiration  of  God,"  has  been  demonstrated  "  by  many 
infallible  proofs."  The  attempts  of  infidelity,  to  overturn  or  weaken  the  evidence  in 
their  favor,  have  tended  only  to  illustrate  and  confirm  them.  But  Avhile  the  out- 
works of  revelation  are  ably  defended,  it  becomes  every  sincere  inquirer  to  search  out 
with  great  diligence  the  sacred  treasures  deposiied  therein.  Here,  alas !  what  neg- 
ligence do  we  discover  !  As  if  it  were  enough  to  know  that  the  Bible  is  the  word 
of  God,  we  are  willingly  ignorant  of  all  it  contains;  or  else  we  take  up  with  some 
crude,  undigested  notion  of  divine  things,  which  we  have  received  merely  upon  trust. 
The  truth,  excellence,  and  importance  of  the  Scriptures,  are  by  most  persons  assented 
to ;  but,  it  is  feared,  few  only,  in  comparison,  are  giving  a  serious  and  diligent  atten- 
tion to  them.  Every  attempt,  therefore,  to  illustrate  the  Bible,  one  of  the  oldest  and 
most  important  books  in  the  world — a  book  that  has  God  for  its  author,  and  the  eter- 
nal happiness  of  the  human  race  for  its  end,  deserves  the  most  serious  attention  of  all 

*  The  word  Scriptures  signifies  the  Writings. 

t  Except  the  latter  part  of  Deuteronomy,  containing  an  account  of  the  deaji  of  Moiies 

t  Compare  the  first  chapter  of  Luke  with  the  first  of  Acts. 


14  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

those,  especially,  who  profess  the  Christian  religion.  To  answer  this  valuable  pur- 
pose, is  the  design  of  the  present  volume.  Not  merely  for  entertainment,  but  for 
"instruction  in  righteousness,"  and  to  excite  men  to  search  the  Scriptures  for  them- 
selves, it  is  intended.  One  would  think  that  curiosity,  alone,  would  piorapt  persons 
to  their  study.  For  we  shall  hereby  become  acquainted  with  knowledge  the  nnost 
sublime,  and  events  the  most  wonderful.  But  a  far  nobler  motive  than  curiosity 
should  recommend  this  duty  to  us.  We  are  called  to  it  by  the  highest  authority; 
nor  can  we  neglect  it,  without  a  manifest  contempt  of  God,  who,  in  that  sacred  book, 
makes  known  his  will,  and  requires  our  unfeigned  obedience.  The  external  evidences 
in  favor  of  the  Bible,  and  the  internal  marks  of  Divine  authority  which  it  carries, 
together  with  its  powei  on  the  hearts  and  consciences  of  men,  have  been  sufficient  in 
all  ages,  to  convince  the  humble  and  candid  inquirer  after  Truth,  that  the  religion 
therein  contained  is  trom  God — "  the  word  of  the  living  God,"  and  is  "  able  to  make 
us  wise  unto  salvation." 

The  importance  and  value  of  the  Old  Testament,  in  the  study  of  either  ancient  or 
sacred  history,  all  must  admit.*  With  its  general  advantages  as  a  text-book,  com- 
prising every  species  of  knowledge  that  is  useful  and  entertaining,  every  reader  should 
be  acquainted.  But  there  are  some  more  peculiar  to  it ;  the  first  of  which  is,  that 
the  New  Testament  can  not  be  understood  without  the  Old.  The  apostles  often 
cite  it,  and  more  frequently  allude  to  it;  and  our  blessed  Lord  taking  his  leave  of  his 
disciples,  says:  "  These  are  the  words  which  I  spake  unto  you,  while  I  was  slill  with 
you;  that  all  must  be  fulfilled,  which  was  written  of  me  in  the  law  of  Moses,  and  in 
the  prophets,  and  in  the  Psalms."     Luke  xxiv.  44. 

Christ  being  the  end  of  the  laAv,  many  things  which  are  spoken  of  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, relate  to  Christ  and  his  servants,  as  well  in  a  literal  as  an  allegorical  sense : 
"  Our  Fathers,"  saith  St.  Paul,  "  were  all  under  the  cloud,  and  all  passed  through  the 
sea,  and  were  all  baptized  unto  Moses,  and  in  that  cloud,  and  that  sea ;  and  did  all 
eat  the  same  spiritual  food,  and  did  all  drink  the  same  spiritual  drink ;  for  they 
drank  of  the  spiritual  rock  that  followed  them,  and  that  rock  was  Christ.  Now  all 
these  things  were  types  unto  them,  and  were  written  to  admonish  us,  upon  whom  the 
«nds  of  the  world  are  come." 

Another  great  advantage  is,  that  the  Old  Testament  is  a  magazine  furnished,  with 
a  variety  of  figures,  examples,  doctrines,  and  sententious  oracles,  not  only  relating  to 
faith,  but  to  a  good  life,  that  thence  we  may  furnish  ourselves  with  directions  on 
all  occasions.  Thus  our  blessed  Lord,  by  the  example  of  Noah,  and  Lot's  wife, 
stirs  up  the  slothful  to  watchfulness,  Luke  xvii.  27,  32.     He  threatens  the  obstinate 

*  The  formation  of  man,  with  all  his  full-grrown  powers  of  body  and  mind— primeval  rectitude,  federal 
character  and  fall— the  promised  Saviour  and  liis  predicted  victories— the  patriarchal  age— the  deluge— the 
foundation  of  the  new  world  the  settlement  of  tlie  mother  country— the  division  of  the  earth- tlie  confu- 
sion of  tongues,  and  the  dispersion-the  early  settlement  of  Egypt— the  rise  and  fall  of  the  Assyrian  empire, 
even  to  the.  fames  of  all  its  successive  princes  from  the  first  to  the  last— tlie  origin,  peculiarities,  and  over- 
throw of  the  Hebrew  state  -the  progress  and  decline  of  Canaan,  Persia,  and  Media,— are  all  familiar 
topics  of  Biblical  history.  Ancient  cities,  too,— Thebes— the  No-Ammi  of  Nahum— Nineveh,  Jerusalem, 
Babylon,  with  all  that  rendered  them  the  wonders  of  the  world,  w4ould  be  traced  to  the  remote  darkness  of 
the  fabulous  age,  but  for  the  Old  Testament.  The  only  authentic  history  of  these  remote  events  and 
kingdoms  is  in  the  Pentateuch  and  in  the  prophets.  Before  the  days  of  .Moses,  there  were  no  historical 
records  either  in  Assyria,  Egypt,  Phu-nicia,  Chaldea,  or  Greece.  No  other  historian  has  lived  at  so  remote  a 
period  as  the  e.xodus  I'rom  Egypt.  Dr.  Winder  shows,  at  considerable  length,  that  Moses  is  the  only  man  who 
had  any  considerable  materials  for  Egyptian  history  ;  as  the  ancient  learning  of  Egypt  must  have  been  chioriy 
lost  by  the  excision  of  the  first-born  and  the  disasters  of  the  Red  sea.  Since  the  priests  the  more  common 
depositories  of  learning,  usually  attended  in  their  wars,  the  people  who  were  left  behind  must  have  been 
chietly  the  common  people  ;  so  that  for  a  long  time  after  this  disaster,  Egypt  was  involved  in  ignorance 
and  darkness;  nor  is  this  nation  subsequently  mentioned  in  the  Hebrew  ScViptures  until  the  reign  of  Solo- 
mon. "  Muses  was  the  father  of  history."  Infidels  have  affirmed,  there  were  astronomical  calculations  in 
Babylon  that  reached  bar!;  to  a  period  much  farther  than  the  Mosaic  history ;  which  therefore,  if  true,  in- 
validate the  entire  account  ijiven  by  Moses.  This  assertion  has  received  a  very  conclusive  refutation  from 
the  astronomical  calculations  of  Bedford.  But  there  is  a  fact  stated  by  Gillies,  in  his  history  of  Greece, 
that  confirms  the  calculations  of  Bedford.  This  historian  states,  that,  after  the  coiKiuest  of  Babylon  by 
Alexander,  he  *'  eagerly  demanded  the  astronomical  calcuiations  that  had  been  carefully  preserved  in  that 
ancient  cipilol  about  nineteen  centuries.  By  the  order  of  Alexander  they  were  faithfully  transcribed  and 
tran.smitted  to  Aristotle,"  who  was  the  preceptor  of  this  prince.  And  "  they  re-mounted  to  twenty-two 
hundred  and  thirty-four  years  beyond  the  Christian  era,"  a  period  not  even  so  remote  as  the  deluge.  There 
is  no  history  that  can  be  so  safely  relied  on,  or  that  is  so  ancient,  as  the  Mosaic  history.  Every  othsf 
attempt  at  history,  until  the  reigns  of  David  and  Solomon,  Is  but  a  mass  of  shapeless,  rearranged  tradition, 
as  corrupt  as  it  is  faliulous.  Long  after  this  time,  indeed,  the  pages  of  writers,  esteemed  the  most  authen- 
tic, are  disfigured  by  absurd  and  disgusting,  fictions.  This  defect  in  the  annals  of  earlier  times  must  be 
everywhere  and  deeply  felt,  if  we  exclude  the  information  obtained  from  the  Bible.  There  only  is  the 
deficiency  supplied.  Sancoiiiathan,  Berosus,  Ctesias,  and  Manetho  are  the  oldest  human  historians ;  bu 
"  Moses  was  live  hundred  years  before  tlie  first  and  more  than  a  thousand  before  the  last." 


%■ 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  15 


Jews,  by  the  remembrance  of  Sodom  and  Nineveh,  and  the  queen  of  the  South;  and 
terrilies  the  uncharitable  rich  with  the  words  of  Abraham  to  Dives  in  hell :  "  They 
have  Moses  and  the  prophets,  let  them  hear  them,"  Luke  xvi.  29.  St.  Paul,  as  hath 
been  before  observed,  says  :  "  All  these  things  were  done  to  them  for  examples  to  us, 
that  we  should  avoid  those  judgments  God  had  afflicted  them  with  for  their  fornica- 
tion, idolatry,  murmuring,"  &c. 

The  last  advantage  we  shall  mention  is,  that,  as  the  Old  Testament  had  the  honor 
to  precede  the  New,  so  it  gave  witness  to  it  as  John  the  Baptist  did  to  Christ  ;  both 
he,  Moses,  and  the  prophets,  going  before  him  to  prepare  the  way,  "  to  give  know- 
ledge of  salvation  to  his  people,  to  give  light  to  them  that  sat  in  darkness  and  in  the 
shadow  of  death,  and  to  guide  our  feet  into  the  way  of  peace."  In  confirmation  of 
which,  Moses  and  Elias  appeared  at  the  transfiguration  of  Christ  on  the  Mount, 
bearing  witness  of  him,  and  speaking  of  his  departure,  Luke  ix.  3L  Indeed,  so  great 
is  the  force  of  the  gospel-truths,  that  comparmg  the  transactions  of  our  Saviour's 
life,  with  what  was  foretold  of  them,  none  can  doubt  of  the  completion  of  those  pre- 
dictions in  him  only.  But  none  go  so  far  in  the  eulogies  of  Moses  and  the  law,  as  our 
blessed  Lord  himself.  "  There  is  one  that  accuseth  you,  even  Moses ;  had  ye  be- 
lieved on  him,  ye  would  have  believed  on  me;  for  he  wrote  of  me  :  but  if  ye  believe 
not  his  writings,  how  shall  ye  believe  my  words,  John  v.  45,  46. 

Having  said  thus  much  of  those  incomparable  histories  and  other  excellent  things 
contained  in  the  Old  Testament,  it  may  not  be  improper  to  say  something  of  the  wri- 
ters or  compilers  of  them.     And  first  of  Moses. 

And  here,  considering  the  dignity  of  that  great  and  excellent  legislator,  to  whom 
God  did  the  honor  of  speakmg  face  to  face,  it  may  seem  almost  a  presumption  to  at- 
tempt his  character.  We  shall  only  say,  that,  for  some  thousands  of  years,  the  sun 
did  not  behold  his  equal.  He  was  from  his  infancy  brought  up  in  a  court,  where  he 
received  all  the  advantages  of  a  royal  education.  He  was  skilled  in  Egyptian  learn- 
ing, conversing  at  court  till  he  was  forty  years  old  :  at  which  time,  being  divinely  in- 
spired, he  withdrew  from  the  court  of  Pharoah,  and,  disdaining  to  be  thought  the  son 
of  Pharaoh's  daughter,  chose  rather  to  suflTer  affliction  with  the  people  of  God,  than 
enjoy  the  pleasures  of  a  sinful  life.  Being  obliged  to  flee  to  Midian,  he  undertook  the 
humble  employment  of  feeding  sheep.  In  which  time  God  appeared  to  him  in  the 
bush,  and  gave  him  a  commission  to  be  ruler  and  leader  of  his  people. 

But  if  we  inquire  more  particularly  into  the  character  of  this  excellent  person,  we 
shall  find  him  the  most  honored  mortal  that  ever  was  born,  till  the  Son  of  God  ap- 
peared to  bless  the  form  in  human  shape.  He  was  prophet,  prince,  and  poet.  For 
the  first  we  have  his  own  acknowledgment :  "  The  Lord  thy  God  shall  raise  up  unto 
thee  a  prophet  like  mito  me,  from  among  thy  brethren,"  Deut.  xviii.  15.  For  the 
second,  God  himself  invested  him  with  royal  power,  when  he  gave  him  a  com- 
mission to  deliver  and  govern  his  people,  Exod.  iii.  10.  That  he  was  a  poet  appears 
from  those  eleven  Psalms  ascribed  to  him,  from  Psalm  Ixxxix.  to  Psalm  c.  Besides 
the  many  personal  favors  God  bestowed  upon  this  great  man,  he  was  pleased  to 
honor  him  with  his  commendation,  that  he  was  the  most  faithful  of  his  sei-vants,  to 
whom  he  would  communicate  his  will  by  express  words,  Numb.  xii.  7,  8.  And  in- 
deed, if  we  consider  the  frequent  interviews  between  God  and  Moses,  the  conveyance 
of  the  law  by  him,  and  his  daily  pleading  for  the  people  in  the  tabernacle,  where 
God  more  immediately  revealed  himself,  we  may  justly  call  him  the  secretary  of  the 
Divine  wisdom.  We  shall  not  need  to  advance  his  character  by  enumerating  his 
wondrous  works  in  Egypt :  his  miraculous  conduct  of  the  Israelites  through  the 
Red  sea ;  his  furnishing  them  Avith  food  from  heaven :  his  producing  water  by  a 
miracle  ;  and  his  vindicating  God's  honor  and  his  own  reputation  from  the  calumnies 
of  their  enemies  by  a  just  execution  on  Korah  and  his  associates.  Whoever  examines 
his  administration,  will  find  in  it  the  most  refined  polity  and  most  exact  economy  that  ever 
adorned  the  character  of  the  most  illustrious  legislator ;  for  he  had  to  do  with  a  most 
obstinate  rebellious  people,  and  whom  he  governed  with  such  dexterity,  that  he  al- 
ways brought  them  to  a  sense  of  their  duty.  Nor  was  his  humility  the  least  embel- 
lishment of  his  character ;  for  though  the  Israelites  had  often  provoked  him  by  their 
reproaches,  and  apostacy,  and  sometimes  threatened  to  stone  him,  unmoved  he  be- 
held their  ingratitude,  and,  instead  of  revenging  himself  by  threats  and  punishments, 
he  humbly  addressed  himself  to  God  in  their  behalf,  to  deprecate  the  judgments  thej 


16  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

deserved.  And  for  this  virtue  God  himself  expressly  distinguishes  him  with  this 
eulogy,  that  "  he  was  the  meekest  man  upon  earth." 

As  to  the  other  writers  of  the  Old  Testament,  little  need  be  said.  The  first  cata- 
logue of  sacred  books  was  made  by  the  Jews,  but  by  whom  is  not  certainly  known. 
It  is  highly  probable,  it  was  by  Ezra,  who  collected  all  the  sacred  books  of  the  Old 
Testament,  and  showing  the  collection  to  the  Jews,  it  was  received  and  approved  by 
the  whole  nation. 

The  five  books  written  by  Moses,  contain  the  history  of  nearly  three  thousand  years, 
from  the  creation  till  his  death.  The  prophets  who  succeeded  him,  wrote  in  thirteen 
books,  all  that  happened  from  his  death  to  the  reign  of  Artaxerxes. 

It  is  not  certain  whether  Joshua  wrote  the  book  that  goes  by  his  name ;  but  it  is  very 
probable  it  was  written  by  his  command,  and  soon  after  his  death  ;  for  Moses  had 
often,  during  his  administration,  ordered  him  to  write  the  most  remarkable  occur- 
rences in  a  book.     It  contained  a  history  of  about  seventeen  years. 

Some  are  of  opinion,  that  every  judge  Avrote  what  was  transacted  in  his  days;  and 
that  all  these  transactions  were  collected  either  by  Samuel  or  Ezra.  The  book  of 
Judges  contains  the  history  of  three  hundred  years  and  upward,  from  the  death  of 
Joshua  to  the  death  of  Samson.  As  for  the  story  of  Ruth,  it  is  certain  she  lived  in 
the  time  of  the  judges,  probably  mider  Shamgar. 

The  four  books  that  follow,  contain  the  history  of  near  six  hundred  years.  The 
first  book  of  Samuel  to  the  twenty-fifth  chapter,  was  written  by  Samuel  himself; 
the  prophets  Gad  and  Nathan  finished  it,  and  wrote  the  second  book  of  Samuel.  The 
two  books  of  Kings  were  written  by  Jeremiah  or  Ezra. 

The  two  books  of  Chronicles  were  written  after  the  four  former.  It  is  generally 
believed  they  were  composed  by  Ezra,  who  collected  them  partly  out  of  the  othel 
books  of  the  Bible,  and  partly  out  of  the  papers  which  were  yet  extant  m  his  days, 
but  since  lost. 

Ezra  wrote  that  book  which  is  called  by  his  name :  and  contains  the  history  of 
eighty-two  years,  froni  the  first  year  of  Cyrus  to  the  twentieth  of  Artaxerxes  Longi- 
manus. 

The  book  of  Nehemiah  was  certainly  written  by  himself,  and  contains  the  history 
of  about  thirty-one  years,  from  the  reign  of  Artaxerxes  to  the  beginning  of  the  reign 
of  Darius. 

The  time  and  author  of  the  book  of  Esther  are  very  uncertain.  Some  think  it  was 
written  by  Ezra,  or  Joachim  the  priest,  the  grandson  of  Jozedec. 

As  to  the  story  of  Job,  some  have  questioned  the  truth  of  it ;  but  Job  being  men- 
tioned in  Holy  Writ  with  so  much  applause,  it  would  be  criminal  to  doubt  it.*  The 
time  in  which  he  lived  is  difficult  to  be  ascertained,  as  well  as  the  author.  Some 
say,  it  was  written  by  himself,  others  by  Moses.  These  are  but  conjectures.  It  is 
generally  believed  that  Job  lived  before  Moses,  and  that  his  afflictions  befell  him 
when  the  children  of  Israel  were  in  the  wilderness.  Some  are  of  opinion,  that  he 
was  descended  of  Nahor,  Abraham's  brother ;  others  from  Esau,  which  last  is  most 
probable. 


CHAPTER    I. 

Having  made  these  introductory  observations,  we  begin  with  the  first  transaction 
that  is  recorded  in  history.  It  is  the  most  awful  and  glorious  that  imagination  can 
conceive,  namely,  the  creation  of  the  world.  "  To  whom  are  the  heavens  above 
us,  the  world  which  we  inhabit,  and  the  various  objects  with  which  it  is  filled,  in- 
debted for  their  existence?"  A  mild  but  majestic  voice  replies  from  the  sacred  ora- 
cle, "In  the  beginning,  God  created  the  heavens,  and  the  earth,  and  all  that  is 
therein."  Stupendous  work  !  and  worthy  the  amazing  power  of  that  Supreme  Being 
by  whom  it  was  executed.  The  idea  of  creation  is  very  sublime;  but  our  familiarity 
with  the  term  may  have  rendered  us  insensible  of  its  magnificent  character.  It  is, 
indeed,  so  vast,  that  many  of  the  ancient  philosophers  denied  the  possibility  of  crea- 
tion, and  hence  assigned  the  attribute  of  eternity  to  matter!  making  it,  ui  this  re- 

*  See  E'/.ekiei  xiv.  14  ;  James  v.  11. 

t  We  know,  from  the  infallilile  testimony  of  God,  that  men  and  other  animals  wliich  inhaljit  the  earth 
the  seas,  and  the  air  :  all  the  immense  varieties  of  herbs  and  plants  of  which  the  vegetable  kingdom  con 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  H 

spect,  "  equal  to  God."  But  we  have  not  so  studied  the  history  of  the  universe ;  and 
our  readers,  we  trust,  have  learned  a  better  lesson  from  the  oracles  of  God, 

In  the  book  of  (lenesis,  the  "  beginning"  of  everything  is  ascribed  to  the  creative 
power  of  (tod  ;  and  we  are  informed  that  over  the  formless  and  chaotic  earth,  dark- 
ness reigned,  and  "  that  the  Spirit  of  God  moved''  or  brooded  "  upon  the  face  of  the 
waters,"  bringing  order  out  of  confusion,  light  out  of  darkness,  and  this  beauteous  earth 
into  a  fit  condition  for  the  residence  of  man,  and  the  subsistence  of  animal  and  vege- 
table life.  The  Almighty  architect  said,  "  Let  there  be  Light,  and  there  was 
Light."  With  respect  to  this  expression,  Longinus,  that  great  judge  of  the  beautiful 
and  sublime,  says,  "  It  is  the  most  noble  and  lofty  example  of  sublimity  that  imagi- 
nation can  conceive ;  it  commands  things  into  existence,  speaks  with  the  voice  of 
supernatural  authority,  and  is  the  language  of  God."  "And  God  saw  the  light  that 
it  was  good,  and  he  divjfled  the  light  from  the  darkness,  calling  the  light  day,  and 
the  darkness  night ;  and  the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the  first  day."  Surpri- 
sing display  of  Omnipotence  to  illuminate  a  whole  system  in  so  short  a  time,  and  ap- 
point the  proper  portions  of  light  and  darkness  to  every  part  of  the  universe  !* 

Who,  with  an  intelligent  mind  and  a  sensitive  heart,  can  look  upon  the  gloriou? 

sists  ;  the  globe  of  the  earth,  the  expanse  of  the  ocean,  and  the  wonders  of  the  skies,  were  all  produced 
by  the  power  of  the  Ei-ehnai..  Matter,  however,  under  all  the  varieties  of  its  form,  the  relative  disposi- 
tion of  its  parts,  and  the  motions  communicated  to  it,  is  but  an  inferior  part  of  tlie  worlvs  of  creation. 
From  liie  faculty  of  tliought,  and  the  powers  of  perception  and  reflection  of  which  we  are  conscious,  we 
feel  assured  that  we  are  animated  bv  a  much  higlier  and  nobler  principle  than  brute  matter. 

*  The  CiiKATioN  OK  LiGHi-.— We  were  considerably  afi'ected  in  our  younger  days  by  the  long-standing 
objection  that  Moses  made  light  to  exist  before  tlie  creation  of  the  sun ;  as  books  then  usually  taught, 
what  some  still  fancy,  tliat  there  could  not  liave  been  liglit  witliout  this  luminary.     But  not  choosing,  on 
such  an  important  point,  to  attach  our  faith  to  any  general  assertion,  we  sought  to  find  out  if  any  investi 
gator  of  the  nature  of  light  had  perceived  any  distinction  in  its  qualities  or  operation  which  made  it  a  fluid, 
or  matter  independent  of  the  sun.     It  was  not  easy,  before  the  year  1791),  to  meet  with  the  works  of  any 
Student  of  nature  on  such  a  subject,  as  it  bad  been  little  attended ^o  ;  but  we  at  lengtli  saw  the  fact  as- 
serted by  Henckel,  a  German  of  tlie  old  sciiool,  of  some  value  in  his  day ;  and  soon  afterward  some  expert, 
ments  were  announced  in  England,  which  confirmed  the  supposition.     It  has  been  a  favorite  point  of 
attention  with  us  ever  since  ;  and  no  trutli  in  philosopliy  seems  to  be  now  more  fully  ascertained  tlian  tliat 
light  has  a  distinct  existence,  separate  and  independent  of  the  sun.    Tliis  is  a  striking  confirmation  of  the 
Mosaic  record ;  for  that  expressly  distinguishes  the  existence  and  operation  of  hght  from  the  solar  action 
upon  it,  and  from  tliat  radiation  o\'  it  which  is  connected  with  his  beams  and  presence.    By  Moses,  an  in- 
terval of  three  days  is  placed  between  tlie  luminous  creation  and  the  appearance  and  position  of  the  sun 
and  moon.     Liglit  was  therefore  operating,  by  its  own  laws  and  agencies,  without  the  sun,  and  indepen- 
dently of  his  peculiar  agency,  from  the  first  day  to  the  fourth  of  our  terrestrial  fabrication.     But  from  the 
Ume  that  the  sun  was  placed  in  his  central  position,  and  his  rays  were  appointed  to  act  on  our  earth,  they 
liave  been  always  performing  most  beneficial  operations,  essential  to  the  general  course  of  things.    They 
have  also  been  ascertained  by  Dr.  Herschel  to  have  a  power  of  healing  distinct  from  their  production  of 
light  and  color^an  interesting  discovery, connected  with  more  consequences  and  inferences  than  have  yet 
been  noticed.    The  glory  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton  began  by  his  discovering  that  light  was  not  simple  and 
homogeneous,  but  that  it  consisted  of  seven  rays  of  ditTerent  colors,  and  of  dilferent  and  invariable  degrees 
of  refrangibility.    The  same  degree  of  this  belonged  always  to  the  same  color,  and  the  same  color  to  the 
same  degree  of  refrangibility.    Red,  yellow,  and  blue,  are  the  primary  colors  ;  white  light  their  compound. 
An  opposing  theory  to  this  has  been  gradually  growing  up  from  the  time  of  Des  Cartes,  and  is  now  main- 
tained by  several  men  of  no  small  name  and  powers  in  science,  which  considers  light  to  be  an  undulating 
vibration  of  an  ethereal  medium  universally  dufuscd,  and  not,  as  Newton  thought,  an  emanation  of  par- 
ticles direct  from  tlie  sun.     La  Place  preferred  the  opinion  that  "  light  is  an  emanation  from  a  luminous 
body."    But  the  newer  system  comes  nearest  to  the  Mosaic  fact  that  light  was  a  distinct  production  ante- 
rior to  the  sun  ;  and  appears  to  be  gaining  ground  in  philosophical  minds.     Perhaps  some  harmonizing 
combination  of  both  tlieories  may  reconcile  all  the  phenomena,  and  best  explain  the  true  nature  and  opera- 
tion of  light.    It  seems  mo.st  probable  that  light  is  an  ethereal  fluid  now  universally  diffused,  and  pervading 
all  tilings,  and  not  an  emanation  from  the  stin  ;  but  that  this  luminary  has  a  direct  and  additional  agency 
upon  it,"whose  effects  we  daily  see.     It  may  not  be  impertinent  to  suggest  that  light  seems,  like  heat,  to 
have  two  states,  active  and  latent.    The  active  state  causes  its  visible  phenomena,  and  our  sensation  of 
daylight.    When  this  subsides,  by  the  sun's  departure,  into  its  latent  state,  our  sense  of  darkness,  or 
night,  is  produced.    The  solar  rays  again  emerging  on  it,  have  the  power  of  changing  its  latent  state  into 
its  active  visibility.    Light  has  also  the  properly  of  being  absorbed  by,  and,  we  would  add,  of  combining 
with,  all  substances  ;  with  some  wholly,  which  are  then  black  ;  with  others,  the  most  numerous  cases,  only 
in  part ;  and  then  that  portion  of  them  which  is  not  so  absorbed  emanates  from  the  substance  in  the  color 
whicli  comes  from  them  to  the  eye.    After  having  for  many  years  attended  to  the  phenomena  of  light,  we 
can  not  but  consider  it  to  be  a  universally-diffused  fluid.    Thus  far  the  idea  would  accord  with  the  uudu- 
latory  theory ;  but  many  facts  lead  us  also  to  conclude  that  it  actually  enters  into  the  composition  of  all  oi 
most  suljstances,  and,  like  heat,  becomes  a  latent  part  of  them.     From  these  it  is  extricable,  with  more  or 
less  rapidity,  without  the  interference  of  the  solar  ray,  as  in  the  burning  of  all  inflammable  bodies,  when  it 
passes  into  its  active  and  visible  state.    When  tlie  two  liquids  of  nitrous  gas  and  oil  of  turpentine  burst 
into  a  flame  on  being  mixed,  without  the  approach  of  any  fire,  we  think  we  see  a  striking  instance  of  latent 
and  combined  light  passing  suddenly  into  the  free  and  active  state.     So  when  that  brilliant  blaze  occurs  on 
dipping  the  iron  wire  into  oxygen  gas,  it  seems  to  be  the  latent  light  combined  in  the  gas,  evolving  from  It 
instantaneously  into  its  visible  form.    The  sun  has  nothing  to  do  with  these  phenomena,  nor  with  any  of 
our  artificial  illuminations.    All  these  may  be  deemed  latent  liglit,  emerging  from  its  combinations  into  free 
and  active  visibility.     Yet  most  of  the  Newtonian  principles  and  laws  concerning  it  are  confirmed  by  the 
phenomena  which  suggested  them  ;  and  so  is  much  of  the  new  system  by  those  facts  which  have  been  ad 
ijuced  in  its  support.    Hence  it  is  most  probable  that  both  theories  have  a  foundation  in  truth,  but  requit 
;ome  further  additions  and  modifications  on  each  eide  to  make  them  consistent  with  each  other,  and 
emove  the  apparent  contradictions  which  now  keep  them  in  the  state  of  controversial  hostilitv 


18  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE    • 

scenes  and  objects  around  him,  without  emotion ;  and,  if  piety  be  an  inmate  of  hia 
bosom,  without  adoring  reverence  and  filial  love  to  Him  who  made  them  all  ?  And 
yet  it  is  most  true  that  the  beauties  and  sublimities  of  the  natural  world  are  exhibited 
in  vain  to  the  generality  of  mankmd.  Engaged  in  other  pursuits,  or  degraded  by  evil 
passions,  or  besotted  by  self-indulgence,  the  most  magnificent,  and  the  most  soothing 
scenes  which  mark  the  power  or  the  goodness  of  God,  are  equally  unnoticed  and 
despised  by  many  who  ought  to  feel  most  interested  in  them. 

Wandering  oft,  with  brute  unconscious  gaze 
Man  marks  not"  Him, — "marks  not  the  miglity  hand, 
That,  ever  busy,  wheels  the  silent  spheres, — 
And  as,  on  earth,  this  grateful  change  revolves, 
With  transport  touches  all  the  springs  of  life." 

The  waters  being  still  dispersed  over  the  face  of  chaos,  tlfe  Almighty  was  pleased 
to  separate  them  from  each  other,  and  restrain  their  current  within  proper  bounds. 
He  divided  those  above  the  firmament  from  those  beneath,  and  parted  the  waters  of 
the  earth  from  the  Avatery  atmospheres.  The  firmament*  formed  on  ihis  occasion  was 
called  heaven,  and,  with  the  separation  of  the  waters,  completed  the  second  day  of 
the  creation.  Light  being  formed,  and  the  waters  separated  from  each  other,'  the 
Almighty,  on  the  third  day,  commanded  that  the  waters  beneath  the  firmament  should 
be  gatliered  together,  and  dry  land  appear.  The  waters,  accordingly,  fled  into  deep 
valleys,  and  recesses  of  the  earth,  the  lofty  mountains  raised  their  towering  heads, 
and  the  lesser  hills  displayed  their  pleasing  summits.  As  the  great  Creator  designed 
the  earth  for  the  future  habitation  of  man  and  beast,  it  was  no  sooner  separated  from 
the  waters,  than  he  gave  it  a  prolific  virtue,  and  endowed  it  with  the  power  of  vege- 
tation. The  surliace  was  immediately  covered  with  grass  for  cattle,  which  was  suc- 
ceeded by  herbs,  plants,  and  fruit-trees,  proper  for  the  nourishment  of  man.  All 
those  were  instantly  in  a  state  of  perfection,  that  ihey  might  be  ready  for  the  use  of 
those  inhabitants  for  whom  they  were  designed.! 

The  Almighty  Creator,  having  prepared  such  necessaries  as  he  thought  proper  on 
earth,  for  the  use  of  its  intended  inhabitants,  on  the  fourth  day  formed  those  two 
great  luminaries  of  heaven  called  the  Sun  and  Moon  !  the  former  of  which  he  ap- 
pointed to  rule  the  day,  and  the  latter  the  night.  He  likewise  formed  the  planets, 
fixed  their  gravitation  and  vicissitudes,  and  appointed  their  regular  courses,  that  ihey 
might  divide  time  and  distinguish  the  seasons.  By  means  of  these  luminaries  the 
atmosphere  was  rarified,  and  by  their  uifluence  on  the  planets,  was  promoted  the 
office  of  vegetation. 

The  creation  of  the  first  four  days  consisting  of  things  inanimate,  on  the  fifth  God 
pronoimced  his  omnipotent  fiat,  for  the  production  of  living  creatures,  saying,  "  Let 
the  waters  bring  forth  abundantly  the  movmg  creature  that  hath  life,  and  ibwis:|:  that 
they  may  fly  above  the  earth  in  the  open  firmament  of  heaven."  He  wtis  pleased  to 
form  these  creatures  of  different  shapes  and  sizes;  some  very  large, ||  to  show  the 
wonders  of  his  creating  power,  and  others  exceeding  small,  to  display  the  gouincssof 
his  hidulgent  providence.  After  he  had  created  them,  he  gave  them  his  blessing,  by 
bidding  them,  be  fruitful  and  multiply;  enduing  them,  at  the  same  time,  with  a 
power  to  propagate,  in  a  prolific  mamier,  their  respective  species.  And  thus  were 
completed  the  works  of  the  fifth  day. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  day  God  created  the  terrestrial  animals,  which  the 
sacred  historian  has  divided  into  three  classes,  namely, 

*  The  Hebrew  word  which  we  translate  firmament,  signifies  a  curtain,  or  anything  stretched  out  and 
extended.  The  term  is  not  only  applied  to  the  sky,  but  to  the  atmosphere,  and  in  this  place  seeiii.s  particu- 
larly to  refer  to  that  extent  of  airy  matter  which  encompasses  the  earth,  and  separates  the  clouds  from  the 
waters  on  the  earth. 

t  Though  the  first  fruits  of  the  earth  were  all  produced  without  any  seeds,  by  the  bare  command  of  God, 
yet,  to  perpetuate  the  same,  each  kind  contained  its  own  seed,  which  being  sown  in  the  earth,  or  falling, 
when  ripe,  from  the  plants  themselves,  should  continue  in  succession  to  the  end  of  the  world. 

X  Froiri  this  expression,  some  are  of  opinion  that  fowls  derive  tlieir  origin  from  the  water  as  well  as  the 
fi»hes ;  while  others,  with  equal  reason,  suppose  them  to  have  been  made  out  of  the  earth,  agreeably  to 
the  following  passage  in  Gen.  ii.  19:  "Out  of  the  ground  God  formed  every  beast  of  the  field,  and  every 
fowl  of  the  air."  But  these  two  texts  are  easily  reconciled,  when  we  consider  that  neither  denies  what 
the  other  asserts.  It  is  to  be  observed,  that  some  fowls  live  mostly  in  the  water,  others  partly  on  land  and 
partly  on^vater,  while  a  third  sort  live  altogether  on  land.  This  diversity  countenances  tlie  opinion  of 
many  of  the  ancients,  that  they  were  made  partly  out  of  the  water,  or  of  both  mixed  together. 

tl  The  words  in  the  text  are.  And  God  created  great  whales.  But  this  expression  must  not  bo  confined  to 
the  whale  alone  ;  it  undoulitedly  implies  fish  of  an  enormous  size,  of  which  there  are  various  species,  that 
differ  both  In  their  form  and  magnitude. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  19 

1.  Beasts,  or  wild  creatures,  such  as  lions,  tigers,  bears,  wolves,  &c. 

2.  Cattle,  or  domestic  animals,  for  the  use  of  men,  such  as  bulls  and  cows,  sheep, 

hog's,  horses,  asses,  &c. 

3.  Creeping  things,  such  as  serpents,  worms,  and  various  kinds  of  insects. 

The  omnipotent  Creator  having  made  these  abimdant  preparations,  crowned  his 
work  with  the  formation  of  the  grand  object,  man,  for  whose  use  they  were  deSig-ieJ. 
He  said,  Lei  us  make  man  in  our  own  image,  after  our  likeness.*  '  And,  to  show  thai 
the  creature  he  was  now  about  to  form  should  be  the  master-piece  of  the  creation, 
and  (under  his  auspices)  have  supremacy  over  the  whole,  he  further  says,  an«?  let  htm 
have  domiHwn  over  thejis/i  of  the  sea,  and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air, and  over  the  cattle, 
and  over  all  the  earth,  and  over  every  creeping  thing  that  creepelh  upon  the  earth.  In 
the  formation  of  man's  body,  God  made  choice  of  the  dust  of  the  earth,  after  Avhich, 
having  mfused  into  him  an  immortal  spirit,  or,  as  the  text  says,  breathed  into  his  nos- 
trils the  bretith  of  life,  he  became  a  living  soul.f 

As  soon  as  Adam  began  to  feel  a  sense  of  his  existence  (having  been  by  his  great 
Creator  invested  with  knowledge  as  well  as  power),  he  was  greatly  alarmed  at  the  ani- 
mals that  he  saw  surround  him;  but  the  Almighty  to  ease  his  mind,  assured  him, 
that  all  the  creatures  on  the  earth  should  be  subject  to  his  authority,  and  to  convince 
him  of  the  great  power  with  which  he  had  invested  him,  appointed  them  to  appear 
before  him.  This  was  accordingly  done,  upon  which,  as  they  passed,  Adam  readily 
gave  them  such  appellations  as  distinguish  their  species,  and  were  suitable  to  their 
natures.| 

Adam  greatly  admired  the  animals  to  whom  he  had  given  names ;  but,  when  he 
saw  them  all  in  couples,  he  was  concerned  thst  he  alone  was  without  a  companion, 
whose  society  might  contribute  to  his  happiness.  The  Almighty,  knowing  his  anx- 
iety, threw  him  into  a  sound  sleep,  during  which  he  took  away  one  of  his  ribs,  and, 
after  closing  up  the  orifice,  formed  it  into  the  body  of  a  woman, ||  gave  her  breath, 
and,  like  Adam,  she  became  «  living  sovl. 

This  was  certainly  the  last  acf^  of  the  whole  creation,  which,  by  the  almighty 
power  of  God,  was  made  perfect  in  the  space  of  six  days ;  at  the  close  of  which  the 
great  Creator  took  a  survey  of  t'le  whole,  and  pronounced  it  good,  or  properly  adapt- 
ed to  the  uses  for  which  it  was  ictended.  The  next  day  (which  was  the  seventh 
from  the  beginning  of  the  creation T)  God  set  apart  as  a  time  of  solemn  rest  from  his 
labors.  He  blessed  and  sanctified  it;  and  to  impress  mankind  with  a  just  sense  of 
his  infinite  wisdom,  power,  and  goodness,  ordered  it  ever  after  to  be  kept  sacred.** 

*  Wliat  a  noble  and  majesiic  expression  was  this,  and  how  consistent  with  the  nature  of  that  Almighty 
Being  by  whom  it  was  spoWen  I  In  the  formation  of  other  creatures,  God  says,  Let  the  earth  or  the  waters 
bring  them  forth ;  but  herd  (as  if  man  was  to  be  made  only  a  little  lower  tlian  the  angels)  he  says,  Let  us 
make  him  in  our  image  -  ttat  is,  Icf  us  make  him  like  ourself ;  let  us  endue  him  with  all  those  noble  faculties 
that  will  raise  him  abo»'e  tli«  animal  creation,  and  make  liiiii  not  only  to  bear  our  image  in  the  lower  world, 
but  also  qualify  him  for  the  enjoyment  of  tliose  blessings  that  are  to  be  found  at  our  right  hand,  to  the  fuL 
extent  of  eternity.  „    ,  ,     ,  ■  ,         „    ,  ,  ■ 

t  Josephus  says,  that  after  God  had  created  man,  lie  called  him  Adam,  which  in  the  Hebrew  signifies  red- 
from  the  earth  with  wAich  he  was  made  being  of  that  color. 

t  The  great  poet,  Jrilton,  on  this  occasion,  expresses  himself  as  follows : 

"  As  thus  he  spake,  eacli  bird  and  beast,  behold 
Approaching,  two  and  two  ;  these  cowering  low 
With  blandishment ;  each  bird  stooped  on  his  wing. 
I  named  them  as  tliey  passed,  and  understood 
Tlieir  nature,  with  sucli  knowledge  God  endued 
My  sudden  apprehension  I" 

II  The  general  name  for  woman,  in  the  Hebrew  tongue,  is  hsa;  but  this  woman,  being  the  first,  was 
(after  the  fall)  called  Ev,-,  which  signifies  the  mother  of  human  kind. 

6  Though  the  sacred  liistorian  does  not,  m  a  particular  mnnner,  mention  the  formation  of  Eve  till  some 
time  a(;er  I  hat  of  Adam,  yet  it  is  not  in  the  least  to  be  doubted  but  they  were  both  created  on  the  same 
day.  1  his,  indeed,  evidently  appears  from  the  relation  of  tlie  works  of  the  sixth  day,  Gen.  ii.  27,  where, 
alter  th?  words,  Gud  created  man  in  his  own  image,  are  added,  mole  and  female  created  he  I  hem. 

^  It  is  not  directly  ascertained  at  what  time  or  season  of  the  year  the  world  was  made  ;  but,  from  the 
t;ees  being  laden  with  fruit  (of  wliich  history  informs  us  our  first  parents  did  eat),  it  is  most  reasonable  to 
suppose  that  it  was  at  or  near  tlie  autumnal  equinox. 

"•  Thus  was  the  seventh  day  appointed  by  God,  from  the  very  beginning  of  the  world,  to  be  observed  as  a 
day  of  rest  by  mankind,  in  memory  of  the  great  benefits  received  in  the  formation  of  the  universe.  It  has 
been  a  question,  among  the  learned,  whether  any  sabbath  was  observed  before  tlie  promulgation  of  the  law 
by  Moses  ;  but  the  most  judicious  commentators  agree  that  Adam  and  Eve  constantly  observed  the  seventh 
day,  and  dedicated  it  in  a  pecuhar  manner  to  the  service  of  tlie  Almighty ;  and  that  the  first  Sabbath,  whicli 
Philo  (one  of  tlie  most  ancient  writers)  calls  the  hi  Ih-day  uf  the  vjfn Id,  was  celebrated  in  Paradise  itself, 
which  pious  custom,  being  transmitted  from  our  first  parents  to  their  posterity,  became  in  time  so  general' 
Oiat  the  same  Philo  calls  it  the  universal  festival  of  mankind. 


20  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

When  Adam  first  beheld  the  fair  partner  of  his  life,  who  was  presented  to  hin"*  by 
ner  Almighty  Creator,  he  Avas  struck  with  a  secret  sympathy,  and,  finding  her  of  his 
own  likeness  and  complexion,  he  exclaimed  with  rapture,*  This  is  now  bone  of  my 
bone,  and  Jlesh  of  my  Jlesh.  He  easily  foresaAV  that  the  love  and  union  Avhich  were 
now  to  take  place  between  them  were  to  be  lasting.  The  Divine  Hand  which  con- 
ducted the  woman  to  Adam  did  it  in  the  light  of  a  matrimonial  father ;  and  having 
joined  them  together,  he  pronounced  this  benediction,  Be  fruitful  and  mulliply,  and 
replenish  the  earth  ;  intimating,  that,  as  he  had  given  them  dominion  over  every  part 
of  the  creation,  they,  by  being  themselves  fruitful  in  the  procreation  of  children,  might 
live  to  see  the  earth  replenished  with  a  numerous  progeny. 

To  facilitate  the  intended  happiness  of  our  first  parents,  the  Almighty  Creator  had 
provided  for  their  residence  a  most  delightful  spot  called  Eden,t  which  was  watered 
by  an  extensive  river  divided  into  four  streams.  It  was  furnished  with  all  kinds  of 
vegetables,  among  which  were  two  remarkable  trees,  one  called  the  Tree  of  Life,% 

*  Tlie  joy  and  transport  of  Adam,  on  his  first  sigtit  of  Eve,  is  thus  beautifully  expressed  by  Milton: 


" On  she  came, 

Led  by  her  heavenly  Maker  (though  unseen) 

And  guided  by  his  voice  ;  not  uuiiirorrned 

Of  nuptial  sanctity  and  marriage  rites. 

Grace  was  in  all  her  steps,  heaven  in  her  eye, 

In  every  gesture  dignity  and  love. 

1,  overjoyed,  couU  not  forbear  aloud: 

'Tills  turn  liatli  m-oxia  amends  ;  thou  hast  fulfilled 

Thy  words,  Creator  oounteous  and  benign  ! 

Giver  of  all  things  fair,  but  fairest  this 

Of  all  thy  gifts  :" 

t  There  is  probably  no  subject  on  which  such  a  diversity  of  opinions  has  been  entertained  as  concerning 
the  site  of  the  Paradise  in  wliich  tlie  progenitors  ol  mankind  were  placed.  Mohammedans  even  believe 
that  it  was  in  one  of  the  seven  heavens  from  which  Adam  was  cast  down  upon  tlie  earth  after  the  fall 
"  Some,"  says  Dr.  Clarke,  "place  it  in  the  third  lieaven,  others  in  the  fourth  ;  some  within  the  orbit  of  the 
moon,  others  in  the  moon  itself;  some  in  the  middle  regions  of  the  air,  or  beyond  tlie  earth's  attraction  ; 
some  on  the  earth,  others  under  the  earth,  and  others  witMn  th«  earth."  Every  section  of  the  earth's  sur- 
.  face  has  also,  in  its  turn,  had  its  claim  to  this  distinction  advocate^l.  From  this  mass  of  conflicting  opinions 
we  shall  select  the  two  wliich  have  been  supported  by  the  most  <>niinent  authorities,  and  which  seem  to 
have  the  strongest  probabilities  in  their  favor. 

It  has  been  assumed  that  in  whatever  situation,  otherivise  probable,  the  marks  by  which  Moses  charac- 
terizes the  spot  are  tu  be  found,  there  we  may  suppose  that  we  Ijave  -iiscovered  tlie  site  of  Paradise.  In 
fixing  the  lirst  probability,  the  all  but  unquestionable  fact  that  the  known  rivers  Euphrates  and  Tigris  are 
mentioned  as  two  of  the  four  rivers  of  Eden,  is  of  the  greatest  importance  ;  and  therefore  the  most  exact 
inquirers  have  not  sought  for  the  spot  at  any  point  distant  from  those  rivers.  The  Euphrates  and  Tigris 
being  thus  identilied  with  two  of  the  rivers  of  Eden,  tliere  has  remained  a  jreat  latitude  in  the  choice  of 
a  site  for  the  garden,  some  looking  for  it  near  the  source  of  those  rive -s,  and  others  seeking  it  in  the  low 
and  flat  plains  through  which  they  flow  in  the  lower  part  of  their  coura^. 

The  first  position  places  Eden  in  Armenia,  near  the  sources  of  the  four  greax  rivers  Euphrates,  Tigris 
(Iliddekcli,  Phasi.s  iPison),  and  the  Araxes  iC;ilion).  The  similarity  of  soum!  betVieenPhasis  and  Pison  is 
considered  to  strengthen  this  opinion,  as  does  also  the  similarity  of  meaning  betvieen  the  Hebrew  name 
Gihon  and  the  Greek  Araxes.  both  words  denoting  swiftness. 

One  consideration  that  induced  a  preference  for  this  site  is,  that  the  advocates  of  this  opinion  considered 
"heads,"  as  applied  to  the  rivers  which  went  fortli  from  the  garden,  to  mean  "  soui-:es,"  which  would  there- 
fore render  it  natural  to  look  for  the  terrestrial  paradise  in  a  mountainous  or  hi'iy  country,  which  only 
could  supply  the  water  necessary  to  form  four  heads  of  rivers.  But  others,  those  vho  would  lix  the  site 
toward  the  other  extremity  of  the  two  known  rivers,  reckon  it  suflicient,  and  indeed  more  accordant  with 
the  text,  to  consider  the  "  four  heads"  not  as  sources,  but  as  channels  that  is,  that  the  Euphrates  and 
Tigris  united  before  they  entered  the  garden,  and  after  leaving  it  divided  again,  and  emered  the  Persian 
gulf  by  two  mouths  ;  thus  forming  four  channels,  two  above  and  two  below  the  garden,  each  called  by  a 
dilTcront  name.  ''The  river  or  channel,"  says  Dr.  Wells,  "must  be  looked  upon  as  a  highway  crossing 
over  a  forest,  and  which  may  be  said  to  divide  itself  into  four  ways,  whether  the  division  be  made  above  oi 
below  the  forest."  With  this  view,  some  writers  are  content  to  take  the  present  Shat-ul-Arah  (the  single 
stream  which  is  formed  by  the  confluence  of  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates,  and  which  afterward  divides  to 
enter  the  gulf  i  as  the  river  that  went  tlirough  the  garden  ;  but  as  Major  Rennell  has  shown  Iha',  the  tv.  o 
,  great  rivers  kept  distinct  courses  to  the  sea  until  the  time  of  Alexander,  although  at  no  great  distance  of 
'time  afterward  they  became  united,  other  writers  are  contented  to  believe  that  such  a  junction  and  sub- 
sequent divergence  did,  either  in  the  time  of  Moses  or  before  the  deluge,  exist  in  or  near  the  place  indi- 
cated. The  deluge  must  have  made  great  changes  in  the  lieds  of  these  and  many  other  rivers,  and  inferior 
agencies  have  alone  been  suflicient  greatly  to  alter  the  ancient  channels  of  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates. 
This  is  not  only  rendered  obvious  by  an  inspection  of  the  face  of  the  country,  but  the  memory  of  such 
events  is  preserved  by  local  traditions,  and  they  are  even  specified  in  the  writings  of  the  Arabian  geogra- 
phers and  historians.  Thus,  then,  of  the  two  most  probable  conjectures,  one  fixes  tlie  terrestrial  Paradise 
In  Armenia,  between  the  sources  of  the  Euphrates,  Tigris,  Phasis,  and  Araxes  ;  and  the  other  identifies  the 
land  of  Eden  with  the  country  between  liagdad  and  liussorah  ;  and,  in  that  land,  some  fix  the  garden  near 
the  latter  city,  while  others,  more  prudently,  only  contend  that  it  stood  in  some  part  of  this  territory  where 
an  ancient  junction  and  subsequent  separation  of  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris  took  place. 

\  This  tree  is  supposed  to  have  been  so  called  from  its  having  in  it  a  vij-tue  not  only  to  repair  the  animal 
spirits,  as  other  noiirishinenl  does,  but  likewise  to  preserve  and  maintain  them  in  the  same  e(iual  tenipei 
and  state  wherein  llicv  were  created ;  that  is  to  say,  without  alTecling  the  party  who  used  il  with  pain, 
disease,  and  decay. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  21 

and  the  other  the  Tree  of  Knowledge*  by  the  latter  of  which  Good  and  Evil  were 
to  be  distia-uished.  Into  this  earthly  paradise  did  the  Almighty  conduct  Adam  aud 
Eve,  ^rivin-'them  orders  to  lake  care  of  the  garden,  and  superuitend  the  plants,  lie 
<rranted  them  permission  io  eat  of  the  fruit  of  every  tree,  except  ihat  of  the  Lrce  oj 
Knowledoe  of  Good  and  Eoil.  This  he  strictly  charged  them  not  even  to  touch,  on 
the  penalty  of  incurring  his  displeasure,  and  thereby  entaihng  upon  themselves  and 
their  descendants,  morlalitv,  diseases,  and  death.  With  this  small  restraint  boD  leit 
them  in  the  garden  of  Eden,  where  everything  was  pleasing  to  the  sight,  and  ac- 
commodaied  to  their  muiuai  enjoyment.  ,       -j    r      -u 

Thus  fixed  in  the  most  beautiful  situation,  possessed  oi  mnocence,  devoid  ot  guilt, 
and  free  from  care,  the  happiness  of  our  first  parents  appeared  complete : 

"  Perl'ection  crowned  with  wondrous  frame, 
Aiid  peace  and  plenty  smiled  around  ; 
They  lelt  no  /net'.  Ihey  knew  no  shame, 
But  tasted  heaven  on  eartlil>  ^'round." 

But,  alas  I  their  bliss  was  transient,  their  innocence  fleeting,  and  their  exemption 

from  care  very  short.  .  ,  ,  ±      : 

All  animals  at  this  time  were  social  in  their  tempers,  except  the  serpent,t  w.io 
was  equally  subtle  and  envious.  This  malignant  creature,  viewing  the  felicity  ot  the 
first  pair  With  those  painful  sensatio)is  which  are  natural  to  depravity  of  heart,  de- 
termined to  allure  them  from  their  innocence,  and  stimulate  them  to  the  crime  ot 
disobedience.  In  consequence  of  this  infernal  design,  he  began  by  persuading  Lve  to 
taste  the  prohibited  Tree  of  Knowledge,  telling  her,|  that,  by  so  domg,  both  herself 
and  her  husband  would  immediately  be  sensible  of  the  diiierence  between  Good  and 
Evil,  acquire  muth  additional  happmess,  and  even  not  be  interior,  m  point  of  wis- 
dom, to  Gon  himself  ,  ,  ■  r  ■, 
Unhappily  the  artifices  of  the  serpent  prevailed.  Eve  gazed  on  the  temptm^  imit 
till  her  appetite  was  inflamed;  its  beautiful  hue  mqde  her  fancy  it  a  naost  delicious 
food;  and  she  at  length  sacrificed  her  duty  to  gratify  her  curiosity,  bhe  stretched 
forth  her  presumptuous  hand,  took  of  the  baneful  fruii,  and  ate  her  own  destruction. 

" She  plucked,  she  ate  ; 

Esrili  felt  the  wound,  and  nature  from  her  seat, 
Sighiut;  through  all  her  works,  gave  sign  of  wo 
That  all  was  lost." 

Pleased  with  the  taste  of  the  fruit,  and  fancying  herself  already  in  possession  of  tha 
additional  happiness  the  serpent  had  promised  her,  she  flew  to  Adam,  and  enticee 
him  to  participate  in  her  crime. 

«. He  scrupled  not  to  eat 

Against  his  better  kimwledge— 

Earth  trembled  Irom  iier  entrails,  as  again 

In  panas,  and  Nature  gave  a  second  groan : 

Sky  lowered,  and  muttering  thunder,  some  sad  drops 

Wept,  at  completing  of  the  mortal  sin." 

Remorse,  the  natural  consequence  of  guilt,  now  opened  their  eyes  to  each  other's 
nakedness.  No  longer  shielded  by  innocence  from  shame,  they  were  mutually  shock- 
ed  at  the  reciprocalindecency  of  their  appearance:  art  was  now  substituted  to  con- 
ceal what  their  criminality  rendered  too  obvious;  they  contrived  aprons  made  of  hg- 
leaves  and  hio-hly  applauded  themselves  for  acquiring,  at  the  expense  of  their  integrity, 
the  faculty  of  Invention,  to  remove  difficulties  which  their  former  simplicity  prevented 

their  perceiving.  ,        ,   .         ■        en  ^    ^ 

While  they  were  m  a  state  of  innocence,  they  no  sooner  heard  the  voice  ol  Gon  ap- 

•  There  are  various  opinions  concerning  the  nature  and  properties  of  the  Tree  of  ^''°f'f^'\r;}%^'J^ 
forliidden  to  our  first  parents.  Some  think  it  had  a  banelul  quality,  directly  opposite  to  tliat  of  the  Tree  of 
Life  while  others  imagine  it  is  thus  called  by  the  sacred  historian,  because,  directly  alter  Adam  ""J  Eve 
had  eaTen  ot°it  they  bicame  sensible  of  the  good  they  had  lost,  and  the  evil  they  had  incurred,  by  then 

"^fufsgCTerally' thought  that  this  was  the  work  of  Satan,  who,  to  effect  liis  purposes,  assumed  the  figure 

°'t^tmav"appear  strange  to  some  that  the  serpent  should  be  hfere  represented  as  having  the  power  of 
speech  and  thit  Eve,  on  that  account,  should  not  have  been  greatly  alarmed.  Josephu.s  and  some  others 
ITlec^  that  all  amma  s  were  endued  witli  speech  and  reason  before  the  fall.  But  other  interpreteis  moie 
^auslblv  observe,  that  the  meaning  here  must  be  that  the  serpent,  by  his  actions  conveyed  the  same  ideas 
?n  the  mincl  of  Eve  as  words  of  th?  same  import  would  have  done.  For  example,  she  seeing  the  sorpeni 
eat  of  ™r  forbidden  fruit  without  receiving  any  damage,  concluded  it  was  umocent,  and  was  therefore  in- 
duced by  his  example  to  make  the  trial  herself. 


22  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

proach  them,  than  they  ran  with  ecstasy  to  meet  him,  and  with  hnmble  joy  welcomed 
his  gracious  visits  ;  but  now  their  Maker  was  become  a  terror  to  them,  and  they  a  terror 
to  each  other.  Their  consciences  painted  their  transgression  in  the  blackest  colors, 
all  hope  was  banished,  and  nothing  remained  but  horror  and  despair. 

When,  therefore,  aller  their  transgression,  they  heard  the  voice  of  the  Lord  in  the 
garden,  mstead  of  ruiming  to  meet  him  as  before  with  cheerfulness  and  joy,  they  fiew 
to  the  most  retired  part  of  it,  in  order  to  conceal  themselves  from  his  sight.*  But  the 
Almighty  soon  called  them  from  iheir  dark  retreat ;  and,  after  a  shorl  examination, 
they  both  acknowledged  their  guilt.  The  man  attempted  to  excuse  himself  by  laying 
the  blame  on  the  woman,  and  pleaded  her  persuasions  as  the  cause  of  his  criminality. 
The  woman  endeavored  to  remove  the  crime  from  herself  to  the  serpent;  btit  the 
Almighty  thought  proper  to  make  all  three  the  objects  of  his  distributive  justice.  As 
the  serpent  had  been  the  original  cause  of  this  evil,  God  first  passes  sentence  on  him, 
which  was,  that  (instead  of  going  erect  as  he  did  before  the  fact)  he  should  ever  after 
creep  on  his  belly,  and  thereupon  become  incapable  of  eating  any  food,  except  what 
was  mingled  with  dust.  The  woman  was  given  to  understand  that  she  had  entailed 
upon  herself  sorrow  from  conception,  pain  in  childbirth,  and  subjection  to  her  hus- 
band. The  punishment  of  Adam  consisted  in  a  life  of  perpetual  toil  and  slavery,!  n\ 
order  to  keep  in  due  subjection  those  passions  and  appetites,  to  gratify  which  he  had 
transgressed  the  divine  command. 

The  awful  decree  being  thus  solemnly  pronounced,  as  well  on  the  author  of  the 
offence,  as  the  offenders  themselves,  the  Almighty,  to  enhance  their  sense  of  the  crime, 
and  the  tokens  of  his  resentment,  expelled  the  guilty  pair  from  the  blissful  regions 
01  ^  -adise,  after  which  he  placed  at  the  east  end  of  the  garden  a  guard  of  angels,  in 
order  not  only  to  prevent  their  re-entrance,  but  to  secure  the  forbidden  fruit  from  the 
unhallowed  hands  of  polluted  mankind. 

Thus,  by  this  original  pollution,  fell  our  first  parents,  who,  from  the  happiest  con- 
iition  that  can  be  conceived,  plunged  themselves  into  a  state  of  wretchediiess,  and 
hereby  entailed  misery  on  their  descendants. 

"  Tliey  ate  the  apple,  it  is  true ; 

We  taste  the  wormwood  and  tlie  gall, 
And  to  these  distant  ages  rue 
The  dire  efi'ects  of  Adam's  fall " 


CHAPTER    II. 

In  the  space  of  tAvo  years  after  the  expulsion  of  our  first  parents  from  Paradise,  tnt 
mman  race  was  increased  by  Eve's  being  delivered  of  two  sons,  the  firsiof  whom  she 
,alled  Cain,t  and  the  latter  Abel.||  As  these  two  brothers  were  of  different  disposi- 
tions, so,  wben  they  grew  up  to  years  of  maturity,  they  followed  different  employ- 
ments. Abel,  the  younger  was  just  in  his  dealings,  and  amiable  in  his  temper. 
Firmly  believing  that  God  saw  all  his  actions,  and  knew  their  motives,  he  carefully 
avoided  offending  his  beneficent  Maker,  and,  ui  the  simplicity  of  a  shepherd's  life, 
look  a  pleasure  in  practising  all  the  social  virtues.  On  the  contrary,  Cain  was  per- 
versely wicked,  and  avariciously  cravmg.     His  attention  was  principally  directed  to 

*  Milton  nvakes  Adam,  on  this  occasion,  express  himself  as  follows  : 

" -      How  shall  I  behold  the  face 

Henceforth  of  God  or  angel,  erst  with  joy 
And  raptures  oft  belield  ?— O  I  might  I  liere 
In  solitude  live  savase,  in  some  glade 
01)scured,  where  liigliest  woods  (impenetrable 
To  star  or  sunlight)  spread  their  umbrage  broad, 
And  brown  as  evening  ;  cover  me,  ye  pines  1 
Ye  cedars,  with  innumerable  bouglis, 
Hide  me,  where  I  never  may  see  tliem  more  I" 

t  The  words  in  the  text  are,  in  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shall  thou  eat  hiead ;  which  implies  that  labor  alone 
sliouid  produce  what,  if  he  had  not  transgressed,  nature  would  have  spontanctmslv  bestowed. 

X  As  soon  as  Eve  was  dehvered  of  her  first  child,  she  cried  out,  in  a  transport  of  joy,  /  have  gotten  a  man 
from  the  I^rd:  l>emg  persuaded  that  tliis  son  was  the  promised  seed  mentioned  bv  the  Almighty  in  the  sen- 
tence he  passed  on  the  serpent :  /  will  put  enmity  between  thee  and  the  tcoman,  and  between  thy  seed  and  her 
jteed.  tt  shall  br-uue  thy  head,  and  thou  shall  bruise  Ms  heel.     In  consequence  of  this  persuasion,  Eve  called 

i['n      ^"'^       '"'  ^'"'^'^  signifies  possession  or  aapiisition. 

II  The  word  Abel,  in  tliu  Ilehrcw  language,  signifies  vanili/,  and,  according  to  some,  was  given  liiin  as  an 
intimation  of  the  Utile  esteem  liis  mother  Ivad  for  lum  in  comparison  of  her  tirst-boin. 


HISTOUY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  2i 

husbandry :  but  with  all  the  benefits  arising  from  cultivation,  he  was  perpetually 
dissatisfied  at  what  the  earth  produced,  and,  from  his  natural  vile  disposition,  was 
guilty  of  the  first  murder  ever  committed. 

It  was  customary,  even  in  the  inlancy  of  the  world,  to  make  acknowledgments  to 
God  by  Avay  of  oblation.  This  being  agreed  on  by  these  two  brothers,  Cain  offered 
the  produce  of  his  husbandry,  and  such  fruits  as  nature  bestowed  bv  the  assistance 
of  art.  Abel's  oblation  consisted  of  the  milk  of  his  herds,  and  the  firstlings  of  his 
flocks.  The  Almighty  was  pleased  to  prefer  the  latter,  being  the  simple  productions 
of  nature,  to  the  former,  which,  no  doubt,  he  considered  as  the  interested  ofierings  of 
laboriovis  avarice.  This  preference  raised  the  resentment  of  Cain,  whose  soul  was 
so  impressed  with  hatred  toward  his  brother,  that  he  even  shoAved  it  in  his  coun- 
tenance. 

Tlie  Almighty,  knowing  the  secrets  of  Cain's  heart,  condescended,  in  his  great 
goodness,  to  expostulate  with  him  to  the  following  effect :  "  That  his  respect  to  true 
goodness  was  impartial,  wherever  he  found  it ;  and  that,  therefore,  it  was  purely  his 
own  fault  that  his  offering  was  not  equally  accepted:  that  piety  was  the  proper  dis- 
position for  a  sacrificer,  and  that  if  herem  he  would  emulate  his  brother,  the  same 
tokens  of  divine  approbation  should  attend  his  oblations:  that  it  was  madness  in  him 
to  liarbor  any  revengeful  thought  against  his  brother,  because,  if  he  proceeded  to  put 
them  into  execution,  a  dreadful  punishment  would  immediately  follow." 

This  kind  admonition  from  the  Almighty  had  so  little  effect  upon  Cain,  that,  in- 
stead of  being  sensible  of  his  fault,  and  endeavoring  to  amend,  he  grew  more  and  more 
incensed  against  his  brother,  and  at  length  formed  the  resolution  of  gratifying  his  re- 
venge by  depriving  him  of  his  existence.  Accordingly,  going  one  day  to  Abel,  and 
pretending  the  greatest  kindness  and  affection,  he  asked  if  he  would  walk  with  him 
in  the  fields,  as  the  weather  was  remarkably  fine  and  pleasant.  Abel,  little  suspect- 
uig  the  horrid  design  of  his  brother,  readily  complied  with  his  request,  when  the  latter 
had  no  sooner  got  him  to  a  convenient  spot,  than  he  fell  upon  him  and  killed  him  ;* 
after  which,  to  prevent  discovery,  he  dug  a  hole,  and  interred  the  body. 

But  it  was  not  long  before  Cain  was  called  to  an  account  for  this  horrid  deed.  The 
all-seemg  God,  from  whom  no  secrets  can  be  hid,  appeared  before  him,  and  demanded 
the  reason  of  his  brother's  absence.  Sensible  of  the  enormity  of  his  crime,  Cain  at- 
tempted to  reply ;  but  guilt,  for  a  time,  tied  his  tongue.  At  length,  in  faltering  ac- 
cents, he  tried  to  evade  what  he  did  not  dare  positively  to  answer.  He  pretended  to 
be  surprised  at  not  having  seen  his  brother  for  some  time ;  afld  likewise  observed, 
that  he  was  neither  the  guardian  of  Abel,  nor  empowered  to  watch  his  motions. 

On  this  the  Almighty  charged  Cain,  in  direct  terms,  with  the  murder  of  his  broths 
er ;  and,  after  expressing  to  him  the  atrociousness  of  the  crime,  and  how  much  i\ 
cried  to  heaven  for  vengeance,  proceeded  to  pass  sentence  on  him.  "  Now,"  says  he, 
"  art  thou  cursed  from  the  earth,  which  hath  opened  her  mouth  to  receive  thy  brother's 
blood  from  thy  hand.  When  thou  tillest  the  ground  it  shall  not  henceforth  yield  unto 
thee  her  strength ;  a  fugitive  and  a  vagabond  shalt  thou  be  in  the  earth." 

The  wretched  criminal,  struck  with  the  severity  of  this  denunciation,  convincet^of 
the  atrocious  nature  of  his  offence,  and  deploring  the  misery  of  his  situation,  ex- 
claimed, "  Mv  punishment  is  greater  than  I  can  bear."  He  was  apprehensive  of 
mceiinof  with  worse  evils  than  his  sentence  really  imported;  and  that  he  should  not 
only  feel  the  miseries  of  banishment,  but  likewise  be  subjected  to  the  loss  of  his  life 
by  "the  hands  of  his  fellow-creatures.  But,  to  ease  his  mind  in  this  last  respect,  the 
Almighty  was  pleased  to  declare  to  him,  that  whoever  should  slay  him,  vengeance 
should  be  taken  on  them  seven  fold.  He  likewise  set  a  particular  mark  on  him, 
whereby  he  might  escape  his  supposed  danger  ;  for  it  was  the  divine  intent  to  punish 
hira  by  the  prolongation  of  his  life,  duruig  the  remainder  of  which  he  should  be 
loaded  with  infamy,  and  under  all  the  horrors  of  a  guilty  conscience. 

In  consequence  of  the  divine  sentence,  Cain  left  his  parents  and  relations,  and 
went  into  a  strange  country.  He  was  banished  from  that  sacred  spot  where  the 
Almighty  had  given  frequent  manifestations  of  his  glorious  presence;  and  though  by 
the  divine  decree  no  person  was  permitted  to  hurt  him,  yet  the  consciousness  of  his 
own  guilt  made  him  fearful  of  everything  he  saw  or  heard.     After  wandering  about 

*  As  warlilce  instruments  were  not  at  tliis  time  in  use,  it  is  generally  supposed  tliat  Cain  murdered  Abel 
by  knocking  out  his  brains  either  with  a  stone  or  a  piece  of  wood ;  but  in  whatever  manner  it  was  done, 
this  we  know,  from  the  words  of  divine  revelation,  that  Cain  was  the  first  murderer,  and  Abel  the  person 
first  murdered. 


a*  A  MEW  AND  COMPLETE 

a  considerable  time  through  difTerent  countries,  he  at  length  settled  with  his  famil) 
in  the  land  of  Nod.  Here  he  lived  for  a  course  of  years,  in  which  time  his  descend- 
ants being  greatly  increased,  in  order  to  keep  them  together,  he  built  a  city,  and 
called  it  after  the  name  of  his  son  Enoch,  which,  in  the  Hebrew  tongue,  signifies  a 
dedication. 

From  the  loins  of  Cain,  in  regular  succession,  came  Laraech,  the  son  of  Methu- 
selah, who  introduced  polygamy  by  marrying  two  wives,  the  one  named  Adah,  and 
the  other  Zillah.  Among  the  children  by  the  former  of  these  wives  he  had  two 
sons,  namely,  Jabal  and  Jubal,  the  first  of  whom  made  great  improvements  in  the 
management  of  cattle,  and  the  other  invented  the  psaltery,  and  first  gave  melody  to 
music.  By  Zillah  he  had  Tubal-Cain,  who  was  celebrated  for  his  great  strength, 
excelled  in  martial  exercises,  and  first  discovered  the  art  of  forging  and  polishing 
metals.  Lamech  had  likewise  a  daughter  called  Naamah  (which  denotes  fair  and 
beautiful),  who  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  first  person  that  found  out  the  art  of 
spinning  and  weaving. 

Having  said  thus  much  of  Cain  and  his  posterity,  we  must  now  return  to  our 
primitive  parents,  Adam  and  Eve.  The  death  of  the  righteous  Abel  and  the  banish- 
ment of  Cain  afflicted  them  to  the  heart ;  and  they  continued  some  time  in  the 
deepest  lamentation.  At  length  the  Almighty  was  pleased  to  alleviate  their  afflic- 
tion by  a  promise  that  they  should  have  another  son,  who  should  be  a  comfort  and 
consolation  to  them  in  their  old  age.  Accordingly,  in  the  proper  course  of  time.  Eve 
was  delivered  of  another  boy,  whom  they  called  Selh,  which  signifies  substitute,  or 
appointed,  because  God  was  pleased  to  send  him  instead  of  "  Abel,  whom  Cain  slew." 
At  this  time  Adam  was  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  old,  after  which  he  lived  eight 
hundred  years,  and  begat  several  other  children,  both  sons  and  daughters. 

The  male  posterity  of  Adam,  in  the  line  ofSeth,  was  as  follows: — 

When  Seth  was  one  hundred  and  five  years  old,  he  had  a  son  named  Enos,  in 
whose  days  the  sacred  historian  informs  us  that  men  began  to  institute  stated  forms 
and  ceremonies  in  the  worship  of  Almighty  God.  After  the  birth  of  Enos,  Seth  lived 
eight  hundred  and  seven  years,  so  that  the  whole  of  his  life  was  nine  hmidred  and 
twelve  years. 

Enos,  at  the  age  of  ninety,  had  a  son,  whom  he  named  Cainan  ;  after  which  he 
lived  eight  hundred  and  fifteen  years ;  in  the  whole  nine  hundred  and  five. 

Caipan,  when  seventy,  had  a  son  named  Mahalaleel ;  after  which  he  lived  eight 
hundred  and  forty  years ;  in  all  nine  hundred  and  ten. 

Mahalaleel,  when  sixty-five,  had  a  son  named  Jared ;  after  which  he  lived  eight 
hundred  years ;  in  all  eight  hundred  and  sixty-five. 

Jared,  when  one  hundred  and  sixty-two,  had  a  son  named  Enoch  ;*  after  which  he 
lived  eight  hundred  years  ;  in  all  nine  hundred  and  sixty-two. 

Enoch,  when  sixty-five,  had  a  son  named  Methuselah  ;  after  which  he  lived  three 
hundred  years ;  in  all  three  hundred  and  sixty-five. 

Methuselah,  when  one  hundred  and  eighty-seven,  had  a  son  named  Lamech ;  after 
•vfhich  he  lived  seven  hundred  and  eighty-two  years;  in  all  nine  hundred  and  sixty- 
nhie. 

Lamech,  when  one  hundred  and  eighty-two,  had  a  son  named  Noah  ;  after  which 
he  lived  five  hundred  and  ninety-five  years  ;  in  all  seven  hundred  and  seventy-seven. 

And  Noah,  when  five  hundred  years  old,  had  three  sons,  Shem,  Ham,  and  Japh^jt ; 
from  whom  the  world  was  replenished  after  the  general  deluge. 

This  is  the  genealogy  which  Moses  gives  us  of  the  posterity  of  Adam,  in  the  I'ine 
of  Seth  ;  and  if  we  consider  the  prodigious  length  of  men's  lives  in  this  age,  the 
strength  of  their  constitutions  from  a  temperate  life,  and  the  advanced  years  in  which 
they  begat  children,  the  number  of  mhabitants  previous  to  the  flood  must  have  been 
very  immense. 

The  descendants  of  Seth,  and  those  of  Cain,  lived  separate  for  a  considerable  time, 
the  former  despising  the  latter  on  account  of  their  natural  cruelty.  The  Sethites, 
who  adhered  to  the  service  of  God,  and  diligently  attended  to  their  religious  duties, 
were  styled  the  "Sons  of  God;"  m  distinction  to  which  the  descendants  of  Cain, 
who  led  profligate  and  impious  lives,  were  termed  the  "  sons  and  daughters  of  men." 

•  Of  all  the  posterity  of  Adam,  the  most  remarkable  is  Enoch,  who,  for  his  distinguished  piety  and  vir 
tue,  was  exuinptcd  from  mortality,  being  iriunoiliuloly,  that  is,  without  passing  tlirough  the  valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death,  translated  to  the  heavenly  mansions. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  25 

After  the  death  of  Adam,*  the  Sethites  retired  from  the  plain  where  they  had 
hitherto  resided,  to  the  mountains  opposite  paradise ;  and,  for  some  time,  continued 
to  live  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  to  preserve  the  strictest  rules  of  piety  and  virtue.  In 
the  course  of  time,  the  descendants  of  Cain,  who  were  now  become  very  numerous, 
spread  themselves  over  all  that  part  of  the  country  which  had  been  left  by  the  Seth- 
ites, even  to  the  confines  of  the  mountains  where  Seth  had  fixed  his  abode  ;  and  here 
they  continued  that  abandoned  course  of  life  they  had  followed  before  their  removal. 

By  this  close  connexion,  the  Sethites  had  frequent  opportunities  of  seeing  the 
daughters  of  Cain,  who  being  exceeding  beautiful,  they  were  so  captivated  with 
their  charms,  that  they  entered  into  nuptial  alliances  with  them  ;  and  from  this 
intercourse  were  born  men  of  a  very  gigantic  size,  who  were  no  less  remarkable  for 
their  daring  wickedness,  than  for  their  bold  and  adventurous  undertakings.  Thus 
did  the  example  of  the  wicked  family  of  Cain  prevail,  and,. by  degrees,  destroy  all 
the  remains  of  religious  duties  in  the  posterity  of  Seth.  The  righteous  Noah  used 
his  utmost  efforts  to  convince  them  of  the  enormity  of  their  conduct ;  but  all  his 
admonitions  were  in  vain :  the  bent  of  their  thoughts  had  taken  another  turn,  and 
iheir  whole  study  and  contrivance  was,  how  to  gratify  their  inordinate  passions. 

This  universal  depravity  of  mankind  so  offended  the  Almighty,  that,  as  the  sacred 
historian  mforms  us,  he  "  repented  that  he  had  made  man  on  the  earth  "f  and,  as 
a  proper  punishment  for  their  offences,  thought  of  destroying  not  only  the  whole  of 
the  human  race  (Noah  and  his  family  excepted),  but  also  the  brute  creation,  which 
he  had  formed  for  the  use  of  ungrateful  man.  But  before  the  Almighty  fixed  the 
resolution  of  executing  his  design,  he  thought  proper  to  give  one  chance  to  the  prin- 
cipal objects  of  his  resentment,  which  was,  that  if,  in  the  space  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  years,  they  should  forsake  their  evil  ways,  repent,  and.  reform,  his  mercy 
should  be  at  liberty  to  interpose  and  reverse  their  doom.  This  he  communicated  to 
his  servant  Noah,  who,  for  his  great  justice  and  piety,  had  found  favor  in  his  sight ; 
and  for  which  his  family  (consisting  only  of  eight  persons)  were  to  be  exempted  from 
the  general  destruction. 

Notwithstanding  the  merciful  and  beneficent  promises  of  the  Almighty,  yet  such 
was  the  corrupt  state  of  mankind  at  this  time,  and  so  lost  were  they  to  every  sense 
of  virtue,  that  they  still  prosecuted  their  vicious  courses,  and  subjected  themselves  to 
the  consequences  of  the  divine  displeasure.  Findhig,  therefore,  that  all  lenity  and 
forbearance  tended  to  no  purpose,  except  to  make  them  more  bold  and  licentious, 
God  at  length  made  known  to  his  servant  Noah  his  awful  determination  of  involving 
them,  and  the  earth  they  inhabited,  in  one  general  destruction,  by  a  flood  of  water. 
He  likewise  assured  him  that  as  he  had,  in  a  particular  manner,  testified  his  fidelity 
to  his  Maker,  he  would  take  care  to  preserve  him  and  his  family,  together  with  such 
other  creatures  as  were  necessary  for  the  restoration  of  their  species  from  the  general 
calamity.  To  effect  this,  he  gave  him  orders  to  make  an  ark,  or  large  vessel  of 
gopher-wood, t  and,  that  it  might  be  secured  from  the  violence  of  the  waves,  to  pitch 
it  both  within  and  without.  The  form  and  dimensions  of  this  building  are  thus 
described  by  the  sacred  historian  :  "  And  this  is  the  form  which  thou  shalt  make  it 
of:  the  length  of  the  work  shall  be  three  hundred  cubits,  the  breadth  of  it  fifty 
cubits,  and  the  height  of  it  thirty  cubits.     A  wuidow  shalt  thou  make  to  the  ark, 

*  The  sacred  historian  does  not  inform  us  at  what  exact  period  Adam  paid  the  debt  of  nature,  nor  in  what 
place  his  remains  were  deposited.  Tlie  ancient  Arabians  tell  us  that  he  was  buried  at  Hebron,  in  the  cave 
of  Maclipelah,  which  Abraham,  many  ages  after,  bought  for  a  burying-place  for  himself  and  family.  They 
likewise  say  that  when  Adam  found  his  end  approaching,  he  called  liis  son  Seth,  and  the  other  branches  of 
his  inimerous  family,  to  whom  he  gave  a  strict  charge  that  they  should  always  Uve  separate,  and  have  no 
manner  of  intercourse  with  the  inipioua  family  of  the  murderer  Cain. 

t  This  expression  must  not  be  taker  n  the  literal  sense  of  the  words, /or  God  is  not  the  son  of  man  that  he 
should  repent ;  but  it  is  a  figurative  expression,  and  adapted  to  our  apprehensions.  The  meaning,  llierefore, 
is,  that  as  all  men  were  corrupt,  and  turning  a  deaf  ear  to  his  preacher  Noah,  the  Almighty  was  determined 
to  destroy  man  whom  he  had  created. 

t  When  we  consider  that  "^^3  and  Kvirapiiraos  have  the  same  radical  consonants,  we  are  at  once  led  to 
select  a  species  of  cypress  as  the  "  gopher-wood,"  or  rather  the  gopher-tree  in  question.  The  wood  of  the 
cypress  possesses  an  unrivalled  fame  for  its  durability,  and  its  resistance  to  those  injuries  which  are  inci- 
dent to  other  kinds  of  wood.  The  divine  appointment  had  doubtless  a  reason  founded  in  the  nature  of 
things,  and  no  better  reason  can  be  found  than  the  matchless  excellence  of  the  wood  recommended.  The 
compact  and  durable  nature  of  the  cypress  rendered  it  peculiarly  eligible  for  sacred  purposes:  hence  we 
find  it  was  employed  in  the  construction  of  coffins  among  the  Athenians,  and  mummy-cases  among  the 
Egyptians.  The  cupressus  sempervirens,  a  straight  and  elegant  tree  of  tlie  cone-bearing  family,  seems  there- 
fore to  have  the  best  title  to  the  credit  of  having  furnished  the  material  for  the  most  important  vessel  that 
was  ever  constructed 


a6  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

and  in  a  cubit  shall  thou  finish  it  above  ;  and  the  door  of  the  ark  shalt  thou  set  in 
the  side  thereof;  wiih  lower,  second,  and  third  stories  shalt  thou  make  it."* 

TTaving  received  these  instructions  from  God,  Noah,  in  obedience  to  the  divine 
command,  immediately  set  about  the  arduous  work,  which  he  finished,  according  to 
God's  direction,  seven  days  before  the  rain  began  to  fall,  having  been  encouraged  so 
to  do  by  an  assurance  from  his  Maker,  that  though  he  meant  to  destroy  the  world  in 
general,  yet  he  would  establish  his  covenant  with  him. 

The  ark  being  finished,  the  Almighty  commanded  Noah  to  take  into  it  "  every 
living  thing  of  all  flesh,"  both  cattle  and  beasts  of  the  field,  birds  and  fowls  of  the 
air,  and  reptiles  of  all  kinds ;  of  the  unclean  only  one  pair  each-,  but  of  the  clean, 
seven  pair.  That  he  should  likewise  make  a  proper  provision  of  food  for  the  difier- 
ent  animals ;  and,  having  placed  them  in  their  respective  apartments,  should  then 
enter  the  ark  himself,  taking  with  him  his  wife,  together  with  his  sons  and  their 
wives. 

All  things  being  adjusted  agreeably  to  the  divine  direction,  Noah  entered  the  ark, 
with  his  family,  in  the  six  hundredth  year  of  his  age  ;  and  on  the  seventeenth  day  of 
the  second  month  (which  was  seven  days  after  his  entrance)  the  whole  face  of  nature 
began  to  Avear  a  gloomy  aspect,  and  to  appear  as  if  the  earth  was  to  be  finally  dis- 
solved, and  all  things  return  to  their  primitive  chaos.  The  wmdows  or  cataracts  of 
heaven  were  opened,  and  the  earth  was  overspread  with  a  dreadful  inundation.  In 
vain  did  sinful  mortals  seek  for  protection,  or  endeavor  to  shelter  themselves  from 
the  connnon  destruction  ;  for  mountains  and  valleys  were  soon  alike,  and  every  refuge 
Avas  banished  their  sight.  For  forty  days  and  nights  did  the  rain  continue  to  fall, 
without  the  least  intermission  ;  when  at  length  the  ark  began  to  float,  and,  in  process 
of  time,  was  elevated  above  the  highest  mountains.  A  dismal  scene  now  presented 
itself!  the  earth,  with  all  its  beautiful  variety  of  nature  and  art,  was  no  more  I 
nothing  appeared  to  the  sight  but  a  watery  desert,  abomiding  with  wrecks  of  the 
once  lovely  creation.! 

The  Almighty  having  thus  avenged  himself  of  a  sinful  world,  and  reflecting  upon 
Noah,  and  the  poor  remains  of  his  creatures  in  the  ark,  caused  a  drying  north  wind 
to  arise,  the  flood-gates  of  heaven  to  be  stopped,  and  the  falling  of  the  waters  to 
cease ;  by  which  means  the  deluge  began  to  abate,  and  the  waters  gradually  sub- 
siding, in  process  of  time  the  earth  again  appeared. 

The  first  discovery  Noah  made  of  the  cessation  of  the  flood  was,  from  the  ark 

*  There  is  much  difference  of  opinion  about  the  form  of  the  ark.  The  common  figures  are  given  under 
the  irapi'cs.sioa  tliat  it  was  intended  to  be  adapted  to  progressive  motion  ;  whereas  no  other  object  was 
sou'^ht  thai',  to  construct  a  vessel  which  should  float  for  a  given  time  upon  the  water.  For  this  purpose  it 
was  not  necessary  to  place  the  ark  in  a  sort  of  boat,  as  in  the  common  figures ;  and  we  may  be  content 
with  the  simple  idea  which  the  text  gives,  which  is  that  of  an  enormous  oblong  box,  or  wooden  house, 
divided  into  three  stories,  and  apparently  with  a  sloping  roof.  The  most  moderate  statement  of  its  dinien- 
.s'ions  makes  the  ark  by  far  the  largest  of  vessels  ever  made  to  float  upon  the  water.  As  the  measurements 
are  given,  the  only  doubt  is  as  to  which  of  the  cubit  measures  used  by  the  Hebrews  is  here  intended.  It 
seems  that  the  standard  of  the  original  cubit  was  the  length  of  a  man's  arm  from  the  elbow  to  the  end  of 
the  middle  finger,  or  about  eighteen  inches.  This  was  the  common  cubit ;  but  there  was  also  a  sacred  cubit, 
which  some  call  a  hand's  breadth  (three  inches)  larger  than  the  common  one ;  while  others  make  the 
sacred  cubit  twice  the  length  of  the  common.  The  probability  is  that  there  were  two  cubit  measures  be- 
side the  common  ;  one  being  of  twenty-one  inches,  and  the  other  of  three  feet.  Some  writers  add  the 
geometrical  cubit  of  nine  feet.  Shuckford  says  we  must  take  the  common  or  shortest  cubit  as  that  foi  the 
ark  ;  and  Dr.  Hales,  taking  this  advice,  obtained  the  following  result :  "  It  must  have  been  of  the  burden 
of  42,413  tons.  A  first-rate  man-of-war  is  between  2,200  and  2,300  tons  ;  and,  consequently,  the  capacity  or 
stowage  of  eighteen  such  ships,  the  largest  in  present  use,  and  might  carry  20,000  men,  with  provisiojis  for 
six  months,  besides  the  weight  of  1,800  cannon  and  all  military  stores.  It  was  then  by  much  the  largest 
ship  ever  built." 

t  The  Drluqe.— From  the  original  by  Nicholas  Pousizn.— Several  great  masters  have  treated  this  subject, 
but  none  of  their  productions  have  acquired  the  celebrity  of  our  engraving,  by  Poussin.  All  others  have 
chosen  but  partial  scenes  or  episodes— either  the  beginning  or  the  end— of  this  terrible  inrtiction. 
Poussin  alone  has  ventured  to  imbody  the  whole  of  this  all-engulfing  cateclysm,  and  show  its  frightful 
catastrophe  :  he  alone  has  dared  to  render  that  tremendous  sentence  :  "  All  tlesh  died  that  moved  upon 
the  earth,  both  of  fowl  and  of  cattle,  and  of  beast,  and  of  every  creeping  thmg  that  creepeth  upon  the 
earth,  and  every  man."  The  air  is  laboring  with  the  full-swollen  clouds  ;  the  rain  descends  in  torrents  , 
the  sun,  obscured,  tlirows  but  a  dull  and  feeble  light ;  the  overwhelming  floods  have  long  confounded  the 
hills  with  the  plains,  and  already  readied  the  summits  of  the  highest  mountains.  The  foaming  waves  in 
the  centre  of  the  awful  scene,  rolling  in  irresistible  volumes,  dash  against  the  rock  the  frail  bark  of  one 
who  had  vainly  leaped  thereon  Ui  find  a  refuge,  and  now  raises  his  imploring  hands  to  inexorable  Heaven. 
In  front  a  family  are  still  stiiiggiing  to  escape  tlieir  fate  ;  while  the  ark  fioats  away  in  the  distance-  Novel 
was  execution  more  adapted  to  its  subject— abounding  in  gloomy  and  terrific  images,  presented  with  appal- 
ling truth.  This  chef  d'ceuvre  was  the  last  labor  of  Poussin :  he  finished  it  in  1664,  at  the  age  of  70,  and 
died  in  the  following  year. 


28  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

resting  on  the  mountains  of  Ararat.*  This  was  about  the  beginnina^  of  May,  and 
about  the  middle  oi'  ihe  following  month  the  tops  of  the  mountains  appeared.  Eut 
Noah  (who,  no  doubt,  was  glad  to  see  the  appearance  of  anything  substantial  afier 
so  lonrr  a  coaiinement),  wisely  considering,  that  though  the  moui, tains  were  visible, 
the  valleys  might  be  yet  overfiuwed,  waited  forty  days  longer  before  he  attempted 
any  funher  discovery.  At  the  expiration  of  ihaf  time,  opening  the  window  of  the 
ark,  he  let  go  a  raven,  supposing  that  the  scent  of  dead  bodies  would  allure  him  to 
fly  a  considerable  distance.  Encouraged  by  the  absence  of  the  raven  for  seven  days, 
he  let  fly  a  dove,  which,  finding  no  resting-place,  returned  to  its  old  habiiation. , 
Seven  days  after  he  sent  out  the  same  bird,  which  then  returned  with  an  olive-branch 
in  its  mouth,  a  happy  certainty  that  the  waters  were  removed  from  die  place  where 
the  olive-tree  stood.  Still,  however,  determined  not  to  be  too  hasiy,  he  remained  in 
the  ark  seven  days  more,  when  sending  uut  the  dove  a  third  time,  and  she  not  return- 
ing, he  concluded  that  the  waters  were  entirely  withdrawn,  ju  consequence  uf  this 
he  made  the  necessary  preparations  for  leaving  the  ark;  but,  mindlul  of  Cod's 
directions,  ventured  not  forth  till  fifty-five  days  after,  in  order  that  the  earth  might 
be  properly  dry  for  his  reception.  Having,  at  the  expiration  of  that  period,  received 
God's  positive  command  to  leave  the  ark,  he  accordingly  came  out  of  it  on  the 
twenty-seventh  day  of  the  second  month,  bringmg  with  him  every  creature  that  had 
been  retained  for  replenishing  the  earui.  'i'hus  ended  Jxoah's  Iciig  and  melanchc  ly 
confinement,  which,  from  the  time  of  his  entering  the  ark  to  that  of  his  leaving  it, 
amomited  exactly  to  one  solar  year. 

The  first  thing  Noah  did,  after  quitting  the  ark,  was  to  erect  an  altar,  on  which  he 
ofl'ered  sacrifices  to  God,  for  his  great  goodness  in  preserving  him  and  his  family 
from  the  general  destruction.  The  Almighty,  knowing  the  purity  of  Noah's  inten- 
tions, was  so  well  pleased  with  his  conduct,  that  he  gave  him  his  divine  assurance 
that  he  would  never  more  "curse  the  ground  for  man's  sake,"  nor  should  the  earth 
ever  be  again  destroyed  by  a  general  deluge.  In  confirmation  of  this,  he  appointed 
a  bowi'  10  appear  in  the  heavens  as  a  token,  and  whicii  was  uuw  lO  be  tiie  raiuica- 
tion  of  the  truth  of  his  promise. 

Having,  by  this  divine  promise,  eased  the  mind  of  Noah,  Avho  was  fearful  of  a 
second  deluge,  the  Almighty,  after  blessing  him  and  his  sons,  granted  them  many 
singular  privileges,  such  as  far  exceeded  those  he  had  besiowed  on  our  primitive 
parents.  Before  the  flood,  mankind  had  no  other  food  than  vegetables;  but  now  the 
Almighty,  after  giving  Noah  and  his  sons  the  same  domhiion  over  the  creation  as 
he  had  done  Adam,  permitted  them  to  kill  any  creatures  they  thought  proper  for 
food,  only  with  this  restriction,  that  they  should  not  eat  "  the  blood  thereof"  This 
restraint  was  certainly  laid  by  God  to  prevent  the  shedding  of  human  blood,  against 
which  he  denounces  the  followmg  sentence :    "  Whoso  sheddeth  man's  blood,  by 

♦  It  is  generally  admitted  that  the  mountain  on  which  the  ark  rested  lies  in  Armenia ;  although  there  are 
some  who  contend  that  it  must  be  souglit  in  Cashgar,  on  the  extension  eastward  ot  the  great  Caucasian 
chain.  The  investigations  of  recent  Jiiblical  critics  liave,  however,  tended  to  strengthen  the  orisinal  con- 
viction in  favor  of  tlie  Armenian  mountain.  The  particular  mountain  to  wlncii  (leople  of  dMferent  n:it\<jns 
and  religions  concur  in  awarding  this  distinction  is  situated  in  N.  lat.  39°  3U',  and  E.  long.  -11°  30',  in  tlie 
vast  cliain  of  Taurus,  and  nearly  in  the  centre  l)etween  tlie  southern  extremities  of  llie  Black  and  tlie 
Caspian  seas.  Us  summit  is  elevated  17,20U  feet  above  tlie  level  of  tlie  sea,  and  is  always  covered  \'.  ith 
snow,  as  indeed  is  the  wliole  mountain,  for  three  or  four  montlis  in  tlie  year.  It  is  a  very  grand  object, 
being  not  merely  a  higli  summit  in  a  chain  of  elevated  mountains,  but  standing  as  it  wen;  apart  and  alo;ic  ; 
the  minor  mountains,  which  seem  to  branch  out  trom  it  and  decline  away  in  the  distance,  being  so  per- 
fccUy  insignificant  in  comparison,  that  the  sublime  effect  of  this  most  magniiiceiit  mountain  is  not  al  all 
impaired,  or  its  proportions  hidden  l)y  them.  This  great  mountain  is  separated  into  two  heads,  dislin 
guished  as  the  Great  and  Little  Anirat,  which  nerliaps  accounts  for  the  plural  expression,  "  mounlams,' 
of  the  text.  The  heads  form  distinct  cones,  separated  by  a  wide  chasm  or  glen,  which  renders  the  distance 
between  the  two  peaks  12,000  yards.  One  of  them  is  much  smaller  than  the  other,  and  Ibrins  a  more 
regular  and  pointed  cone  :  it  is  also  much  lower,  and  its  summit  is  clear  of  snOw  in  summer.  The  Arme- 
nians, who  have  many  religious  establishments  in  its  vicinity,  regard  the  mountain  with  intense  veneration, 
and  are  firmly  persuaded  that  the  ark  is  still  preserved  on  its  summit. 

t  "  /  do  net  mij  how  in  the  cloud"- The  rallicr  equivocal  sense  of  the  word  "  set"  in  Englisli  lias  occa- 
sioned a  very  mistaken  imptessiuii,  which  has  led  to  some  cavils,  which  the  use  of  the  morf  projior  woid 
"appoint"  would  have  prevented.  As  it  stands,  it  has  been  understood  to  say  that  the  rainbo.v  was  al  lliis 
time  first  produced:  whereas,  as  its  appearance  is  occusioned  by  the  immutable  laws  of  refraction  and 
reflection,  as  applied  to  the  rays  of  the  sun  striking  on  drops  of  falling  rain,  we  know  that  l!io  plicnomeiion 
must  have  been  occasionally  exhibited  from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  as  at  present  constituted.  Aocord- 
ingly,  the  text  says  no  more  than  that  the  rainbow  was  then  appointed  to  i)e  a  token  ol  the  covenant 
between  God  and  man.  Our  engraving  is  a  view  of  MoiiNT  Ararat,  from  the  lulls  above  Erivan,  diawn 
oy  A.  \f'.  Calcatt,  from  a  sketch  made  on  the  spot  by  J.  Morier,  Esii. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE, 


80 


30  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

man  shall  his  blood  be  shed."  "With  these  grants  and  promises,  God  gave  tlie  same 
encouragement  to  Noah  and  his  family  that  he  did  to  our  first  progenitors,  by  teiiiag 
them  to  "  be  fruitful  and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth." 

Though  (he  deluge  had  destroyed  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  (except  what 
were  retained  in  the  ark  for  forming  the  new  world),  yet  the  vegetable  part  of  the 
creaiiou  still  existed,  and,  in  a  short  time,  by  the  genial  warmth  of  the  sun,  again 
appeared  in  all  its  glory. 

Previous  to  the  flood,  Noah  had  directed  his  attention  to  husbandry,*  and  the 
eanh  having  now  resumed  its  former  appearance,  he  betook  himself  to  the  same 
employment.  Among  other  improvements,  he  planted  a  vmeyard,  and,  prompted 
by  natural  curiosity  to  taste  tbe  fruit  of  his  own  labor,  invented  a  machine  for  ex- 
tracting the  juice  iVom  the  grape.  Pleased  with  the  taste  of  the  liquor,  and  being 
unacquainted  with  the  strength  of  it,  he  unwisely  gave  a  loose  to  indulgence,  and, 
by  drinking  too  freely,  became  quite  intoxicated.  In  consequence  of  this,  he  laid 
himself  down  to  sleep  in  his  tent,  where,  either  from  the  rustling  of  the  wind,  or  the 
discotnposure  of  his  body,  he  was  uncovered  on  that  part  whicii  natural  modesty 
leaches  us  to  conceal. 

Thij  circumsiance  produced  the  first  instance  of  human  degeneracy  after  the  flood. 
The  old  world  was  destroyed  for  the  wickedness  of  its  inhabitants,  and  therefore  it 
might  have  been  expected  that  the  new  world  would  haVe  been  filled  with  peojde 
of  a  better  disposition  :  but,  as  in  the  ark  there  were  unclean  as  well  as  clean  beasis, 
so  in  the  family  of  Noaii  there  were  two  good  sons  and  one  naturally  wicked,  the 
two  former  being  Shem  and  Japhet,  and  the  latter  Ham. 

The  unseemly  situation  of  Noah,  from  his  intoxication,  was  first  discovered  by 
this  wicked  son,  who,  instead  of  covering  his  father's  nakedness  and  concealing  his 
shame,  exposed  his  weakness,  and  made  him  the  subject  of  his  scorn  and  derision. 
But  his  brothers  were  far  from  being  pleased  with  his  conduct :  po^essed  of  filial 
piety,  and  moved  at  the  indecent  posture  of  their  aged  parent,  they  no  sooner  saw 
him  than  they  ran  and  fetched  a  garment,  and  immediately  covered  that  nakedness 
which  their  pious  modesty  would  not  permit  them  to  behold. 

When  Noah  recovered  from  the  stupefaction  into  wiiich  the  wine  had  thrown 
him,  and  was  informed  of  the  unworthy  manner  in  which  his  son  Ham  had  treated 
him,  he  cursed  his  race,  in  the  person  of  Canaan,  his  grandson :  "  Cursed,"  said  he, 
"  be  Canaan:  a  servant  of  servants  shall  he  be  to  his  brethren."  On  the  contrary, 
reflecting  how  respectfully  his  other  two  sons  behaved,  he  rewarded  their  pious  care 
with  giving  each  his  blessing ;  all  which,  in  process  of  time,  was  fulfilled  m  their 
posterity. 

These  are  all  the  particulars  given  us  by  the  sacred  historian  relativ^  to  Noah, 
except  that  he  lived  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the  deluge,  and  paid  the 
debt  of  nature  at  the  age  of  nine  hmidred  and  fifty.  At  what  exact  period  he  died 
we  are  not  informed,  neither  the  place  of  his  interment;  but,  accordmg  to  oriental 
tradition,  his  remains  were  deposited  in  some  part  of  Mesopotamia. 


CHAPTER    III. 

It  is  not  in  the  least  to  be  doubted  but  that  Noah  and  his  family,  for  some  years 
after  the  flood,  continued  to  reside  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  mountains  of  Armenia, 
where  the  ark  had  rested.  But  his  descendants,  in  the  course  of  time,  having  a  nu- 
merous progeny,  the  greater  part  of  them  quitted  their  primitive  spot,  and  directing 
their  course  eastward,  came  at  length  to  the  plain  of  Shinar,  on  the  banks  of  the 
river  Euphrates.  Attracted  by  the  beauty  of  the  place,  the  convenience  of  its  situa- 
tion, and  the  natural  fertility  of  the  soil,  they  resolved  not  to  proceed  any  further, 
but  to  make  this  their  fixed  place  of  residence. 

Having  formed  this  resolution,  in  order  to  render  themselves  conspicuous  to  future 

•  It  is  conceived  that  Noah  considerably  advanced  agriculture  by  inventing  more  suitable  implements 
than  had  previously  been  in  use.  We  find  no  grounds  for  this  conjecture  in  tlie  text ;  but  it  \a  by  no  means 
unlikely  that  the  demand  upon  his  mechanic  ingenuity  in  the  construction  of  the  ark  had  guaiiAed  liini  for 
"nproving  the  agricultural  implements  previously  in  use 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


31 


32  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

ffenerations,  they  determined  to  erect  a  city,*  and  in  it  a  building  of  such  stupendous 
height  as  should  be  the  wonder  of  the  world.  Their  principal  motives  in  doing  this 
were,  to  keep  themselves  together  in  one  body,  that  by  their  united  strength  and 
counsels,  as  the  world  increased,  they  might  bring  others  under  their  subjection, 
and  thereby  become  masters  of  the  universe. 

The  idea  of  the  intended  tower  gave  them  the  most  singular  satisfaction,  and  the 
novel tv  of  the  design  induced  them  to  enter  upon  its  construction  with  the  greatest 
alacriiv.  One  inconvenience,  however,  arose,  of  which  they  were  not  apprized, 
namely,  there  being  no  stone  in  the  country  wherewith  to  build  it.  But  this  defect 
was  soon  supplied  by  the  nature  of  the  soil,  which  being  clayey,  they  soon  converted 
into  brick?,  and  cemented  them  together  Avith  a  pitchy  substance,  called  bitumen, 
the  country  producing  that  article  in  great  abundance. 

As  the  artificers  were  numerous,  the  work  was  carried  on  with  great  expedition, 
and  in  a  short  time  the  walls  were  raised  to  a  great  height.  But  the  Almighty, 
being  dissatisfied  with  their  proceedings,  thought  proper  to  interpose,  and  totally 
put  an  end  to  their  ambitious  project;  so  that  this  first  attempt  of  their  vanity  be- 
come only  a  monument  of  their  folly  and  weakness. 

Thou£rh  the  descendants  of  Noah  Were  at  this  time  exceedingly  numerous,  yet 
they  all  spoke  one  language.!  In  order,  therefore,  to  render  their  undertaking  inef- 
fectual, and  to  lessen  the  towering  hopes  of  these  aspiring  mortals,  the  Almighty 
formed  the  resolution  of  confounding  their  language.  In  consequence  of  this,  a  uni- 
versal jargon  suddenly  took  place,  and  the  different  dialects  caused  such  a  distraction 

*  Babylon.— Tliis  city  arose  from  the  building  of  Babel,  and  became  the  famous  capital  of  Chaldea.  This 
t/iost  celeljrated  metropolis  of  tlie  East,  enlarged  by  Belus,  and  further  extended  by  Queen  Semiramis, 
about  the  year  1200  B.  C,  reached  its  summit  of  magnificence  under  Nebuchadnezzar,  about  the  year  570 
B  C,  or  when  further  embellished  by  his  daughter-in-law  Nitocris.  Its  magnitude  was  4f>0  furlongs,  or  60 
miles  in  compass,  being  an  exact  square  of  15  miles  on  each  side.  Its  walls  were  built  of  brick  laid  in 
bitumen,  87  feet  thick,  and  350  feet  high,  on  which  were  250  towers,  or,  according  to  some,  316.  The 
materials  for  building  tbe  wall  were  dug  from  a  vast  ditch  or  moat,  which  was  lined  with  brick-work,  and, 
being  filled  with  water  from  the  river  Euphrates,  surrounded  the  city  as  a  defence.  The  city  had  100  gates 
of  solid  brass,  one  at. each  end  of  its  50  streets,  150  feet  wide  :  these  crossed  the  city;  so. that  the  wliole 
was  divided  into  076  squares,  four  and  a  half  furlongs  on  each  side,  around  which  were  houses,  the  inner 
parts  being  reserved  for  gardens,  pleasure-grounds,  and  fields.  Facing  the  wall,  on  every  side,  was  a  row 
of  houses,  with  a  street  between,  of  2U0  feet  wide  ;  and  tlie  city  was  divided  into  equal  parts  by  the  rivei 
Euphrates,  over  which  was  a  bridge,  and  at  each  end  of  it  a  palace,  communicating  with  each  other  undei 
the  river  by  a  sulrterraneous  passage.  Near  to  the  old  palace  stood  the  tower  of  Babel :  this  prodigious 
pile,  being  completed,  consisted  of  eight  towers,  each  75  feet  higli,  rising  one  upon  another,  with  an  out 
side  winding  staircase,  to  its  summit,  which,  with  its  chapel  on  the  top,  reached  an  elevation  of  660  feet 
In  this  chapel  was  a  golden  image  40  feet  high,  valued  at  $17,500,000,  and  the  wliole  of  the  sacred  utensils 
were  reckoned  worth  $200,000,000  I  Besides  these  wonders,  were  the  hanging  gardens,  on  a  series  of 
elevated  terraces,  the  uppermost  equalling  the  height  of  the  city  walls,  and  having  a  reservoir,  supplied 
by  a  machine  with  \vater  from  the  river.  This  great  work  was  designed  by  Nebuchadnezzar  to  represent 
a  hilly  country,  for  the  gratification  of  his  wife  Amytis,  a  native  of  Media.  Babylon  nourished  for  nearly 
200  years  in  this  scale  of  grandeur  ;  during  which  idolatry,  pride,  cruelty,  and  every  abomination,  prevailed 
among  all  ranks  of  the  people  ;  wh"n  God,  by  his  prophets,  denounced  its  utter  ruin,  and  which  was 
accordingly  accomplished,  commencing  with  Cyrus  taking  the  city,  after  a  siege  of  two  years,  in  the  yeai 
538  B.  C,  to  emancipate  the  .lews,  as  foretold  by  the  prophets.  By  successive  overtlirows,  this  once 
"glory  of  the  Chaldees'  excellency,"  this  "lady  of  kingdoms,"  has  become  a  "desolation,"  "  without  an 
inhabitant,"  and  its  temple  a  vast  heap  of  rubbish  1  Daniel  u.  vi.,  Isaiah  xiii.  xlv.,  Jeremiah  1.  li.  "  Birs 
Nemroud,"  as  the  ancient  tower  of  Babel  is  called,  Mr.  Rich  says,  "  is  a  mound  of  an  oblong  form,  the 
total  circumference  of  which  is  762  yards.  At  tlie  eastern  side  it  is  cloven  by  a  deep  fuirow,  and  is  not 
more  than  50  or  60  feet  high  ;  but  on  the  western  side  it  rises  in  a  conical  figure  to  the  (Icvatioa  of  198 
feet,  and  on  its  summit  is  a  solid  pile  of  brick,  37  feet  high  by  28  in  breadth,  diminishing  in  thickness  to  the 
top,  which  is  broken  and  irregular,  and  rent  by  a  large  fissure  extending  through  a  third  of  its  height.  It 
is  perforated  by  small  holes,  disposed  in  rlwmboids.  The  fire-burnt  bricks  of  wliich  it  i.-;  built  have  inscrip- 
tions on  them  :  and  so  excellent  is  the  cement,  which  appears  to  be  lime-mortar,  tliat  it  is  nearly  impossible 
to  extract  one  wliole.  The  other  parts  of  the  summit  of  this  hill  are  occupied  by  immense  fragments  of 
brick-work,*  of  no  determinate  figure,  tumbled  together,  and  converted  into  solid  vitrified  masses,  as  if 
they  had  undergone  the  action  of  the  fiercest  fire,  or  had  been  blown  up  with  gunpow  der,  the  layers  of 
brick  being  perfectly  discernible."    These  ruins  proclaim  the  divinity  of  the  Holy  Scriptures ! 

t  Language,  or  human  speech.  Genesis  xi.  1  ;  this  most  certainly  was  originally  given  to  our  first 
parents  by  the  inspiration  of  God,  who,  therefore,  exercised  Adam  in  giving  names  to  the  creatures,  Gen. 
li.  19,20.  Learned  men  call  tlie  most  ancient  language  the  "  Shemitish,"  as  spoken  by  the  descendants 
of  Shein,  the  son  of  Noah.  This,  iiowever,  was  soon  divided  into  three  dialects  :  many  other  languages 
are  now  found  to  exist,  Daniel  iii.  4  ;  of  which  the  origin  is  declared  in  the  Bible  to  have  been  elfeci.ed  by 
tlie  Divine  interposition  at  Babel,  Genesis  xi.  7.  The  Sheniitish  dialects  were :  I.  Aram.-ean,  spoken  in 
Syria,  Mesopotamia,  and  Chaldea,  subdivided  into  tlie  Syriac  and  Chaldce  dialects.  2.  Hebrew  or  Canaan 
itish  dialect,  spoken  in  Phenicia  and  its  colonics.  3.  Arabic,  spoken  with  variations  in  Arabia  and  Ethiopia 
Hebrew  bears  marks  of  being  the  most  ancient  of  the  oriental  languages  ;  and  in  it  the  Old  Testament, 
which  contains  the  most  ancient  records  in  existence,  was  written,  except  Daniel,  ii.  4,  vii.  28,  Ezra  iv.  8, 
■vi.  18,  vii.  12-26.  The  New  Testament  was  written  in  the  Greek  language.  Seventy-two  distinguished 
languages  are  spoken  of;  but  five  which  are  the  chief,  viz.  Hebrew,  Greek,  Latin,  Germanic,  and  Sclavonic 
The  English  is  a  compound  of  all  these,  and,  with  the  French,  is  most  esteemed.  Ours,  it  seems  probabl: 
is  destined  by  Di. ine  Providence  to  become  the  universal  language  of  niaiikind,  thiuugh  the  inteUigciiC' 
iofluence,  and  Christian  missions  of  Great  Biitian  and  America. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  33 

of  thouc^ht,  that,  incapable  of  understanding  or  making  known  to  each  other  their 
respectfve  ideas,  they  were  thrown  into  the  utmost  disorder.  By  this  awful  stroke 
of  divine  iustice  thev  were  not  only  deprived  of  prosecuting  their  intended  plan,  hut 
ol  the  crreatest  pleasure  a  social  bemg  can  enjoy,  namely,  mutual  converse  and 
a^reeabFe  intercourse.  We  are  not,  however,  to  suppose  that  each  mdividual  had  a 
peculiar  dialect  or  language  to  himself,  but  only  the  several  tribes  or  families,  which 
are  supposed  to  have  been  about  seventy  m  number.  These,  detachmg  themselves 
accordin<^  to  their  respective  dialects,  left  the  spot,  which,  before  the  consequences 
of  their  presumption,  they  had  considered  as  the  most  delightful  on  earth,  and  took 
up  their  temporary  residences  ui  such  places  as  they  either  pitched  on  by  choice,  or 
were  directed  to  by  chance.  ,,.  n   ,  ,••  iu» 

Thus  did  the  Almif^hty  not  only  defeat  the  designs  of  those  ambitious  people,  but 
likewise  accomplished  his  own,  by  havmg  the  world  more  generally  mhabited  than 
It  otherwise  would  have  been.  The  spot  on  which  they  had  begun  to  erect  their 
tower  was  from  the  judgment  that  attended  so  rash  an  undertaking,  called  Babel.* 

The  confusion  of  tongues,  and  dispersion  of  the  family  of  Noah,  happened  one 
nundred  and  one  years  after  the  flood,  as  is  evident  from  the  birth  of  Pele^,  the  son 
of  Eber  who  was  the  f^reat-grandson  of  Shem,  and  born  m  the  one  hundred  and  tirst 
year  after  that  inemor?^ble  period.  He  received  his  name  from  this  smgular  circum- 
stance, the  word  Peleg,  in  the  Hebrew  language,  signifying  parMton  or  dispersion. 

The  descendants  of  Noah  being  now  dispersed,  in  process  of  time,  from  their  great 
mcrease,  they  scattered  themselves  to  distant  parts  of  the  earth,  and,  accordin"'  to 
their  respective  families,  settled  in  different  parts  of  the  world.  Some  took  up  their 
residence  in  Asia,  some  in  Africa,  and  others  in  Europe.  But  by  what  means  they 
obtained  possession  of  the  several  countries  they  inhabited,  the  sacred  historian  has 
aot  informed  us.  It  is,  however,  natural  to  suppose,  that  their  respective  situations 
Jid  not  take  place  from  chance,  but  mature  deliberation  ;  and  that  a  proper  assign- 
ment was  made  of  such  and  such  places,  according  to  the  divisions  and  subdivisions 

of  the  different  families.  .       i  •  >   .u  \a  ^„c  „««« 

In  order  to  ascertain  a  proper  idea  of  the  manner  in  which  the  world  was  popu- 
lated after  the  flood,  and  confusion  of  tongues,  we  shall  give  the  genealogx  ol^Noah  s 
three  sons,  and  describe  the  respective  parts  of  the  earth  possessed  by  theu-  descend- 
ants; in  doing  which,  we  shall,  agreeably  to  the  manner  of  Moses,  begin  with  those 
of  Japheth,  who,  though  usually  mentioned  last,  was  the  eldest  son  of  Noah. 

It  is  to  be  observed  That  the  grand-children  of  Noah  made  it  an  invariable  rule  to 
give  their  own  names  to  the  countries  of  which  tliey  became  possessed,  and  where 
thev  settled,  in  order  to  perpetuate  their  memories  to  future  posterity. 

The  sons  of  Japheth  were  seven  in  number,  who  spread  themselves  over  Asia, 
from  the  momitains  Taurus  and  Auranus  to  the  river  Tanais,  and  then  entermg 
Europe,  penetrated  as  far  as  Spain,  distinguishing  the  countries,  as  they  proceeded, 
by  their  own  proper  appellations,  viz.  :t  Gomer  gave  title  to  the  Gomorites,  now 
called  Galatiaks,  or  Gauls,  by  the  Greeks.  Magog  founded  he  Magogites,  smce 
styled  Scythians,  or  Tartars.  From  Media  originated  the  Medeans  or  Medes.  Ja- 
van  was  the  founder  of  the  lonians  and  Greeks  m  general.  Tubal,  of  the  Iberians, 
or  Spaniards:  and  Mashech,  of  the  Meschmians  or  Cappadocians :  and  Tiras,  of  the 

Thirseans  or  Thracians.  .     ,  ,   .  ,  ^     ,  •        e  *„«„.,.:» 

Gomer  had  three  sons,  the  eldest  d  whom,  Ashkanaz,  took  possession  of  Ascama 

{which  is  part  of  the  Lesser  Phrj-gia).     The  second  son,  named  Riphah,  possessed 

^  „  ,      V    ■        ,      ■  ,.,,.1   o  tiiwpr  commenced,  as  is  generally  supposed,  during  the  life  ot'  Noah, 

*  Babel  (con/«.ton  or  m^«re),  a  towe^^^^  ^    and   about   A.  M    1770,  or   XU   years   after   the 

under  the  direction  °fN'"f'A?^o  or  three  hundred  years  later,  Genesis  x.  10,  xi.  1-9.  Nimrod  is 
de.uge,  thoush  some  place  tl^^^^^  his  adherents,  designing,  by  this  means,  to  establish  a 

believed  to  ''^  «    '."  ea  a  s>.te^^^^^^    wo  at  >  ^^^  ^.^.^^^  §g^.|^     ^^.,^i^,,  re^x^neA  their  disper- 

national  union  under  '"^;.f  ^eminent,  tiiereoy  occasioned  their  miraculous  confusion  of  speech,  on 

'T'h  J^Sf.nt  the  huHdL  ceased  and  the  purpose  of  God  was  accomplished  in  the  replenishing  of  the 
wol^Athrs  -a  tered  people     How^^^^^  the  work  had  proceeded  we  are  not  informed:  but  it  is  believed 
tZt   besides  three  vea?sm  preparing  materials,  twenty-two  had  been  expended  in  the  undertaking,  and 
that,  beMdes  three  > <;^r^  '"  ■^'J'^;    several  stories,  laying  the  foundation  for  the  city  of  Babylon. 
*  t  seve  a  ot^hese  nations  stm  ?^^^^^^^^  S've"  them  by  their  founder ;  others  have  lost  their 

t  beveral  o    tnese  "3"""^^  distineuished  by  terms  corrupted  from  the  primitive  uenominations. 

^.I'G^ee^T'nn  pally  ocVas'nedthteSation^^  for.  when  p'ower  gave  them  importance,  they  arro- 
3atPd  totlieSves  the  glory  of  antiquity;  corrupted  the  names  of  other  nations  to  give  them  a  more 
modern  appe^e  and^retended  that,  from  the  emigrations  of  their  predecessors  the  siurouncUng 
realms  were  peopLd,  for  which  reason  they  took  the  liberty  to  prescribe  laws  for  tneir  observance,  a*  they 
had  invented  appellations  for  their  distinction. 


34  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

himself  of  the  Kiphaan  moutitains;  and  Togarmah,  the  third  son,  took  Galatia  and 
part  of  Cappadocia. 

Javan  had  four  sons,  namely,  Elishah,  who  seated  himself  in  Peloponnesus ;  Tar- 
shish,  in  part  of  Spain;  Kittim,  in  Italy;  and  Dodanim,  in  France. 

By  these,  and  the  colonies  which,  in  process  of  time,  proceeded  from  them,  not 
only  a  considerable  part  of  Asia,  but  all  Europe,  with  the  adjacent  islands,  were 
well  stocked  with  inhabitants  descended  from  Japheth,  who,  though  thus  dispersed 
spoke  the  same  lang:uage,  and,  for  a  time  at  least,  preserved  a  correspondence  with 
the  respective  tribes  or  families  to  which  rhey  originally  belonged. 

The  descendants  of  iShem,  the  second  son  of  Noah  (from  Avhom  originated  the 
Hebrew  nation),  were  five  sons,  who  possessed  themselves  of  ihose  pans  of  Asia 
which  extend  from  the  Euphrates  to  the  Indian  ocean.  Elam,  the  eldest,  took  pos- 
session of  a  country  in  Persia,  at  first  called  after  himself,  but,  in  the  time  of  Daniel, 
it  obtained  the  name  of  Susiana.  Asliur  founded  the  Assyrian  empire,  in  which  he 
built  several  cities,  particularly  one  called  Nmeveh  ;*  Arphaxad  founded  Chaldea; 

♦  Nineveh    (Mousoul).— i)raion  by  J.  M.  W.  Turner,  from  a  sketch  made  on  the  spot  by  the  late  Clavditu 
James  Rich,  Esq. -Nineveh,  the  splendid  metropolis  of  the  Assyrian  empire,  was  anciently  a  city  of  great 
importance.     It  was  founded  by  Asshur,  the  son  of  Shem  (Genesi-s  x.  II),  and  by  the  Greeks  was  called 
Ninus,  to  whom  they  referred  its  foundation.     It  was  erected  on  the  banks  of  the  Tigris,  and  was  of  great 
extent:  according  to  Diodorus  Siculus,  it  was  fifteen  miles  long,  nine  broad,  and  .forty-eight  in  circum- 
ference.    It  was  surrounded  by  walls  100  feet  high,  on  the  top  of  which  three  chariots  could  pass  together 
abreast,  and  was  defended  by  1,500  towers,  each  of  which  was  2iiO  feet  high.     In  the  time  of  the  prophet 
Jonah  (who  lived  lietween  blO  and  7H:i  B.  C.)  it  was  "  an  exceeding  great  city  of  three  days'  journey"— 
wherein  were  more  than  sixscore  thousand  persons  that  could  not  discern  between  their  light  hand  and 
their  left  hand."  Jonah  iii.  3;  iv.  II.     Its  destruction,  which  that  prophet  had  announced  within  forty  days, 
was  averted  by  the  general  repentance  and  liumiliation  of  the  inhabitants,  (iii.  4-10.)     Tlial  repentance, 
however,  was  of  no  long  continuance  ;  for  the  prophet  Nahurn,  soon  after,  predicted,  not  only  ihe  utter 
destruction  of  Nineveh,  which  was  accomplished  one  hundred  and  fifteen  years  afterward,  but  also  the 
manner  in  which  it  was  to  be  effected.     "While  they  were  folden  together  as  tliorns,  they  were  devoured 
as  the  stubble  full  dry."  (Nahum  i.  10.)     "Nineveh  is  laid  waste;  who  will  bemoan  her?"  (iii.  7.)    The 
Medians,  under  the  command  of  Arbaces,  being  informed,  by  some  deserters,  of  the  negligence  and  drunk- 
enness which  prevailed  in  the  camp  of  the  Ninevites,  assaulted  them  unexpectedly  by  night,  discomfited 
them,  and  became  masters  of  their  camp,  and  drove  such  of  the  soldiers  as  survived  the  "defeat  into  the 
city.    "The  gates  of  the  river  shall  be  opened,  and  the  palace  shall  be  dissolved"  i Nahum  ii.  fi) ;  and 
Diodorus  Siculus  relates  that  "  there  was  an  old  prophecy  that  Nineveh  should  not  be  taken  till  the  river 
became  an  enemy  to  the  city ;  and  in  the  third  year  of  tlie  siege,  the  river,  being  swollen  with  continual 
rains,  overflowed  part  of  the  city,  and  broke  down  the  wall  for  twenty  furlongs.    Then  the  king"  iSarda- 
napalus)  "thinking  that  the  oracle  was  fulfilled,  and  the  river  become  an  enemy  to  the  city,  built  a  large 
funeral  pile  in  the  palace,  and  collecting  together  all  his  wealth,  and  his  concubines,  an<l  his  eunuchs, 
burnt  himself  and  the  palace  with  them  all ;  and  the  enemy  entered  the  breach  which  the  waters  had 
made,  and  took  the  city."    What  was  predicted,  therefore,  in  Nahum  i.  8,  was  literally  fulfilled  :  "  With  an 
overflowing  flood  will  he  make  an  utter  end  of  the  place  thereof."    Nahum  (ii.  9)  promises  the  enemy 
much  spoil  of  gold  and  silver;  and  we  read  in  Diodorus  that  Arbaces  carried  away  many  talents  of  silver 
and  gold  to  Ecbatana,  the  royal  city  of  the  Medes.    According  to  Nahurn  (i.  K,  iii.  15)  the  city  was  to  be 
destroyed  by  fire  and  water ;  and  from  Diodorus  we  learn  that  it  was  actually  destroyed  by  fire  and  ^valer. 
Nineveh  was  taken  a  second  time,  by  Cyaxares  and  Nabopolassar,  from  Chinaladin,  king  of  Assyria.  A. 
M.  3378,  after  wliich  it  no  more  recovered  its  former  splendor.     It  was  entirely  ruined  in  the  time  of 
Lucian  of  Samosata,  who  lived  in  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Hadrian  :  it  was  rebuilt  under  the  Persians,  but 
was  destroyed  by  the  Saracens  about  the  seventh  century.     Its  utter  destruction,  as  foretold  bv  Nahum 
(i.  ii.  iii.)  and  by  Zephaniah  (ii.  13-15)  has  been  so  entirely  accomplished,  that  no  certain  vestiges  of  it  have 
remained.     Several  modern  writers  are  of  opinion  that  the  ruins  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  river  Tigris, 
opposite  to  the  modern  town  of  Mousoul.  point  out  the  site  of  ancient  Nineveh.    The  late  learned  and 
inteUigent  political  resident  at  Bagdad,  Claudius  James  Rich,  Esq.  (from  one  of  whose  drawings,  never 
before  engraved,  our  view  is  taken),  states,  tliat  on  this  spot  there  is  an  enclosure  of  a  rectangular  form, 
corresponding  with  the  cardinal  points  of  the  compass,  the  area  of  wliich  olTered  no  vestiges  of  building, 
and  is  too  small  to  contain  a  town  larger  than  Mousoul ;  but  it  may  be  supposed  to  answer  to  the  palace 
of  Nineveh.     Four  mounds  arc  obser\'able,  the  longest  of  which  runs  north  and  sgntli,  and  consists  of 
several  ridges  of  unequal  height,  the  whole  appearing  to  extend  four  or  five  miles  in  length.    These 
mounds,  as  they  show  neither  bricks,  stones,  nor  any  other  materials  of  building,  but  arc  in  many  places 
overgrown  with  grass,  resemble  the  mounds  left  by  intrenchmeats  and  fortifications  of  Roman  camps.    On 
the  first  of  these,  which  forms  the  southwest  angle,  is  erected  the  village  of  Nebbi  Yunus,  where  is  shown 
the  supposed  tomb  of  the  prophet  Jonah  or  Jonas.    The  next,  which  is  the  largest  of  all,  Mr.  Rich  conjec- 
tured to  be  the  monument  of  Ninus.     It  is  situated  near  the  western  face  of  the  enclosure,  and  is  called 
Koyunjuk  Tepe.    Its  form  is  that  of  a  truncated  pyramid,  with  regular  steep  sides  and  a  flat  top  ;  and  it  is 
composed  of  stones  and  earth,  the  latter  pre<iominatiiig  sufliciently  to  admit  of  the  summit  being  culti- 
vated by  the  inhabitants  of  the  village  of  Koyunjuk,  which  is  built  on  the  northeastern  extremity  of  tliis 
artificial  mound.     Its  greatest  height,  as  measured  by  Mr.  Rich,  was  178  feet ;  the  length  of  the  summit 
east  and  west,  1,850  feet ;  and  its  breadth,  north  and  south,  1,147  feet.    A  sliort  lime  l)efore  Mr.  Rich  visited 
these  remains,  out  of  a  mound  on  the  north  face  of  the  boundary,  "  there  was  dug  an  immense  block  of 
stone,  on  which  were  sculptured  the  figures  of  men  and  animals.     So  remarkable  was  this  fragment  of 
antiquity,  that  even  Turkish  apathy  was  roused,  and  the  pacha  and  most  of  tlie  principal  people  of  Mou- 
soul went  to  see  it.    One  of  the  spectators  particularly  recollected,  among  the  sculptures  of  this  stone,  the 
figure  of  a  man  on  horseback,  with  a  long  lance  in  his  hand,  follow  ed  by  a  great  many  others  on  foot.    The 
stone  was  soon  afterward  cut  into  small  pieces  for  repairing  the  buildings  of  Mousoul,  and  this  inesti- 
mable specimen  of  the  arts  and   manners  of  the  earliest   ages  was  irrecoverably  lost."    These   ruins 
evidently  indicate  the  former  existence  of  some  very  extensive  edifices,  which  most  probably  belonged  to 
ancient  Nineveh,  and  which  attest  the  literal  accomplishment  of  the  prophecy  that  that  "rejoicing  city 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


35 


36  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

Lud,  Lydia ;  and  Aram  that  part  of  Syria  which  extends  itself  to  the  Mediterranean 
seas. 

Aram  had  four  sons,  namely,  Uz,  who  seated  himself  in  the  oountry  called  Da- 
mascus ;  Hul  took  possession  of  Armenia ;  Mash,  of  the  mountain  Masius ;  Gether, 
of  a  part  of  Mesopotamia. 

Aqihaxad  was  the  father  of  Salah,  whose  son  Eber  gave  name  to  the  Hebrew 
nation.  Joctan,  the  first-born  of  Eber,  had  thirteen  children,  all  of  whom  settled 
tiiemselves  m  that  part  of  the  world  Avhich  is  situated  between  Syria  and  the  river 
Cophene  in  Judea.  The  youngest  son  of  Eber  was  Peleg,  who,  as  we  have  before 
observed,  was  so  called  because,  at  the  time  of  his  birth,  the  dispersion  of  the  people 
took  place. 

The  descendants  of  Ham  (the  youngest  son  of  Noah)  were  four  sons,  namely, 
Cush,  who  took  up  his  residence  in  that  part  of  Armenia  lying  towards  Egypt ; 
Mizraim,*  in  both  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt ;  Phutt,  in  part  of  Lybia ;  and  Canaan, 
in  that  part  of  the  country  which  was  afterward  called  by  his  name. 

Cush,  the  eldest  son  of  Ham,  had  several  children,  namely,  Seba,  who  settled  ou 
the  southwest  of  Arabia ;  Havilah  fixed  himself  in  that  part  of  the  country  situated 
on  the  river  Pison,  where  it  leaves  the  Euphrates,  and  runs  into  the  Arabian  Gulf; 
Saptah  took  up  his  residence  on  the  same  shore,  a  little  to  the  north  of  his  brother 
Havilah  ;  Raamah  and  Sabtecha,  together  with  the  two  sons  of  the  former  (namely, 
Sheba  and  Dedan),  settled  themselves  on  the  same  coast,  farther  to  the  east;  and 
Nimrod,  the  last  son  of  Cush,  was  founder  of  the  Babylonish  empire. 

Besides  the  three  sons  of  Mizraim  (who,  after  the  death  of  their  father,  divided 
liis  territory  into  three  parts),  he  had  three  others,  namely,  Ludim  and  Lehabim, 
who  peopled  Lybia ;  and  Caslubim,  who  seated  himself  at  Castisots,  near  the  en- 
trance of  Egypt  from  Palestine.  Caslubim  had  two  sons,  namely,  Philistim  and 
Caphthorim,  the  former  of  whom  established  the  country  of  the  Philistines,  between 
the  borders  of  Canaan  and  the  Mediterranean  sea ;  and  the  latter,  after  his  father's 
death,  took  possession  of  his  territories. 

The  sons  of  Canaan  were,  Sidon,  the  founder  of  the  Sidonians,  who  lived  in  Phoe- 
nicia ;  Heth,  the  founder  of  the  Hittites,  who  lived  near  Hebron ;  Enior,  the  founder 
of  the  Amorites,  who  lived  in  the  mountains  of  Judea ;  and  Arva,  the  founder  of  the 
Arvadites,t  who  resided  near  Sidon.  But  whether  the  other  sons  of  Canaan  settled 
in  this  country  or  not,  can  not  be  ascertained  with  any  certainty  ;  only  this  we  know, 
that  they  must  have  taken  up  their  residence  somewhere  between  Sidon  and  Gerar, 
and  Aduiah  and  Zoboim;  those  places  being  the  boundaries  of  the  land  they  pos- 
sessed. 

Thus  we  find  that,  in  the  first  dispersion  of  the  people  over  the  world,  the  de- 
scendants of  Japheth  not  only  possessed  all  Europe,  but  also  a  considerable  portion 
of  Asia.  The  posterity  of  Shem  had  in  their  possession  part  of  the  Greater  and 
Lesser  Asia,  and  probably  all  the  countries  to  the  east,  as  far  as  China.  The  de- 
scendants of  Ham  possessed  all  Africa,  with  a  great  part  of  Asia. 

v/liich  dwelt  carelessly"  should  "become  a  desolation,  dry  like  a  wilderness,  a  place  for  beasts  to  lie  down 
in."  Zcphaniah  ii.  13.  l."; 

There  are  appearances  of  mounds  and  ruins  extending  for  several  miles  to  the  southward,  the  space 
between  which  is  a  level  plain,  over  every  part  of  the  face  of  which  broken  pottery  and  the  other  usual 
remains  of  ruined  cities  are  seen  scattered  about. 

*  After  the  death  of  Mizraim  (who  was  king  of  Egypt),  the  country  he  possessed  was,  by  three  of  his 
sons,  divided  into  as  many  kingdoms,  viz  :  Ananim  was  king  of  Tanis,  or  lower  Egypt,  called  afterward 
Delta  ;  Naptkuhm.  of  Naph,  or  Memphis,  in  Upper  Egypt ;  and  Patfirusim  founded  the  kingdom  of  Pathros, 
or  Thebes  in  Thebais. 

t  Tlie  Arvadites  are  said  by  Josephus  to  have  occupied  and  given  their  name  to  the  small  island  of 
Aradus,  called  Arvad  and  Arpliud  in  the  Scriptures  (2  Kings  xix.  13  ;  Ezekiel  xxvii.  8);  and  tlie  inhabitants 
of  which  are  by  Ezekiel  mentioned  along  with  the  Sidonians,  as  taking  an  active  part  in  the  maritime 
commerce  of  Tyre.  This  island,  which  is  about  one  league  from  the  shore,  and  not  above  a  mile  iif 
circumference,  ultimately  became  the  port  and  chief  town  of  this  enterprising  and  prosperous  section  of 
the  Phfi-nician  people  ;  and  there  was  a  time  when  even  Romans  regarded  with  admiration  its  lofty  houses, 
built  with  more  stories  than  those  of  Rome,  and  its  cisterns  hewn  in  the  rock.  All  this,  except  the  cisterns 
and  some  frr.gments  of  wall,  has  passed  away  ;  but  Arvad  is  still  the  seat  of  a  town,  and,  being  a  mart  of 
transit,  Its  intiatiitants  are  still  engaged  in  commerce.  Though  the  island  was  the  favorite  seat  of  the 
people,  as  their  wealth  and  peace  were  there  safe  from  the  wars  and  troubles  of  the  continent,  and  their 
shipping  needtjd  not  to  hazard  the  dangers  of  the  coast,  they  were  by  no  means  without  possessions  on  the 
main  Land  ;  for  their  dominion  along  the  shore  extended  from  Tortosa  (also  Tartous,  anciently  Antaradus) 
which  lay  opposite  their  island,  northward  to  Jebilee.  They  were,  therefore,  the  most  northerly  of  the 
Phnnirian  people.  See  Joseph.  Antiq.  i.  6,  2 ;  Strabo,  Geog.  v.  15 ;  Pococke,  ii.  87 ;  Volney,  ii.  148. 
Buckingtiam's  Arab  Tribes.  523. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


37 


r 


1  ^t  ■ 


i-  m 


.iiMiioiiiir 


38  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

But  before  we  quit  the  genealogy  of  Noah's  descendants,  it  will  be  necessary  to 
mention  some  further  particulars  relative  to  the  posterity  of  his  second  son  Shem, 
from  whom  the  Hebrews  took  their  rise,  and  who  will  be  found  the  principal  objects 
of  the  succeeding  history. 

About  two  years  after  the  flood,  at  which  time  Shem  Avas  one  hundred  years  old, 
he  had  a  son  named  Arphaxad;  after  which  time  he  lived  five  hundred  Vears;  so 
that  the  whole  of  his  life  was  exactly  six  hundred  years. 

Arphaxad,  when  thirty-five,  had  a  son  named  Salah;  after  which  he  lived  four 
hundred  and  three  years ;  in  all  four  hmidred  and  thirty-eight. 

Salah,  when  thirty,  had  a  son  named  Eber  (from  whom  his  descendants  were 
called  Hebrews),  after  which  he  lived  four  hundred  and  three  years  ;  in  all  four  hun- 
dred and  thirty-lhree. 

Eber,  when  thirty-four,  had  a  son  named  Peleg,  in  whose  time  the  earth  came  to 
be  divided ;  after  which  he  lived  four  hmidred  and  thirty  years ;  in  all  four  hundred 
and  sixty-four. 

Peleg,  when  thirty,  had  a  son  named  Eeu,  after  which  he  lived  two  hmidred  and 
nine  years ;  in  all  two  hmidred  and  thirty-nine. 

Reu,  when  thirty-two,  had  a  son  named  Serug;  after  which  he  lived  two  hundred 
and  seven  years ;  in  all  two  hundred  and  thirty-nine. 

Serug,  when  thirty,  had  a  son  named  Kahor ;  after  which  he  lived  two  hundred 
years ;  in  all  two  hundred  and  thirty. 

Nahor,  when  twenty-nine,  had  a  son  named  Terah ;  after  which  he  lived  one 
hundred  and  nineteen  years ;  in  all  one  hundred  and  forty-eight. 

Terah  was  the  father  of  the  first  great  patriarch  after  INoah,  namely,  Abraham. 
He  had  likewise  two  other  sons,  the  one  called  Nahor,  and  the  other  Haran.  The 
last  of  these,  who  was  the  eldest  of  the  three,  died  before  his  father,  at  Ur,*  m 
Chaldea,  the  place  of  his  nativity.  He  left  behind  him  a  son  named  Lot,  and  two 
daughters,  the  elder  of  Avhom,  called  Milchah,  was  espoused  to  her  uncle  Nahor, 
and  the  younger,  named  Sarai,  was  married  to  her  uncle  Abram. 

A  universal  depravity  of  human  nature  now  displayed  itself  m  all  parts  of  the 
world,  but  more  particularly  in  the  city  of  Ur,  where  the  practice  of  idolatry  was 
carried  lo  its  utmost  height.  In  consequence  of  this,  Terah  resolved  to  leave  his 
abode,  that  he  might  no  longer  be  an  eye-witness  of  the  iniquity  of  the  people. 
Having  formed  this  resolution,  he  quilted  Ur,  and  taking  with  him  his  son  Abram 
and  his  wife,  together  with  his  grandson  Lot,  set  out  with  an  intent  of  visiting  the 
land  of  Canaan.  In  his  journey  he  stopped  at  a  place  called  Haran  (or  Charran),  a 
city  of  Mesopotamia,  Avhere,  being  seized  with  a  violent  illness,  he  was  compelled 
10  make  it  the  place  of  his  residence.  The  violence  of  the  disorder  prevailing  over 
the  power  of  medicine,  nature  at  length  gave  way,  and  Terah  died  at  Haran,  in  the 
two  hundred  and  fifth  year  of  his  age. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

At  the  close  of  the  preceding  chapter,  we  observed  that  Terah,  the  father  ol 
Abram,  left  his  native  place,  in  order  to  go  into  the  land  of  Canaan.  It  is  here  to 
be  observed,  that  his  conduct  in  this  respect  certainly  arose  from  divine  direction, 

•  tiR  OF  THE  Chaldees. — The  birtliplace  of  Abraham  has  been  generally  reg-ardcd  as  a  town;  but  such 
orientaUsts  as  have  of  late  years  had  occasion  to  express  an  opinion  on  the  subject,  have  been  rather 
disposed  to  regard  it  as  the  name  of  a  district.  As  such,  there  is  little  reason  to  ijuestion  that  it  is  that 
which  the  sacred  text  indicates,  as  it  comprehends  both  the  towns  in  which  the  names  mentioned  in  this 
part  of  the  history  have  been  sought.  Of  these,  one  is  the  town  called  by  the  Syrians  Urlioi,  and  by  ths 
Arabians  Orfah,  or  Uriah,  wliich  the  Moslems  firmly  believe  to  be  the  Ur  of  the  text ;  and  the  Jews  and 
Christians  of  the  country  acijuicsce  in  this  conclusion.  This  town  is  situated  at  tlie  foot  of  the  mount 
oins  of  Osroene.  at  the  head  of  the  great  plain  which  was  formerly  so  called,  and  is  still  a  place  of  some 
consideration.  Cartvvrijjlit  .says  :  "  The  air  of  this  city  is  very  healthful,  and  the  country  fruitful.  It  is 
built  nearly  four-square,  the  west  side  standing  on  the  side  of  a  rocky  mountain,  and  the  east  part  trendeth 
into  a  spacious  valley,  replenished  with  vineyards,  orchards,  and  gardens.  The  walls  are  very  strong, 
furni.shed  with  great  store  of  artillery,  and  contain  in  circuit  tjiree  English  miles  ;  and  for  the  gallantness 
of  its  sight  it  was  once  reckoned  the  inetropolitical  seat  of  Mesoputainia."  This  traveller,  as  well  as  one 
who  preceded  liim,  Rauwollf  heedless  of  the  analogy  of  name,  regard.s  Urfah  rather  as  representing  Haran 
than  Ur 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  39 

the  Almighty  having  thought  proper  to  select  this  family  out  of  the  rest  of  mankind, 
by  making  Abram  "Father  of  the  faithful,"  or  worshippers  of  the  true  God. 

It  is  evident  that  God  had  revealed  himself  to  Abram,  previous  to  his  removal 
from  Ur,  as  appears  from  the  account  of  the  inspired  penman :  "  The  Lord  had  said 
unto  Abram,"*  &c.,  Gen.  xii.  1.  He  had  commanded  him  to  leave  the  country  in 
which  he  resided,  and  to  travel  into  another  he  should  point  out  to  him.  He  like- 
wise promised  to  make  him  father  of  a  mighty  people,  and  in  him  to  bless  all  the 
families  on  the  earth. 

Abram,  fully  persuaded,  in  his  own  mind,  of  the  truth  of  the  divine  promise 
(though  he  knew  not  the  difficulties  that  might  attend  his  removal,  nor  even  the 
country  in  which  he  Avas  to  settle),  immediately  after  the  decease  of  his  father,  pre- 
pared himself  to  go  to  the  land  which  God  should  appoint,  and,  by  a  strict  attention 
to  the  divine  commands,  prove  at  once  his  faith  and  obedience. 

Accordingly,  taking  with  him  his  nephew  Lot,  his  wife  Sarai,  and  the  rest  of  his 
family,  together  with  all  his  effects,  he  set  out  on  his  journey,  which  he  prosecuted 
with  all  convenient  expedition,  till  he  came  (by  the  divine  guidance)  into  the  land 
of  Canaan.f     Desirous  of  making  some  survey  of  the  country,  he  stopped  in  the 

Slaint  of  Moreh,  not  far  from  the  city  of  Sichem,||  then  inhabited  by  the  Canaanites. 
[ere  he  erected  an  altar,  in  order  to  pay  his  devotions  to  God,  who  was  so  well 
pleased  with  his  conduct,  that  he  gave  him  fresh  assurances  of  his  favor  and  protec- 
tion, and  that,  in  process  of  time,  the  whole  land  in  which  he  then  dwelt  should  be 
possessed  by  his  descendants. 

After  staying  some  time  in  the  plains  of  Moreh,  Abram  removed  with  his  family 
mto  the  more  mountainous  part  of  the  country,  situated  between  Bethel  and  Hai. 
Here  he  likewise  erected  an  altar,  that  he  might  not  be  deficient  in  the  discharge 
of  that  duty  which  he  was  conscious  of  owing  to  his  great  and  omnipotent  benefactor. 
From  Bethel  he  proceeded  farther  to  the  south;  but  was  interrupted  in  his  progress 
by  a  dreadful  famine,  which  raged  with  great  violence  throughout  the  whole  coun- 
try. In  consequence  of  this,  he  formed  the  resolution  of  going  to  Egypt,  that  being 
the  only  place  where  relief  could  be  obtained  under  such  calamities.^ 

Being  apprized  of  the  natural  libertinism  of  the  Egyptians,  Abram  was  exceeding 
anxious  concerning  his  wife  Sarai,  fearing  lest  her  extraordinary  beauty  might  pro- 
voke their  lascivious  attention.  Though  she  was  at  this  time  in  the  sixty-sixth  year 
of  her  age,1[  yet  she  still  retained   those  personal  charms  which,  in  that  country, 

*  In  what  manner  God  revealed  himself  to  Abram,  the  sacred  historian  has  not  told  us.  It  was  probably 
by  a  voice  from  the  Shechinah,  or  symbol  of  the  Divine  presence  ;  for  St.  Stephen  e.xpressly  says :  "  The 
God  of  Glory  appeared  unto  him  before  he  dwelt  in  Charran."  Acts  vii.  2. 

t  This  country  fell  to  the  lot  of  Canaan,  the  son  of  Ham,  to  which  lie  gave  his  own  name.  Canaan  was 
about  -200  miles  long,  and  nearly  80  broad,  lying  along  the  eastern  border  of  the  Mediterranean  sea.  David 
and  Solomon  governed  several  provinces  beyond  the  limits  of  Canaan,  which  enlarged  their  kingdom, 
1  Kings,  iv.  21-2-1.  Canaan  was  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  mountains  of  Lebanon  in  Syria,  on  the  east 
by  Arabia  Deserta,  on  the  south  by  the  wilderness  of  Arabia  Petrea  and  Idurnea,  and  on  the  west  by  the 
land  of  the  Philistines  and  the  Mediterranean  .sea.  Besides  the  name  of  its  first  possessor,  Canaaii  lias 
been  variously  denominated  as  the  Land  of  the  Hebrews,  Genesis  xl.  15  ;  Palestine,  Exodus  xv.  14;  the 
Land  of  Promise,  Hebrews  xi.  9;  the  Land  of  Israel,  Judah,  Judea,  the  Holy  Land,  Zechariah  ii.  12. 
Canaan  has  been  the  theatre  of  the  most  extraordinary  transactions  which  have  ever  taken  place  under 
the  Divine  government  upon  earth.  This  is  the  country  where  the  chief  patriarchs  walked  with  God — 
where  the  theocracy  of  Israel  was  established— where  the  piophets  received  most  of  their  divine  inspira- 
tions— where  the  temple  of  Jehovah  was  erected  under  his  special  direction— where  the  incarnate  Son  of 
God  accomplished  the  work  of  human  redemption- and  where  the  apostles  were  miraculously  endowed 
with  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  fulfil  their  commission  as  ambassadors  for  Christ  to  invite  sinners  of 
all  nations  into  the  kingdom  of  Messiah  for  the  blessings  of  pardon,  purity,  and  immortality,  in  tlic  eternal 
glory  of  God.  Canaan,  in  the  times  of  David  and  Solomon,  contained  a  population  of  about  5,000,1)00 ;  but 
now  it  has  only  about  1,500,000  inhabitants.  Since  the  destruction  of  .lerusalem  by  the  Romans,  it  lias 
been  the  scene  of  strange  revolutions,  especially  during  the  crusades,  profanely  called  holy  wars  :  it  now 
forms  two  wretched  provinces,  Acre  and  Damascus,  under  the  miserable  government  of  pachas,  si^J^'ct 
or  tributary  to  the  sultan  of  Turkey.  The  population  consists  of  Turks,  Syrians,  Bedouin  Arabs,  Copts, 
Druses  of  Lebanon,  Roman,  Armenian,  and  Greek  Christians,  and  Jews. 

t  The  Scptuagint  and  most  other  versions  call  it  the  Oak  of  Moreh,  from  a  large  oak  that  grew  on  it ;  but 
our  translation  renders  it  plain. 

II  This  city,  after  the  ruin  of  Samaria  by  Salmanesar,  was  the  capital  of  the  Samaritans  :  and  .losephus 
says  it  was  still  so  in  the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great.  It  was  situated  ten  miles  from  Shiloh,  forty  from 
Jerusalem,  and  fifty-two  from  Jericho. 

^  It  appears  from  this  circumstance,  that  Eg)^}!  had  been  soon  formed  into  a  kingdom  after  mankind 
were  dispersed  by  the  confusion  of  languages.  Its  first  name  was  Mizraim,  which  signifies  strai^htness  ; 
(t  being  closed  on  the  north  by  the  Mediterranean  sea,  on  the  west  and  south  by  mountains,  and  on  the  east 
»y  the  Red  sea,  or  Indian  gulf.  Nicolaus  Damascus,  a  heathen  author,  says,  that  Abram  went  out  of 
thaldea  into  Canaan,  now  called  Judea,  but,  in  consequence  of  a  great  famine  raging  there,  he  removed  to 
Egypt,  in  which  were  abundance  of  all  kinds  of  provisions. 

If  It  may  appear  somewhat  strange  that  Sarai  should  have  such  personal  chaniis  at  so  advanced  an  age  : 
Dut  it  must  be  remembered  that  as  in  those  days  they  were  longer  lived  than  at  present,  so  their  charms 
were  proportionably  durable-. 


40  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

mignt  endanger  the  life  of  him  who  should  pass  tor  her  husband.  After  some  delib- 
eration, Abram  concluded  that  the  safest  way  would  be  for  her  to  conceal  her  mar- 
riage ;  upon  which,  communicating  his  fears  to  Sarai,  and  she  approving  of  his  plan, 
it  was  mutually  agreed  between  them,  that  wherever  they  look  up  their  residence, 
instead  of  his  wife,  she  should  pass  for  his  sister. 

The  apprehensions  that  Abram  had  formed  were  soon  verified,  after  his  arrival  in 
Egypt.  The  distinguished  charms  of  his  wife  attracted  the  notice  of  several  princi- 
pal Egyptians,  and  she  soon  became  the  subject  of  popular  conversation.  The  king, 
being  informed  of  her  beauty,  was  excited  to  gratify  his  curiosity  by  the  sight  of  so 
amiable  a  stranger.  Accordingly,  Sarai  was,  by  his  order,  conducted  to  court,  and 
placed  in  the  apartments  allotted  for  his  concubines.  Here  she  remained  several 
days,  during  which  Abram  (her  supposed  brother)  was  treated  with  great  civility, 
and  on  her  account  (though  the  king  had  not  yet  seen  her)  complimented  with  many 
valuable  presents. 

A  feeling  mind  may,  in  some  degree,  conceive  the  distress  each  party  must  natu- 
rally be  susceptible  of  on  this  trying  occasion.  Sarai  was  a  beautiful  woman,  in  the 
power  of  a  loose  and  vicious  monarch,  and  destitute  of  all  protection  but  from  the 
hands  of  the  Almighty.  While  her  husband,  who  should  be  the  only  guardian  of 
her  person,  dare  not  OAvn  her  as  his  wife,  lest  the  rage  of  lust  and  strength  of  power 
should  deprive  him  of  his  existence. 

To  relieve  them  from  this  distressed  situation,  the  Almighty  was  pleased  to  inter- 
pose in  their  behalf:  and,  in  order  to  deter  Pharaoh*  and  his  nobles  from  any  dis- 
honorable attempts  on  Sarai,  he  suddenly  afflicted  them  with  various  diseases  and 
oodily  infirmities.  Not  being  able  to  account  for  this  singular  circumstance,  they  at 
Jength  suspected  that  it  was  occasioned  by  the  confinement  of  Sarai,  who,  instead  of 
being  the  sister  of  Abram,  must  certainly  be  his  wife.  In  consequence  of  these  sus- 
picions, the  king  sent  for  Abram,  and  expostulated  with  him  on  his  misconduct,  in 
having  spread  a  false  report,  Avhich  might  have  been  attended  with  a  breach  on  his 
wife's  chastity.  After  saying  this  he  ordered  him  immediately  to  quit  his  kingdom, 
permitting  him  to  take  not  only  his  own  effects,  but  the  presents  that  had  been  made 
him  in  consequence  of  his  supposed  sister. 

The  famine  in  Canaan,  which  had  occasioned  Abram  to  go  into  Egypt,  was  hap- 
pily ceased ;  so  that  his  leaving  the  place  was  not  only  in  conformity  to  the  king's 
command,  but  agreeable  to  his  own  inclinations.  Abram  directed  his  course  the 
same  way  he  had  come,  and  on  his  arrival  at  Bethel,  where  he  had  erected  an  altar, 
he  offered  on  it  a  sacrifice  of  thanks  to  God  for  his  happy  escape  from  Egypt,  and 
safe  return  into  the  land  of  Canaan. 

Abram  and  his  nepheAV  Lot  had  hitherto  lived  with  great  unanimity  on  the  same 
spot ;  but  their  families  and  possessions  being  now  greatly  increased,  inconveniences 
took  place.  They  found  themselves  particularly  distressed  for  want  of  provision  for 
their  cattle,  which,  probably,  arose  partly  from  the  late  famine,  and  partly  from  the 
great  number  of  Canaanites,  who  possessed  the  most  fertile  parts  of  the  land.  This 
want  of  pasture-ground  occasioned  frequent  disputes  between  the  herdsmen  of  Abram 
and  those  of  Lot;  so  that  the  former,  fearing  lest  the  contention  which  prevailed 
among  the  servants  might  end  in  a  rupture  between  themselves,  resolved,  in  a 
friendly  manner,  to  propose  a  separation  from  Lot.  In  doing  this,  such  was  his  great 
prudence  and  condescension,  that,  though  superior  in  every  respect  to  his  nephew, 
he  gave  him  his  choice  of  settlement  in  that  part  of  the  country  he  should  best  ap- 
prove. "If,"  says  he,  "thou  wilt  take  the  left  hand,  then  I  will  go  to  the  right; 
or,  if  thou  depart  to  the  right  hand,  llien  I  will  go  to  the  left." 

This  generous  and  friendly  proposition  was  readily  agreed  to  by  Lot,  who,  after 
taking  a  view  of  the  country,  chose  the  plains  near  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  which, 
being  watered  by  the  streams  of  Jordan,!  was  not  only  pleasant,  but  exceedingly 
fertile. 

*  What  this  king's  name  was,  or  indeed  any  of  the  Ejcyptian  monarchs,  can  not  be  ascertained.  The 
name  Pharaoh  was  a  title  of  dignity  common  to  all,  in  the  same  manner  as  that  of  Caesar  assumed  by  the 
Roman  Emiierors. 

t  This  river,  being  the  principal  stream  of  Palestine,  has  acquired  a  distinction  much  greater  than  its 
geographical  importance  could  have  given.  It  is  sometimes  called  "the  river,"  by  way  of  eminence,  being 
in  fact  almost  the  only  stream  of  the  country  which  contiimes  to  flow  in  summer.  The  river  rises  about  an 
hour  and  a  quarter's  journey  (say  three  or  three  miles  and  a  quarter)  northeast  from  Banias,  the  ancient 
Cajsarea  Philippi,  in  a  plain  near  a  hill  called  Tel-el-kadi.  Here  there  are  two  springs  near  each  other,  one 
smaller  thiin  the  other,  whose  waters  very  soon  unite,  forming  a  rapid  river,  from  twelve  to  fifteen  yard* 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


«' 


42  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

Tl\ese  matters  being  adjusted,  Abram  and  Lot  parted,  the  former  continuing  at 
Bethel,  and  the  latter  retiring  to  the  spot  he  had  chosen  for  his  future  residence. 

Some  time  after  Lot's  departure,  the  Almighty,  ever  mindful  of  his  faithful  ser- 
vant Abram,  agam  appeared  to  him  in  a  vision,  and  not  only  renewed  the  promise 
he  had  before  made,  of  enlarging  his  posterity,  but,  bidding  him  cast  his  eyes  round 
the  kingdom,  confirmed  the  gift  of  all  the  land  which  he  beheld,  to  him  and  his 
descendants. 

These  divine  assurances  were  acceptably  received  by  Abram,  who,  desirous  of 
seeing  the  ditTerent  parts  of  the  comitry  promised  to  his  posterity,  removed  from 
Bethel,  and  took  up  his  residence  in  the  plain  of  Mamre,  at  a  small  distance  from 
Hebron.  Here  (as  was  his  usual  custom,  wherever  he  pitched  his  tent)  he  erected 
an  altar,  in  order  to  discharge  his  religious  duties,  by  offering  sacrifices  to  the  Lord 

Li  a  short  time  after  Abram  had  settled  himself  at  Mamre,  by  the  natural  atfa- 
bility  of  his  temper,  and  the  respect  shown  him  on  that  account,  he  acquired  the 
intimacy  and  friendship  of  some  of  the  most  considerable  Canaanites,  particularly 
three,  named  Mamre,  Aner,  and  Escho! ;  the  former  of  whom  was  of  such  importance 
as  to  give  name  to  the  country  in  which  he  lived. 

This  alliance  was  not  only  agreeable  to  Abram,  but,  in  the  course  of  time,  proved 
infinitely  serviceable,  as  will  appear  from  the  following  circumstances.  Chederlao- 
mer,  king  of  Elam,  had  for  some  years  held  five  petty  princes  (of  which  number  the 
king  of  Sodom  was  one)  in  a  tributary  subjection  to  him.  "Weary  with  this  subjec- 
tion, they  at  length  determined  to  shake  off  the  yoke  they  had  so  long  borne ;  to 
effect  which  they  confederated  together,  and,  joining  their  respective  forces,  prepared 
themselves  to  march  against  their  oppressor. 

The  king  of  Elam,  being  informed  of  their  intentions,  resolved,  if  possible,  to  frus- 
trate their  designs.  He  accordingly  raised  a  powerful  army,  and,  in  conjunction  with 
three  other  kings,  his  allies,  immediately  advanced  to  meet  the  enemy.  The  revolted 
kings,  seeing  him  at  a  distance,  took  the  field,  with  a  firm  resolution  of  trying  the 
fate  of  a  pitched  battle.  The  place  allotted  for  determining  the  dispute  was  the 
valley  of  Siddim,  which  was  full  of  pits  of  bitumen,  or  soil  of  a  clayey  nature.  For 
some  time  the  victory  appeared  doubtful ;  but  at  length  the  five  tributary  kings  were 
put  to  the  route :  one  part  of  their  army  was  entirely  cut  to  pieces,  and  the  other 
fled  to  the  neighboring  mountains,  leaving  their  cities  a -prey  to  the  conquerors.  Lot, 
who  happened  at  this  time  to  reside  in  Sodom,  was  involved  in  the  calamity  of  the 
city,  being  not  only  plundered  of  all  his  possessions,  but  carried  away  among  the 
rest  of  the  captives.  One  of  the  soldiers  belonging  to  the  vanquished,  happening  to 
make  his  escape,  immediately  hastened  to  Abram,  to  whom  he  related  the  particu- 
lars of  the  battle,  and  the  hapless  fate  of  his  nepheAV.  The  faithful  patriarch,  anx- 
ious for  Lot,  determined  to  pursue  the  victors,  and,  if  possible,  not  only  rescue  him, 
but  the  whole  of  the  captives.  He  accordingly  armed  all  his  own  servants,  the 
number  of  whom  amounted  to  three  hundred  and  eighteen,  and,  accompanied  by  his 
three  friends  and  associates,  Mamre,  Eschol,  and  Aner,  set  out  in  pursuit  of  the  vic- 
tors, Avhom,  after  a  march  of  about  seventy  leagues,  he  overtook  near  Dan.  Availing 
himself  of  the  covert  of  the  night,  he  put  his  forces  into  proper  dispcisition,  and  im- 
mediately charged  the  enemy  on  all  quarters.  So  sudden  and  vigorous  an  attack  on 
an  army  fatigued  with  a  late  engagement,  and  revelling  in  the  spoils  of  conquest, 
had  the  desired  effect,  for  Abram,  in  a  short  time,  obtained  a  complete  victory.  Che- 
derlaomer,  the  king  of  Elam,  was,  among  many  others,  slain,  and  his  whole  army 
being  routed,  Abram's  victorious  party  pursued  them  as  far  as  Hobah,  a  small  place 
situated  near  Damascus.  #  The  enemy,  from  the  great  consternation  into  which  they 
had  been  thrown,  by  the  suddeimess  of  the  attack,  fled  so  precipitately,  that  they 
left  behind  them  not  only  the  captives,  but  likewise  the  booty  of  which  they  had 

across,  which  rushes  over  a  stony  bed  into  the  lower  plain,  where  it  is  joined  by  a  river  which  rises  to  the 
northeast  of  Banias.  A  few  miles  below  their  junction  the  now  considerable  river  enters  the  small  lake  of 
Houle,  or  Seiiierlionitis  (called  "  the  waters  of  Meroni"  in  the  Old  Testament).  This  lake  receives  several 
other  mountain-streams,  some  of  which  seem  to  have  as  good  claim  to  be  regarded  as  forming  the  Jordan 
with  that  to  wl\ich  it  is  jiiven  in  tlie  previous  statement ;  and  it  would  perhaps  be  safest  to  consider  the 
lake  formed  by  their  union  as  the  real  source  of  tlie  Jordan.  After  leaving  tlio  lake,  the  river  proceeds 
about  twelve  miles  to  the  larger  lake,  called  by  various  names,  but  best  known  as  tlie  Sea  of  Galilee :  after 
leaving  which,  it  Hows  about  seventy  miles  farther,  until  it  is  finally  lost  in  the  Dead  or  Salt  sea.  It  dis- 
charges into  that  sea  a  turbid,  deep,  and  rapid  stream,  the  breadth  of  which  is  from  two  to  tliree  hundred 
feet.  The  whole  course  of  the  river  is  about  one  hundred  miles  in  a  straight  line,  from  north  to  soutli ;  but, 
with  its  windings,  it  probably  does  not  describe  a  course  of  less  than  one  hundred  and  tiftv  miles. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  43 

possessed  themselves.  The  whole  of  these  fell  into  the  hands  of  Abram,  and  among 
them  his  nephew  Lot,  who,  being  thus  happily  recovered,  returned,  with  all  his 
substance,  to  his  former  habitation. 

Abram  having,  by  this  conquest,  signalized  both  his  valor  and  fidelity,  was  highly 
caressed  by  those  whose  cause  he  had  so  gallantly  espoused.  The  first  person  who 
came  to  congratulate  him  on  the  occasion  was  the  king  of  Sodom,  who,  in  thankful 
acknowledgment  of  the  benefits  received  from  his  important  services,  offered  him  all 
his  booty  which  he  had  retaken  belonging  to  him,  desiring  only  the  restoration  of 
those  prisoners  who  were  his  subjects.  But  Abram's  righteous  soul  disdained  to  take 
advantage  of  the  unfortunate ;  and  therefore,  after  reserving  to  his  associates  that 
part  of  the  plunder  to  which  their  services  entitled  them,  he  restored  to  the  king 
botli  his  subjects  and  property,  evincing,  through  the  whole  of  his  conduct,  the  most 
distinguislied  fidelity,  intrepid  courage,  and  inflexible  justice. 

The  next  person  who  congratulated  Abram  on  his  success  was  Melchisedek,*  king 
of  Salem,  who,  on  his  return  Irom  the  battle,  accommodated  both  him  and  his  men 
with  a  refresliment  of  bread  and  wine  which  he  had  provided  on  the  occasion.  Being 
a  priest  as  well  as  king,  he  first  blessed  Abram  for  being  the  instrument  of  so  public 
a  deliverance,  and  tlien  the  Almighty,  for  having  given  him  such  uncommon  suc- 
cess ;  in  return  for  which,  the  victorious  patriarch  presented  him  with  the  tenth  part 
of  the  spoils  he  had  taken  from  the  enemy. 

As  Abram  had  noAV  acted  in  the  public  capacity  of  a  warrior,  and  might  reasonably 
expect  that  the  kings  whom  he  had  routed  would  recruit  their  scattered  forces,  and 
prepare  for  a  second  attack,  he  was  fearful  of  the  consequences.  But  the  Almighty, 
in  order  to  fortify  his  mind  against  all  disagreeable  apprehensions,  even  from  the 
most  potent  princes  of  the  earth,  appeared  to  him  in  a  vision,  and  informed  him  that 
he  had  undertaken  his  defence,  and  would  ever  reward  his  faithfulness.  "  Fear  not," 
says  he,  "Abram,  I  am  thy  shield,  and  thy  exceeding  great  reward." 

Hitherto  the  pious  patriarch  had  listened  to  God's  promises  without  the  least 
shadow  of  distrust ;  but  on  this  fresh  assurance  he  ventured,  for  the  first  tiijie,  to 
expostulate  with  his  great  protector,  not  knowing  how  these  things  could  possibly 
be  accomplished,  while  himself  continued  without  an  heir  to  his  body,  and  that,  to 
all  appearance,  he  must  be  obliged  to  leave  his  substance  to  Eliezer  his  steward. 

The  troubles  of  Abram  on  this  head  were  soon  removed  by  the  beneficence  of  the 
Almighty,  who  told  him  that  not  his  servant,  but  a  son  of  his  own,  begotten  of  his 
body,  should  be  his  heir,  and  that  from  him  should  descend  a  race  as  "  irmumerable 
as  the  stars  in  heaven." 

Abram  was  so  encovxraged  by  this  joyful  intelligence,  that  he  ventured  to  beg  of 
God  that  he  would  be  pleased  to  give  him  some  sensible  token  whereby  he  might  be 
assured  of  so  distinguished  a  blessing.  The  Almighty  thought  proper  to  comply 
with  his  request,  and  that  they  might  enter  into  a  formal  covenant  on  the  occasion, 
ordered  him  to  take  a  heifer,  a  goat,  and  a  ram,  each  of  three  years  old,  together 
with  a  pigeon  and  a  turtle-dove,  and  offer  them  up  as  a  sacrifice. 

The  pious  patriarch  readily  obeyed  the  divine  command,  and,  having  killed  the 
beasts,  cut  them  in  halves,  laying  each  opposite  to  the  other ;  but  the  fowls  he  left 
whole.  After  doing  this,  he  walked  between  the  dissected  bodies,  making  his  sol- 
emn vows  to  God  of  perpetual  obedience  to  his  will ;  and  then  sat  himself  down  to 
prevent  birds  of  prey  from  injuring  the  sacrifice. 

About  the  time  of  sunset  Abram  fell  into  a  deep  sleep,  during  which  it  was  revealed 
to  him  that  he  was  not  to  expect  an  immediate  accomplishment  of  the  divine  promise ; 
for  though  himself  was  to  die  in  peace,  and  at  a  good  old  age,  yet  his  posterity  were, 
after  that,  to  sojourn  and  be  afflicted  in  a  strange  country,  for  the  space  of  four  hun- 
dred years ;  after  which  the  Almighty  would  not  only  punish  their  oppressors,  but 
would  likewise  safely  establish  them  in  the  land  he  had  promised. 

Afler  this  revelation  Abram  soon  awoke,  and  while  he  was  reflecting  on  what  he 
had  heard,  the  Almighty,  in  confirmation  of  the  assurances  he  had  given  him,  and  as 
a  ratification  of  his  part  of  the  covenant,  caused  the  symbol  of  his  divine  presence  to 
appear  before  him.  It  consisted  of  a  sinohng  furnace  and  a  burning  lamp,  which 
passed  between  the  divided  pieces  of  the  victims,  and  totally  consumed  them. 

*  Who  this  extraordinary  person  was,  has  been  a  subject  of  ^eat  dispute  ;  but  the  most  rational  opinion 
is,  that  he  was  one  of  the  princes  of  Canaan,  who  on  account  of  his  great  piety  and  goodness,  was  called 
Melchizedek,  which,  in  the  Hebrew  language,  signifies  King  of  Righteousness 


44  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

Sarai,  the  wife  of  Abram,  desired  a  soa  no  less  fervently  than  her  husband.  But 
she  had  been  considered  barren  before  she  left  Mesopotamia ;  she  was  now  seventy- 
five  years  of  age ;  and  she  had  waited  ten  years  since  their  hearts  were  first  glad- 
dened by  the  promise  of  an  heir.  She  therefore  thought  the  case  was  hopeless  as 
regarded  herself;  and  began  to  reflect  that,  although  a  son  had  been  promised  to 
Abram,  it  had  not  been  said,  and  did  not  necessarily  folloAV,  that  this  son  should  be 
the  fruit  of  her  own  womb.  Explaining  these  views  to  the  patriarch,  she  prevailed 
upon  him  to  resort  to  a  custom  of  the  time,  of  which  there  are  still  some  traces  in 
the  East,  under  which  the  man  takes  a  secondary  wife,  whose  children  become  his 
undoubted  heirs,  equally  with  any  other  children  he  may  have  ;  and  if  the  woman  is 
the  slave  or  attendant  of  the  chief  wife,  or  is  provided  by  the  chief  wife,  the  children 
are,  in  a  legal  point  of  view,  considered  hers:  and,  in  the  same  point  of  view,  the 
condition  of  the  actual  mother  remains  unchanged,  though  in  practice  it  necessarily 
sustains  some  modification  from  the  operation  of  the  feelings  arising  from  the  comiex- 
ions  which  are  formed,  especially  when  her  children  are  grown  up.  The  female 
whom  Sarai  proposed  to  Abram  as  her  substitute  was  her  own  handmaid,  a  woman 
of  Egypt,  named  Hagar,  who  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  one  of  the  female  slaves 
whom  the  king  of  Egypt  gave  to  the  patriarch.* 

In  due  time  it  was  known  that  Hagar  had  conceived,  and  the  prospect  of  becoming 
the  mother  of  Abram's  long-promised  heir  had  a  mischievous  etfect  upon  her  mind, 
leading  her  to  treat  her  mistress  with  disrespect.  Sarai,  through  whose  preference 
and  management  all  this  had  been  brought  about,  was  stung  to  the  quick  by  this 
treatment,  and  complained  of  it  to  Abram  with  some  sharpness,  insinuating  that, 
without  some  encouragement  from  him,  Hagar  durst  not  be  so  impertinent  to  her. 
The  patriarch  himself,  respecting  the  rights  of  his  wife,  and  displeased  at  Hagar's 
presumption  (which  those  who  know  anything  of  Oriental  women  of  her  class,  will 
believe  to  have  been  very  coarsely  and  offensively  manifested),  reminded  Sarai  that 
the  Egyptian  was  still  her  bond-servant,  and  that  her  authority  was  sufficient  to  pre- 
vent eg-  punish  the  treatment  of  Avhich  she  complained.  Being  thus  assured  that  he 
would  not  interfere,  Sarai  proceeded  to  a  more  unsparing  exercise  of  the  powers  with 
which  she  was  invested,  than  the  raised  spirits  of  the  Egyptian  bondmaid  could 
brook  ;  and  she  therefore  fled,  directing  her  course  towards  her  own  country.  It  is  a 
"errible  and  perilous  thing  for  a  woman,  alone  and  on  foot,  to  pass  the  desert  which 
ies  between  the  land  of  Canaan  and  Egypt ;  and  we  know  not  how  one  might  do  it 
ind  live.  Nor  did  Hagar  accomplish  this  enterprise ;  for  she  was  as  yet  but  upon 
the  borders  of  the  desert,  and  was  tarrying  for  refreshment  and  rest  by  a  well  of  wa- 
ter, when  an  angel  of  God  appeared  to  her,  and  persuaded  her  to  return  and  submit 
herself  to  her  mistress ;  encouraging  her  to  obedience  by  the  assurance  that  the  child 
she  then  bore  in  her  womb  would  prove  a  son,  whom  she  was  directed  to  name  Ish- 
mael  (God  attendeth),  because  the  Lord  had  attended  to  her  affliction.  She  was 
nlso  assured  that  this  son  should  be  the  parent  of  a  numerous  race ;  and  that  while 
in  his  character,  as  typifying  that  also  of  his  descendants,  he  should  be  wild  and  fierce 
IS  the  desert  ass — his  hand  against  every  man,  and  every  man's  hand  against  him — 
he  should  never  be  expelled  or  rooted  out  from  the  domain  which  God  would  give  to 
him.f  Thus  instructed  and  encouraged,  Hagar  returned  to  her  master's  camp  in  the 
valley  of  Mamre ;  and  in  due  season  brought  forth  a  son,  to  whom,  in  obedience  to 
the  angel's  direction,  Abram  gave  the  name  of  Ishmael. 

At  this  time  Abram  was  eighty-six  years  of  age  ;  and  lest,  in  the  excess  of  his  joy, 
he  should  mistake  this  child  for  the  heir  of  the  promises  which  had  been  made  him, 
about  thirteen  years  after,  the  Almighty  again  appeared  to  him  in  a  vision,  and  re- 
newed his  former  covenant ;  to  ratify  which  he  was  pleased  to  institute  the  rite  of 
circumcision,  by  commanding  that  every  male  child,  of  eight  days  old,  whether  bora 
in  the  house  or  bought  with  money,  should  be  circumcised,  on  the  penalty  of  being 
cut  off"  from  the  benefits  of  the  covenant.  As  a  further  mark  of  his  divine  respect, 
he  changed  our  patriarch's  name  from.  Abram  to  Abraham,  and  his  wife's  from  Sarai 
to  Sarah  ;$  and  to  complete  his  happiness,  again  promised  that  he  should  yet  have 
a  son  by  her.  * 

*  It  is  not  unlikely  that  Hagar  had  been  given  to  Sarai  as  hei  peisonal  attendant  while  she  was  in  Ph^ 
raoh's  harem,  and  that  she  was  allowed  to  retain  her  as  such  when  she  departed. 

t  This  is  the  best  interpretation  we  can  give  to  the  expression,  "  and  in  the  face  of  all  his  brethren  shall  ho 
dwell." 

t  The  difference  in  the  sound  of  these  words  is  very  trifling  ,  but  in  the  sense,  it  is  considerable.    The 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


4S 


16  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

Though  this  promise  gave  great  satisfaction  to  AbraTiam,  yet  his  mind  was  agi- 
tated on  account  of  Ishmael,  his  first-born,  for  whom  he  had  a  most  paternal  affection. 
He  was  suspicious  that,  on  the  birth  of  a  child  by  the  free  woman,  he  might  be  de- 
prived of  that  descended  from  the  bond-woman ;  and  therefore,  falling  prostrate  on 
the  ground,  he  began  to  intercede  with  God  in  behalf  of  Ishmael :  "  O,"  says  he, 
"  that  Ishmael  might  live  before  thee  !"  But  the  Almighty  thought  proper  to  remove 
his  fears,  by  assuring  him  that  the  great  blessings  in  the  covenant  were  not  designed 
for  Ishmael,  but  for  a  son  to  be  born  of  Sarah,  which  should  happen  within  the  course 
of  the  year,  and  that  his  name  should  be  called  Isaac.  That  he  might  not,  however, 
seem  wholly  to  neglect  his  request  for  Ishmael,  he  promised  to  "  make  him  a  great 
nation,"  and  the  father  of  twelve  princes  ;  but  at  the  same  time  told  him,  tha^  the 
covenant  made  should  onlv  be  established  in  the  son  begotten  of  Sarah. 

This  was  the  whole  substance  of  the  vision ;  and  as  soon  as  it  was  ended,  Abra- 
ham delayed  not  (according  to  the  divine  command)  to  circumcise  himself,  his  son 
Ishmae'.  and  all  the  males  in  his  family.  And  this  ordinance  the  Hebrews  have 
ever  since  very  religiously  observed.* 


CHAPTER   V. 

The  great  wealth  of  the  inhabitants  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  had  introduced  lux- 
ury, Avhich,  as  usual,  soon  produced  licentiousness.  The  fatal  consequences  of  this 
were,  irreverence  to  God,  inhospitality  to  strangers,  and  the  indulgence  of  the  most 
abominable  vices.  These  enormities  highly  offended  the  Almighty,  who,  in  order  to 
punish  the  people,  denounced  his  vengeance  both  ajjaiust  them  and  their  country. 
But,  previous  to  the  execution  of  the  fatal  sentence,  ne  thought  proper  to  intimate 
his  intentions  to  his  faithful  servant  Abraham. 

At  this  time  the  pious  patriarch  resided  at  Mamre;  and  as  he  was  sitting  one  day 
at  the  door  of  his  tent,  he  saw  at  a  distance  three  persons,  whom  he  took  for  travel- 
lers. Being  naturally  of  a  hospitable  disposition,  when  they  came  up  to  him  he 
arose  from  his  seat,  and,  in  a  polite  manner,  asked  them  to  partake  of  such  refresh- 
ment as  his  habitation  afforded.  His  civility  being  accepted,  an  entertainment  was 
immediately  prepared  for  the  unknown  guests,  Avhich  being  set  before  theni:  they,  to 
all  appearance,  seemed  to  eat.  While  they  were  at  table,  one  of  them  inquired  after 
Sarah,  and  being  told  she  was  in  the  tent,  he  then  addressed  himself  to  Abraham, 
and  assured  him  that  he  had  still  in  remembrance  the  case  of  his  wife  Sarah,  who, 
before  the  end  of  the  year,  should  certainly  be  delivered  of  a  son.  From  this  circum- 
stance Abraham  was  convinced  that  these  three  visiters  were  messengers  from 
heaven,  and  that  one  of  them  was  the  peculiar  representative  of  the  Almighty. 

Sarah  had  listened  attentively  to  the  discourse  that  had  passed  between  her  hus- 
band and  his  guests;  but,  considering  the  advanced  age  both  of  lierself  and  him,  she 
regarded  not  their  prediction,  and  even  laughed  within  herself  at  the  improbability 
of  such  an  event.  'I'his  disrespectful  behavior  being  jobserved  by  the  stranger,  he,  in 
an  angry  tone,  asked  her  the  reason  of  it.  Struck  with  terror,  she  attempted  to  deny 
it;  upon  which  he  dismissed  her  Avith  this  gentle  reproof:  that  it  was  excecdiufflv 
wrong  in  her  to  mistrust  what  he  had  said,  since  "nothing  was  impossible  with  (Jod.' 

This  finislied  the  conversation,  immediately  after  which  the  three  guests  prepared 
themselves  to  depart,  and  Abraham,  understanding  they  were  going  towards  Sodom, 

woril  Abram,  signifies  high  father ;  but  Abraham  implies  the  father  of  a  great  multitude,  as  he  certainly  was 
according  to  the  Divine  pruriiisc,  "  a  father  of  many  nations  have  I  made  tlice,"  Gen.  xvii.  ."i. 

The  word  Smai  signifies,  mi/  ^rincess,  or  cliief  of  my  family  only  ;  but  Sarah  implies,  l^nncess  or  chiej'  of 
vmlhiuiics.  according  to  the  words  in  the  text,  "  She  shall  be  a  mother  of  nations,  kings  of  people  shail  be 
of  her,"  Gen.  xvii.  10.       .^_ 

♦  Circumcision— thecuttiniofrtlie  small  skin  of  the  prepuce,  as  the  rite  was  enjoined  upon  Abraham  witli 
the  male  pari  ■■this  family,  to' be  the  sign  of  the  covenant  of  Gcin  with  the  patriarch,  when  he  renewed  to 
him  the  proii.iM  of  tlie  Messiah  (Gen.  xvii.  10-26).  Physicians  have  regarded  circumcision  as  medically 
beneficial  ;  aiul  it  was  practised  by  the  Arabians,  Israelites,  and  Saracens,  the  descendants  of  Abraham 
but  especially  by  the  Israelites,  to  whom  it  was  ordained  as  the  initiatory  ordinance  of  the  Hebrew  church 
This,  however,  with  all  the  Lcvitical  ceremonies,  was  abolished  by  the  p'erfect  mediation  of  Christ  (Acts 
XV.  1-24  ;  Col.  iii.  11).  The  Israelites  are  called  the  circumcision,  and  the  Gentiles  the  uncircumcision. 
Rom.  iv.  y. 

Circumcision  of  the  heart  :  this  is  the  thing  signified  by  tlie  original  ceremony,  the  cutting  off  of  every 
evil  atTection  by  the  renewal  of  the  soul  in  holiness  to  secure  devotedness  of  heart  in  the  true  service  of 
Gon  as  promised  by  Moses,  Phil.  iii.  3 ;  Col.  ii.  11  ;  Deut.  x.  16. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  47 

courteously  offered  to  attend  them  some  part  of  the  way.  As  they  journeyed  toge^ther, 
God  was  pleased  to  mauifest  his  peculiar  regard  to  Abraham,  in  foretelling  the  dread- 
ful judgment  he  intended  to  inflict  on  Sodom  and  the  neighboring  cities,  wliich  in- 
stance of  his  kindness  was  founded  upon  an  assurance  thai  he  would  command  not 
only  his  children,  but  his  household  also,  to  persevere  in  the  true  fear  and  worship 
of  their  divine  Creator. 

This  intelligence  was  communicated  to  Abraham  by  one  of  the  angels  (the  imme- 
diate representative  of  God),  the  other  two  having  gone  before  with  great  hasie,  to 
reach,  as  coon  as  poss^ible,  tlie  place  of  their  destiny.  So  melancholy  a  piece  of  news 
greatly  afflicted  Abraham,  who,  from  an  assurance  of  the  divine  favor,  ventured  to 
intercede  in  behalf  of  those  wicked  people.  Not  doubling  but  the  supreme  and  equi- 
table Judge  of  the  earth  would  listen  to  mercy,  he  begged  of  him  not  to  punish  the 
innocent  with  the  guilty.  He  made  five  petitionary  propositions,  lessening  the  sup- 
posed number  of  pious  inhabitants  in  Sodom  from  tifly  to  ten,  earnestly  beseeching 
of  God  that,  could  even  so  small  a  number  be  found,  he  would,  on  their  account, 
withdraw  his  avenging  rod,  and  avert  the  impending  danger.  This  request  being 
granted,  the  angel  departed,  and  Abraham  returned  home,  happy  m  the  thought  of 
having  received  such  peculiar  manifestations  of  the  divine  love. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  Iavo  other  guests,  who  went  before  (and  were,  indeed,  the 
ministering  ann^els  whom  God  had  appointed  to  execute  his  judgment  on  the  Sodom- 
ites), pursued  their  journey  towards  the  city,  whither  they  arrived  in  the  evening. 
Lot  happened  at  this  time  to  be  sitting  at  the  gate  of  the  city;  as  soon,  therefore,  as 
he  saw  the  angels,  he  arose,  and,  after  proper  salutations,  invited  them  to  his  house, 
in  order  to  refresh  themselves.  For  some  time  the  divine  messengers  declined  the 
offer ;  but  at  length,  from  the  strength  of  Lot's  importunities,  they  were  prevailed 
on  to  accept  the  invitation. 

It  being  soon  rumored  about  the  city  that  Lot  had  strangers  with  him,  great  num- 
bers of  the  vile  inhabitants  assembled  together,  and,  surrounding  the  house,  com- 
manded him,  in  a  peremptory  manner,  to  deliver  them  up.  Lot  thought  at  first  to 
appease  them  by  mild  and  soft  words ;  and,  therefore,  stepping  out  of  the  house,  and 
shutting  the  door  after  him,  he  begged  of  them  not  to  offer  any  insult  to  his  guests, 
who  had  committed  themselves  to  his  care  and  protection.  This  not  having  the 
desired  effect,  in  order  to  appease  their  rage,  and,  if  possible,  to  preserve  the  laws  of 
hospitality  inviolate,  he  offered  to  give  up  his  two  virgin  daughters  to  their  discre- 
tion. But  so  abandoned  were  these  wretches  to  wickedness,  and  so  deaf  to  every 
remonstrance,  that  they  even  refused  this  offer,  and  threatened  Lot  with  very  severe 
treatment,  if  he  did  not  immediately  comply  with  their  request. 

Finding  Lot  was  resolute,  and  totally  disregarded  their  threats,  they  determined 
to  effect  that  by  force  which  they  could  not  obtain  by  any  other  means.  Accordingly, 
pressing  forward,  they  attempted  to  break  open  the  door ;  but  the  divine  messengers 
prevented  their  design.  By  an  exertion  of  supernatural  power,  they  forced  their  way 
out  of  the  house,  took  in  their  host,  and  then,  shutting  the  door,  struck  the  rioters 
with  a  temporary  blindness ;  so  that,  not  being  able  to  find  the  house,  they  were 
obliged  to  desist  from  their  diabolical  intentions. 

All  things  being  now  quiet,  the  two  angels  acquainted  Lot  with  the  purport  of 
their  embassy.  They  told  him  they  were  come  to  execute  the  divine  vengeance  on 
that  execrable  place  and  its  neighborhood ;  and  therefore,  if  he  had  any  friends  for 
whose  safety  he  was  concerned,  to  acquaint  them  of  their  danger,  that  thereby  they 
might  escape  the  general  destruction. 

In  the  city  were  two  young  men,  who  had  been  betrothed  to  Lot's  daughters,  to 
whom  he  immediately  repaired,  and  informed  them  of  the  approaching  event,  at  the' 
same  lime  advising  them,  for  their  safety,  to  leave  the  place  and  go  with  him ;  but, 
mstead  of  listening  to  his  advice,  they  totally  despised  it,  and  profanely  ridiculed  the 
idea  of  the  threatened  destruction. 

In  the  morning,  soon  after  daylight,  one  of  the  angels,  observing  Lot  not  to  pre- 
pare for  his  departure  with  that  expedition  he  knew  to  be  necessary,  rather  chastised 
him  for  his  conduct.  The  cause  of  this  delay  certainly  arose  from  hopes  that  the 
dreadful  sentence  against  those  wretched  people  might  be  reversed ;  but  his  hopes 
*  were  in  vain,  for,  instead  of  ten  righteous  persons,  that  Abraham  had  capitulated  for, 
no  more  than  four,  and  all  those  of  Lot's  family  (himself  included),  were  appointed 
to  escape  the  dreadful  judgment.     Knowing,  therefore,  the  necessity  of  immediate 


m 


48  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

departure,  the  angel  took  Lot,  his  wife,  and  his  two  daughters  by  the  hands,  and 
conducted  them  out  of  the  city.  The  divine  messenger  told  him  to  make  all  the  ex- 
pedition possible,  and,  to  avoid  the  common  ruin,  pursue  his  course  to  the  neighbor- 
ing mountains. 

Lot,  observing  the  mountains  to  which  he  was  directed  were  at  a  considerable 
distance,  began  to  despair  of  reaching  them  in  a  proper  time,  and  therefore  entreated 
the  angel  that  he  might  be  permitted  to  escape  to  a  small  city,  not  far  from  Sodom, 
then  called  Bela,  but  afterward  Zoar.  This  request  was  granted,  and  that  city,  on 
their  account,  escaped  the  general  destruction.  Before  the  angel  left  them,  he  urged 
them  to  make  all  possible  haste,  as  the  divine  commission  could  not  be  put  in  exe- 
cution till  they  were  safely  arrived  at  the  place  of  their  destination.  He  likewise 
enjoined  them  not,  upon  any  accomit  whatever,  to  look  behind  them,  but  to  keep 
their  eyes  fixed  on  the  place  allotted  for  their  refuge. 

Having  said  this  the  angel  departed,  and  Lot,  with  his  family,  pursued  their  jour- 
ney toward  Zoar.  After  travelling  some  way.  Lot's  wife,  either  from  forgetfulness 
of  the  prohibition,  or  out  of  respect  to  the  place  of  her  habitation,  indiscreetly  looked 
back.  This  misconduct  was  attended  with  the  most  fatal  consequences :  she  was 
immediately  turned  into  a  pillar  of  salt,*  and  became  a  standing  monument  of  the 
vengeance  of  the  Almighty  on  disobedient  and  obstinate  offenders. 

Lot  and  his  daughters,  strictly  observing  the  divine  injunction,  hastened  toward 
Zoar,  whither  they  had  no  sooner  arrived,  than  the  vengeance  of  the  Almighty  began 
to  appear  in  all  its  horrors.     The  angry  heavens  poured  down  showers  of  liquid  firef 

*  She  was  overwhelmed  and  smothered  in  the  spray  of  the  igneous  and  saline  matters  which  filled  the 
air  ;  and  which,  gathering  and  hardening  around  her,  left  her  incrusted  body  with  some  resemblance  to  a 
mass  of  rock  salt. 

t  The  examination  of  the  agencies  which  it  pleased  God  to  employ  in  effecting  this  great  overthrow  is  a 
subject  which  need  not  interrupt  the  present  narrative.  It  suffices  now  to  mention,  that  the  destruction 
was  sudden  and  overwhelming,  and  not  only  did  it  overthrow  and  devour  the  cities  of  the  plain,  and  all  the 
inhabitants,  and  all  the  growth  of  the  ground,  and  every  living  thing,  but  it  cut  off  the  .lordan  in  its  course, 
and  absorbed  the  very  plain  itself:  the  surface  of  which,  once  blooming  like  another  Eden,  no  man  has  be- 
held since  that  day  ;  but,  instead  thereof,  a  bitter,  sulpliureous  and  fetid  lake,  the  Lake  of  Death,  which  has, 
from  that  hour  to  this,  remained  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  earth.  The  following  brief  description  of  the 
Dead  sea  (see  engraving),  will,  we  hope,  be  read  with  interest  : — 

The  celebrated  lake,  which  occupies  the  site  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  is  variously  called  in  Scripture  the 
Sea  of  the  Plain  (Deut.  iii.  17,  iv.  4'J),  being  situated  in  a  valley  with  a  plain  lying  to  the  south  of  it,  where 
those  cities  once  flourished,  with  the  other  cities  of  the  plain  ;  the  Salt  sea  (Deut.  iii.  17,  Josli.  xv.  5),  from 
the  extremely  saline  and  bitter  taste  of  its  waters  ;  the  Salt  sea  eastward  (Num.  xxxiv.  3),  and  the  East  sea 
(Ezek.  xlvii.  18  ;  Joel  ii.  20),  from  its  situation  relatively  to  Juda;a.  At  present  it  is  called  Bahret-Lout,  or 
the  sea  of  Lot.  By  Josephus  and  other  writers,  it  was  called  the  Lake  Asphaltites,  from  the  abundance  of 
bitumen  found  in  it.  The  most  familiar  name,  the  Dead  sea,  is  in  allusion  to  the  ancient  tradition,  errone- 
ously but  generally  received,  that  no  animal  can  exist  in  itsstagnant  and  hydro-sulphuretted  waters,  which, 
though  they  look  remarkably  clear  and  pure,  are  nauseous  in  the  extreme.  A  chymical  analysis  of  one 
hundred  grains  of  the  water  gave  the  following  results  as  to  the  substances,  and  proportions  of  them,  which 
it  holds  in  solution  :— 

Muriate  of  hme  -        -        •  3.920         1         Soda 10.360 

Magnesia  -        -        -       .-        10.246         I         Sulphate  of  lime  -        -  .054 

From  this  analysis  it  will  readily  be  concluded  that  such  a  liquid  must  be  equally  salt  and  bitter.  The  acrid 
saltness  of  its  waters,  indeed,  is  much  greater  than  that  of  the  sea:  and  the  land  which  surrounds  this 
lake,  being  equally  impregnated  with  that  saltness,  refuses  to  produce  any  plants,  except  a  few  stunted 
tliorns,  which  wear  the  brown  garb  of  the  desert.  Bodies  sink  or  float  upon  it  in  proportion  to  their  specific 
gravity:  and  although  the  water  is  so  dense  as  to  be  favorable  to  swimmers,  no  security  is  found  against 
the  common  accident  of  drowning.  This  sea,  when  viewed  from  the  spot  where  the  rapid  Jordan  daily  dis- 
charges into  it  0,1)90,000  tons  of  muddy  water,  takes  a  southeasterly  direction  visible  for  ten  or  fifteen 
miles,  when  it  disappears  in  a  curve  toward  the  east.  Tlie  expanse  of  the  Dead  sea,  at  the  embouchure  of 
the  Jordan,  has  been  supposed  not  to  exceed  five  or  six  miles  :  though  the  mountains,  which  skirt  each  side 
of  tlie  valley  of  the  Dead  sea,  arc  apparently  separated  by  a  distance  of  eight  miles.  The  mountains  on  the 
Judfcan  side  are  lower  than  the  mountains  of  Moab,  on  the  Arabian  side.  The  latter  chain  at  its  southern 
extremity  is  said  to  consist  of  dark  granite,  and  of  various  colors.  The  shores  at  the  northern  extremity 
are  remarkably  fiat,  and  strewed  witli  vast  quantities  of  driftwood,  white  and  bleached  by  the  sun,  which 
is  brought  down  by  the  swelling  of  Jordan.  It  is  not  certainly  known  whether  there  has  been  any  visible 
increase  or  decrease  in  the  waters  of  the  Dead  sea.  Some  have  imagined  that  it  finds  a  subterraneous  pas- 
sage to  tlie  Mediterranean,  or  that  there  is  a  considerable  suction  in  the  plain  which  forms  its  western 
boundary  ;  but  Dr.  Shaw  has  long  since  accounted  for  it,  by  the  ([uantity  which  is  daily  evaporated. 

As  the  Dead  sea  advances  toward  the  south,  it  evidently  increases  in  breadth.  Its  dimensions  have  been 
variously  estimated  by  different  travellers.  Pliny  states  its  total  length  to  be  one  hundred  miles,  and  its 
greatest  breadth  twenty-five  :  the  Jewisli  historian  Josephus,  wlio  measured  this  lake,  found  Wiat  in  length 
it  extended  about  five  hundred  and  eighty  stadia,  and  in  breadth  one  hundred  and  fifty  ;  according  to  our 
standard,  somew  hat  more  than  seventy  miles  by  nineteen.  Witli  this  measurement  nearly  coincides  the 
estimate  of  Dr.  Shaw,  who  appears  to  have  ascertained  its  dimensions  with  accuracy,  and  who  computes 
its  length  to  be  about  seventy-two  English  miles,  and  its  greatest  breadth  about  nineteen.  Whoever  has 
once  seen  the  Dead  sea,  will  ever  after  have  its  aspect  impressed  upon  his  memory:  it  is  in  truth  a  gloomy 
and  fearful  spectacle.  The  precipices,  in  general,  descend  abruptly  into  the  lake,  the  surface  of  which  i» 
generally  unruffled,  from  the  hollow  of  the  basin  (in  winch  it  lies)  scarcely  admitting  the  free  passage  ne- 
cessary for  a  strong  breeze.  It  is,  however,  for  the  same  reason,  subject  to  whirlwinds  or  squalls  of  short 
duration.    A  profound  silence,  awful  as  death,  hangs  over  the  lake  :  its  shores  are  rarely  visited  by  any 


fflSTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


50  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

on  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  and  tlie  other  wicked  ciues  of  the  plain ;  and  m  a  short 
time  tlie  whole  was  reduced  to  a  state  of  irreparable  destruction. 

When  Lot  beheld  the  dreadful  calamity  that  had  befallen  the  cities  of  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah,  he  began  to  think  himself  not  safe  in  Zoar ;  he  therefore  withdrew  to  the 
mountains  to  which  he  was  first  directed,  and,  for  want  of  a  proper  habitation,  lived 
for  some  time  with  his  daughters  in  a  cave.  In  his  caverned  retreat  a  new  and  un- 
e.xpecied  evil  befell  Lot.  His  daughters,  like  all  eastern  women,  and  especially  all 
women  of  Bedouin  parentage,  looked  upon  the  possession  of  children  as  the  best  and 
brightest  hope  of  their  existence;  but  they  saw  none  on  earth  whom  they  might  ex- 
pect to  marry.  Thev  knew  not  that  any  of  their  father's  family  and  connexions 
existed,  to  become  their  husbands  ;  and  the  example  of  their  sisters,  who  had  perished 
in  Sodom  wiili  llieir  husbands,  made  them  afraid,  if  willing,  to  entertain  the  notion 
of  a  marriage  with  Canaanitish  husbands.  They  therefore  most  wickedly  managed, 
on  two  successive  nights,  to  intoxicate  their  father  with  wine,  and  in  that  condition, 
and  without  his  clear  knowledge  of  what  was  done,  to  procure  issue  by  him.  A  son 
to  each  daughter  was  the  result  of  this  transaction.  The  eldest  daughter  gave  to  her 
son  the  name  of  Moab  ("  from  a  father"),  and  the  younger  called  hers  Ben-Ammi 
("son  of  my  people"),  which  latter  name,  intimating  the  mother's  satisfaction  in  the 
fact  that  the  child  was  a  son  of  her  oAvn  race,  corroborates  the  view  we  have  taken 
of  the  motives  by  which  the  women  were  influenced,  and  which  seems  to  us  far 
preferable  to  the  notion  that  they  supposed  that  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  ex- 
cept their  father  and  themselves,  were  destroyed  in  the  overthrow  of  Sodom.  We 
do  not  see  how  it  is  possible  that  they  could  have  entertained  any  such  impression. 
Be  this  as  it  may,  the  sons  which  were  born  to  them  were  the  progenitors  of  the 
Moabites  and  Ammonites, — nations  well  known  in  a  later  age  for  their  enmity  to  the 
house  of  Israel.  Thus  much  of  Lot,  of  whom  the  sacred  history  takes  no  further 
notice.  We  now  proceed  to  consider  the  peculiar  dispensation  of  Providence  with 
respect  to  his  faithful  servant  Abraham. 

At  the  time  of  the  destruction  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  the  pious  patriarch  re- 
sided at  Mamre ;  but  as  soon  as  he  beheld  that  fatal  catastrophe,  struck  with  a  proper 
sense  of  the  Divine  vengeance,  and  the  great  power  he  had  over  his  creatures,  he 
removed  thence  to  the  southward,  and  took  up  his  residence  in  Gerar,  one  of  the 
principal  cities  in  Palestine. 

On  his  first  entering  this  place,  he  had  recourse  to  the  same  policy  he  had  before 
practised  when  in  Egypt,  and  an  agreement  was  made  between  him  and  his  wife 
that  they  should  pass  for  brother  and  sister.  Abimelech,*  the  king  of  Gerar,  sup- 
posing this  to  be  their  real  affinity,  and  being  captivated  with  the  person  of  Sarah, 
who,  though  far  advanced  in  years,  possessed  some  distinguished  charms,  ordered  her 
to  be  brought  to  his  palac^  with  an  intent  of  making  her  his  concubine.  But  the 
Almighty  warned  him  in  a  dream  from  committing  the  iniquitous  act,  by  assuring 
him,  tliat  if  he  took  to  his  bed  a  woman,  whose  husband  was  a  prophet,  his  conduct 
should  be  punished  with  immediate  death. 

In  consequence  of  this,  Abimelech  sent  for  Abraham,  whom  he  severely  repri- 
manded for  having  endeavored  to  impose  on  him,  by  calling  her  his  sister  whom  he 

/ootRtcp,  save  that  of  tlie  wild  Arab ;  and  its  desolate  but  majestic  features  are  well  suited  to  the  tales  re- 
lated concerning  it  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  country,  who  hold  it  in  superstitious  dread,  and  speak  of  it 
with  terriir. 

We  can  not  forbear  subjoining  the  lively  account  which  Mr.  Stephens  gives  of  the  •' water  of  the  Dead 
«ea  :" 

"  From  my  own  experience  I  can  almost  corroborate  the  most  extravagant  accounts  of  the  ancients.  1 
tnow,  in  reference  to  my  own  specific  gravity,  that  in  the  Atlantic  and  Mediterranean  I  can  not  tloat  with- 
out some  little  movement  of  the  hands,  and  even  then  my  body  is  almost  totally  subnicr^red ;  but  here, 
when  I  threw  myself  upon  my  back,  my  body  was  half  out  of  the  water.  It  was  an  exertion  even  for  mv 
lank  Arabs  to  keep  themselves  under.  When  I  struck  out  in  swimming  it  was  extremely  awkward,  for  my 
legs  were  continually  rising  to  the  surface,  and  even  above  the  water.  I  could  have  lain  and  read  there 
with  perfect  ease.  In  fact  1  could  have  slept ;  and  it  would  have  been  a  much  easier  bod  than  the  bushes 
at  .lericho.  It  was  ludicrous  to  see  one  of  the  horses  :  as  soon  as  his  body  touched  the  water,  he  was 
afloat,  and  turned  over  on  his  side  :  he  struggled  with  all  his  force  to  preserve  his  equilibrium  ;  but  the  mo- 
ment he  ceased  moving,  he  turned  over  on  his  side  again,  and  almost  on  his  back,  kicking  his  <"c-et  out  of 
water  and  snorting  with  terror.  The  worst  of  my  batli  was,  after  it  was  over,  my  skin  was  covered  witlia 
thick  glutinous  substance,  which  it  required  another  ablution  to  get  rid  of;  and  after  I  had  wiped  myself 
dry,  my  body  burnt  and  smarted  as  if  it  had  been  turned  round  before  a  roasting  fire.  Mv  face  and  ears 
were  incrusted  with  salt ;  my  hairs  stood  out,  'each  particular  hair  on  end,'  and  my  eyes  were  irritated  and 
inllamcd,  so  that  I  felt  the  eli'ects  of  it  for  several  days.  In  spite  of  all  this,  however,  revived  and  refreshed 
by  my  bath,  I  mounted  my  horse  a  new  man." 

*  The  kings  of  Gerar  were  generally  called  by  the  title  of  Abimelech,  in  the  same  manner  as  those  of 
Egypt  were  called  by  that  of  Pharaoh. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  51 

knew  10  be  his  wife.*  In  excuse  for  the  fiction  Abraham  alleged  he  did  it  for  nis 
own  safety,  being  apprehensive  that,  iiad  it  been  known  she  was  his  wife,  he  1111.^11 1, 
m  order  to  possess  her,  have  robbed  him  of  his  existence.  He  farther  said,  tliav  the 
report  he  had  given  of  her  being  his  sister  was  not,  in  fact,  a  falsity,  for  though  she 
was  not  born  of  the  same  woman,  yet  she  was  begot  by  the  same  man. 

This  apology  pacified  the  king,  who  not  only  restored  Abraham  his  wife,  but  also 
gave  him  many  valuable  presents,  with  full  permission  to  settle  himself  in  any  part 
of  his  dominions. 

The  Almiglity  had  not  only  threatened  the  king  with  death  should  he  violate  the 
chastity  of  Sarah,  but  also  afilicted  him  and  all  the  women  belonging  to  him  with  a 
kind  of  impotence.  Abraham,  therefore,  in  return  for  Abimelech's  civility,  prayed 
ro  God  to  remove  these  imperfections,  which  he  being  pleased  to  grant,  the  king's 
disability  left  him,  and  the  queen,  with  the  rest  of  the  women  belonging  to  him, 
were  restored  to  their  natural  fertility. 

Soon  after  this  the  Divine  promise  (made  by  the  Almighty  to  Abraham)  Avas  ful- 
filled. The  time  appointed  was  now  elapsed,  and  Sarah  brought  forth  a  son,  whom 
Abraham,  agreeably  to  the  sacred  injunction,  called  Isaac  ;t  and  on  the  eighth  day  he 
was  circumcised.     , 

Sarah  having  long  considered  Ishmael  as  the  presumptive  heir  of  her  family,  had 
reared  and  continued  to  treat  him  with  the  most  affectionate  tenderness.  But  on  the 
birth  of  Isaac  she  became  apprehensive  with  respect  to  his  inheritance,  imaginmg, 
that  in  case  of  Abraham's  death,  Ishmael's  superiority  of  years  would  give  him  every 
advantage  over  her  own  son.  Stimulated  by  such  fears,  she  resolved  to  get  rid  of 
Ishmael,  and  it  was  not  long  before  an  opportunity  offered  for  accomplishing  her  de- 
sign. 

Though  Sarah  was  far  advanced  in  life  (being  now  upward  of  ninety  years  old) 
yet,  by  the  Divine  power,  nature  was  completely  perfect.!     She  was  bountifully  sup- 

»  Abraham's  Equivocation. — This  was  not  a  subject  which  the  fertile  fancies  of  Abraham's  rabbinical 
descendants  were  likely  to  leave  unimproved.  Accordingly,  we  have  a  Talmudical  story,  which  tells  us 
tliat,  on  approaching  Egypt,  the  patriarch  put  Sarah  in  a  chest,  which  he  locked  up,  that  none  might  behold 
her  dangerous  beauty.  "  I3ut  when  he  was  come  to  the  place  of  paying  custom,  the  collectors  said,  '  Pay 
us  the  custom.'  And  he  said,  '  1  will  pay  the  custom.'  They  said  to  liim,  'Thou  carries!  clothes.'  And 
he  said,  '  I  will  pay  for  the  clothes.'  Then  they  said  to  him,  '  Thou  earnest  gold ;'  and  he  answered  them, 
•  !  will  pay  for  my  gold.'  On  this  they  said  to  him  further,  '  Surely  thou  bearest  the  finest  silk  ;'  and  then 
he  replied,  '  I  will  pay  custom  for  the  finest  silk.'  Then  said  they,  '  Certainly  it  must  be  pearls  that  thou 
lakest  with  thee  ;'  and  he  only  answered,  '  I  will  pay  for  pearls.'  Seeing  that  they  could  name  nothing  of 
value  for  which  the  patriarcii  was  not  willing  to  pay  custom,  they  said.  '  It  can  not  be  but  that  thou  open 
the  box,  and  let  us  see  what  is  within.'  So  they  opened  the  box,  and  the  whole  land  of  Egypt  was  brightly 
illumined  by  the  lustre  of  Sarah's  beauty." 

t  The  word  Isaac  implies  laughter,  and  alludes  to  the  smile  of  disbelief  which  appeared  in  Sarah's  coun- 
tenance when  the  angel  informed  her  that  she  should  become  pregnant. 

t  Pkimitive  Longevity.— We  need  not  remind  the  reader  that  the  age  of  man  before  the  deluge  made 
a  near  approach  to  a  thousand  years,  but,  after  that  event,  rapidly  declined  to  the  present  standard  (which  it 
had  certainly  reached  before  the  time  of  David),  at  which  it  has  remained,  unaffected  but  by  local  inrtuences 
Many  reasons  have  been  given  for  the  antediluvian  longevity,  and  for  the  subsequent  abridgment  of  human 
life  ;  but  they  all  fail  in  some  point  or  other,  excepting  that  which,  proceeding  on  the  observation  that  air 
is  the  agent  by  which,  under  all  circumstances,  the  duration  of  life  is  most  affected,  infers  that  the  superior 
purity  ol  the  air  before  the  delude— or,  more  properly,  its  superior  fitness  for  the  conservation  of  the  living 
principle  in  man— was  the  operating  cause  of  the  long  duration  of  antediluvian  life;  and  that  the  gradual 
but  quick  contraction  of  man's  life,  which  afterward  took  place,  was  probably  owing  to  some  signal  dete- 
rioration, caused  by  the  deluge,  in  the  wholesome  properties  of  the  primitive  air.  How  the  deluge  may 
nave  produced  such  a  change  is  another  question,  into  which  we  need  not  enter. 

At  the  time  this  history  opens,  the  duration  of  life  was  about  threefold  that  to  which  it  ultimately  fell  ; 
and.  notwithstanding  the  gradual  abridgment  which  took  place,  it  remained  twofold  till  about  the  time 
of  the  departure  of  the  Israelites  from  Egypt.  Terah  himself  died  at  the  age  of  205,  which  must  have 
seemed  liut  a  reasonable  old  age,  as  it  is  considerably  within  the  age  attained  by  any  of  his  ancestors, 
except  his  own  father  Nahor,who  died  prematurely  at  148  years  of  age. 

But  llie  operation  of  the  abridging  inlluence  is  best  shown  by  figures,  thus :  Noah  lived  950  years  ;  Shem, 
'iOO ;  Arphaxad,  438  ;  Salah,  433  ;  Eber,  464  ;  Peleg,  230  ;  Reu,  239  ;  Serug,  230  ;  Nahor,  148  ;  Terah,  205. 
Here  we  see  that  Noah,  nearly  two  thirds  of  whose  life  had  passed  before  the  deluge,  lived  as  long  as  an 
antediluvian  ;  whereas  his  son  Shem,  most  of  whose  life  passed  after  the  deluge,  has  one  third  of  the 
averace  duration  of  antediluvian  life  struck  off  from  his.  His  son  Arphaxad  was  born  two  years  after  the 
lood,  and  therefore  may  be  taken  to  represent  the  first  generation  of  entire  postdiluvians,  whose  term  of 
r\fe  i."-  made  one  third  shorter  than  that  of  the  semi-antediluvians,  and  (in  two  generations)  is  reduced  to 
one  half  that  of  the  pure  antediluvians.  A  rest  at  this  point  of  reduction  was  allowed  for  three  genera- 
tions, after  which  the  existing  term  of  life  was  again  halved,  reducing  it  to  a  quarter  of  the  antediluvian 
term.  After  three  more  generations,  another  reducing  process  commenced,  not,  as  before,  by  abrupt 
halving  of  the  previous  term  of  life,  but  by  a  gradual  reduction,  which  in  about  5(10  years  reduced  the  pre- 
vious term  of  230-'40  years  to  about  one  half,  or  120  years  ;  and  in  about  500  years  more,  we  find  that  this 
tciin  also  had  been  nearly  halved  and  brought  down  to  the  present  standard  ;  for  at  that  time  it  is  that 
D-.vid  said:  " The  days  of  our  years  are  threescore  years  and  ten  :  and  if  by  reason  of  strength  they  be 
fourscore  years,  yet  is  their  strength  labor  and  sorrow."  Psalm  xc.  10.  The  progress  of  the  abridgment 
m;iy  be  illustrated  by  a  few  more  figures.  Abraham  died  at  the  age  of  175,  being  40  years  less  than  his 
'atiier's  age  ;  and  yet  he  is  said  to  have  died  ••  in  a  good  old  age  ;  an  old  man  and  full  of  years  •"  in  like 


fa 


52  A  JSEW  AND  COMPLETE 

plied  with  food  for  her  infant  son,  whom  she  suckled  herself,  and  at  the  usual  time 
weaned  him.  On  this  joyful  occasion  Abraham  made  a  great  feast,  in  the  height  of 
which  Sarah  observed  that  Ishmael  treated  her,  son  with  derision  and  contempt.  En- 
raged at  this  circumstance,  as  soon  as  the  guests  were  gone,  she  communicated  the 
particulars  to  her  husband,  and  importuned  him  to  turn  both  Ishmael  and  his  mother 
from  their  habitation,  intimating,  that  the  son  of  a  bond-woman  had  no  title  to  that 
heirship  which  solely  belonged  to  her  son  Isaac. 

The  good  old  patriarch  now  found  himself  in  a  very  Litricate  situation.  He  loved 
Ishmael,  and  was  loth  to  part  with  him.  Not  knowing,  therefore,  in  what  manner 
to  proceed  on  so  trying  an  occasion,  he  applied  himself  to  God,  who  was  pleased  to 
confirm  Avhat  Sarah  had  requested.  At  the  same  time  the  Almighty  promised  A  bra- 
ham  tiiat  he  would  make  Ishmael  (because  he  was  his  son)  a  populous  nation,  though 
his  portion  and  inheritance  was  not  to  be  in  that  land  which  was  all  along  desigued 
for  the  descendants  of  Isaac. 

Thus  was  it  determined,  by  the  Divine  appointment,  that  Hagar  should  once  more 
become  a  wanderer;  nor  could  the  fondness  of  Abraham  for  his  son  Ishmael  prevent 
her  fate :  it  was  the  Lord's  command,  nor  durst  the  patriarch  refuse  t(j  obey. 

Early  in  the  morning,  therefore,  Abraham,  railing  Hagar  to  him,  told  her  she  must 
leave  his  house,  and  that  her  son  must  be  the  partner  of  her  banishment.  Hagav 
was  of  course  greatly  surprised  at  this  sudden  command,  but  fiudiug  her  master  ab- 
solute, she  was  obliged  to  submit.     That  she  might  not  be  distressed  for  want  of 

oper  refreshment,  he  supplied  her  with  a  quantity  of  pruvisious,  together  with  a 
arge  bottle  of  water,  havu)g  done  which  he  gave  her  a  final  dismission. 

After  travelling  some  days  in  the  dreary  wilderness  of  Beersheba,  her  provisions 
grew  short,  and  her  bottle  of  water  was  quite  exhausted.  It  unfortunately  happened 
that  Ishmael  was  at  this  time  m  a  high  fever,  and  Hagar  not  being  able  to  get  water 
to  quench  his  thirst,  there  was  little  hope  of  his  existing  much  longer.  Thus  dis- 
tressed, she  knew  not  what  to  do,  but  at  length,  to  shelter  her  son  in  some  degree 
from  the  violent  heat  of  the  weather,  she  placed  him  under  a  tree,  and  retired  at 
some  distance,  that  she  might  not  be  a  spectator  of  the  dying  pangs  of  her  beloved 
Ishmael. 

A  melancholy  scene  now  took  place:  the  feeble  tongue  of  the  child  begged  relief 
from  its  tender  parent,  whose  woes  were  doubled  by  her  inability  to  give  it  the  least 
assistance ;  his  pressing  demands  could  only  be  answered  by  a  flow  of  tears,  and  the 
only  prospect  before  them  was  despair  and  death.  Ijut  the  ears  of  boundless  mercy 
are  ever  open  to  the  cries  of  distress,  and  the  Lord  of  Omnipotence  is  ever  ready  to 
relieve  the  indigent. 

While  Hagar  was  lamenting  her  direful  situation,  a  Divine  agent  appeared  before 
her,  and,  for  her  present  relief  directed  her  to  a  well  of  water  which  she  had  not 

manner,  Isaac,  who  lived  to  180,  is  said  to  have  been  "  old  and  full  of  days."  And  if  these  expressions  do 
not  imbody  the  ideas  of  a  writer  wlio,  from  living  in  a  later  day,  when  tlie  teirn  of  man's  life  was  much 
shortened,  naturally  considered  tliese  as  extreme  old  ages,  we  should  be  entitled  from  them  to  conclude— 
as  was  probaliiy  true  after  all— that  a  man  was  in  those  days  called  old  with  reference  to  the  age  at  which 
his  contemporaries,  rather  than  his  predecessors,  died.  The  patriarchs  were  very  sensible  that  the  term  of 
life  was  uiidersjoins  abridgment.  Tiius,  when  .lacob  stood  before  the  Egyptian  king,  and  was  asked  his  age, 
he  replied  :  "  The  days  of  tlie  years  of  my  pilgrimage  are  a  liundied  and  thirty  years :  few  and  full  of  evil 
have  the  days  of  tlie  years  of  my  life  been,  and  have  not  attained  unto  the  days  of  the  years  of  tlie  life  of 
my  fathers  in  the  days  of  their  pilgrimage."  He  lived  to  14"  years.  Ilis  son  Levi  lived  to  137  years  ;  and 
another  of  his  sons,  Joseph,  only  to  110  years.  Amram,  the  son  of  Levi,  lived  to  exactly  the  same  age  as 
his  father;  and  Moses  and  Aaron,  the  two  sous  of  Amram,  both  lived  to  120.  Our  information  of  the  steps 
by  which  life  declined  to  "  threescore  years  and  ten"  before  the  time  of  David,  is  less  distinct. 

But  we  principally  wish  to  remind  the  reader  of  the  probability— or  ratlier  the  moral  certainty-thai  the 
seasons  of  life,  its  childhood,  youth,  maturity,  and  age,  were  distributed  over  the  whole  period  of  life, 
however  long,  in  niucli  the  same  proportions  as  at  present ;  so  that  the  prime  and  old  age  commenced 
later  and  ended  later  than  under  a  more  abridged  term  of  life.  Thus,  we  should  not  supjiose,  that  when 
the  term  of  life  was  140  years,  a  man  of  seventy  was  constitutionally  older  than  one  of  thirty-fivo  is  now. 
This  seems  so  obvious  as  to  require  little  argument ;  and  we  are  not  disposed  to  discuss  the  (juestion  even 
were  argument  needed.  But  we  may  just  observe  that  there  is  not  wanting  much  positive  proof  in  favor 
of  this  view.  Thus  we  see  those  whose  ages  wlien  their  eldest  son  was  born  is  recorded,  are  only  in  one 
instance  under  thirty— and  that  one  instance  is  in  the  case  of  a  man  (Terah's  father)  wliose  whole  age 
little  exceeded  half  the  average  of  his  time.  We  see,  also,  that  none  of  the  Hebrew  patriarchs  had  a  son 
oefore  he  was  forty.  And  when  we  take  into  account  tlie  general  disposition  to  early  marriages  in  the 
Kast,  this  may  show  that  the  age  of  manhood  was  reached  much  later  than  it  lias  been  since  ;  and  the 
activity  and  vigor,  mental  and  bodily,  which  these  same  persons  evince  at  an  ago  far  passing  the  present 
extreme  term  of  life,  shows  that  constitutional  old  age  began  late  in  proportion.  The  admiration  which  the 
beauty  of  Sarah  excited  when  she  was  nearly  seventy  years  of  age,  also  affords  a  strong  corroborativo 
illustration.  The  subject  is  one  of  considerable  interest,  and  deserves  a  more  attentive  consideration  thaii 
it  can  here  obtain. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  53 


before  perceived.  Having  filled  the  bottle,  she  gave  some  of  the  water  to  Ishmae  , 
who  was  o-reatly  refreshed  with  it,  and,  in  a  few  days,  so  far  recovered  from  his  ill- 
ness as  to  be  able,  with  his  mother,  to  pursue  their  journey.  Hagar's  intentions  were, 
at  first,  to  have  gone  into  Egypt,  but  she  now  altered  her  mind,  and  fixed  her  abode 
in  the  wilderness  of  Paran,  where  Ishmael  (whose  health  and  strength  were  now 
o-reatly  increased)  in  a  short  time  became  so  expert  an  archer,  that  he  was  able  to 
obtain  a  sufficiency  of  provisions  both  for  himself  and  mother. 

When  Tshmael  grew  up  to  the  years  of  maturity,  his  mother,  who  was  an  Egyp- 
tian, married  him  to  a  woman  of  her  oAvn  country.  By  this  woman  he  had  twelve 
sons'  *  Avhose  descendants  dispersed  themselves  in  that  part  of  the  country  situated 
between  Havilah  and  Shur,  that  is,  in  several  parts  of  Arabia  Petraea,  the  western 
part  whereof,  toward  Egypt,  is,  in  scripture,  called  Shur,  and  the  eastern  part,  tow- 
ard the  Persian  gulf,  Havilah.  .,.,,,    r  -n  ,      ■ 

In  the  meantime,  Abraham  continued  to  reside  in  the  land  ot  Palestine;  and  as  his 
riches  and  power  every  day  increased,  Abimelech  grew  jealous  of  him,  being  feaviul 
that  he  might,  some  time  or  other,  endeavor  to  supplant  him  in  the  govemment.  To 
prevent  thil,  by  the  advice  of  his  general  Phicol,  he  formed  a  solemn  league  of  friend- 
ship with  Abraham,  and  thereby  removed  those  fears  which,  for  some  time,  had  given 
him  o-reat  uneasiness.  A  dispute  had  arisen  between  the  servants  of  Abimelech  and 
those* of  Abraham,  relative  to  a  well,  which  the  latter  had  dug;  but  after  a  proper 
explanation,  the  matter  was  adjusted  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  parties,  the  well  being 
declared  the  property  of  Abraham.! 

The  place  where  Abimelech  and  Abraham  entered  into  this  solemn  covenant  was, 
thenceforth,  called  Beersheba.t  Here  Abraham  intending  to  end  his  days,  should 
it  be  the  will  of  Providence  for  him  so  to  do,  planted  a  grovell  for  a  place  of  worship, 

'  The  names  of  these  sons  were  as  follow  :  Nebajoth,  Kedar,  Adbeel,  Mibsam,  Mishrna,  Dumah,  Massa, 
Hadar  Teraa  Jetur,  Naphish,  and  KedemaU :  "  twelve  princes  according  to  their  nations."  Gen.  xxv.  13,  &c. 

t  It  may  perhaps,  at  first  v  ew.  appear  strange  that  a  dispute  of  any  consequence  sliould  have  arisen  on 
accou^  of  a  well  of  water-  but  it  inust  be  renieiabered,  that,  in  those  hot  and  dry  countries,  a  well  of 
water  was  a.rrnestimable  treasure,  and  the  digging  it  a  work  ol  prodigious  labor  which  arose  from  the 
^  .i.-ir,r.rr,f  th,.  «nil  and  the  -reat  depth  it  was  necessary  to  dig  before  they  could  find  a  spring. 
'°  T^e  word  Be"  n  tt  Hefnew  la'^guag^  signifies  a  Jell  and  Sheba  an  oai,.,  so  that  the  Jews  called  It 
he  Wrllof  the  Oalh :  because  of  the  oath  that  Abraham  and  Abimelech  had  made  at  that  place. 

I  Worship  IN  Groves  {See  En^ramng).  ■  The  use  of  groves  as  places  of  primitive  worship  is  natural  and 
^•vliW  understood  though  it  could  onfy  have  arisen  in  an  early  state  of  society,  or  be  preserved  where 
soce^reSed  in  a  primitive  condition.  It  was  the  thought  of  a  people  wlio  had  not  made  any  advances 
frarclu[erture- who  dwelt  in  tents  or  in  hnts-and  who,  while  they  did  not  feel  that  these  dwelhngs  were 
i^^tuitable  or  inadequate  for  themselves,  could  not  but  be  sensible  that  they  were  so  unimpressive  that  it 
seerp-^  revolting  to  associate  with  them,  in  any  more  formal  service  of  vvnrship,  the  idea  of  that  God  who 
fills  ailnature  and  of  whose  grandeur  tliey  had  no  unworthy  notions.  They  therefore  preferred  to  seek 
fnercour^e  with  h™  and  to  render  him  their  service  amid  the  vastness  of  his  own  creation,  and  under  the 
shadow  of  those  ancient  woods,  which  insensibly  inspire  us  with  awe.  and  fill  us  with  reverential  feelings 
shadow  °'"^°p^^  ,'*};''  ^„,^,„^  .,„y„  whatever  has  been  customarily  before  the  mind  as  the  proper  object 
of  !t^revc"rence''  Happ^^^^^^^^^^^^  God  l-as  it  was  to  th^  patriarchs     There  is  no  doubt  that 

men  had  thi^  use  for  f roves,  almost  universally,  before  any  temples  existed ;  but  it  is  not  so  clear  to  us 
men  liaa  inis  "f° '"^ /'         '  ^  for  religious  purposes,  before  even  altars  were  known.    But 

Noah'consuuc  erraltaraTsooi  as  he  lift  the  Irk;  and  rius  u'se  of  groves  must  therefore,  have  been 
N(>ah  constructea  an  di  ai  a  certainly  more  than  we  know.     It  is  certain,  howe^'er, 

antediluvian   '/ '»  e,^'**''^  '  .'':^^^^^  altars  were  placed  in  the  groves  ;  and  the  next  step 

that,  ""f  «^,^'\'' °P^:  f  Xt  near  at  han^  to  contain  the  implements  of  sacrifice  ;  and  when  men  had  begun 
ri^iwtntCr  groves  t.ridea  of  a  chapel  or  oratory  for  use  in  inclement  weather,  and  when  tlie  trees 
to  build  in  tueir  Sr'i;^"'/ .'*^.'"  ,^  naturally  have  been  suggested.     When,  at  last,  the  increased 

were,  '"  ^^'">^"'  .''^'^J^  °4  ^^^00'"^  a"^  "'°f''  humanized  idea  of  God,  led  men  to  enter- 

resourcBS  of  constructs  ea^^^^^^^  hands"-which  might  make  impressions  on  the 

tain  the  bold  I'iea  of  rearing  fabrics       lein  of  old  habits  and  old  associations  still  operated 

mmd  worthy  of  his  worship  a^^  theu  power,  to  plant  groves  around  these  buildings,  for  the  most  part 
Most  nations  took  care,  when  in  tlieir  ^^^l'^^:^^J  I  ,^e,.e  not  only  consecrated  to  the  gods  in  whose 
S;nt'uiTtmplls''[fth'''nrisrJfth;m"'had  been  built,  but  were  themselves  places  of  sanctuary  fo. 

crirmnals  who  A^d  to  theni  for  retuge^  associated  with  groves,  and  which  led  Moses  to  prohibit 

As  to  the  corruptKms  wluch    cca^^  I         ;^,^^  ,^,^j  ^^  ^^,^^^„^  consecrated 

them  very  strictly^  ^n^  t^^°""\;^„'  fj  '^Vpo^^^^^^^^  be  alforded  us'of  considering  this  part  of  the  sub- 

to  Idols  should  be  cut  down,  another  opp^^^^^  ^^  ^  ^,^^  respecting  some  points 

ject.     Meanwhik,  we  only  ^^'f'' ^^'^^^  ™^^^^^^  file  ideas  of  the  patriarchs  and  those  of  the  Celtic 

of  analogy  in  '.m^vyM.^x  ^^^^^^^^  ^^^  nreserved  down  to  a  late  date,  many  of  the  ideas  and  practices 
Druids.    Anvong  *'  em^^'^..^^ '"^"^Xl  a4^^^  are  doubtless  to  be  regarded  as  relics  of  the 

winch  equally  be'"''?  *«  ^''^^  P^^  'f^'^^^^^^  the  firs  a^Js  and  which  they  carried  with  them  to  the  several 
rehgion  which  was  common   o  all  men  in  me  n^^^^^^  institutions  were  in  almost  every  country 

placesof  their  dispersion     In  process  of  time  th^^^^^^^  ^^  ceremony,  idolatry,  and  unbeUef.    The 

wofuUy  corrupted,  »r,  "deed   lost     n  ^'^"°us  moaino  ^      ^,  ^^^^^  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^^  ^^^^ 

Hebrew  patnardisdoubUesexhibU  in  pu^^^^^^^^^  rehgious  lotions  and  practices  is  supplied 

religion  of  mank  nd ,  ^-^d  tl'^s  ''<^  vvno  sum^^^  /  primitive  religion,  which  may  have  been 

with  a  test  which  cnabes  ''  ;"  \°^,^  f„«„^f  "j^.'j;^  \^^^  not  of  any  people" who  preserved,  mixed  with 

Sln^'Ind  i;f.lSSiontso"mar;r^^^^^  ancient  reUgion  as  existed  in  the  Druidical  institution. 


54  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

and  in  it  erected  an  altar,  that  he  might  not  be  anywise  deficient  in  the  discharge  of 
his  religious  duties. 

The  Almighty,  in  his  wise  Providence,  had,  in  divers  instances,  and  on  many  occa- 
sions, put  Abraham's  faith  and  obedience  to  the  test ;  but  now  he  resolved  to  try  him 
in  the  tenderest  point,  in  which  every  tie  of  parental  affection  bound  him,  and  to  give 
up  which  required  a  degree  of  resignation  uncommon  to  the  best  of  men.  He  is  re- 
quired, by  his  God,  to  sacrifice  his  son — to  embrue  his  hands  in  the  blood  of  his  dar- 
ling offspring. 

Ishmael  was  now  no  more  to  him ;  he  had  parted  with  him  at  the  divine  command, 
and  had  transferred  his  affections  solely  on  Isaac ;  and  this  son,  this  onb/  son,  wha 
had  been  given  him  by  Divine  promise,  and  in  whom  all  his  future  expectations  oi 
happiness  centred,  must  fall  a  victim  by  the  unalterable  deci-ee  of  Heaven.  Hard  tasK 
to  flesh  and  blood  !  Severe  trial  to  human  nature !  But  if  the  flesh  shuddered,  the 
spirit  was  absolute :  God  commands — the  patriarch  obeys. 

Early,  therefore,  the  next  morning,  Abraham  arose,  and,  without  giving  any  notice 
to  his  family,  prepared  himself  for  the  appointed  business.  He  sat  out,  accomi)anied 
only  by  his  son  Isaac,  and  attended  by  two  servants,  who  led  an  ass  laden  Aviih  pro- 
visions, together  with  the  wood,  instruments,  and  other  things  necessary  for  the  sac- 
rifice. After  travelling  three  days  he  came  within  sight  of  the  spot  God  had  ai>- 
pointed  for  the  dreadful  scene,  Avhich  was  a  particular  mountahi  in  the  land  of  M> 
riah.  Here  he  ordered  his  servants  to  stop  with  the  ass,  while  he  and  iiis  son  went 
to  a  spot  at  some  distance  to  perform  their  religious  duties. 

Abraham  having  laden  his  son  with  the  wood  and  other  materials  for  a  burnt-offer- 
ing, they  proceeded  on  their  journey.  The  harmless  Isaac,  ignorant  of  the  design  of 
his  pious  and  affectionate  parent,  went  cheerfully  on  with  him,  and  the  good  old  pa- 
triarch, relying  on  the  faithfulness  of  the  Divine  promise,  overcame  the  strugglings 
of  a  natural  affection,  which  might  have  retarded  his  compliance  with  the  will  of 
God,  and  proceeded  with  a  resolution  worthy  \.\\e  father  of  the  faithful. 

As  they  approached  near  the  appointed  place  for  executing  tlie  awful  injunction, 
Isaac,  recollecting  that  a  proper  victim  (the  most  essential  requisite  for  the  sacrifice) 
was  wanting,  innocently  asked  his  father,  where  was  the  lamb  for  tiie  burnt-offering? 
Such  a  question,  at  such  a  time,  was  enough  to  have  startled  any  heart  less  firm  than 
Abraham's ;  but,  fixed  in  the  resolution  to  obey  the  divine  command,  he  coolly  replied, 
"  My  son,  God  will  provide  one  himself" 

Being  now  arrived  at  the  spot  which  the  Almighty  had  directed,  the  first  thing 
Abraham  did  was  to  erect  an  altar;  after  which,  having  prepared  the  instruments, 
and  laid  the  wood  in  order,  he  embraced  his  son,  and  then  bound  him.  Here  the  sa- 
cred historian,  like  a  great  painter,  hath  drawn  a  veil  over  the  sorrow  of  Abraham, 
and  the  resignation  of  Isaac,  that  the  imagination  of  the  reader  might  paint  to  him 
more  forcibly  the  struggles  of  the  parent,  and  the  agonies  of  the  son,  than  words  can 
possibly  express. 

Every  preparation  being  now  made,  Abraham,  taking  up  the  knife,  stretched  forth 
his  hand  to  give  the  finishing  stroke  to  the  life  of  his  son;  Avhen,  behold  I  God  is 
satisfied  with  the  faith  and  obedience  of  the  father,  and  the  piety  and  resignation  of 
the  son.  The  voice  of  a  heavenly  messenger  is  suddenly  heard,  saying  unto  Abra- 
ham, "  Lay  not  thy  hand  upon  the  lad,  neither  do  thou  anything  unto  him."  The 
uplifted  arm  was  now  withheld,  and  the  fatal  blow  happily  averted.  The  divine 
sound  intimated,  that  the  Almighty  neither  delighted  in  human  sacrifices,  nor  wished 
to  make  a  father  the  murderer  of  a  son  whom  he  had  bestowed  on  him  as  a  peculiar 
favor ;  but  that  the  command  had  been  given  to  try  if  his  obedience  to  God  exceeded 
his  feelings  as  a  man,  and  if  his  natural  affections  could  submit  to  his  religious  duties. 

and  religion  of  the  Celtes.  It  is  true  tliey  had  idols,  and  that  many  wild  notions  wore  entert^•ned,  and 
many  horrid  rites  practised  by  them ;  but,  amid  all,  they  believed  in  one  Supreme  Bein;^,  to  whom  all 
other  gods  were  far  inferior.  Ilis  symbol  was  the  oak,  and  him,  exclusively,  they  worshipped  amid  the 
groves.  They  never  had  images  of  him,  oi  erected  temples  to  hiin  ;  and  Tacitus,  speaking  of  the  Senones, 
wlio  were  a  branch  of  the  Celtes,  and  had  the  same  religion,  tells  us  that  its  principle  consisted  in  the 
acknowledgment  that  the  Deity  whom  they  worshipped  in  the  groves,  the  God  without  name,  was  he  who 
governed  all  things,  on  whom  all  things  depended,  and  whom  all  l)eings  were  bound  to  obey. 

There  are  other  resemblances  which  would  render  our  position  more  clear  if  we  could  bring  them  into 
one  view.  But  tlie  purpose  of  the  present  note  does  not  require  this  ;  and  we  need  only  now  observe,  thai 
these  remarkable  analogies  between  the  patriarchal  (or  say  the  Hebrew)  and  Druidical  religions  are  late 
discoveries  of  our  own  day;  but  the  antiquity  and  wisdom  of  the  Druidical  religion,  and  its  conformities 
with  that  of  the  Jews,  were  adduced  so  long  ago  as  the  time  of  Celsus,  in  opposition  to  what  that  writer 
was  pleased  to  consider  the  noveUies  of  the  gospel. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


55 


Cromlech  at  Aas  Newydd. 


Druidical  Circle. — Jersey. 


56  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

When  the  divine  voice  ceased,  the  pious  patriarch,  turning  his  eyes  from  the  dear, 
though  intended  victim,  beheld  a  ram  fastened  by  his  horns  in  a  thicket.  Convinced 
in  his  mind  that  this  was  the  gracious  substitute  of  Providence,  he  immediately  flew 
to  it  with  raptures,  and  having  slain  it  with  that  knife  which  was  intended  for  the 
destruction  of  his  son,  brought  it  to  the  altar  and  presented  it  (instead  of  the  before- 
destined  Isaac)  as  a  burnt-offering,  to  his  great  and  benevolent  benefactor. 

This  infallible  token  of  Abraham's  obedience  was  so  satisfactory  to  the  Almighty, 
that  he  was  pleased-to  renew  his  gracious  promise  to  him  with  enlarged  abundance; 
and  even  to  confirm  the  same  by  a  solenm  oath.  "  By  myself  have  I  sworn,  for 
because  thou  hast  done  this  thing,  and  hast  not  withheld  thy  son,  thine  only  son, 
from  me." 

Having  thus  complied  with  the  will  of  God,  and  received  a  most  convincing  testi- 
mony of  the  divine  approbation,  Abraham  and  Isaac  returned  to  the  servants,  and 
they' all  went  joyfully  together  to  Beersheba,  at  that  time  the  place  of  Abraham's 
residence.  In  memory  of  this  singular  transaction,  the  pious  patriarch  called  the 
place  where  it  happened,  "  Jehovah-jirah,"  in  allusion  to  the  answer  he  gave  to  his 
son's  question,  "  God  will  provide  himself  a  lamb."  ^ 

When  Abraham  returned  home,  he  received  the  agreeable  intelligence  of  the  in- 
crease of  his  family,  namely,  that  Milcah,  his  brother  Nahor's  wife,  had  brought 
him  a  numerous  issue.*  But  the  joy  he  received  on  this  account  was  soon  damped 
by  a  circumstance  which  happened  in  his  own  family,  namely,  the  loss  of  his  wife 
Sarah,  Avho  died  at  Kirjath-arba  (afterward  called  Hebron),  in  the  one  hundred  and 
twenty-seventh  year  of  her  age.  » 

At  the  time  of  Sarah's  death,  Abraham  was  at  Beersheba  ;  but  he  no  sooner  heard 
of  the  melancholy  event  than  he  immediately  repaired  to  Hebron,  in  order  to  perform 
the  last  offices  due  to  his  departed  wife.  As  he  was  a  stranger  in  the  country,  and 
had  no  land  there  of  his  own,  he  could  not  give  her  honorable  interment  without  first 
obtaining  the  consent  of  the  people.  He  therefore  addressed  himself  to  a  general 
assembly  of  the  principal  inhabitants,  entreating  them  to  allow  him  the  liberty  of 
burying  his  wife  in  their  country.  This  request  being  readily  granted,  Abraham 
bowed  to  the  assembly  in  acknowledgment  for  the  favor ;  after  which  he  told  them 
he  should  be  glad  to  purchase  a  piece  of  ground  as  a  sepulchre  for  himself  and  family, 
and  begged  of  them  to  entreat  Ephron,  the  prince  of  the  country,  to  sell  him  the  cave 
of  Machpelah. 

This  request  being  likewise  granted,  and  application  made  to  Ephron,  he  gener- 
ously offered  the  patriarch  not  only  the  cave,  but  also  the  whole  field  in  which  it 
stood,  as  a  burying-place.  Abraham  acknowledged  the  bounty  of  the  offer ;  but  as 
he  had  ever  acted  on  a  principle  of  strict  justice,  he  desired  the  prince  to  fix  a  price 
on  the  field ;  and  that,  on  such  condition,  he  would  take  possession  of  it  for  the  pur- 
poses intended. 

The  prince,  finding  the  patriarch  resolute,  asked  four  hundred  shekels  (a  sum 
greatly  beneath  its  real  value).  The  purchase  Avas  made  before  all  the  people  of 
Hebron,  and  the  field,  together  with  the  cave,  was  formally  assigned  over  to  Abra- 
ham and  his  heirs  for  ever. 

This  matter  being  adjusted,  Abraham,  after  the  usual  ceremonies  of  mourning 
were  over,  buried  his  wife  in  the  cave  he  had  then  purchased,  and  in  Avhich  his  own 
remains  were  afterward  deposited. 

Abraham,  being  now  far  advanced  in  years,  and  apprehending  he  had  not  much 
longer  to  live,  was  desirous  of  seeing  his  own  son  Isaac  married,  and  settled  in  the 
world,  before  his  departure  out  of  this  transitory  life.  He  therefore  called  to  him  his 
household  steward,  an  old  and  trusty  servant,  to  whom  he  related  his  intention  of 
marrying  his. sou;  and  obtained  from  him  an  oath,t  that  (in  case  he  died  first)  he 

'  The  names  of  the  children  of  Nalior,  by  Milcah,  were  as  follows:  Huz,  Buz,  Kernuel,  Cheshed,  Haze, 
Pildash,  Jidlaph,  and  Bethuel.    The  last  of  these  begat  Rebecca,  who  was  afterward  the  wife  of  Isaac. 

+  The  great  anxiety  of  the  patriarchs  to  secure  tlie  marriage  of  their  sons  to  women  of  their  own  clan  oi 
family  appears  everywhere,  and  is  even  indicated  in  the  precise  mention  which  is  made  of  marriages  which 
took  place  against  this  regulation— as  in  the  cases  of  Tshmael  and  E:;au.  Such  a  desire  has  always  pre- 
vailed wherever  the  distinction  of  clans  or  tribes  has  been  strongly  marked,  for  the  sake  of  keeping  up  its 
property,  blood,  and  peculiar  feelings,  and  of  compacting  its  union  and  influence  ;  and  these  ordinary  mo 
tivts  acquired  increased  intensity  in  the  instance  of  the  Hebrew  patriarchs  in  consequence  of  the  general 
Idolatry  or  superstition  into  which  all  the  surrounding  nations  had  fallen,  and  which  alone  would  have  suf 
ficed  to  preclude  intermarriages  with  them.  This  consideration,  separately  from  any  otlier,  has  always  pre 
vented  the  Jews  from  forming  matrimonial  connexions  with  any  but  the  daughters  of  Israel.  Their  law 
forbade  such  marriages  in  the  strictest  manner  ;  and  we  .shall  find  instances  of  their  being  severely  punish 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  Si 

should  procure  a  wife  for  him  among  his  own  kindred,  and  not  from  tlie  daughters 
of  the  Canaanites.  Having  obtained  this  solemn  oath,  Abraham  told  his  servant  to 
go  into  Mesopotamia,  which  was  the  place  of  his  nativity,  and  there  choose  a  wife, 
out  of  his  own  kindred,  for  his  son  Isaac.  On  receiving  these  orders,  the  servant 
asked  him  this  question:  "If,"  says  he,  "the  woman  refuse  to  follow  me  into  the 
land  of  Canaan,  must  I  return  and  fetch  thy  son  to  her  ?"  The  patriarch  immedi- 
ately answered  in  the  negative,  as  no  consideration  could  prevail  on  him  to  suffer 
his  son  to  return  to  a  land  which  he  himself  had  left  on  account  of  the  inhumanity 
and  idolatry  of  its  inhabitants.  To  encourage  the  servant  in  the  prosecution  of  his 
intended  expedition,  Abraham  assured  him  that  a  heavenly  messenger  would  conduct 
him  to  the  place  whence  he  should  bring  a  wife  imto  his  son ;  and  that  if  the  woman 
pitched  on  should  refuse  to  follow  him,  he  should  be  free  from  the  oath  he  had  takeu, 
and  be  considered  as  having  properly  discharged  the  business  with  which  he  was 
intrusted. 

These  matters  being  settled,  Eliezer  (for  that  was  the  name  of  this  trusty  servant) 
set  out  on  his  embassy,  attended  by  a  number  of  servants  and  camels,  agreeably  to 
the  importance  of  his  business,  and  the  dignity  of  the  person  by  whom  he  was 
employed. 

After  undergoing  great  fatigue,  both  from  the  badness  of  the  roads  and  the  want 
of  water,  this  trusty  servant,  with  his  attendants,  reached  Mesopotamia,  and  repaired 
to  Haran,*  a  city  belonging  to  his  master's  brother  Nahor.  When  he  had  arrived 
near  the  entrance  of  the  city,  he  stopped  at  the  public  well  (whither  ii  was  custom- 
ary for  the  young  women  of  the  place  to  come  every  morning  and  evening  for  water), 
in  order  to  refresh  the  camels.f 

ed,  and  of  the  deep  disgust  which  they  inspired.  They  were  neither  to  take  the  females  of  other  nations, 
nor  give  their  own  females  to  them  (Deut.  vii.  3,  4) ;  and  the  reason  was,  "  For  they  will  turn  away  thy 
sons  from  following  me."  While  this  principle  inhibited  marriages  with  otlier  nations,  there  was  anotliei 
law  which  preserved  the  integrity  of  property  in  the  respective  tribes,  by  directing  that  daughters  having 
any  inheritance  should  not  marry  out  of  the  tribe  of  their  father,  (Num.  xxxvi).  "  So  shall  not  the  inherit- 
ance of  the  children  of  Israel  remove  from  tribe  to  tribe."  These  principles,  taken  from  the  subsequent 
laws  of  the  Hebrews,  afford  the  best  explanation  of  the  conduct  of  the  patriarchs  with  regard  to  tlie  mar- 
riages of  tlieir  sons.  Among  the  Bedouin  Arabs  there  is  no  regulation  precluding  the  intermarriages  of  dif- 
ferent tribes  ;  but  in  practice  a  man  seldom  takes  a  wife  from  any  otlier  tribe  than  liis  ov/n  ;  and  still  more 
rarely,  although  there  is  no  national  or  religious  difference,  will  a  Bedouin  give  his  daughter  in  marriage  to 
the  inhabitant  of  a  town,  or  to  a  cultivator  or  artisan.  Some  tribes  never  do  so  ;  but  others  are  rather  less 
strict.  So,  as  Ward  informs  us,  among  the  Hindoos,  the  parents  who  find  employment  at  a  distance  from 
their  original  homes,  always  marry  their  children  in  their  own  country  and  among  their  old  acquaintance. 

*  "  Th-irran,"  as  given  by  St.  Stephen,  is  the  proper  reading  of  this  name,  and  is,  therefore,  different 
from  the  name  of  Abram's  brother,  which  is  truly  spelt  Haran.  The  site  of  tliis  place  is  very  questionable. 
Most  writers  on  scriptural  geography  identify  it  with  the  place  called  Charrae  by  the  Greeks  and  Romans, 
and  renowned  in  history  for  the  defeat  of  Crassus.  But  we  are  inclined  to  think  that  this  identification  is 
scarcely  compatible  with  that  which  finds  Ur  in  Urfah  ;  for  not  only  is  this  Charran  in  the  same  plain  with 
Urfah,  but  is  actually,  at  almost  all  times,  visible  from  it,  being  distant  not  above  eight  hours'  ride  to  the 
south  ;  so  that  a  removal  to  this  distance  hardly  corresponds  witli  the  historical  intimations  wliich  refer  to 
it.  Theie  are  three  other  sites  to  wliich  different  writers  refer  the  Charran  of  our  history.  One  is  Oruros, 
on  the  Euphrates,  about  fifty  miles  below  the  embouchure  of  the  Chaboras  ;  the  second  is  Harm,  about 
twenty  miles  to  the  east-northeast  of  Palmyra ;  and  the  third,  Carrae,  about  thirty-eight  miles  northeast 
from  Damascus.  All  these  places  would,  however,  be  out  of  the  way  in  proceeding  from  Urfah  to  the  land 
of  Canaan,  excepting  the  one  near  Damascus,  which,  on  many  grounds,  we  shouldhold  to  offer  the  prefer- 
able claim,  were  it  not  that  the  account  of  Jacob's  journey  to  tlie  same  place  expressly  informs  us  that 
Haran  was  in  Mesopotamia,  on  which  ground  the  site,  with  the  mention  of  which  we  commenced  this  note, 
must  still  be  held  to  liave  a  httle  the  preference,  notwithstanding  the  objections  which  apply  to  it,  as  none 
of  the  others  answer  to  this  condition.  We  think  it  very  Ukely  that  the  site  of  Ur,  and  more  than  Likely 
that  the  site  of  Haran.  are  yet  to  be  found. 

t  Water  is  usually  drawn  in  the  evening,  and  frequently  in  the  cool  of  the  morning  also.  Fetching  wate» 
is  one  of  the  heaviest  of  the  many  heavy  duties  which  devolve  upon  the  females  in  the  East,  and  one  which 
the  most  sensibly  impresses  us  witli  a  sense  of  their  degraded  condition.  The  usage  varies  in  different 
countries.  Among  the  Arabs  and  other  nomades,  and  also  in  many  parts  of  India,  it  is  the  exclusive  em- 
ployment of  the  women,  without  distinction  of  rank.  But  in  Turkey  and  Persia  the  poorer  women  only  are 
subject  to  this  servile  employment,  respectable  families  being  supplied  daily  by  men  who  make  the  supply- 
ing of  water  a  distinct  business.  The  tents  of  tlie  Bedouins  are  seldom  pitched  quite  near  to  the  well  from 
which  tliey  obtain  their  water ;  and  if  the  distance  is  not  more  than  a  mile,  the  men  do  not  think  is  neces- 
sary that  the  water  should  be  brought  upon  the  camels  :  and,  unless  there  are  asses  to  be  employed  on  tliis 
service,  the  women  must  go  every  evening,  sometimes  twice,  and  bring  home  at  their  backs  long  and  heavy 
leathern  bags  full  of  water.  The  wells  are  the  property  of  tribes  or  individuals,  who  are  not  always  will- 
ing that  caravans  should  take  water  from  them  ;  and  in  that  case,  a  girl  is  sometimes  posted  at  the  well  to 
exact  presents  from  those  who  wish  to  have  water.  It  is  not  likely  that  Abraham's  servant  travelled  witli- 
out  a  leathern  bucket  to  draw  water,  and  it  is  therefore  probable  that  he  abstained  from  watering  his  ten 
camels  until  he  should  have  obtained  permission.  The  women,  when  they  are  at  tlie  wells  in  the  evening 
are  generally  obliging  to  travellers,  and  ready  to  supply  such  water  as  they  may  require  for  themselves 
or  their  beasts.  Tlie  women  of  towns  in  Turkey  and  i'ersia  have  seldom  far  to  go,  except  under  pecuhar 
circumstances  in  the  situation  or  soil  of  the  place,  or  quality  of  its  water.  Their  water-vessei  depends 
much  upon  the  distance  ;  if  rather  far,  a  skin  will  probably  be  prefeired  as  most  convenient  for  carrying  a 
good  ([uantity ;  but  if  near,  an  earthern  jar  will  often  bo  chosen.  The  present  well  seems  to  have  be'en 
quite  near  the  town,  and  we  concur  in  the  translation  wliich  renders  Rebecca's  vessel  "a  pitcher  "    Tbe 


&8  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

Having  been  properly  instructed  by  his  master  in  the  fear  of  (jou,  and  being  sen- 
sible of  the  importance  of  the  business,  as  well  as  fearful  of  not  executing  it  lo  his 
master's  satisfaction,  he  made  a  mental  prayer  to  God,  beseeching  him  to  direct  him, 
by  a  certain  sign,  to  a  proper  object  of  choice  for  his  young  master.  He  had  no 
sooner  solicited  this  divine  assistance  than  his  request  was  immediately  complied 
with,  and  the  sign  given  was,  that  she  who,  at  his  desire,  permitted  him  to  drink  of 
her  water,  would  be  the  person  appointed  by  God  for  the  wife  of  his  servant  Isaac. 

Soon  after  this,  Rebecca,  the  daughter  of  Bethuel,  came  to  the  well,  with  her 
pitcher,  for  water;  after  she  had  filled  it,  the  servant  (having  taken  notice  that  she 
was  exceedingly  beautiful)  accosted  her  in  a  very  humble  manner,  begging  that  siie 
would  give  him  a  draught  of  the  water,  he  being  exceedingly  thirsty.  Rebecca 
readily  consented,  and  not  only  gave  him  to  drink,  but  also  went  several  times  to  the 
well  to  fetch  water  for  the  refreshment  of  his  camels.* 

This  propitious  occurrence  highly  delighted  Abraham's  servant,  who,  after  paying 
some  general  compliments  to  her  beauty  and  benevolence,  made  inquiry  concerning 
her  family  and  relations.  To  Avhich  the  lovely  virgin  replied,  that  she  was  the 
daughter  of  Bethuel,  the  son  of  Nahor,  and  kinswoman  to  Abraham. 

This  intelligence  gave  fresh  spirits  to  the  faithful  messenger,  who  was  now  con- 
vinced that  God  approved  of  the  alliance  between  Rebecca  and  Isaac.  He  tiierefore 
presented  to  her  a  pair  of  gold  ear-rings,  and  some  other  female  ornaments,  request- 
ing her  to  accept  them  as  a  token  of  his  esteem  for  her  virtues,  and  a  grateful  return 

word  (.had)  is  ditferent  from  that  Ichemitz)  rendered  "bottle"  in  tiie  narrative  of  Ilagar's  expulsion;  and  is 
the  same  word  used  to  describe  the  vessels  in  which  Gideon's  soldiers  concealed  tlieir  torches,  and  which 
they  broke  to  produce  a  crashing  and  alarming  noise.  The  women  contrive  to  draw  an  enjoyment  even 
out  of  this  irksome  duty,  as  it  alfords  the  best  opportunity  they  have  of  meeting  and  talking  together,  and 
3f  displaying  their  finery  to  each  other.  They  by  no  means  appear  to  the  worst  advantage,  as  to  dress,  at 
the  wells  ;  and  this  circumstance  shows  that  AbrahamVs  servant  might  there,  without  any  incongruity,  in 
vest  Rebecca  with  the  ornaments  he  had  brought.  To  a  traveller  in  the  East,  the  best  opportunities  of 
making  his  observations  on  the  females  will  occur  in  the  evening  at  the  wells.  Eliezer  was  aware  of  this, 
and  regarded  the  opportunity  as  favorable  for  his  purpose.  It  appears  that  the  unmarried  females  even  of 
towns  went  unveiled,  or  only  partially  veiled,  on  ordinary  occasions,  in  these  early  times.  Now  all  go  veil- 
ed ;  and  the  more  extended  use  of  the  veil  in  modern  times  has  probably,  in  one  respect,  operated  favora- 
bly for  the  women,  by  exonerating  those  in  families  decently  circumstanced  from  the  very  heavy  duty  of 
fetching  water,  the  proper  management  of  the  veil  being  scarcely  compatible  with  the  performance  of  this 
'aborious  office.  Accordingly  we  find  that  this  duty  devolves  more  exclusively  on  the  females,  without 
distinction  of  rank,  in  those  Asiatic  countries  or  tribes  where  the  women  are  not  obliged  to  veil  their  faces, 
as  in  India,  and  among  the  Arabian  and  other  nomade  tribes.  We  have  already  ri-oticed  the  Arabian  usage 
In  consequence  of  the  modifications  which  we  venture  to  think  that  the  extended  use  of  the  veil  has  pro- 
duced among  the  inhabitants  of  towns  west  of  the  Indus,  it  is  perhaps  in  India  we  are  to  look  for  the  most 
precise  parallels  to  the  patriarchal  customs.  Accordingly  we  find,  that  in  many  parts  of  India,  women  of  the 
first  distinction  draw  water  daily  from  the  public  wells.  They  always  fetch  it  in  earthern  jars  carried  upon 
their  heads.  Sometimes  two  or  three  jars  are  carried  at  once,  one  upon  the  other,  forming  a  pillar  upon 
the  bearer's  head.  As  this  necessarily  requires  the  most  perfect  steadiness,  the  habit  gives  to  the  females 
a  remarkably  erect  and  stately  air.  It  seems  that  it  is  a  distinction  to  carry  the  jar  on  the  shoulder ;  and 
Forbes,  in  his  "  Oriental  Memoirs,"  relates  an  anecdote  of  an  intelligent  native  who,  when  this  highly  in- 
teresting passage  was  read  to  him,  inferred  that  Rebecca  was  of  •'  high  caste,"  from  her  carrying  the  pit- 
cher on  her  shoulder.  The  text,  however,  does  not  necessarily  imply  that  she  carried  the  jar  erect  upon  her 
shoulder,  but  quite  as  probably  means  that  it  was  carried  at  the  back,  the  handle  being  held  over  the  shoulder 
by  the  hand  or  leathern  strap. 

*  The  pastoral  poetry  of  classical  antiquity,  which  has  been  imitated  more  or  less  in  all  nations,  has  ren- 
dered us  familiar  with  the  idea  of  females  of  birth  and  attractions  acting  as  shepcrdesses  long  after  the 
pnactice  itself  has  been  discontinued,  and  the  employment  has  sunk  into  contempt.  When  nations  origin- 
ally pastoral  settled  in  towns,  and  adopted  the  refinements  of  hfe,  the  care  of  the  sheep  ceased  to  be  a 
principal  consideration,  and  gradually  devolved  upon  servants  or  slaves,  coming  to  be  considered  a  mean 
employment,  to  which  the  proprietor  or  his  household  only  gave  a  general  and  superintending  attention. 
The  respectability  of  the  employment  in  these  patriarchal  times  is  not  evinced  by  our  finding  the  dau^'liler 
of  so  considerable  a  person  as  Laban  engaged  in  tending  the  fiocks,  for  in  the  East  all  drudgery  devolves 
upon  the  females  ;  but  by  our  finding  the  sons  of  such  persons  similarly  engaged  in  pastoral  duties,  w  hich 
in  Homer  also  appears  to  have  been  considered  a  fitting  employment  for  the  sons  of  kings  and  powerful 
chiefs.  We  are  not  aware  that  at  present,  in  the  East,  the  actual  care  of  a  flock  or  herd  is  considered  a 
dignified  employment.  Forbes,  in  his  "  Oriental  Memoirs,"  mentions,  that  in  the  Bramin  villages  of  the 
Concan,  women  of  the  first  distinction  draw  the  water  from  wells,  and  tend  the  cattle  to  pasture,  "  like 
Rebecca  and  Rachel."  But  in  this  instance  it  can  not  be  because  such  employments  have  any  dignity  in 
them,  but  because  the  women  are  obliged  to  perform  every  servile  office.  So,  among  tlie  Bedouin  Arabs, 
and  other  nomade  nations,  the  immediate  care  of  the  flocks  devolves  either  upon  the  women  or  the  ser- 
vants ;  but  most  generally  the  latter,  as  the  women  have  enough  to  occupy  thcin  in  their  multifarious  do- 
mestic duties.  However,  among  some  tribes,  it  is  the  exclusive  business  of  the  young  unmarried  women 
to  drive  the  cattle  to  pasture.  "  Among  the  Sinai  Arabs,"  says  Burckhardt,  "a  boy  would  feel  himself  in- 
sulted were  any  one  to  say,  '  Go  and  drive  your  fatlier's  sheep  to  pasture  ;'  these  words,  m  his  opinion, 
would  signify,  '  You  are  no  better  than  a  girl.'"  These  young  women  set  out  before  sunrise,  three  or  four 
together,  carrying  some  water  and  victuals  with  them,  and  they  do  not  return  until  late  in  the  evening. 
Throughout  the  day  they  continue  exposed  to  the  sun,  watching  the  sheep  with  great  care,  for  they  are 
sure  of  being  severely  beaten  by  their  father  should  any  be  lost.  These  young  women  are  in  general  civil 
to  persons  who  pass  by,  and  ready  enough  to  share  with  them  their  victuals  and  milk.  They  are  fully  able 
to  protect  their  flocks  against  any  ordinary  depredation  or  danger,  for  their  way  of  hfe  makes  them  as 
hudy  and  vigorous  as  the  men. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


60  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

for  her  distinguished  condescension.  As  it  grew  late,  and  he  had  valuable  property 
about  him,  he  entreated  permission,  for  that  night,  to  reside  at  the  house  of  her  rela- 
tions. Rebecca,  in  a  most  engaging  manner,  permitted  him  this  convenience,  but 
begged  that  she  might  previously  apprize  the  family  of  so  unexpected  a  visiter.  Ac- 
o)rdin2:ly,  havdng  accepted  the  presents,  she  immediately  hastened  home,  leaving 
Eliezer  full  of  contemplation  and  acknowledgments  to  the  divine  favor  for  the  happy 
incident. 

As  soon  as  Rebecca  entered  the. house,  her  brt)ther  Laban,  observing  the  bracelets 
on  her  arms,  asked  her  by  what  means  she  had  obtained  such  costly  ornaments.  Re- 
becca acquainted  him  with  every  particular  that  had  happened,  from  her  going  out  till 
her  return ;  upon  which  Laban  immediately  went  to  the  well,  Avhere  finding  Eliezer 
and  his  attendants,  he  brought  them  home  with  him,  and  ordered  proper  provision  to 
be  made  both  for  him  and  his  retinue. 

As  soon  as  Eliezer  had  paid  the  necessarj'-  compliments  to  Rebecca's  family,  he  in- 
formed them  of  the  nature  of  his  embassy,  the  great  success  that  had  attended  him  in 
his  journey,  and  the  fortunate  incident  of  his  meeting  Rebecca  without  the  city.  He 
likewise  gave  them  an  ample  account  of  the  state  of  his  master's  family ;  of  the  wealth 
and  prosperity  wherewith  God  had  blessed  him ;  of  the  son  and  heir  which  he  had 
given  him  in  his  old  age;  and  of  the  large  expectances  which  this  heir  had,  not  only 
from  the  prerogative  of  his  birth,  but  from  the  donation  and  entail  of  all  his  father's 
possessions.  Having  thus  minutely  related  every  particular  relative  to  his  embassy, 
he  demanded  an  immediate  answer,  saying,  till  that  was  obtained,  he  could  not,  .with 
any  satisfaction,  take  the  least  refreshment. 

From  the  very  singular  circumstances  that  had  occurred  in  the  course  of  Eliezer's 
journey,  Laban  and  Bethuel*  were  of  opinion  that  Divine  Providence  was  materially 
concerned  in  the  whole  affair.  Concluding,  therefore,  that  it  would  be  exceedingly 
wrong  to  refuse  Eliezer's  request,  they  readily  consented,  and  told  him  he  might  take 
Rebecca  to  her  intended  husband  as  soon  as  he  thought  proper. 

This  business  being  settled,  the  trusty  servant  presented  Rebecca  with  jewels  of  sil- 
ver and  gold,  and  fine  raiment,  which  he  had  brought  with  him  for  the  purpose. 

He  likewise  gave  some  considerable  presentsf  to  her  mother  and  the  rest  of  the 
family  ;  and  the  remainder  of  the  evening  was  dedicated  to  mirth  and  festivity. 

Early  in  the  morning,  Eliezer,  being  impatient  to  acquaint  his  master  with  the  suc- 
cess of  his  embassy,  desired  to  be  dismissed.  This  request  greatly  surprised  the  family, 
who,  influenced  by  natural  affection,  desired  that  Rebecca  might  be  permitted  to  tarry 
with  them  a  few  days,  to  take,  perhaps,  a  last  farewell.  But  the  diligent  and  faithful 
steward  would  admit  of  no  delay;  upon  which,  the  matter  being  referred  to  Rebecca 
herself,  she  agreed  to  go  with  him  whenever  he  thought  proper.  Accordingly,  the 
necessary  preparations  being  made,  and  the  bridal  blessing  bestowed,  she  took  her 
leave,  attended  by  her  nurse  (whose  name  was  Deborah)  and  other  servants  appointed 
on  the  occasion. 

When  Eliezer  came  within  some  distance  of  his  master's  house,  it  happened  that 
Isaac  was  then  walking  in  the  fields,  meditating  on  the  beauties  of  nature,  and  the 
beneficence  of  that  Being  who  formed  the  creation.  Seeing  at  a  distance  his  servants 
and  camels  on  the  road,  he  hastened  to  meet  them,  anxious  to  know  the  result  of 
Eliezer's  embassy.  As  he  approached  near,  Rebecca  asked  who  he  was  ;  and  being 
informed,  she  immediately  alighted  from  her  camel,  threw  a  veil:]:  over  her  face,  and 
waited  to  receive  the  first  compliments  of  her  intended  husband. 

•  This  Bethuel  could  not  be  the  father  of  Rebecca,  because,  had  that  been  the  case,  it  would  have  been 
improper  to  have  had  Laban  either  named  before  him,  or  to  have  given  answer  to  Abraham's  messenger 
when  ^s  fatlier  was  by  ;  and,  therefore,  since  Josephus  makes  the  damsel  tells  Eliezer  that  her  father  had 
been  dead  long  ago,  and  that  she  was  left  to  the  care  of  lier  l>rother  Laban,  tliis  Bctliucl  (who  is  liere 
named  after  Laban,  and  never  more  taken  any  notice  of  during  the  whole  transaction)  must  have  been 
some  younger  brother  of  the  family. 

t  Dr.  Shaw,  who  resided  many  years  in  the  East,  tells  us,  that  among  the  Arabians,  the  person  who  settles 
a  marriage  contract,  first  adorns  the  espoused  person  with  jewels,  and  then  makes  presents  to  her  relations, 
according  to  their  rank.  lie  adds,  that,  on  such  occasions,  it  is  expressly  stipulated  what  sum  of  money 
the  husband  shall  settle  on  the  wife  ;  what  jewels  she  shall  wear  ;  how  many  suits  of  raiment  she  shall 
have  ;  and,  lastly,  how  many  slaves  shall  be  allowed  to  attend  her. 

i  Wliether  veiled  before  or  not,  she  now  "  covered  herself — her  whole  person — with  the  ample  envel- 
oping veil  with  which  brides  are  still  conducted  to  the  bridegroom.  RosenmuUer,  in  illustration  of  this 
passage,  (luotes  an  ancient  father  (Tertullian),  who,  with  an  express  reference  to  the  same  text,  observes, 
as  a  custom  still  existing  in  his  time,  that  tlic  heathen  brides  were  also  conducted  to  their  husbands 
covered  with  a  veil.  It  is  still  all  but  universal  in  the  East,  and  it  will  be  observed  that  it  is  used,  not  only 
by  the  females  whose  faces  are  always  concealed  both  before  and  after  marriage,  but  bv  those  who  displa" 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  61 

When  Isaac,  came  up  to  Rebecca,  he  addressed  her  with  great  respect,  and  imme- 
diately conducted  her  to  his  mother's  tent,  which  had  beeu  previously  fitted  up  for 
her  reception,  and  de^^igned  for  her  future  habitation.  A  few  days  after  they  were 
joined  in  wedlock,  and  Isaac  grew  so  fond  of  her,  that  his  mind  was  greatly  relieved 
from  that  perturbation  with  which,  for  three  years,  it  had  been  loaded,  for  the  loss 
of  his  aflectionate  mother.  Such  was  the  pious  regard  children  had  for  their  parents 
m  those  days ;  and  such  was  the  amiable  example  set  by  Isaac  for  all  who  should 
follow ! 

Some  time  after  Isaac's  marriage,  his  father,  though  far  advanced  in  life,  yet  still 
possessing  great  strength  of  constitution,  made  an  addition  to  his  family,  by  taking 
another  wife,  whose  name  was  Keturah,  and  by  whom  he  had  six  sons.  But,  lest 
they  should  interfere  with  Isaac  in  his  mheritance  of  Canaan,  as  they  grew  up  he 
portioned  them  off,  and  sent  them  towards  the  east,  where,  settling  in  Arabia  and 
Syria,  they  became,  in  time,  the  rulers  of  different  nations. 

These  are  the  last  circumstances  mentioned  by  the  sacred  historian,  relative  to  the 
great  patriarch  Abraham,  who  at  length,  worn  out  with  bodily  infirmities,  quieily 
gave  up  the  ghost,  in  the  one  hundred  and  seventy-fifth  year  of  his  age.  leaving  be- 
hind him  a  name  famous  to  all  posterity.  He  was  buried  by  his  two  sons,  Ishmael 
and  Isaac,  in  the  cave  of  Machpelah,  where,  about  forty  years  before,  he  had  depos- 
ited the  remams  of  his  beloved  Sarah. 

Ishmael,  the  eldest  son  of  Abraham,  though  not  his  heir,  lived  many  years  after 
his  father.  He  died  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  seven,  leaving  behind  him  twelve 
sons.* 

part  or  the  whole  of  their  faces  on  all  ordinary  occasions.  It  is,  in  fact,  the  indispensable  costume  for  the 
occasion.  Whether  the  bridal  veil  was  distinguished  from  other  veils  does  not  appear ;  but  we  observe 
that  one  of  red  silk  or  mu.slin  is  affected  by  the  Persians  on  such  an  occasion,  although  the  ordinary  veils 
are  white  or  blue  ;  and  Dr.  Russel,  in  his  account  of  a  Maronite  marriage,  observes  that  the  bride's  veil 
was  of  the  same  color.  Thus  we  see  that  Rebecca,  by  enveloping  her  person  in  a  veil,  put  herself  into 
the  costume  usual  for  a  bride  when  conducted  to  the  tent  or  house  of  her  husband. 

*  The  IsHMAELiTEs. — We  know  not  whence  the  strange  opinion  arose  that  tiie  whole  Arabian  nation  is 
descended  from  Ishmael,  and  that,  consequently,  the  names  of  tlio  Ishmaehtes  and  Arabs  are  co-extensive, 
unless  from  the  Clialdee  and  Arabic  paraphrasts,  and  from  other  Jewish  writers,  whose  historical  authority, 
at  all  times  of  the  least  possible  value,  becomes  a  perfect  nullity  when  open  to  any  obvious  influence,  such 
as  the  wish  to  represent  Abraliam  as  tlie  father  of  so  great  and  wide-spread  a  nation  as  the  Arabians.  The 
whole  testimony  of  the  oriental  writers,  and  all  the  inferences  deducible  from  the  sacred  narrative, 
are  opposed  to  this  conclusion.  Tlie  Arabians  have  a  history  anterior  to  Ishmael ;  and  it  would  be  prepos 
terous  to  suppose  that  Arabia,  even  to  its  deserts,  was  not  occupied  before  Ins  time. 

According  to  the  Arabian  writers,  Arabia  was  occupied  a  few  generations  after  the  flood  by  the  successive 
settlement  within  it  of  variously-descended  tribes,  all  of  whom  ultimately  gave  way  to  the  races  from 
which  the  present  Arabs  claim  to  be  descended,  either  from  being  destroyed  by  them  or  lost  in  them 
These  latter  proceed  from  two  stocks,  of  which  the  most  ancient  is  that  of  Kahtan,  the  same  who  is  in  the 
Bible  called  Joktan,  a  son  of  Eber;  and  the  other  that  of  Adnan,  who  descended  in  a  direct  line  from 
Ishmael.  To  the  posterity  of  the  former  is  given  the  distinguishing  title  of  eminence,  al  Arab  al  Araha 
(equivalent  to  "  a  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews"  among  the  Jews),  that  is,  the  genuine  or  pure  Arabs  :  wlhle 
those  of  Ishmael  receive  that  of  al  Arab  al  Mostdreba,  meaning  naturalized  or  mixed  Arabs.  But  some 
writers,  who  wish  to  be  more  precise,  apply  the  first  and  most  honorable  title  to  the  most  ancient  and  lost 
tribes  to  which  we  have  alluded,  while  the  descendants  of  Kahtan  obtained  the  name  of  Motdreba,  which 
likewise  signifies  mixed  Arabs,  though  in  a  nearer  degree  than  Mostdreba ;  those  who  acknowledged 
Ishmael  for  their  ancestor  (through  Adnan)  being  the  more  distant  graft.  Considering  tlie  origin  of 
Ishmael,  it  is  no  wonder  that  those  supposed  to  be  descended  from  him  should  have  no  claim  to  be  admit- 
ted as  pure  Arabs  ;  but  as  he  is  alleged  to  have  contracted  an  alliance  with  the  Jorhamites  (descended 
from  Jorliain,  a  son  of  Kahtan),  who  possessed  Hejaz,  by  marrying  the  daughter  of  their  emir  Modad, 
whence,  and  by  subsequent  intermarriages  his  descendants  became  blended  with  them  into  one  nalioa, 
their  claim  to  be  regarded  as  Mostdreba  is  beyond  dispute. 

There  is  considerable  uncertainty  in  the  descents  from  Isliniael  to  Adnan,  which  is  the  reason  why  the 
Arabs  have  seldom  attempted  to  trace  their  genealogies  Iiighcr  than  the  latter,  whom  tliey  therefore  look 
upon  as  the  founder  of  their  tribes.  The  account  of  this  Adnan  does  not  commence,  howevei-,  till  122 
B.  C.  ;  so  that  the  uncertainties  extend  over  a  period  of  about  1800  years.  This  is  a  very  awful  circu;ii- 
stance  at  the  first  view,  but  the  hne  of  descent  is  not  compromised  by  it,  notwitlistanding.  The  uncc  r- 
tainties  refer  merely  to  the  numbers  and  names  of  the  generations  which  fill  the  interval,  and  arise  Irom 
the  contracted  manner  in  which  genealogies,  extending  over  a  long  series  of  ages,  were  necessarily  kept. 
Thus  they  do  not  specify  all  the  generations  from  A  to  Z,  in  this  way :  — "  Z,  the  son  of  Y  ;  Y,  tlie  son  of 
X  :  X,  the  son  of  W,"  and  so  on  up  to  A  :  but  knowing  it  to  be  a  matter  of  perfect  notoriety  and  umjues- 
tionable  truth  that  Z  is  descended  from  some  eminent  ancestor,  say  S,  and  that  it  is  equally  notorious  and 
unquestionable  that  the  remote  ancestor  of  this  S  was  M,  and  tiiat  M  was  descended  from  G,  and  G  from 
A, — tliey  may  omit  tlie  intermediate  ance.-tors,  through  whom  Z  descended  from  S,  and  S  from  M,  and  M 
from  G,  and  G  from  A,  and  state  the  matter  thus  :  "  Z,  the  son  of  S,  the  son  of  M,  tlie  son  of  G,  the  son 
of  A  ;"  and  thus  it  may  occur  tliat  not  only  the  names  but  even  tlie  numbers  of  the  generations  between  A 
and  Z  may,  in  the  course  of  time,  become  involved  in  great  uncertainty  through  tlicir  not  being  given  in 
detail  in  the  genealogies,  wliile  the  truth  yet  remains  certain  and  unquestionable  that  Z  is  descended  from 
A  through  G,  M,  and  S.  Hence,  it  is  not  questioned  that  Adnan  is  descended  from  Ishmael.  and  a  certain 
number,  eight  or  ten,  of  illustrious  names  are  mentioned  to  mark  out  the  Une  of  descent,  while  the  nnnies 
Df  the  mass  of  intermediate  ancestors  is  lost,  and  even  the  numbers  of  their  generations  may  be  a  suhject 
jf  fair  dispute  without  the  main  question  being  touched.  It  is,  therefore,  surprising  to  see  some  al)le 
vvriters  so  much  in  the  dark  as  to  imagine,  that,  because  the  Arabian  writers  give  us  only  some  eight  or 


62  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 


CHAPTER    VI. 

When  Isaac  married  Rebecca,  he  was  forty  years  old,  and  lived  with  her  nearly 
twenty  years  before  she  had  issue.  He  had  been  so  long  uneasy  on  this  account,  that 
he  at  ienc^th  prayed  to  God  to  grant  him  an  heir,  who  being  pleased  to  listen  to  his 
request,  bestoAvcd  that  blessing  he  had  so  earnestly  wished  for,  and  the  long  barren 
Rebecca  now  conceived,  to  the  great  satisfaction  both  of  herself  and  husband. 

After  Rebecca  had  been  pregnant  some  months,  the  struggles  of  the  children  (for 
he  had  twins  within  her)  gave  her  such  pain  and  uneasiness,  that  she  began,  in  a 
manner,  to  wish  herself  not  with  child.  Unable  to  account  for  the  cause  of  her  ex- 
treme pains,  she  went  to  consult  the  divine  oracle,  and  received  for  answer,  that  the 
two  children,  which  she  then  bore,  should  be  the  heads  of  two  different  nations,  and 
that  they  would  long  contest  for  superiority  ;  but  that,  in  process  of  time,  the  glories 
acquired  by  the  elder  would  be  eclipsed  by  the  more  resplendent  transactions  of  the 
younger. 

When  the  time  of  Rebecca's  delivery  arrived,  the  child  that  first  entered  the  world 
was  covered  all  over  with  red  hair,*  for  which  reason  his  parents  called  him  Esau ; 
and  tlie  other  came  so  close  after  him,  that  he  took  hold  of  his  heel  with  his  hand, 
and  was  therefore  called  Jacob,  to  denote  (what  he  afterward  proved)  the  supplanter 
of  his  brother. 

As  these  two  children  greAV  up,  they  became  very  different  in  their  tempers,  and 
when  they  arrived  at  the  age  of  maturity,  followed  different  employments.  Esau, 
the  elder,  being  strong  and  active,  delighted  in  the  chase,  and  thereby  frequently 
supplying  his  father  with  venison,  obtained  his  particular  affection;  while  Jacob, 
who  was  of  a  more  courteous  disposition,  by  staying  at  home  m  the  tent,  and  em- 
ploying himself  in  family  offices,  became  the  favorite  of  his  mother. 

Esau  having  one  day  greatly  fatigued  himself  Avith  hunting,  returned  home  just  at 
the  time  his  brother  Jacob  had  prepared  a  mess  of  pottagef  for  his  own  refreshment 

ten  names  to  mark  the  line  of  descent,  they  were  absurd  enough  to  suppose  that  that  eight  or  ten  genera- 
tions sufficed  to  cover  the  long  interval  between  Ishiriael  and  Adnan.  We  have  dwelt  on  this  subject  the 
rather  because  this  Arabian  manner  of  proceeding  suffices  to  clear  up  some  difficulties  which  the  Hebrew 
genealogies  ofl'er. 

It  must  not  be  inferred  that  the  Arabs  undervalue  the  descent  from  Ishmael  in  comparison  with  thai 
from  Kahtan,  on  account  of  their  applying  to  it  a  less  honorable  designation.  This  is  by  no  means  the 
case  ;  for,  on  tlie  contrary,  they  set  a  high  value,  like  the  Jews,  on  the  privilege  of  being  descended  from 
Abraham ;  and  this  distinction  is,  in  the  eyes  of  the  modern  Arabs,  greatly  enhanced  by  the  circumstance 
that  Mohammed  belonged  to  this  race,  and  gloried  in  being  descended  from  Ishmael  and  Abraham. 

Of  the  personal  history  of  Islmiael  the  Arabians  give  a  highly  embellished  account,  which  it  is  not  neces- 
sary in  this  place  to  repeat.  In  those  circumstances  which  seem  most  entitled  to  consideration,  as  not 
incompatible  with  his  scriptural  history,  we  are  somewhat  inclined  to  suspect  that  they  apply  to  him 
actions  and  events  which  really  belong,  if  they  are  at  all  real,  to  some  of  his  descendants.  For  instance, 
that  Ishmael  ever  was  in  Ilejaz,  or  formed  any  important  connexions  there,  seems  to  us  very  doubtful ; 
but  there  is  nothing  in  this  (hat  might  not  be  very  probably  true  of  one  of  his  descendants,  after  the  tribe 
had  increased,  and  had  formed  alliances  among  the  Arabs  of  the  Kahtan  races.  We  therefore  attach  little 
weight  to  the  statement  of  liis  marriage  to  the  daughter  of  the  king  of  the  Jorhamites,  though  we  should 
not  be  prepared  to  doubt  it  'iierely  on  the  ground  that  the  scripture  tells  us  that  he  married  an  Egyptian 
woman,  since  his  Arabian  wi.e  might  have  been  the  second.  In  fact,  much  that  the  Arabians  tell  u.s  about 
Ishmael  proceeds  on  the  grievo\is  misconception  that  Abraham  himself  lived  in  Hejaz,  and  that  there  all 
the  events  of  his  later  history  took  place. 

The  account  of  the  descent  of  numerous  Arabian  tribes  from  Ishmael  is  not  open  to  the  same  doubts  oi 
difficulty,  and  is,  indeed,  so  clear  in  itself,  and  so  universally  acknowledge^!,  tliat  the  oliject  of  tlie  present 
note  has  not  been  to  prove  this,  but  to  indicate  the  historical  certainty  tliat  all  the  Arabians  could  not, 
and  did  not,  claim  to  be  desceiuied  from  him. 

'  This  expression,  according  to  some  commentators,  is  taken  two  ways,  namely,  either  that  Esan  was, 
at  his  birth,  covered  with  red  h.i.r,  or  that  the  color  of  his  skin  was  red,  like  a  coat  of  red  hair.  lie  was 
called  Esau,  from  the  word  Esc  lau,  wiiich  in  the  Hebrew  language,  signifies  a  hair-cloth  ;  as  Jacob  was 
named  from  Hekel,  the  heel,  and  signifies  a  supplanter,  or  one  that  taketh  hold  of,  or  trippeth  up  another's 
heels. 

t  Tlie  cdnm,  or  red  pottage,  was  prepared,  we  learn  from  this  chapter,  by  seething  lentils  {atlajshim\  in 
water  ;  and  suliseijuently,  as  we  may  guess  from  a  practice  which  prevails  in  many  countries,  adding  a 
little  manlcca,  or  suet,  to  give  them  a  flavor.  The  writer  of  these  observations  has  often  partaken  of  tins 
self-sarno  "  red  pottage,"  served  up  in  the  manner  just  described,  and  found  it  better  Ibod  than  a  stranger 
would  lie  apt  to  imagine.  The  mess  had  the  redness  which  gained  for  it  the  name  of  erfom ;  and  which, 
througli  the  singular  circumstance  of  a  son  selling  his  liirtliright  to  satisfy  tlic  cravings  of  a  pressing  appe- 
tite, it  imparted  to  tlie  posterity  of  Esau  in  the  people  of  Edom.  The  lentil  (or  Lens  csculenta  of  some  wri- 
ters, and  the  Ervum  lens  of  Liiinaus)  belongs  to  tile  kirummous  or  podded  family.  The  stem  is  branched, 
and  the  leaves  consist  of  about  eight  pairs  of  smaller  leaflets.  The  flowers  are  small,  and  with  tlic  upper 
division  of  tlie  llower  prettily  veined.  The  pods  contain  about  two  seeds,  which  vary  from  a  tawny  red  to  a 
black  It  di'liu'lits  m  a  dry,  warm  sandy  soil.  Three  varieties  are  cultivated  in  France — "small  brown," 
"  yellowish,"  and  the  "  lentil  of^  Provence."  In  the  former  country  they  are  dressed  and  eaten  during  Lent 
as  a  haricot ;  in  Syria  they  are  used  as  food  after  they  have  undergone  the  simple  process  of  being  parched 
In  a  pan  over  tlie  fire. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  63 

Esau,  being  almost  spent  with  hunger,  was  so  struck  with  the  looks  of  the  potiuge, 
that  he  anxiously  begged  of  his  brother  to  let  him  participate  of  the  repast.  But 
Jacob  (who  was  probably  so  instructed  by  his  mother)  refused  to  comply  with  his  re- 
quest, unless  on  the  following  conditions ;  namely,  that  he  would  immediately  make 
over  to  him  his  birth-right.  Esau  reflecting  on  the  danger  to  which  he  was  daily 
subject,  from  the  nature  of  his  employment,  set  no  great  value  on  what  Jacob  re- 
quired; and  the  latter,  perceiving  his  disposition  to  comply  (that  he  might  have  the 
right  more  firmly  conveyed  to  him),  proposed  his  doing  it  by  way  of  oath.  Notwith- 
standing the  singularity  of  the  request,  Esau  complied  with  it,  and  the  bargain  being 
made,  he  ate  very  greedily  of  the  food  prepared  by  his  brother.  Thus  did  the  un- 
thinking Esau  dispose  of  his  birth-right,  with  all  the  privileges*  belonging  to  it,  for 
so  simple  a  thing  as  a  mess  of  pottage. 

Isaac,  at  this  time,  lived  at  Beershcba,  but  a  dreadful  famine  happening  in  the  land 
of  Canaan,  he  resolved  (as  his  father  Abraham  had  done  on  a  similar  occasion)  to 
avoid  its  consequences  by  retiring  to  Egypt.  He  accordingly  proceeded  as  far  as  Ge- 
rar,  a  city  belonging  to  the  Philistines.  But  here  he  was  interrupted  in  his  intended 
journey  by  the  interposition  of  the  Almighty,  who,  in  a  dream,  charged  him  not  to 
go  into  Egypt,  but  to  tarry  in  the  comitry  where  he  then  was ;  and  at  the  same  time 
assured  him,  that  he  would  not  only  secure  him  from  the  danger  of  the  famine,  but, 
in  performance  of  the  oath  which  he  had  sworn  to  his  father  Abraham,  would  cause 
his  descendants  (to  whom  he  would  give  the  whole  land  of  Canaan  in  possession)  to 
multiply  exceedingly. 

In  conformity  to  the  divine  command,  Isaac  determined  to  fix  his  residence  at  Ge- 
rar,  where  he  made  use  of  the  same  stratagem  his  father  had  formerly  done  in  the 
same  place,  and  from  the  same  motive.  Fearful  lest  the  charms  ol"  his  wife  Fiebecca 
might  attract  the  particular  notice  of  some  of  the  city,  and  thereby  endanger  his  own 
safety,  it  was  agreed  between  them,  that,  instead  of  his  wife,  she  should  pass  for  his 
sister.  This  deception  succeeded  for  a  time,  but  at  length  was  discovered  by  Abime- 
lechf  the  king,  who,  from  a  window,  observed  such  familiarities  pass  between  them, 
as  convinced  him  they  were  man  and  wife. 

In  consequence  of  this  discovery,  Abimelech  sent  for  Isaac,  whom  he  accused  of 
dissimulation,  telling  him,  that  from  the  freedom  he  had  observed  between  him  and 
Rebecca,  he  was  sure  she  was  his  Avife;  and  that  the  imposition  he  had  endeavored 
to  lay  on  the  people  might  have  been  attended  with  consequences  disgraceful  to 
himself. 

Isaac,  conscious  of  the  justness  of  the  accusation,  did  not  attempt  to  disprove  the 
charge,  but  urged,  in  vindication  of  his  conduct,  that  he  did  it  to  preserve  that  life, 
which,  otherwise,  he  thought  in  the  most  imminent  danger.  This  apology  was  ad- 
mitted by  Abimelech,  who  not  only  forgave  him  the  offence,  but  immediately  issued 
an  edict,  that  whoever  should  presume  to  offer  any  injury  either  to  him  or  his  wife 
should  be  punished  Avith  death. 

Having  received  these  tokens  of  friendship  from  Abimelech,  Isaac  thought  himself 
happy  under  his  protection,  and,  intending  to  make  Gerar  his  fixed  place  of  residence, 
employed  himself  in  husbandry,  and  the  rearing  of  flocks,  for  the  future  support  of  him- 
self and  family.  The  great  success  that  attended  his  endeavors,  by  means  of  his  bene- 
ficent Creator,  soon  raised  the  envy  and  indignation  of  the  Philistines.  In  the  space 
of  one  year  only,  during  his  residence  at  Gerar,  so  prolific  was  the  land  he  sowed 
that,  to  the  great  astonishment  of  his  neighbors,  it  yielded  him  a  hundred  fold. 

»  It  should  be  understood,  that  previously  to  the  establishment  of  a  priesthood  under  the  Law  of  Moses, 
the  first-born  had  not  only  a  preference  in  the  secular  inheritance,  but  succeeded  exclusively  to  the  pnestly 
lunctions  which  had  belonged  to  his  father,  in  leading  the  religious  observances  of  the  family,  and  perform- 
ing the  simple  religious  rites  of  these  patriarchal  times.  The  secular  part  of  the  birthright  entitled  the  first- 
born to  a  '■  double  portion"  of  the  inheritance  ;  but  writers  are  divided  in  opinion  as  to  the  proportion  of  this 
double  share.  Some  think  that  he  had  one  half,  and  that  the  rest  was  equally  divided  among  the  other  sons  ; 
but  a  careful  consideration  of  Gen.  xlvii.  5-22,  in  which  we  see  that  Jacob  transfers  the  privilege  of  the 
first-born  to  .Joseph,  and  that  this  privilege  consisted  in  his  havmg  one  share  more  than  any  of  his  brethren, 
inclines  us  to  tlie  opinion  of  the  Rabbins,  that  the  first-born  had  merely  twice  as  much  as  any  other  of  his 
brethren.  It  is  certainly  possible,  but  not  very  likely,  that  in  the  emergency,  Esau  bartered  all  his  birth- 
right for  a  mess  of  pottage  :  but  it  seems  more  probable  that  Esau  did  not  properly  appreciate  the  value  of 
the  sacerdotal  part  of  his  birthright,  and  therefore  readily  transferred  it  to  Jacob  for  a  trifling  present  ad- 
vantage. This  view  of  the  matter  seems  to  be  confirmed  by  St.  Paul,  who  calls  Esau  a  "profane  person," 
for  his  conduct  on  this  occasion ;  and  it  is  rather  for  despising  his  spiritual  than  his  temporal  privileges, 
that  he  seems  to  be  liable  to  such  an  imputation. 

t  This  Abimelech  was  probably  the  son  of  him  with  whom  Abraham  had  formerly  made  a  covenant.  It 
is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  Ab.rnelech  was  only  a  title  commonly  used  for  the  kings  of  the  Philistines,  m 
tlie  same  manner  as  Caesar  was  by  the  Roman  emperors,  and  Pharaoh  for  the  kings  of  Egypt 


64  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

This  so  irritated  the  Philistines,  that,  iii  order  to  oblige  him  to  leave  the  country, 
they  filled  up  the  wells  which  had  been  formerly  dug  by  his  father's  servants ;  and 
Abimelech  himself,  to  satisfy  the  resentment  of  the  people,  ordered  him  to  quit  Ge- 
rar,  telling  him,  that  as  he  had  sufficiently  improved  his  fortune  under  his  protection, 
he  might  now  give  the  like  opportunity  to  others,  by  leaving  the  place,  and  retiring 
to  a  more  distant  part  of  the  country. 

Finding  to  what  a  degree  the  people  were  incensed  against  him,  Isaac,  to  preserve 
his  property,  as  well  as  secure  his  person,  left  the  place,  and  retired  to  the  valley  uf 
Gerar,  which  was  at  some  distance  from  the  city,  and  Avhere  Abraham  had  formerly 
ed  his  cattle.  Having  settled  himself  here,  he  opened  the  wells  (which  had  been 
dug  by  his  father  and  filled  up  by  the  Philistines)  and  called  them  by  their  ancient 
names.  In  the  eourse  of  their  labors,  Isaac's  servants  discovered  a  neAV  well  of  fine 
springing  water ;  but  a  dispute  arising  between  them  and  some  neighboring  herdsmen, 
the  latter  claiming  the  well  as  found  upon  their  ground,  Isaac  resolved  to  leave  the 
place ;  and  by  way  of  perpetuating  the  circumstance  called  it  Esek,  which,  in  the 
Hebrew  language,  signifies  contention.  Removing  some  Avay  farther,  Isaac's  servants 
dug  another  well,  which  being  likewise  claimed  by  the  Philistines,  he  was  obliged  to 
relincjuish  it,  and  therefore,  called  the  place  Sitna/i,  which  signifies  enmity.* 

Being  quite  tired  out  with  repeated  insults  from  the  Philistines,  in  order  to  prevent 
the  like  in  future,  he  removed  to  the  most  distant  part  of  tlieir  country.  Here  he 
dug  another  well ;  and  not  meeting  with  any  opposition,  he  called  it  Rehoboth,  which 
signifies  enlargement.,  because  his  flocks  had  now  room  to  feed  and  range  the  covmtry 
in  search  of  fresh  pasturage  :  "  for  now,"  said  he,  "  the  Lord  hath  made  room  for  us, 
and  we  shall  be  fruitful  in  the  land." 

After  residing  a  short  time  on  this  spot  Isaac  returned  to  Beersheba,t  where,  on  the 
very  night  of  his  arrival,  the  Almighty  was  pleased  to  appear  to  him  in  a  vision, 
promising  him  his  favor  and  protection,  and  that  he  Avould  bless  him,  and  multiply 

*  The  cause  of  these  differences  seems  to  liave  heeii,  thai  a  question  arose  wliether  wells  dug  by  Abra- 
ham's and  Isaac's  people  witliin  the  territories  of  Gerar  belonged  to  the  people  wlio  digged  them,  or  to  those 
who  enjoyed  the  territorial  right.  The  real  motive  of  the  opposition  of  the  people  of  Gerar,  and  their 
stopping  up  the  wells  made  by  Aliraham,  seems  to  have  been  to  discourage  the  visits  of  such  powerful  per- 
sons to  their  territory  ;  for  otherwise  the  wells  would  have  been  suffered  to  remain  on  account  of  their 
utility  to  the  nation.  Stopping  up  the  wells  is  still  an  act  of  hostility  in  the  East.  Mr.  Roberts  says  that  it 
is  so  in  India,  where  one  person  who  hates  another  will  sometimes  send  his  slaves  in  the  night  to  fill  up  the 
well  of  the  latter,  or  else  to  pollute  it  by  throwing  in  the  carcases  of  unclean  animals.  The  Bedouin  tribes 
in  the  country  traversed  by  the  great  pilgrim-caravan  which  goes  annually  from  Damascus  to  Mecca,  receive 
presents  of  money  and  vestments  to  prevent  them  from  injuring  the  wells  upon  the  line  of  march,  and  which 
are  essential  to  the  very  existence  of  the  multitudes  who  then  traverse  this  desert  region.  However,  of  all 
people  in  the  world,  none  know  so  well  as  the  Arabs  the  value  of  water,  and  the  importance  of  wells,  and 
hence  they  never  wantonly  do  them  harm.  They  think  it  an  act  of  great  merit  in  the  siglit  of  God  to  dig  a 
well ;  and  culpable  in  an  equal  degree  to  destroy  one.  The  wells  in  the  deserts  are  in  general  the  exclu- 
sive property  either  of  a  whole  tribe,  or  of  individuals  whose  ancestors  dug  them.  The  possession  of  a  well 
is  never  alienated ;  perliaps  because  the  Arabs  are  firmly  persuaded  that  the  owner  of  a  well  is  sure  to 
prosper  in  all  his  undertakings,  since  the  blessings  of  all  who  drink  his  water  fall  upon  him.  The  stopping 
of  Abraham's  wells  by  the  Philistines,  the  re-opening  of  them  by  Isaac,  and  the  restoration  of  their  former 
names — the  commemorative  names  given  to  the  new  wells,  and  the  strifes  about  thern  between  those  who 
had  sunk  them  and  the  people  of  the  land— are  all  circumstances  highly  characteristic  of  those  countries  in 
which  the  want  of  rivers  and  brooks  during  summer  renders  the  tribes  dependant  upon  the  wells  for  the  very 
existence  of  the  flocks  and  herds  which  form  their  wealth.  It  would  seem  that  the  Philistines  did  not  again 
stop  the  wells  while  Isaac  was  in  their  country.  It  is  probable  that  the  wells  successfully  sunk  by  Isaac 
did  not  furnish  water  sufficient  for  both  his  own  herds  and  those  of  Gerar,  and  thus  the  question  became 
one  of  exclusive  right.  Such  questions  often  lead  to  bitter  and  bloody  quarrels  in  the  East;  and  it  was 
probably  to  avoid  the  last  result  of  an  appeal  to  arms  that  Isaac  withdrew  out  of  the  more  settled  country 
toward  the  desert,  where  he  niiglit  enjoy  the  use  of  his  wells  in  peace. 

t  Beeusheba.— In  the  Biblical  Repository  for  April,  1839,  we  have  a  very  valuable  and  interesting  "  Re- 
port of  Travels  in  Palestine  and  the  Adjacent  Regions,  in  1838;  undertaken  for  the  illustration  of  Biblical 
Geography  by  the  Rev.  Prof.  E.  Robmson  and  Rev.  E.  Smith ;"  in  which  we  find  a  notice  of  the  discovery  of 
the  site  of  Boerslicba,  about  thirty  miles  to  the  south  of  Hebron.  Our  readers  will  not  fail  to  be  gratified 
at  being  enabled  to  obtain  the  view,  conveyed  in  the  following  description,  of  a  place  of  such  great  interest 
in  the  history  of  tlie  patriarchs  :  — 

"  After  crossing  another  elevated  plateau,  the  character  of  the  surface  was  again  changed.  We  came 
upon  an  open  rolling  country  ;  all  around  were  swelling  hills,  covered  in  ordinary  seasons  with  grass  and 
rich  pasturage,  though  now  arid  and  parched  with  drought.  We  now  came  to  Wady  Lebu  ;  and  on  the 
north  side  of  its  water-course  we  had  the  satisfaction  of  discovering  the  site  of  ancient  Beersheba,  the 
celelirated  border  city  of  Palestine,  still  bearing  in  Arabic  the  name  of  Bir  Seba.  Near  the  water-course 
are  two  circular  wells  of  excellent  water,  nearly  forty  feet  deep.  They  are  both  surrounded  with  drinking 
troughs  of  stone,  for  the  use  of  camels  and  flocks  ;  such  as  doubtless  were  used  of  old  for  the  (locks  that 
then  fed  on  the  adjacent  hills.  Ascending  the  low  hills  north  of  the  wells,  we  found  them  strewed  with 
the  ruins  of  former  habitations— the  foundations  of  which  are  distinctly  to  be  traced.  These  ruins  extend 
over  a  space  of  half  a  mile  long  by  a  quarter  of  a  mile  broad.  Hero,  then,  is  the  place  where  Abraham  and 
Isaac  and  .Jacob  often  lived .'  Here  Samuel  Uiade  his  three  sons  judges  ;  and  from  here  Elijah  wandered  out 
into  the  southern  desert,  and  sat  down  under  the  rcthem.  or  shrub  of  broom,  just  as  our  Arabs  sat  down  under 
it  every  day  and  every  night.  Over  these  swelling  hills  the  flocks  of  the  patriarchs  roved  by  thousands 
we  now  only  found  a  few  camels,  asses,  and  goats." 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


65 


66  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

his  seed,  for  the  sake  of  his  faithful  servant  Abraham.  In  gratefbl  acknowledgment 
of  this  repeated  instance  of  the  divine  goodness,  Isaac,  intending  to  continue  here, 
first  built  an  altar  for  religious  worsliip,  and  then  ordered  his  servants  to  clear  out  the 
well  which  had  been  formerly  dug  by  his  father. 

Isaac  had  not  long  returned  to  Beersheba,  when  Abimelech,  touched  with  a  sensfe 
of  the  unworthy  treatment  he  had  received,  both  from  him  and  his  subjects,  as  well 
as  fearing  his  just  resentment,  should  he  become  powerful  hereafter,  thought  it  most 
prudent  lo  avoid  future  trouble,  by  endeavoring  either  to  renew  the  old  league  which 
had  been  formerly  made  with  his  father  Abraham,  or  to  enter  into  a  new  one.  Ac- 
cordingly, taking  with  him  the  chief  of  his  nobility,  together  with  the  captain-general 
of  his  forces,  he  went,  in  great  pomp,  to  Beersheba,  in  order  to  pay  honor  and  respect 
to  Isaac.  At  the  first  interview  Isaac,  to  show  that  he  still  retained  a  sense  of  the 
injuries  he  had  formerly  done  him,  received  his  visit  very  coolly,  and,  with  apparent 
surprise,  asked,  how  he  came  to  oifer  respect  to  a  person,  for  whom,  by  his  conduct 
and  behavior,  he  had  long  discovered  an  utter  aversion  ?  Abimelech,  conscious  of 
his  error,  made  the  best  excuse  the  nature  of  the  case  Avould  admit.  He  tdkl  him  he 
had  long  been  convinced  that  the  divine  favor  attended  him  in  all  his  undertakings, 
and  that  he  might  not  be  thought  to  oppose  God,  he  was  come  to  renew  the  covenant 
between  his  people  and  Abraham's  posterity,  and  was  ready  to  engage'  in  the  same 
conditions  and  obligations. 

Isaac,  being  naturally  of  a  quiet  and  easy  disposition,  readily  admitted  this  apology 
from  Abimelech,  whom,  with  his  attendants,  he  entertained'  with  great  liberality. 
The  articles  for  a  treaty  of  friendship  were  agreed  on  that  same  evening,  and  the  next 
morning  confirmed  by  a  solemn  and  mutual  oath ;  after  which  Abimelech  took  his 
leave,  and  returned  home. 

Soon  after  the  departure  of  Abimelech,  the  servants  of  Isaac  informed  him,  that, 
in  the  well  they  had  been  clearing  out,  and  which  formerly  belonged  to  Abraham,  they 
had  found  a  spring  of  most  excellent  water.  This  event' happening  on  the  same  day 
that  the  league  of  friendship  had  been  confirmed  between  Isaac  and  Abimelech,  he  called 
it  (as  his  father  had  done  before  on  a  similar  occasion)  Beersheba,  the  well  of  the  oath, 
"i.  e.  the  well  Avherein  water  was  delivered,  on  the  day  thai  Abimelech  and  1  entered 
mto  a  treaty  of  peace,  and  ratified  the  same  with  the  solemnity  of  an  oath.^'' 

A  circumstance  now  occurred,  Avhich  gave  great  uneasiness  both  to  Isaac  and  his 
wife.  Their  two  sons  were  arrived  at  the  age  of  forty,  and  Esau  had  taken  two  wives 
from  among  the  Hittites,  one  of  whom  was  Judith,  the  daughter  of  Beeri,  and  the 
other  Bashemaih,  the  daughter  of.Elon,  both  women  of  respectable  families  in  Ca- 
naan. These  marriages  he  had  contracted  without  his  parents'  privity,  knowing  that 
his  father  had  determined  not  to  form  any  alliance  with  the  idolatrous  Canaanites. 
Rebecca  was  so  incensed  at  Esau's  conduct,  that  the  little  affection  she  before  had  for 
him,  was  now  entirely  alienated  ;  but  such  was  the  power  of  natural  aflection  in  Isaac, 
and  such  his  over-fondness  for  an  obdurate  and  perverse  son,  that  knowing  the  error 
past  repair,  he  made  a  virtue  of  necessity,  and  forgave  Avhat  he  could  not  remedy. 

Isaac,  becoming  very  old,*  imperfect  in  his  evesiirhi,  and  aiiprehensive  that  bis  dis- 
solution was  near  at  hand,  resolved  to  bestow  that  parental  benedicticta  on  his  son 
Esau,  which  he  had  long  intended.  Accordingly,  calling  him  one  day  to  bis  private 
apartment,  he  first  related  the  occasion  of  his  sending  for  him,  and  then  desired  him  to 
take  his  hunting  instruments,  to  go  into  the  fields,  kill  some  veni>on,t  and  dress  it  to 
his  palate,  that  his  spirits  might  be  refreshed,  and  his  mind  properly  disposed,  for  giv- 
ing him  that  solemn  blessing  which  should  crown  his  future  prosperity. 

While  Isaac  was  relating  his  intentions  to  Esau,  Rebecca  had  so  planted  herself  as 
to  hear  all  that  passed.  She,  therefore,  determined,  if  possible,  to  deprive  him  of  the 
intended  blessing,  and,  by  stratagem,  get  it  conferred  on  her  favorite  son  Jacob.  As 
soon,  therefore,  as  Esau  was  well  gone,  Rebecca,  calling  her  son  Jacob,  told  him  what 
she  had  heard,  namely,  that  his  father  was  going  to  bestow  a  benediction,  which  was 
final  and  irrevocable,  on  his  brother;  but  that,  if  he  would  listen  to,  and  follow  her 
directions,  she  doubted  not  of  getting  the  honor  bestowed  on  him. 

•  Isaac  was  at,  tliis  tiifle  137  years  old,  so  tliut  tlicrc  is  no  wonder  he  should  be  imperfect  in  his  s  tnt.  Ii 
•ppears  that  he  was  still  ignorant  of  Esau  having  sold  his  birtli-riglit :  for  lie  loved  him  as  his  firsl-born  son, 
mnd  designed  to  bestow  on  him  the  blessing. 

t  Venison  was  the  principal  article  of  food,  in  these  early  ages,  next  to  vegetables,  and  it  is  very  likely 
the  aged  patriarcli  longed  for  some.  According  to  all  the  accounts  we  have  of  the  people  in  the  Easteir 
••ountries,  they  had  always  a  feast  prepared  before  thev  bestowed  their  blessing  on  their  first-born  son 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


Jacob  promising  to  pay  a  strict  obedience  to  whatever  his  mother  she  jld  command, 
she  ordered  him  to  go  immediately  to  the  flocks,  and  bring  two  kids,  with  which,  she 
said  she  would  make  savory  meat,  such  as  should  resemble  venisoii,  and  be  agreeable 
to  the  palate  of  his  father.  Jacob  made  some  hesitation  at  complymg  with  this  in- 
junction, intimating,  that  if  his  father  should  discover  the  deception  instead  of  a 
blessin-,  he  would  pronounce  on  him  a  curse.  As  a  farther  ground  of  objection,  he 
observed  that,  as  Esau  was  remarkably  hairy,  and  he  naturally  smooth,  his  father,  to 
supplv  the  defect  of  sight,  might  handle  him,  in  which  case  a  discovery  must  una- 
voidably follow.  But  these  objections  bore  no  weight  with  Rebecca,  who,  determined 
to  nut  her  design  into  execution,  told  him,  whatever  bad  consequences  ensued,  she 
would  take  all  upon  herself:  "  Upon  me,"  said  she,  "  be  thy  curse,  my  son ;  only  obey 


mv  voice."* 


Jacob  'being  thus  encouraged  bv  his  mother,  threw  off  his  diffidence,  and  going  tg 
the  fold  brought  with  him,  as  lie  was  directed,  two  fat  kids.  Rebecca  immediately 
killed  them,  and  taking  the  choicest  parts,  dressed  them  in  such  manner,  by  the  as- 
•^i^tauce  of  savory  sauce,  as  to  make  the  whole  strongly  resemble  venison.  Having 
thus  prepared  the  Ibod,  she  dressed  Jacob  in  his  brother's  best  attire,  and  covering  his 
hands  and  neck  with  the  skins  of  the  kids,  gave  him  the  dish,  ordering  him  immedi- 
ately to  take  it  to  his  father.  ..,,.,      t        i  f,^  .,f 

Jacob  agreeably  to  his  mother's  directions,  went  with  the  food  tolsaacs  apartment, 
which  lie  had  no  sooner  entered,  than  the  good  old  man  (not  being  able  to  distinguish 
obiects  from  the  imperfection  of  his  sight)  with  surprise  asked  who  he  was.  io 
which  Jacob  replied,  "  1  am  Esau,  thy  first-born :  I  have  punctually  obeyed  thy  com- 
mand ;  arise,  therefore,  and  eat  of  mv  venison,  that  tliy  soul  may  bless  me.  Isaac, 
a^^lonished  at  the  haste  with  Avhich  his  desire  was  executed,  inquired  of  him  how  it 
happened  that  he  had  so  quickly  got  the  venison  ?  To  this  he  answered.  Because 
the  Lord  thy  (Tod  brought  it  to  me."  Being,  however,  still  diffident  as  to  his  person, 
Isaac  ordered  him  to  approach  near,  that,  by  feeling  him,  he  might  be  convinced 
whether  or  not  it  was  really  and  verily  his  son  Esau.  Jacob  accordmgly  went  close 
to  his  aged  father,  who,  feeling  the  hairy  skin  on  his  hands  and  neck,  exclaimed,  AVith 
o-reat  surprise,  "  The  hands  are  the  hands  of  Esau,  but  the  voice  is  the  voice  of  Jacob. 
Ho  then  put  the  question  to  him  forcibly,  saying,  •'  Art  thou  ray  very  son  Esau  i  io 
which  Jacob,  without  the  least  hesitation,  answered,  "  I  am." 

The  o-ood  old  man,  being  now  satisfied,  arose  from  his  couch,  ate  of  his  son  s  pre- 
tended venison,  and  drank  a  cup  or  two  of  wine ;  after  which  he  bid  hina  come  near 
that  he  might  bestow  on  him  the  promised  blessing.  The  scent  arismg  from  Jacob  s 
<rarments  gave  great  satisfaction  to  Isaac.  He  smelt,  and  praised  theni :  "  »  he  smell 
of  my  soiV'  said  he,  "is  as  the  smell  of  a  field,  which  the  Lord  hath  blessed,  t  He 
then  ■  in  a  kind  of  ecstacy  of  pleasure,  embraced  and  kissed  his  pretended  hrst-born ; 
and,'after  wishing  him  all  heavenly  and  earthly  blessings,!  at  length  dismissed  him. 

*  From  a  circumspect  view  of  Rei.ecca's  conduct  throughout  tl>e  whole  of  this  alTair,  it  appears  evident 
that  she  hadTccTtimloacquaiulf-a  vvith  the  Divine  will  crmcmin^  the  chain.e  in  winch  the  grand  promise 
„,,t  n's^  She  thcrefu  e  resolved  to  do  |.,er  part  Unv:u:[  preventing  the  ill  effects  of  Isaac's  partial 
fondnesLfo;  hU  eldest  son  E>"au  who  had  alreadv  indicated  so  unworthy  a  disposition.  To  tins  end  she 
intitefherson  Jacob  (as  t  appears)  to  an  ad  of  deceit,  and,  l.<-ing  confident  ol  the  propriety  of  her  con- 
due  absovrshiin  from  all  guilt  or  biamc.  The  expression,  "  Upon  me  l,e  thy  curse  my  son,"  is  as  much 
ns  to  sari  will  warrant  thee  success:  I  an.  so  fully  persuaded  of  the  rectitude  of  the  proceeding,  that  I 
fear  no  eVi  f^^om  lu  w\lf  rcadUv  bear  it  all  if  any  happens.  A  stronger  p.;oof  than  this  can  not  be  g.vcm 
of  Reherca's  full  confidence  in  the'  propriety  of  her  proceeding.  Indeed,  it  does  not  appear  that  the  lea.st 
blame  i^^aid  upon  Reb^^^^^^^  her  conduct:  on  the  contrary,  Isaac  himself  confirms  the  blessing  which 

fac^b  had  by  her  m^ns  acMuu-ed  ;  whence  we  must  necessarily  conclude  that  she  acted  upon  right 
moHves  and  wfth  a  full  periuasion  of  the  Divine  pre-appointment  and  approbation.  Many  particu  ar 
drcumsto  ces  if  we  were'ft.  ly  informed  of  the  state  of  the  family,  might  possibly  be  urged  m  her  behalf 
h  It  this  Xnes  sufficient  to  vindicate  her  from  all  blame. '  She  had  certainly  been  pre-informed  that  Jacob 
should  1^^110  pre  en  nence,  and  therefore  she  acted  religiously  in  preventing  her  husband  from  any 
endeavor  to  counteract  he  Di vine  wiy.  Let  it,  however,  be  obser^-ed,  that  her  case  is  so  peculiar  that  it 
c"n  not  b^d'awn  hao  exa'.>ple  ;  and,  d  that  important  and  discriminating  circumstance  of 

.'^nd-s  will  revealed  to  her,  her  cpnduct  would,  unquestionaldy,  be  deemed  blaryeable.  ,    ■    ». 

fit  s  ev  dlnrfrom  m  ntion  being  here  made  of  the  smell  of  Jacob's  garments,  that  the  people  in  the 
most  eai^y  times  perfumed  their  clothes,  especudly  when  they  approached  a  person  of  superior  rank  ;  and 
Z-^  cus  o,n  is  still  preserved  in  most  parts  of  Asia.  The  comparison  between  the  smell  of  the  garments 
and  that  of  the  field  is  very  just;  for  in  the  Eastern  countries,  where  they  have  a  long  continuance  of 
drought  no" 'i"S^an  .be  more  sweet  and  delightful  than  the  scent  arising  from  a  field  after  a  relreshing 

^''t  The  prayer  which  Josephus  makes  Isaac  cflTer  up  to  God  on  this  occasion  is  to  the  following  eflTect  :- 
-Eternal 'and  Supreme  Being!  Creator  of  all  things'  thou  hast  already  showered  down  innumerable 
favori  on  my  family,  and  promised  still  greater  blessings  in  future.  Ratify,  O  Lord,  those  gracious 
assurances,  and  despise  not  the  prayers  of  mfirm  age.     Protect  this  child  from  all  calamities  :  grant  him 


68  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

A  short  time  after  Jacob  had  left  his  father's  tent,  Esau  entered  it,  and,  bringing 
with  him  the  venison  he  had  been  directed  to  prepare,  invited  his  aged  parent,  in  the 
same  dutiful  manner  his  brother  had  previously  done,  to  arise,  and  eat  of  it.  Isaac, 
surprised  at  this  address,  hastily  asked,  "  Who  art  thou  ?"  On  being  answered  that 
it  was  his  elder  son  Esau,  he  appeared,  for  some  time,  thunderstruck ;  but  at  length 
recovering  himself,  he  asked,  who,  and  where,  that  person  was,  who  had  been  Avith 
him  before,  and  taken  away  the  blessing,  which  he  neither  could  nor  would  revoke. 

Wlien  the  disappointed  Esau  heard  these  words  from  his  father,  he  exclaimed,  in 
the  bitterness  of  his  soul,  "Bless  me,  even  me  also,  0  my  father."  Isaac  then  told 
him  that  his  brother  Jacob  had,  by  stratagem,  obtained  that  blessing  he  had  designed 
for  him;  upon  which  Esau  complained  of  his  double  perfidy,  first,  in  artfully  obtaining 
his  birth-right,  and  then  in  robbing  him  of  his  father's  benediction.  He  wept  bitterly 
^r  some  time,  and  then  pathetically  asked  his  father  if  he  had  not  in  reserve  a  blessing 
for  him,  repeating  the  importunate  request,  "Bless  me,  even  me  also,  O  my  father." 

Isaac,  no  doubt,  was  greatly  grieved  to  hear  the  lamentations  of  Esau  for  so  great 
a  loss;  but  what  could  he  do?  he  had  already  bestowed  the  choicest  of  his  blessings 
on  Jacob,  and  as  they  were  gone  he  could  not  recall  them.  At  length,  however,  in 
order  to  pacify  the  afflicted  Esau,  he  told  him  that  his  posterity  should  become  a  great 
people,  and  live  by  dint  of  the  sword;  and  that  though  they  might  become  subject  to 
the  descendants  of  Jacob,  yet  in  process  of  time  they  would  shake  ofl'  their  yoke,  and 
erect  a  dominion  of  their  own.* 

When  Esau  came  coolly  to  reflect  on  the  loss  he  had  sustained  by  the  artifices  of 
his  brother,  he  resolved,  as  soon  as  a  proper  opportunity  should  olfer,  to  be  revenged 
on  him.  The  respect  he  had  for  his  father  laid  a  restraint  on  the  execution  of  his 
design.  As  Isaac  was  far  advanced  in  years,  and  exceedingly  infirm,  Esau  imagined 
his  existence  was  of  short  duration,  and  therefore  determined  to  wait  till  his  father's 
death,  immediately  after  which  he  resolved  to  put  a  period  to  the  life  of  his  brother. 

Esau  having  accidentally  dropped  some  hints  of  his  design,  they  soon  came  to  the 
ears  of  his  mother,  who,  anxious  for  the  future  welfare  of  her  favorite  Jacob,  ac- 
quainted him  with  the  horrid  intentions  of  his  brother.  She  told  him  that  the  most 
prudent  method  he  could  take  would  be  to  absent  himself  till  his  brother's  anger  was 
in  some  degree  abated,  and  that  the  most  proper  place  for  him  to  fly  to  was  the  house 
of  his  uncle  Laban  in  Mesopotamia  :  that  thither  he  might  retire  for  a  time,  and  as 
soon  as  she  found  his  brother's  resentment  was  assuaged,  she  would  not  fail  to  recall 
him.  She  said  the  thoughts  of  separating  gave  her  great  affliction,  though  nothing 
in  comparison  with  the  misery  she  luust  feel,  should  she  in  one  day  be  robbed  of  them 
both — of  hiru,  by  the  hands  of  his  brother:  and  of  his  brother,  by  the  hand  of  justice. 

Jacob,  who  ever  listened  to  and  obeyed  the  counsel  of  his  mother,  was  very  ready 
to  comply  with  her  proposal ;  but  at  the  same  time  was  unwilling  to  depart  without 
the  consent  of  his  father,  which,  in  this  case,  he  was  fearful  of  obtaining.  Rebecca 
soon  hit  upon  a  stratagem  to  remove  this  seeming  diflficulty.  She  immediately  re- 
paired to  Isaac,  to  whom  she  complained  of  the  great  concern  under  which  she 
labored  on  account  of  Esau  having  taken  wives  from  among  the  daughters  of  the 
Ilittites.  She  then  intimated  her  fears  lest  Jacob  should  follow  his  example ;  to  pre- 
vent which  she  earnestly  recommended  that  he  might  be  sent  to  Mesopotamia,  and 
there  choose  a  wife  from  among  her  own  kindred. 

Thoush  Isaac  was  unacquainted  with  the  drift  of  his  wife's  complaint,  yet,  being 
a  pious  man,  and  knowing  that  the  promise  made  to  Abraham,  and  renewed  in  him, 
was  to  be  completed  in  the  issue  of  Jacob,  he  readily  assented  to  Rebecca's  proposal. 

length  of  days,  peace  of  mind,  and  as  much  wealth  as  may  appear  consistent  with  his  happiness  here.     In 
fine,  render  liim,  O  Lord,  the  dread  of  his  enemies,  and  the  glory  of  his  family  and  friends." 

*  The  Edomites,  or  Idum;eaiis  (the  descendants  of  Esau),  were,  for  a  considerable  time,  much  more 
powerful  than  the  Israelites,  wlio  were  descended  from  Jacob,  till,  in  the  days  of  David,  they  were  entirely 
conquered.  See  2  Samuel  viii.  14.  After  this  they  were  governed  by  deputies,  or  viceroys,  appointed  by 
the  kings  of  Judah,  and  for  a  long  time  were  kept  in  total  subjection  to  the  Jews.  In  the  days  of  Jehoram, 
the  son  of  Jehoshaphat,  they  expelled  their  viceroy,  and  set  up  a  king  of  their  own  (see  2  kings  viii.  20), 
which  fulfilled  the  latter  part  of  Isaac's  prophecy.  For  some  generations  after  this  they  lived  independent 
of  the  Jews  ;  and,  when  the  Babylonians  invaded  Judea,  they  not  only  took  part  with  them,  but  greatly 
oppressed  the  inhabitants  after  their  departure.  Their  animosity  against  the  descendants  of  Jacob  evi- 
dently appears.  Indeed,  to  have  been  hereditary  ;  nor  did  they  ever  cease,  for  any  considerable  time,  from 
broils  and  contentions,  till,  at  length,  they  were  conquered  by  Hyrcanus,  and  reduced  to  the  necessity 
either  of  embracing  the  Jewish  religion  or  quitting  their  country.  Preferring  the  former,  they  were  inter- 
mixed with  the  Jews,  and  became  one  nation,  so  that  in  the  first  century  after  the  birth  of  Christ  the  name 
of  Iduuisean  was  totally  annilulated. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  69 

Calling,  therefore,  his  son  Jacob,  he  first  bestowed  on  him  his  blessing,  and  then 
strictly  enjoined  him  never  to  marry  a  Canaanitish  woman.  To  prevent  so  improper 
an  alliance,  he  ordered  him  to  go  to  his  uncle  Laban,  in  Mesopotamia,  and  provide 
himself  with  a  wife  from  his  family.  Jacob  promised  to  obey  his  father's  orders, 
upon  which  the  good  old  man,  after  repeating  his  blessing,  dismissed  him. 

When  Esau  understood  that  his  lather  had  again  blessed  Jacob,  and  sent  him  into 
Mesopotamia  to  avoid  marrying  any  of  the  daughters  of  Canaan,  he  began  seriously 
to  reflect  on  his  own  misconduct,  and  to  lament  having,  by  the  indiscreet  alliances  he 
had  formed,  incurred  the  displeasure  of  his  aged  parents.  To  reinstate  himself, 
therefore,  if  possible,  in  his  father's  esteem,  he  took  a  third  wife,  whose  name  was 
Mahalath,  the  daughter  of  his  uncle  Ishmael.  This  marriage  certainly  took  place 
both  from  duty  and  affection ;  but,  unfortunately  for  Esau,  it  was  not  attended  with 
the  wished- for  consequences. 

Early  the  next  morning,  after  Jacob  received  his  father's  charge  and  blessing,  he 
left  Beersheba,  and  proceeded  on  his  journey  toward  Haran.  Determined  strictly  to 
obey  his  father's  commands,  he  travelled  the  most  private  Avays  he  could  find,  shun- 
ned the  houses  of  the  Canaanites,  and,  when  night  came  on,  took  up  his  lodging  in 
the  open  air,  near  a  place  called  Luz,  having  only  the  spangled  sky  for  his  canopy, 
and  a  hard  stone  for  his  pillow.  Notwithstanding  the  uneasiness  of  his  situation,  he 
slept  soundly,  during  which  he  dreamed  that  he  saw  a  ladder  set  upon  the  earth, 
the  top  of  which  reached  to  heaven,  and  on  the  rounds  of  it  Avere  a  number  of  an- 
gels, some  ascending  and  others  descending.  On  the  summit  of  the  ladder  appeared 
the  Almighty,  who  promised  him  all  those  privileges  he  had  before  done  to  Abra- 
ham and  his  father  Isaac ;  and  that,  wherever  he  went,  he  might  be  assured  of  the 
divine  protection.  "  Behold  I  am  with  thee,  and  will  keep  thee  in  all  places  whither 
thou  goest,  and  will  bring  thee  again  into  this  land :  for  I  will  not  leave  thee  until  I 
have  done  that  which  I  have  spoken  to  thee  of."* 

This  dream  made  such  an  impression  on  Jacob's  mind,  that,  as  soon  as  he  awoke, 
he  paid  an  awful  reverence  to  the  place,  and  after  a  short  contemplation  of  what  had 
passed,  thus  exclaimed :  "  This  is  none  other  than  the  house  of  God,  and  this  is  the 
gate  of  heaven !"  Having  said  this,  he  arose,  and  taking  the  stone  which  had  been 
substituted  for  a  pillow,  he  set  it  upright,  poured  oil  on  it,  and,  in  pious  commemo- 
ration of  the  vision,  called  the  place  "  Bethel,"  which,  in  the  Hebrew  language, 
signifies  "  the  house  of  God.  "| 

*  There  is  something  very  noble  and  sublime  in  the  representation  of  this  vision.  The  ladder  which 
-eached  from  earth  to  heaven  is  a  proper  image  of  the  providence  of  God,  whose  care  extends  to  all  things 
Ml  heaven  and  on  earth.  The  angels  are  represented  ascending  and  descending  on  this  mysterious  ladder, 
because  these  ministering  spirits  are  always  active  in  the  execution  of  the  wise  designs  of  Providence, 
and  appointed  the  special  guardians  of  the  just :  they  ascend  to  receive,  and  descend  to  execute,  the  com- 
mands of  God.  And,  lastly,  by  the  representation  of  the  Divine  Majesty  appearing  above  the  ladder,  is 
meant,  tliat  though  the  conduct  of  Providence  is  often  above  the  reach  of  human  comprehension,  yet  llie 
whole  is  directed  by  infinite  wisdom  and  goodness ;  and  though  in  this  vale  of  misery  we  can  see  only  a 
few  lower  steps  of  the  ladder,  nearest  to  the  earth,  yet  it  hath  a  top  that  reacheth  unto  heaven  :  and  were 
It  possible  for  us  to  trace  the  chain  of  causes  and  effects  to  their  source,  we  should  see  them  gradually 
ascend  liiglier  and  liigher,  till  they  terminate  at  length  in  the  Supreme  Being,  the  first  and  proper  cause  of 
all,  who  presides  over  and  directs  the  complicated  scheme  of  Providence,  from  tlie  creation  of  the  world  to 
the  consummation  of  all  things.  Certainly  nothing  could  have  been  a  more  seasonable  relief  to  Jacol),  or 
filled  his  heart  with  greater  joy,  than  the  pleasing  assurance,  that  though  he  was  an  exile  from  his  native 
country,  and  wandering  alone  over  the  solitary  wastes,  yet  he  was  still  in  the  presence  of  his  Maker 
whose  powerful  arm  would  constantly  protect  him  from  all  dangers,  and  under  whose  wings  he  should  be 
absolutely  safe. 

t  Nothing  can  be  more  natural  than  this  act  of  Jacob,  for  the  purpose  of  marking  tlie  site  and  making  a 
memorial  of  an  occurrence  of  such  great  interest  and  importance  to  him.  The  true  design  of  this  humble 
monument  seems  to  have  been,  liowever,  to  set  this  anointed  pillar  as  an  evidence  of  the  solemn  vow 
which  he  made  on  that  occasion.  This  use  of  a  stone,  or  stones,  is  definitely  expressed  in  Gen.  xxxi.  46 
and  52.  Mr.  Morier,  in  his  "  Second  Journey  through  Persia,"  notices  a  custom  whicli  seems  to  illustrate 
this  act  of  Jacob.  In  travelling  through  Persia,  he  observed  that  the  guide  occasionally  placed  a  stone  on 
a  conspicuous  piece  of  rock,  or  two  stones  one  upon  another,  at  the  same  time  uttering  some  words  wiiich 
were  understood  to  be  a  prayer  for  the  safe  return  of  the  party.  This  explained  to  Mr.  Morier  what  he  had 
frequently  observed  before  in  the  East,  and  particularly  on  high  roads  leading  to  great  towns,  at  a  point 
where  the  towns  are  first  seen,  and  where  the  oriental  traveller  sets  up  his  stone,  accompanied  by  a  devout 
exclamation  in  token  of  his  safe  arrival.  Mr.  Morier  adds  :  "  Nothing  is  so  natural,  in  a  journey  over  a 
dreary  country,  as  for  a  solitary  traveller  to  set  himself  down  fatigued,  and  to  make  the  vow  that  Jacob 
did  :  '  If  God  will  be  with  me,  and  keep  me  in  the  way  tliat  I  go,  and  will  give  me  bread  to  eat,  and  rannent 
to  put  on,  so  that  I  may  reach  my  father's  house  in  peace,'  &c.,  then  will  I  give  so  much  in  charity  ;  or, 
again,  that,  on  first  seeing  the  place  which  he  has  so  long  toiled  to  reach,  the  traveller  should  sit  down  and 
make  a  thanksgiving,  in  both  cases  setting  up  a  stone  as  a  memorial."  "The  writer  of  this  note  has  himself 
often  observed  such  stones  without  being  aware  of  their  object,  until  happening  one  day  to  overturn  one 
that  had  been  set  upon  another,  a  man  hastened  to  replace  it,  at  the  same  time  informing  liim  that  to  dis- 
place s\ich  stones  was  an  act  unfortunate  for  the  person  so  displacing  it,  and  unpleasant  to  others.  Tlte 
writer  afterward  observed,  that  the  natives  studiously  avoided  displacing  any  of  these  stones,  "  set  up  for 


70  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

Previous  to  his  departure  from  this  memorable  spot,  in  order  to  bind  himself  more 
strongly  to  the  service  of  God,  he  made  a  most  solemn  vow  to  the  following  etfect : 
•'  That  if  he  would  protect  and  prosper  him  in  his  juurnej',  provide  him  with  common 
necessaries  in  his  absence,  and  grant  him  a  happy  return  to  his  father's  house,  to 
him  alone  would  he  direct  his  religious  worship ;  in  that  very  place  where  the  pillar 
stood,  on  his  return,  would  he  make  his  devout  acknowledgments,  and  offer  unto 
him  the  tenth*  of  whatever  he  should  gain  in  the  land  of  Mesopotamia." 

After  making  this  solemn  vow,  the  pious  traveller  proceeded  on  his  journey,  and 
at  length  arrived  at  Haran.  As  he  came  near  the  town  he  saw  some  shepherds  with 
their  flocks  not  far  from  a  well,  which  was  covered  with  a  large  stone.  Of  these 
shepherds  he  made  inquiry  concerning  Laban  and  his  family,  and  was  informed  that 
they  were  all  well,  and  that  it  would  not  be  long  before  Rachel,  his  daughter,  Avould 
be  there  with  her  flock.  Scarce  had  he  received  this  intelligence  when  the  damsel 
arrived  with  her  fleecy  care,  immediately  on  which  Jacob,  as  a  token  of  respect, 
rolled  away  the  stone  from  the  mouth  of  the  well,t  and  watered  the  sheep  in  her 
stead;  which  done,  he  saluted  her,  wept  for  joy,  and  told  her  to  whom  he  belonged. 

Elated  at  this  incident,  Rachel,  leaving  Jacob  at  the  well,  immediately  hastened 
home,  and  acquainted  her  father  with  what  had  happened.  Laban  was  so  trans- 
ported at  the  arrival  of  his  sister's  son,  that  he  fled  with  all  expedition  to  the  spot, 
and,  after  cordially  embracing  him,  conducted  him  to  his  house. 

Jacob,  after  receiving  some  refreshment,  told  his  uncle  the  occasion  of  his  leaving 
home,  and  related  the  most  material  incidents  that  had  happened  in  the  course  of 
his  journey.  Laban  was  sufficiently  satisfied  of  the  truth  of  his  nephew's  relation, 
and,  from  the  singular  circumstances  that  attended  his  excursion,  was  convinced  that 
he  was  under  the  immediate  care  and  protection  of  Divine  Providence. 

After  being  a  few  days  Avith  his  uncle,  Jacob,  detesting  an  inactive  life,  applied 
himself  to  business,  by  assisting  Laban  in  the  care  of  his  flocks,  and  such  other  mat- 
ters as  pertained  to  his  interest.  Having  thus 'employed  him,  with  great  diligence, 
for  the  space  of  a  month,  his  uncle  one  day  entered  into  private  conversation  with 
him,  and,  among  other  things,  told  him  he  neither  expected  nor  thought  it  reason- 
able that  he  should  have  his  labor  for  nothing,  and  therefore,  as  he  intended  staying 
with  him  for  some  time,  desired  him  to  name  such  wages  as  would  satisfy  him  for 
his  services. 

Jacob  hesitated  for  some  time  what  answer  to  give  to  this  request,  but  at  length, 
thinking  on  the  charms  and  graces  of  the  beautiful  Rachel,  who  had  already  capti- 
vated his  heart,  he  proposed  serving  him  seven  years,  on  condition  of  having,  at  the 
expiration  of  that  time,  Rachel  for  his  wife. 

Laban  readily  consented  to  this  proposal,  and  Jacob  as  readily  entered  on  his  ser- 
vice. The  flattering  prospect  of  possessing  so  amiable  a  partner,  after  the  seven 
years,  and  the  endearments  of  her  pleasing  company  during  the  time,  rendered  that 
interval  of  waiting  apparently  short  and  light. 

When  the  time  of  Jacob's  servitude  had  expired,  he  required  Laban  to  fulfil  his 
contract,  by  giving  him  his  daughter  Rachel  in  marriage.     Laban  seemingly  assent- 

a  pillar,"  by  the  way-side.  The  place  now  pointed  out  as  Bethel  contains  no  indication  of  Jacob's  pillar. 
The  Jews  believe  that  it  was  placed  in  the  sanctuary  of  the  second  temple,  and  tliat  the  ark  of  the  cove- 
nant rested  upon  it ;  and  they  add,  that  after  the  destruction  of  that  teinple,  and  the  desolation  of  Judaea, 
their  fathers  were  accustomed  to  lament  the  calamities  that  had  befallen  them  over  the  stone  on  which 
Jacob's  head  rested  at  Bethel.  The  Mohammedans  are  pwsuaded  that  their  famous  temple  at  Mecca  is 
built  over  the  same  stone.  ' 

»  This  is  the  second  place  in  which  we  find  mention  of  the  tent!i,  or  tythes,  solemnly  consecrated  to  God. 
Jacob  promises  to  give  them  in  return  for  his  prosperous  journey,  as  his  grandfather  Abraham  had  given 
them  in  return  for  his  victory  over  the  confederate  princes. 

t  Wells  are  still  sometimes  covered  with  a  stone  or  otherwise,  to  protect  them  from  being  choked  up  by 
the  drifted  sand  ;  and  it  was  probably  to  prevent  the  exposure  of  the  well  by  too  frequently  removing  the 
stone,  that  the  shepherds  did  not  water  their  flocks  until  the  whole  were  assembled  together ;  for  it  is  not  to 
be  .supposed  that  they  wailed  because  the  united  strength  of  all  the  shepherds  was  rocjuisite  to  roll  away  the 
stone,  when  Jacob  was  able  singly  to  do  so.  When  the  well  is  private  property,  in  a  neighborhood  where 
water  is  scarce,  the  well  is  sometimes  kept  locked,  to  prevent  the  neighboring  shepherds  fiom  watering 
their  flocks  fraudulently  from  it ;  and  even  when  left  unlocked,  some  person  is  fretjucntly  so  far  the  pro 

{irietor  that  the  well  may  not  be  opened  unless  in  the  presence  of  himself  or  of  some  one  belonging  to  his 
lousehold.  Chardin,  whose  manuscripts  furnished  Harmer  with  an  illustration  of  this  text,  conjectures, 
with  great  reason,  that  the  present  well  belonged  to  Laban's  family,  and  that  the  shepherds  dared  not  open 
the  well  until  Laban's  daughter  came  with  her  father's  flocks.  Jacob,  therefore,  is  not  to  be  supposed  to  have 
broken  the  standing  rule,  or  to  have  done  anything  out  of  the  ordinary  course  ;  for  the  oriental  shepherds 
are  not  at  all  persons  likely  to  submit  to  the  interference  or  dictation  of  a  stranger.  He  however  rendered 
a  kind  service  to  Rachel,  as  the  business  of  watering  cattle  at  a  well  is  very  tiresome  and  laborious. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  71^ 

ed  ai)d,  on  the  occasion,  invited  all  his  friends  and  neighbors  to  the  solemnization  ol" 
the  nuptials.  But  Laban,  desirous  of  retaining  Jacob  longer  in  his  service,  had  pro- 
jected a  scheme  for  that  purpose,  the  execution  of  which  gave  great  uneasiness  to . 
his  nephew.  After  the  entertainment  was  over,  and  the  company  retired,  Laban 
caused  Leah,  his  eldest  daughter,  to  be  conducted  to  Jacob's  bed,  instead  of  the  beau- 
tiful Rachel,  to  whom  he  was  contracted.  When  daylight  api)eared  in  the  raormng, 
and  Jacob  discovered  the  deception,*  he  immediately  arose,  and  gomg  to  Laban,  ex- 
postulated with  hiin  on  the  improprietv  of  his  conduct.  Laban,  who  had  prepared 
an  answer  for  the  occasion,  told  him,  in  a  magisterial  tone,  that  it  was  an  unprece- 
dented thinc^  in  that  country  (and  would  have  been  deemed  an  injury  to  her  sister)  to 
marry  the  \™^er  before  the  elder;  "but"  (continued  he,  in  a  milder  tone),  "if  you 
will  fulfil  the  nuptial  week  with  your  wife,  and  consent  to  serve  another  seven  years 
for  her  sister,  I  am  content  to  take  your  word  for  it,  and  to  give  Rachel  to  you  as 
soon  as  the  seven  davs"  (or  nuptial  week  for  Leah)  "have  expired." 

This  unfair  treatm'ent  greatlv  perplexed  Jacob,  but  his  distinguished  altection  tor 
Rachel  made  him  resolve  to  obtain  her,  however  dear  the  purchase.  He  therefore 
readily  consented  to  his  uncle's  secondary  terms,  and  Avhen  the  nuptial  ceremonies 
for  Leah  were  over,  he  likewise  took  Rachel  in  marriage.  ,     t      u 

The  distincruished  charms  of  Rachel,  in  preference  to  those  of  Leah,  made  Jacob 
pay  the  greatest  respect  to  the  former ;  but  his  happiness  was  greatly  curtailed  by 
Leah's  having  four  sonsf  even  before  Rachel  had  conceived.  This  circumstance  par- 
ticularly affected  Rachel,  who,  in  a  fit  of  melancholy,  one  day  told  her  husband  that 
unless  he  gave  her  children  she  should  certainly  die  with  grief  "  Give  me,  said 
she,  "children,  or  else  I  die."$  _  j  .    i      ,u 

Jacob  was  greatlv  vexed  at  this  speech  of  his  beloved  wife,  who  seemed  to  lav  the 
whole  fault  of  her 'sterility  to  him.  He  therefore  sharply  rebuked  her  in  words  to 
the  foUowino-  effect :  "  That  it  was  not  in  his  power  to  work  miracles ;  that  the 
want  of  children  was  agreeable  to  the  divine  will ;  and  that  such  uneasy  and  discon- 
tented behavior  was  the  wav  to  prevent,  rather  than  obtain,  such  a  favor.  |1 

This  answer  ^^reatly  mortifving  Rachel,  she  resolved  to  supply  the  defect  ol  her- 
self bv  the  same  means  that  had  been  practised  by  her  grandmother  barah  ^he 
accordincrlv  made  a  proposition  to  Jacob  that  he  should  take  her  handmaiden  Bilhah 
as  a  concubinary  wife,  and  that  if  she  should  bear  children  they  should  be  accounted 
hers.  Jacob  assented  to  this  proposal,  and,  in  the  proper  course  of  time,  Bilhah  was 
delivered  of  a  son,  whom  Rachel  named  Dan,  which,  in  the  Hebrew  language  sig- 
nifies "judging."  Within  a  twelvemonth  after  this  Bilhah  bore  another  son,  whom 
Rachel  called  Naphtali.  .  ,     ,       r        .    •    • 

By  this  time  Leah  imagined  she  had  done  bearing  children,  and,  therefore,  to  mu- 
tate her  sister's  policy,  she  gave  her  maid  (named  Zilpah)  to  Jacob,  by  whom  she  had 
likewise  two  sons,  the  one  named  Gad,  and  the  other  Ashur. 

Reuben,  the  eldest  son  of  Jacob,  was  now  arrived  at  years  sufficient  to  be  trusted 
by  himself  and  wandering  one  day  in  the  fields,  about  the  time  of  wheat  harvest,  he 
happened  to  meet  with  some  mandrakes,^  which  he  brought  home  and  presented  to 

*  As  all  marriases  in  the  East  were  solemnized  in  the  evening,  or  rather  at  midnight,  and  as  the  bride 
was  vefled  so  it  was  no  difficult  matter  to  impose  on  Jacob,  who  did  not  expect  anv  such  deceit.  Dr. 
Shaw  tells  us°  thaT^n  the  Levant  the  bride  is  brought  home  in  the  dark  to  her  husband,  and  l>emg  .n  ro- 
ducrd  to  the  harem,  or  apartment  for  tl;e  women,  her  mother  goes  and  conducts  the  bridegroom  to  her. 

'^'  The  "narnel  '^f  ^J^'\^  were^nLubln,  Simeon,  Levi,  and  Judah.  Reuten  signifies  a  son  ^eiren  6, 
m^TregaZ  Simeon  implies,  God  hath  heard  or  considered  v^e  ;  Leti  signifies  jmned ;  and  Judoh,  pr.nse  or 

"Txhls'eTpression  furnishes  us  with  a  Uvely  picture  of  human  folly  in  general.  If  '^''■Wj^ ."^/"  {J^IT,"^-; 
like  a  flowery  chaplet,  wliose  beauties  blossom  with  omamont.  and  whose  odors  breathe  delight  death  or 
Lome  unf^reLen^nlsfortune  may  find  means  to  entwine  themselves  with  tiie  ovely  wrea  h  Whenever 
our  souls  eaeerlvloH''  after  some  infenui  uquisUion,  it  maybe  truly  said,  in  the  words  of  our  J»i.ine 
Zster''Y^know  not  what  ye  ask."  Doe.s  Providence  withhold  the  thing  we  long  for  ?  It  denies  in 
mercv  and  only  withholds  the  occasion  of  our  misery,  if  not  the  instrument  ol  our  ruin.  With  a  sickly 
Sie  we  onen  loathe  what  is  wholesome,  and  hanker  after  our  bane  Where  the  imagination  dreams 
of  unmin>-led  sweets,  there  experience  frequently  finds  the  bitterness  of  wo. 

HI  Ts  not  to  be  wo.'.dered  at  that  such  a  man  as  Jacob  should  be  oflTended  at  an  expro.ssion  made  use  of 
bv  his  beloved  wife,  which,  in  its  own  nature,  was  little  better  than  blasphemy.  To  sd>,  Give  me 
children,"  was  certainly  a  high  indignity  offered  to  the  majesty  of  Heaven,  as  none  but  God  can  give  oeing 

^^''TL"Hebre™xi'2rfaim,  here  rendered  "mandrakes,"  has  occasioned  so  much  discus.sion  as  to  cyiiice 
clearly  enou'h  that  we  know  nothing  about  it  Oalrnet  has  an  exceedingly  long  note  on  this  word  i,  ms 
"Cmmnei.taTre  Litteral  sur  la  Genl-.^,"  in  which  he  states  the  diHerent  opimons  wnicli  had  in  histime  been 
entertainedTs  to  the  plant  really  intended  by  tlie  dudaim.    Some  think  that  "flowers,"  or  "  line  (lowers 


72  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

his  mother  Leah.  Pleased  with  the  sight  of  what  the  boy  had  brought,  Rachel  de- 
sired Leah  to  give  her  a  part;  but  instead  of  complying  with  her  request,  she  gave 
her  this  forbidding  answer :  "  That  having  robbed  her  of  her  husband's  affections,  she 
could  not  expect  to  have  any  part  of  her  son's  present."  Notwithstanding  this  con- 
temptuous answer,  Rachel  was  determined,  if  possible,  to  obtain  some  of  the  man- 
drakes, to  do  which  she  thought  of  inducing  Leah  to  comply  with  her  request  by  a 
method,  which  above  all  others,  was  most  likely  to  prove  effectual.  It  happened  to 
be  her  turn  that  night  to  enjoy  the  company  of  her  husband ;  and,  therefore,  in  order 
to  obtain  her  ends,  she  told  Leah,  if  she  would  oblige  her  with  some  of  her  son's 
mandrakes,  she  Avould  waive  her  pretensions  for  that  night,  and  resign  the  right  of 
her  husband's  bed  to  her.  This  proposition  being  approved  of  by  Leah,  the  agreement 
was  accordingly  made ;  and  as  soon  as  Jacob  came  home  she  related  what  had  passed, 
and  asked  him  to  confirm  the  bargain.  Jacob  readily  assented,  and  Leah  enjoyed  his 
company  that  night,  the  consequence  of  which  was  that  she  conceived  again,  and  had 
a  fifth  son,  whom  she  called  Issachar,  which  signifies  hire  or  reward.  After  this  she 
had  another  son,  whom  she  named  Zebulon;  and  the  last  of  all,  a  daughter,  called 
Dinah. 

Rachel  had  long  lamented  not  having  issue  of  her  OAvn  body ;  but  at  length  it 
pleased  God  to  remove  her  troubles  on  that  head  by  giving  her  a  son.  As  soon  as  she 
found  she  had  conceived,  she  exclaimed,  with  the  most  expressive  joy,  "  God  hath 
taken  away  my  reproach  ;"*  and  when  the  child  was  born  she  called  his  name  Joseph, 
which,  in  the  Hebrew  language,  signifies  increase. 

Soon  after  the  birth  of  Joseph  the  appointed  time  of  Jacob's  last  servitude  being 
expired,  he  began  to  entertain  thoughts  of  returning  to  his  own  country,  and  accord- 
ingly begged  his  uncle  to  dismiss  him  and  his  family.  But  Laban,  who  had  foimd  by 
experience  no  small  advantage  from  his  services,  entreated  him  to  stay  a  little  longer, 
promising,  at  the  same  time,  that  if  he  would  comply  with  his  request,  he  would  give 
him  whatever  wages  he  should  think  proper  to  ask.  In  answer  to  this,  Jacob  re- 
minded him  of  the  great  increase  of  his  substance  since  it  had  been  under  his  care, 
and  that  he  now  thought  it  high  time  to  make  some  provision  for  himself  and  family; 
so  that  therefore  he  was  resolved  to  return  to  Canaan,  unless  he  could  point  out  to 
him  some  method  whereby  he  might  improve  his  fortune,  and  not  longer  waste  his 
time  in  humble  servitude. 

Laban  could  not  bear  the  thoughts  of  parting  with  Jacob,  and  therefore  again  pressed 
him  hard  to  stay,  at  the  same  time  offering  him  his  own  terms.  After  some  farther 
controversy,  Jacob  at  length  consented  to  stay  Avith  his  uncle,  on  the  following  condi- 
tions: that  they  should  pass  through  the  whole  Hock  both  of  sheep  and  goats,  and 
having  separated  all  the  speckled  cattle  from  the  white,  the  former  should  be  com- 
mitted to  the  care  of  Laban 's  sons,  and  the  latter  to  the  care  of  Jacob;  and  that 
whatsoever  spotted  or  brown  sheep  or  goats  should,  from  that  time  forward,  be  pro- 
duced out  of  the  white  flock  (which  he  was  to  keep)  should  be  accounted  his  hire. 

Laban  readily  consenting  to  this  proposal,  the  flocks  Avere  accordingly  separated. 
The  spotted  cattle  w^ere  delivered  into  the  custody  of  Laban,  while  the  rest  were 
committed  to  the  care  of  Jacob ;  and  to  prevent  any  mtercourse  between  them,  they 
were  placed  three  days  journey  apart. 

Whether  it  was  from  his  own  observation  on  the  power  of  fancy  in  the  time  of 
conception,  or  (what  seems  much  more  likely)  from  the  interposition  of  divine  wisdom 
in  furnishing  him  with  the  idea ;  but  so  it  was  that  he  pursued  a  very  extraordinary 
method  to  improve  his  own  stock,  and  at  the  same  time  lessen  that  of  Laban.     He 

in  general,  are  intended  ;  while  others  fix  the  sense  more  definitely  to  "  lilies,"  "  violets,"  or  "jessamines." 
Others  reject  flowers,  and  find  that  figs,  mushrooms,  citrons,  the  fruit  of  the  plantain  or  banana,  or  a  small 
and  peculiarly  delicious  kind  of  melon,  are  intended.  A  great  number  adhere  to  the  "  mandrake,"  which 
las  the  sanction  of  the  Scptuagint,  the  Chaldee,tlie  Vulgate,  and  of  many  learned  commentators.  Hassel- 
|uist,  the  naturalist,  who  travelled  in  the  Holy  Land  to  make  discoveries  in  natural  histor)-,  seems  to  con- 
cur in  this  opinion.  Calmet,  however,  is  disposed  to  contend,  that  tlie  citron  is  intended  ;  and  his  argruments 
deserve  the  attention  of  those  who  are  interested  in  the  question.  The  claims  of  the  plantain,  and  of  the 
delicate  species  of  melon  to  which  we  have  alluded,  have  been  strongly  advocated  since  Calrnct's  time. 

*  Many  reasons  concur  to  render  the  possession  of  sons  an  object  of  great  anxiety  to  women  in  the 
East.  The  text  expresses  one  of  these  reasons.  Sons  being  no  less  earnestly  desired  by  the  husband  tlian 
by  the  wife,  a  woman  who  has  given  birth  to  sons  acquires  an  influ°ncc  and  respectability,  which  strengthen 
with  the  number  to  which  she  is  mother.  To  be  witliout  sons  is  not  only  a  misfortune,  Ijut  a  disgrace  to  a 
woman ;  and  her  hold  on  the  atfections  of  her  husband,  and  on  her  standing  as  his  wife,  is  of  a  very  feeble 
description.  Divorces  are  easily  effected  in  the  East.  An  Arab  has  only  to  enunciate  the  simple  words, 
rnt  tnleka-"  thou  art  divorced"— which,  in  whatever  heat  or  anger  spoken,  constitute  a  legal  divorce. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  73 

took  rods  or  twigs  of  the  green  poplar,  hazel  and  chestnut  trees,  and  stripping  off  part 
of  the  rinds  in  streaks,  caused  some  of  the  white  to  appear  on  the  twigs.  These 
twigs  he  placed  in  the  watering  troughs  when  the  cattle  came  to  drink,  at  the  time 
in  which  they  usually  engender ;  so  that  by  seeing  the  speckled  twigs  they  might 
conceive  and  bring  forth  speckled  cattle.  He  also  took  particular  care  to  place  the 
twigs  before  the  fattest  and  most  healthy,  and  to  avoid  putting  any  before  those  that 
were  weak  and  sickly ;  by  which  means  he  might  not  only  obtain  for  himself  the 
greater  number,  but  also  the  choicest  and  most  valuable. 

This  scheme  succeeded  to  his  utmost  wishes,  and  in  a  short  time  he  became  ex- 
ceeding rich  and  powerful.  But  the  extraordinary  increase  of  his  property  exposed 
him  to  the  envy,  not  only  of  Laban,  but  also  his  sons,  the  former  of  whom  treated 
him  with  great  coolness,  and  the  latter  frequently  accused  him  of  having  procured  to 
himself  a  good  estate  out  of  their  fortunes. 

Jacob,  finding  himself  envied  by  his  uncle  and  kinsmen,  had  some  thoughts  of 
leaving  them,  and  retiring,  with  his  family  and  effects,  into  his  own  country.  This 
design  was,  in  a  short  time,  ultimately  resolved  on,  in  consequence  of  the  Almighty 
appearing  to  him  in  a  vision,  and  ordering  him  to  return  to  the  land  of  Canaan. 

Though  Jacob  was  fully  resolved  to  obey  the  divine  command,  yet  he  thought  it 
most  prudent,  previous  to  his  departure,  to  hold  a  consultation  with  his  two  principal 
wives,  namely,  Leah  and  Rachel,  in  order  to  obtain  their  consent.  Accordingly, 
sending  for  them  into  the  field  (which,  from  its  privacy  he  thought  the  most  proper 
place  for  the  business)  he  told  them,  that  for  some  time  past  he  had  observed  their 
father  had  treated  him  with  great  coolness  and  indifference,  and  even  sometimes  with 
marks  of  displeasure,  though  he  was  not  sensit»le  of  any  just  cause  for  such  behavior. 
He  appealed  to  them  concerning  his  industry  and  fidelity,  and  the  injustice  of  their 
father  toward  him,  first,  in  having  deceived  him,  and  afterward  in  having  so  often 
changed  his  wages.*  He  observed,  that  God  had  turned  all  their  father's  devices  to 
his  advantage,  had  taken  away  his  cattle,  and  given  them  to  him.  He  then  told 
them,  that  the  Lord  appeared  to  him  in  a  dream,  reminding  him  of  the  solemn  vow 
he  had  made  at  Bethel,  in  his  journey  to  Mesopotamia,  and  that  he  had  commanded 
him  to  return  to  the  land  of  Canaan. 

Leah  and  Rachel,  having  listened  with  great  attention  to  what  Jacob  had  said, 
readily  agreed  to  go  with  him ;  and  by  all  means  recommended  his  paying  a  strict 
obedience  to  the  divine  command. 

In  consequence  of  this,  Jacob,  having  made  the  necessary  preparations  for  his  de- 
parture, set  his  wives  and  children  upon  camels,  taking  the  advantage  of  his  father- 
in-law's  absence  (who  Avas  gone  to  shear  his  sheep,  and  which  likewise  gave  Rachel 
the  opportunity  of  stealing  away  his  images!)  he  set  out  upon  his  journey,  taking 
with  him  all  his  cattle,  and  other  property,  he  had  acquired  during  his  stay  at  Haran. 

Jacob  had  proceeded  on  his  journey  three  days  before  Laban  received  intelligence 
of  his  flight,  in  which  time  he  passed  the  Euphrates,  and  having  gained  the  moun- 
tains of  Gilead,  he  there  stopped,  in  order  to  refresh  himself  and  attendants,  who  by 
this  time  were  become  greatly  fatigued  with  travelling. 

Laban  no  sooner  heard  that  his  nephew  had  absconded,  than  he  immediately  pur- 
sued him  with  a  mind  fully  bent  on  revenge.  But  in  this  he  was  checked  by  the  in- 
terposition of  the  Almighty,  who,  appearing  to  him  the  same  night  in  a  vision, 

*•  It  is  to  be  observed,  that  when  Laban  found  Jacob  so  successful  in  the  produce  of  his  flocks,  he  repented 
of  his  bargain,  and  several  times  altered  the  agreement,  which  God,  as  many  times,  turned  to  Jacob's 
advantage. 

t  The  Hebrew  word  which  we  render  images  is  teraphim,  a  kind  of  penates,  or  household-gods  which  they 
worshipped  as  symbols  of  the  Deity  and  consulted  as  oracles — hence  Laban  calls  them  his  gods.  These 
leraphims  were  afterward  known  by  the  name  of  talismen,  as  they  are  to  this  day  in  most  parts  of  India. 
Some  think  tliose  of  Laban  represented  angels,  who  were  supposed  to  declare  the  mind  of  God.  Rachel 
might  steal  tliem  either  for  their  curiosity  or  worth  ;  but  it  is  most  probable  she  still  retained  a  tincture  of 
her  father's  superstition,  and  designed  to  make  them  the  objects  of  her  worship  in  Canaan;  for  it  appears 
(Gen.  XXXV.  1)  that  Jacob,  when  he  made  a  thorough  reformation  in  lijs  house,  caused  them  to  be  taken 
from  her,  and  buried  them  under  the  oak  which  was  by  Shechem. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  idols  mentioned  in  scripture :  Adram-melech,  Isaiah  xxxvii.  38 
Anamelech,  2  Kings  xvii.  31  ;  Ashtaroth,  Judges  ii.  13  ;  Baal,  Numbers  xxii.  4  ;  Baalim,  1  Samuel  vii. 
(plural  of  Baal);  Baal-berith,  Judges  viii.  33 ;  Baal-peor,  Numbers  xxv.  3 ;  Beelzebub,  2  Kings,  i,  2  ;  Bel, 
Isaiah  xlvi.  1  ;  Calf,  Exodus  xxxii.  i  ;  Castor,  Acts  xxviii.  11  ;  Chemosh,  1  Kings  xi.  7 ;  Dagon,  Judges  xvL 
23  ;  Diana,  Acts  xix.  24,  35 ;  Jupiter,  Acts  xiv.  12  ;  Milcom  or  Molech,  1  Kings  xi.  5-7 ;  Moloch,  Leviticus 
xviii.  2!  ;  Nebo,  Isaiah  xv.  2  ;  Nergal,  2  Kings  xvii.  30 ;  Nibhaz,  2  Kings  xvii.  31  ;  Nisroch,  2  Kings  xix.  .M ; 
Pollux,  Acts  xxviii.  11  ;  Remphan,  Acts  vii.  43  ;  Rimmon,  2  Kings  v.  18  ,  Sheshach,  Jeremiah  li.  41  ;  Suc- 
■jotb-benoth,  2  Kings  xvii.  30 ;  Tammuz,  Ezekiel  viii.  14 ;  Tartak,  2  Kings  xvii.  31 ;  Teraphim,  Judges  xvii.  5 


74  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

threatened  him  severely  il'  he  committed  any  hostility  or  violence  against  his  servant 
Jacob. 

In  consequence  of  this  v\rhen  Laban  came  up  with  his  nephew  at  Moilnt  Gilead,  he 
onlv  expostulated  with  him  on  his  want  of  respect  in  stealing  away  his  daughters, 
and  thereby  preventing  them  from  taking  their  leave  as  became  his  children,  or  de- 
parting in  a  manner  consistent  with  their  rank  and  dignity.  He  added  that  such  con- 
duct miijht  have  exposed  him  to  his  most  severe  resentment,  and  that  he  might  have 
sustained  much  injury  from  him  who  was  by  far  the  most  powerful.  That,  indeed, 
he  would  have  pursued  measures  of  revenge,  had  he  not  been  diverted  therefrom  by 
the  immediate  prohibition  of  God  himself 

In  answer  to  this  Jacob  reminded  his  uncle  of  the  cheat  he  had  put  upon  him,  in 
making  him  serve  so  long  for  a  woman  he  did  not  love ;  the  altering  of  the  agreement 
so  many  times  made  between  them  relative  to  the  sheep;  and,  lastly,  his  late  strange 
behavior  to  him  and  his  family.  All  these,  and  many  more,  he  said,  were  but  ill  re- 
quitals for  his  care  and  diligence,  as  well  as  the  blessings  which  God  had  heaped  on 
him  for  his  sake. 

Laban  had  still  another  thing  to  lay  to  Jacob's  charge,  namely,  the  stealing  of  his 
gods.  Fired  with  resentment  at  this  accusation,  Jacob  (Avho  knew  nothing  of  Rachel's 
havino-  taken  them)  desired  him  to  make  the  most  diligent  search  for  them  throughout 
his  family,  assuring  him,  at  the  same  time,  that  on  whomsoever  they  should  be  found, 
that  person  should  immediately  be  put  to  death. 

In  consequence  of  this  Laban  proceeded  to  search  the  different  tents,  and  having 
examined  those  of  Jacob,  Leah,  and  her  handmaids,  without  effect,  he  went  to  the 
tent  of  Rachel,  who,  conscious  of  her  crime,  and  fearful  of  the  consequences  should 
she  be  detected,  had  just  concealed  the  images  in  the  camel's  furniture,  on  which  she 
sat  herself  down  to  rest. 

Having  taken  this  precaution,  she  pleaded  as  an  excuse  for  not  arising  to  salute  him, 
that  she  was  exceedingly  ill,  and  that  to  move  then  might  greatly  increase  her  com- 
plaint. This  excuse  was  readily  admitted  by  her  father,  who.  after  searching  every 
other  part  of  the  tent  without  effect,  departed. 

When  Laban  acquainted  Jacob  with  his  bad  success,  the  latter  upbraided  him,  m 
very  severe  terms,  for  his  unjust  suspicions.  He  then  recounted  the  great  services  he 
had  done  him  during  a  number  of  years,  and  concluded  with  these  words,  "  Except 
the  God  of  my  father  had  been  with  me,  surely  thou  hadst  sent  me  away  empty." 

Laban,  conscious  that  Jacob's  charge  was  most  justly  founded,  made  not  the  least 
attempt  to  vindicate  his  conduct ;  but,  waiving  the  argument,  assumed  an  air  of  re- 
spect for  Jacob,  and  a  fondness  for  his  wives  and  children  ;  and,  in  order  to  remove  all 
further  animosity,  proposed  a  treaty  of  alliance  between  them,  and  to  erect  a  monu- 
ment which  should  be  a  standing  witness  of  the  same  to  future  ages. 

This  proposition  being  agreed  to,  and  the  covenant  signed,  they  accordingly  raised 
a  pillar  or  heap  of  stones,*  as  a  memento  of  the  circumstance ;  and  then  took  mutual 
oaths  that  neither  should  invade  the  property  <if  the  other.  A  particular  injunction 
was  likewise  laid  on  Jacob,  that  he  should  use  his  wives  and  children  with  all  be 
coming  tenderness  and  affection. 

The  covenant  being  thus  ratified,  and  sacrifices  offered  up  on  the  occasion,  Jacob 
entertained  his  brethren  that  night  in  as  magnificent  manner  as  the  nature  of  his  situ- 
ation would  admit.  The  next  morning  Laban  took  leave  of  Jacob  and  his  family, 
and  each  departed  for  tbeir  respective  habitations. 

Jacob  had  been  favored  with  a  heavenly  vision  in  his  way  from  Canaan  to  Meso- 
potamia ;  and  the  Almighty  was  pleased  to  favor  him  again  with  the  like  token  of 
his  protection  on  his  return.  As  he  was  proceeding  on  his  journey,  there  appeared 
before  him  a  body  of  heavenly  messengers,  which  he  no  sooner  saw  than  he  broke 
out  into  the  following  exclamation :  "  This  is  God's  host ;"  from  which  additional 
mark  of  divine  protection,  he  called  the  place  Mahanaim.t 

*  The  heap  of  stones  raised  by  Laban  and  Jacob  in  memory  of  this  covenant  was  called  Gilead,  whicli,  in 
the  Hebrew  language,  signifies  a  heap  of  witnesses.  This  circumstance,  in  alter  ages,  gave  name  to 
the  whole  country  thereabout,  which  lies  on  the  east  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  being  part  of  that  ridge  of 
mountains  which  ran  from  Mount  Lebanon  southward  on  the  east  of  the  Holy  Land,  and  included  the 
mountainous  region  called,  in  the  New  Testament,  Trachonilis. 

t  The  Hebrew  word  Mahanaim  signifies  two  hosts  or  camps,  because  the  angels  appeared  like  two  armies 
drawn  up  on  either  side  for  his  protection,  according  to  that  beautiful  expression  of  the  I'salmist,  "Tlie 
angel  of  the  Lord  encampelh  round  about  them  that  fear  him,  and  delivcreth  them."    Psalm  xxxiv.  "■ 

The  place  called  iWahanaim  was  situated  between  Mount  Gilead  and  the  brook  Jabbok.  It  was  after- 
ward one  of  the  residences  of  the  Levites,  and  one  of  the  strong  places  belonging  to  Uavid. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


7ff 


76  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

Thou£rh  Jacob  had  the  greatest  reason  to  rely  on  the  protection  of  the  Almighty, 
yet,  as  he  dreAV  near  the  confines  of  Edom,  and  within  the  reach  of  his  incensed 
brother  Esau  (whom  he  had  highly  provoked,  and  concerning  the  abatement  of  whose 
resentment  he  had  received  no  account  from  his  mother,  though  so  long  absent),  he 
thought  it  most  prudent  to  send  a  message  to  him,  in  order  to  allay  his  anger,  and, 
if  possible,  regain  his  fraternal  affection. 

He  accordinsfly  sent  messengers  to  Esau,  whose  residence  was  at  Mount  Seir,* 
otherwise  called  the  country  of  Edom,  whither  he  had  settled  himself  soon  after  his 
marriage  with  the  daughter  of  Ishmael. 

The  message  Jacob  sent  to  his  brother  was  to  the  following  effect :  that  during  his 
residence  in  Mesopotamia  he  had  acquired  prodigious  wealth,  and  that  as  he  was 
now  on  his  return  to  his  native  country,  he  thought  proper  to  notify  his  arrival  to 
him,  and  at  the  same  time  to  implore  his  favor  and  friendship. 

The  messengers,  having  discharged  their  embassy,  returned,  and  gave  Jacob  such 
an  account  as  greatly  alarmed  him.  They  brought  no  direct  answer  from  Esaii,  and 
only  told  their  master  that  his  brother  was  corning  to  meet  him  at  the  head  of  four 
hundred  men. 

Jacob,  concluding  that  the  design  of  this  mighty  retinue  was  to  act  against  him  in 
a  hostile  manner,  was  greatly  perplexed,  and  at  a  loss  in  what  manner  to  proceed. 
He  knew,  on  the  one  hand,  that  the  number  of  his  people  was  too  small  to  engage 
with  that  of  his  brother ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  that  his  baggage  was  too  heavy  for 
flight.  At  length  he  came  to  this  conclusion :  to  divide  his  company  into  two  bands, 
30  that,  if,Esau  should  fall  upon  one,  he  might  have  the  chance  of  escapuig  with  the 
other. 

Such  was  the  plan  laid  down  by  Jacob ;  but  as  he  well  knew,  from  former  experi- 
ence, that  his  safety  depended  upon  the  divine  protection,  independent  of  all  human 
creatures,  he,  in  this  critical  juncture,  addressed  himself  to  God  in  a  very  humble 
and  submissive  prayer,  the  substance  of  which  was  to  the  following  effect :  "  O  thou 
eternal  Majesty  of  heaven,  whom  my  father  Avorshipped,  and  Avho  alone  art  the  ob- 
ject of  my  prayer,  permit  an  unworthy  creature  to  repeat  thy  own  promise  to  thee. 
When  my  family  began  to  increase,  thou  wast  graciously  pleased  to  order  me  to  re- 
turn to  my  native  country  ;  and,  to  encourage  me,  thou  promisedst  that  thou  wouldst 
protect  me.  What  an  infinite  condescension,  0  my  God,  to  a  poor  unworthy  creature  ! 
The  least  of  all  thy  mercies  is  too  good  for  me ;  and  yet  thou  hast  been  pleased  to 
show  me  the  greatest.  When  I  crossed  Jordan,  I  had  nothing  besides  my  staff;  but 
in  thy  goodness  thou  hast  caused  my  family  and  substance  to  increase  so  fast,  that  I 
am  now  possessed  of  great  riches.  0  God,  thou  promisedst  to  make  my  seed  a  great 
nation;  and  although  I  know  thou  couldst  suffer  them  to  be  killed,  and  raise  them 
up  from  the  dead,  yet,  0  most  merciful  Father,  be  pleased  still  to  preserve  them,  and 

*  The  term  "  Mount  Seir,"  or  rattier  the  mountains  of  Seir,  must  be  understood  witli  considerable  lati- 
tude. It  was  apjilied  indefinitely  to  that  range  of  mountains  which,  under  the  modern  names  of  Djebal, 
Shera,  and  Hasma,  extends  from  the  southern  extremity  of  the  Dead  sea  to  the  gulf  of  Akaba.  The 
reader  will  recollect  the  "  Ghor,"  or  valley,  extending  in  the  same  direction,  which  we  have  had  frequent 
occasion  to  mention,  and  which  is  supposed  to  have  formed  the  continued  channel  of  the  Jordan  before  its 
waters  were  lost  in  the  Dead  sea.  Now  the  mountains  of  Seir  rise  abruptly  from  this  valley,  and  form  a 
natural  division  of  the  country,  which  appears  to  have  been  well  known  to  the  ancients.  The  plain  to  the 
east  of  the  hilly  region  which  these  mountains  form,  is  much  more  elevated  than  the  level  of  the  Ghor,  on 
the  west  of  the  same  mountains ;  in  consequence  of  which,  the  hills  appear  with  diminished  importance 
as  viewed  from  the  eastern  or  upper  plain.  This  plain  terminates  to  the  south  by  a  steep  rocky  descent, 
at  the  base  of  which  begins  tlie  desert  of  Nedjed.  It  is  to  a  part  of  this  upper  plain,  and  to  the  mountains 
which  con.stilute  its  western  limit,  that,  as  Burckhardt  thinks,  the  name  of  Arabia  Petra;a,  or  the  Stony, 
was  given  by  the  ancients ;  the  denomination  being,  however,  extended  nortlivvard,  so  as  to  include  the 
eastern  plain  with  the  mountains  which  form  the  eastern  boundary  of  Palestine  so  far  north  as  the  river 
Jabbok.  Speaking  of  this  region,  Burckhardt  says  :  "  It  might  well  be  called  Pctra;a,  not  only  on  account 
of  its  rocky  mountains,  but  also  of  the  elevated  plain,  which  is  so  covered  with  stones,  especially  flints, 
that  it  may  with  g:reat  propriety  i)e  called  a  stony  desert,  although  susceptible  of  culture.  In  many  places 
it  is  overgrown  with  herbs,  and  must  once  have  been  thickly  inhabited,  for  the  traces  of  many  ruined  towns 
and  villages  are  met  with  on  both  sides  of  the  lladj  route  between  Maan  and  Akaba,  as  well  as  between 
Maan  and  the  pjains  of  the  llaouran,  in  which  direction  there  are  many  springs.  At  present,  all  this 
country  is  desert,  and  Maan  is  the  only  inhabited  place  in  it.'"— ("  Travels  in  Syria  ;"'  difl^erent  parts  of  which 
have  been  analysed  to  furnish  tliis  geographical  statement.)  Tlie  mountains  themselves  arc  described  by 
the  same  traveller  as  chiefly  calcareous,  with  an  occasional  mixture  of  basalt.  The  mountainous  region 
which  they  form,  of  course,  differs  from  the  plain  which  skirts  it  on  the  east.  The  climate  is  very  pleasant 
The  air  is  pure  ;  and  although  the  heat  is  very  great  in  summer,  the  refreshing  breezes  which  then  prevail 
prevent  the  temperature  from  becoming  sulfocating.  The  winter,  on  the  other  hand,  is  very  cold ;  deep 
snow  falls,  and  the  frosts  sometimes  continue  to  the  end  of  March.  This  mountainous  country  is  ade- 
quately fertile,  producing  figs,  pomegranates,  apples,  peaclies,  olives,  apricots,  and  most  European  fruit.* 
The  region  has  lieen  in  all  times  noted  for  the  salubrity  of  its  air ;  and  Burckhardt  observes,  theie  waa  no 
part  of  Syria  in  wluch  he  saw  so  few  invalids. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  77 

suifer  not  my  enraged  brother  to  destroy  them ;  I  know  that  thy  promise  is  truth 
iiself,  and  I  will  cheerfully  trust  in  thee." 

After  having  thus  humbly  and  earnestly  implored  the  guidance  and  protection  of 
the  Almighty,  Jacob  determined  to  pursue  another  measure  in  order  to  appease  the 
anger  of  his  brother,  which  he  imagined  to  be  no  less  severe  than  when  he  left  Ca- 
naan. Imagining  that  Esau  might  consider  his  first  message  as  an  empty  piece  of 
formality,  he  resolved,  as  he  had  already  informed  him  of  the  great  wealth  of  Avhich 
he  was  possessed,  to  send  him  a  very  liberal  present.  He  accordingly  selected  from 
his  stock  the  following  articles,  namely ;  two  hundred  she-goats  and  twenty  he-goats ; 
two  hundred  ewes  and  twenty  rams;  thirty  milch  camels  with  their  colts;  forty 
swine  and  tea  bulls;  twenty  she-asses  and  ten  foals.  These  being  divided  into  sep- 
arate droves,  he  ordered  the  servants  to  keep  a  proper  space  between  them,  and 
strictly  charged  them,  whenever  they  should  meet  his  brother,  to  present  each  to  him 
separately,  and  to  tell  him  that  they  were  presents  sent  by  Jacob  to  his  lord  Esau. 

Jacob,  having  dismissed  his  servants  with  this  present  to  his  brother,  arose  early 
next  morning,  and,  before  daylight,  sent  his  Avives  and  children,  together  with  all 
his  substance,  forward  on  their  journey,  staying  Himself  for  some  time  behind.  A 
short  time  after  the  departure  of  his  family  and  children,  being  alone,  he  was  accosted 
by  an  angel,  who,  appearing  in  the  shape  of  a  man,  began  to  wrestle  with  him, 
which  exercise  they  continued  till  break  of  day.  The  contest  was  certainly  miequal, 
notwithstanding  which,  the  angel  permitted  Jacob  to  prevail ;  but,  to  convince  him 
that  he  did  not  obtain  the  victorj"^  by  means  of  his  own  strength,  and  how  easily  him- 
self could  have  made  a  conquest,  he  touched  the  sinews*  or  hollow  of  his  thigh, 
which  was  immediately  put  out  of  joint. 

The  angel  then  'ksked  Jacob  his  name,  and  on  being  answered,  he  told  him  he 
should  hereafter  be  called  IsraeLf  which  signifies  "  a  man  that  has  prevailed  with 
God."  After  saying  this,  the  angel  blessed  Jacob,  and  then  departed.  In  conse- 
quence of  so  singular  a  circumstance,  Jacob  called  the  place  where  it  happened  Pe- 
niel,  which  signifies  the  "  face  of  God,"  being  confident  that  it  must  have  been  a 
divine  agent  with  whom  he  had  been  contending. 

Soon  after  the  angel  disappeared,  Jacob,  though  lame,  made  Avhat  haste  he  could 
to  join  the  company.  Having  come  up  with  them,  they  proceeded  with  great  ex- 
pedition on  their  journey;  but  they  had  not  travelled  far  before  Jacob  discovered  his 
brother  Esau,  attended  by  a  considerable  body  of  men,  coming  toward  him.  Alarmed 
at  the  sight  of  so  powerful  a  retinue,  Jacob  immediately  divided  his  family  into  three 
companies,  placing  them  at  equal  distances  from  each  other.  The  two  maid-servants 
and  their  sons  went  first ;  Leah  and  her  children  next ;  and  Rachel  and  Joseph  (the 
latter  of  whom  was  now  about  six  years  old)  in  the  rear,  while  himself  led  the  van. 

As  soon  as  Jacob  approached  his  brother,  he  showed  his  respect  to  him  by  bowing 
seven  times  to  the  ground.  Esau,  filled  with  the  tenderest  sense  of  fraternal  affec- 
tion, at  once  removed  his  brother's  fears  and  compliments  by  running  to  him  with 
eager  joy,  falling  on  his  neck,  and  most  cordially  embracing  him.  He  Avept  over 
him  for  some  time ;  after  which,  seeing  his  Avives  and  children  prostrate  themselves 
before  him  in  the  order  Jacob  had  placed  them,  he  returned  their  civilities  Avith  the 
like  tenderness  he  had  done  his  brother's.  Thus  Avas  revenge  turned  into  love  and 
pity ;  and  Esau,  Avho  once  thirsted  for  his  brother's  blood,  dissolves  into  tears  of  joy, 
and  melts  with  the  softest  endearments  of  love  and  friendship. 

Thus  transported  with  this  happy  intervieAv,  Esau  surveyed  his  brother's  posses- 
sions with  pleasure,  and  expressed  his  satisfaction  at  the  great  success  he  had  met 
with  during  his  residence  in  Mesopotamia.  He  kindly  acknowledged  the  presents 
Jacob  had  sent  him,  but  begged  he  Avould  excuse  his  accepting  them,  because  they 
Avould  be  superfluous  to  him,  Avho  had  already  great  abundance.  Jacob,  hoAvever, 
pressed  him  so  earnestly,  that  he  at  length  agreed  to  accept  them ;  to  make  some 

*  This  was  the  sinew  or  tendon  that  keeps  the  thish-bone  in  the  socket,  not  only  in  the  human  species, 
but  also  in  tlie  brute  creation ;  and  from  this  circumstance,  even  to  tlie  present  time,  the  Jews  will  not  eat 
that  part.  In  the  Misnah,  one  of  their  books  of  directions  concerning  religious  ceremonies,  they  have  a 
'vhole  chapter  prescribing  the  manner  in  which  it  is  to  be  cut  out  of  the  boast  when  killed  ;  and  it  is  fur- 
ther enjoined  that  they  shall  not  eat  the  sinews  of  the  hips  of  any  animal  whatever. 

t  The  words  in  the  text  are — "Thy  name  shall  be  called  no  more  J;icob,  but  Israel."  This  expression 
clearly  evinces  the  mis-translation  of  some  passages  in  the  scriptures,  it  being  certain  that  the  patriarch 
was  frequently  after  called  Jacob.  But  this  seeming  contradiction  will  be  easily  adjusted,  by  sulistituting 
the  words  not  only  for  "  no  more ;"  in  which  case  the  sense  will  read  thus  ;  Thou  shalt  not  only  be  called 
Jacob,  but  also  Israel — the  latter  of  which  names  was  at  length  established  in  Jacot/s  descendants. 


78  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

recompense  for  which,  Esau  invited  him  to  Seir,  and  offered  to  accompany  him  the 
remaining  part  of  the  journey.  Though  Jacob  had  no  design  of  accepting  this  offer, 
yet  he  did  not  choose  to  make  a  direct  refusal.  He  therefore  represented  to  Esau 
the  tenderness  of  his  children  and  flocks,  and  that  they  could  not  travel  with  such 
expedition  as  would  be  agreeable  to  him.  He  begged  they  might  not  confine  him 
to  their  slow  movements,  but  that  he  would  return  home  his  own  pace,  and  he  would 
follow  with  as  much  expedition  as  possible.  Esau  then  offered  to  leave  him  a  num- 
ber of  men  to  guard  and  conduct  him  into  his  territories ;  but  this  compliment  Jacob 
likewise  thought  proper  to  decline,  upon  which,  after  saluting  each  other,  they  parted. 

Esau  returned  immediately  to  Seir,  and  expected  that  his  brother  would  follow 
him  ;  but  Jacob  turned  another  way,  and  coming,  to  a  spot  which  struck  his  fancy, 
he  resolved  (at  least  for  a  time)  to  settle  in  it ;  in  consequence  of  which  he  built  a 
house  for  his  family,  as  also  proper  conveniences  for  the  reception  of  his  cattle. 

After  staying  here  some  time,  Jacob  removed  to  Shechem,  and  having  purchased 
a  piece  of  ground  of  Hamor,  the  prince  of  the  country,  he  there  pitched  his  tents,* 
intending  to  make  it  his  fixed  place  of  residence.  He  also  erected  an  altar,  and  called 
it  El-alohe-Israel,  which  signifies'"  the  great  or  mighty  God  of  Israel." 

Jacob  might  probably  have  lived  at  this  place  a  considerable  time,  had  it  not  been 
for  an  occurrence  of  a  very  singular  nature.  His  daughter  Dinah,  who  was  at  this 
time  about  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  very  beautiful  in  person,  being  desirous  of  see- 
ing the  dresses  and  ornaments  of  the  women  of  that  country,  rambled  abroad  from 
her  mother's  tent,  in  order  to  gratify  her  curiosity^  Young  Shechem,  the  son  of 
Hamor  (the  king  of  the  country),  happening  to  see  her,  was  so  captivated  with  her 
charms,  that,  unable  to  restrain  the  force  of  his  passion,  he  determined,  if  possible, 
to  possess  her.     He  diligently  watched  her  for  some  time,  till  A  length,  taking  the 

*  The  use  of  tents  probably  arose  at  first  out  of  the  exigencies  of  pastoral  life,  which  rendered  it  neces 
sary  that  wen  removing-  from  one  place  to  another  in  searcli  of  pasture  should  have  a  portable  habitation. 
Accordingly,  we  find  that  the  first  mention  of  tents  is  connected  with  the  keeping  of  cattle  (Gen.  iv.  20), 
and  to  lliis  day  tents  remani  the  exclusive  residence  of  only  pastoral  people.  Portability  is  not  the  only 
recommendation  of  tents  to  the  nomade  tribes  of  the  East :  the  shelter  which  they  offer  in  the  warm 
but  deUcious  climates  of  Western  Asia  is  positive  enjoyment.  Shelter  from  the  sun  is  all  that  is  needful ; 
and  this  a  tent  sufficiently  affords,  without  excluding  the  balmy  and  delicate  external  air,  the  comparative 
exclusion  of  wliich  renders  the  finest  house  detestable  to  one  accustomed  to  a  residence  in  tents.  The 
advantage  of  tents  in  tliis  respect  is  so  well  understood,  even  by  the  inhabitants  of  towns,  that,  in  many 
places,  those  whose  circumstances  admit  it  endeavor,  so  far  as  possible,  to  occupy  tents  during  the  sum- 
mer months.  This  was  the  constant  practice  of  the  late  king  of  Persia,  who  every  year  left  Ids  capital 
with  all  the  nobles,  and  more  than  half  the  inhabitants,  to  encamp  in  the  plain  of  Sultanieh.  Many  of  the 
princes,  his  sons,  did  tlie  same  in  their  several  provinces,  and  tlie  practice  is  an  old  one  in  Persia.  It  is 
true  that  tenls  would  seem  to  be  rather  cheerless  abodes  in  the  winter ;  but  it  is  to  be  recollected  that  the 
aomades  have  generally  the  power  of  changing  the  climate  with  the  .season.  In  winter  the  Bedouins 
plunge  into  the  heart  of  the  desert,  and  others  descend,  in  the  same  season,  from  the  mountainous  and 
(ligli  lands,  where  they  had  enjoyed  comparative  coolness  in  summer,  to  the  genial  winter  climate  of  the 
low  valleys  and  plains,  which  in  the  summer  had  been  too  warm. 

It  is  impossible  to  ascertain  with  precision  the  construction  and  appearance  of  the  patriarchal  tents ;  but 
we  shall  not  probably  be  far  from  the  truth,  if  we  consider  the  present  Arab  tent  as  affording  the  nearest 
sxistiiig  approximations  to  the  ancient  model.  The  common  Arab  tent  is  generally  of  an  oblong  figure, 
varying  in  size  according  to  the  wants  or  rank  of  the  owner,  and  in  its  general  .-ihapc  not  unaptly  compared 
by  Sallust,  and  after  him  Dr.  Shaw,  to  the  hull  of  a  ship  turned  upside  down.  A  length  of  from  twenty-five 
to  tliirty  feet,  by  a  depth  or  breadth  not  exceeding  ten  feet,  form  the  dimensions  of  a  rather  large  family 
tent ;  but  there  are  many  larger.  The  extreme  height— that  is,  the  height  of  the  poles  which  are  made 
higher  than  the  others  in  order  to  give  a  slope  to  throw  off  the  rain  from  the  roof— varies  from  seven  to  ten 
'eet ;  but  the  height  of  the  side  parts  seldom  exceeds  five  or  six  feet.  The  most  usual-sized  lent  has  nine 
poles,  thice  in  the  middle,  and  three  on  each  side.  The  covering  of  the  tent  among  the  Arabs  is  usually 
black  goat's-hair,  so  compactly  woven  as  to  be  impervious  to  the  heaviest  rain  ;  but  tlie  side  coverings  are 
often  o(  coarse  wool.  These  Icnt-coverings  are  spun  and  woven  at  home  by  the  women,  unless  the  tribe 
has  not  goats  enough  to  supply  its  own  demand  for  goat's-hair,  when  the  stuff  is  bouglit  from  those  better 
furnished.  The  front  of  the  tent  is  usually  kept  open,  except  in  winter,  and  the  back  and  side  hangings 
or  covenngs  are  so  managed  that  the  air  can  be  admitted  in  any  direction,  or  excluded  at  pleasure.  The 
tents  are  kept  stretched  in  the  usual  way  by  cords,  fastened  at  one  end  to  the  poles,  and  at  the  other  to 
pins  driven  into  the  ground  at  the  distance  of  three  or  four  paces  from  the  tent.  The  interior  is  divided  into 
two  apartments,  by  a  curtain  hung  up  against  the  middle  poles  of  the  tent.  This  partition  is  usually  of 
white  woollen  stulF,  sometimes  interwoven  with  patterns  of  flowers.  One  of  these  is  for  the  men,  and  the 
other  for  the  women.  In  the  former,  the  ground  is  usually  covered  with  carpets  or  mats,  and  the  ivlieat- 
sacks  and  camel-bags  are  heaped  up  in  it,  around  the  middle  post,  like  a  pyramid,  at  the  base  of  which,  ol 
toward  the  bank  of  the  tent,  are  arranged  the  camels'  pack-saddles,  against  which  the  men  recline  as  I  hey 
sit  on  the  ground.  The  women's  apartment  is  less  neat,  being  encumbered  with  all  the  lumber  of  the  tent, 
the  water  and  butter,  skins,  the  culinary  utensils,  &c.  Some  tents  of  great  people  are  siiuare,  perhaps 
thirty  feet  square,  with  a  proportionate  increase  in  the  number  of  poles  ;  while  others  arc  so  small  as  to 
require  but  one  pole  to  support  the  centre.  The  principal  differences  are  in  the  slope  of  the  roof,  and  in 
the  part  lor  entrance.  When  the  tent  is  oblong,  the  front  is  sometimes  one  of  the  broad,  and  at  other 
limes  one  of  the  narrow,  sides  of  the  tent.  We  suspect  this  difference  depends  on  the  season  of  the  yeai 
or  the  character  of  the  locality ;  but  we  can  not  speak  with  certainty  on  tliis  point.  It  will  be  observed  that 
the  tent  covering  among  tlie  Arabs  is  usually  black  ;  but  it  seems  that  they  are  sometimes  brown,  and 
occasionally  striped  white  and  black.  Black  tents  seem  to  have  prevailed  among  the  Arabs  from  the 
earliest  times. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


79 


80  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

opportunity  of  her  being  alone,  he  suddenly  seized  on  her,  and,  by  mere  dint  of  vio- 
lence, obtained  his  wishes. 

But  notwithstanding  this  dishonorable  act,  Shechem  was  still  so  enamored  Avith 
Dinah's  charms,  that  he  most  earnestly  wished  to  marry  her ;  and  strongly  solicited 
his  father  to  intercede  with  her  friends  in  his  behalf,  and  to  form  a  treaty  with  them 
for  that  purpose. 

Jacob  was  soon  informed  of  the  depredation  made  on  his  daughter's  chastity,  and 
though  oreatly  incensed  at  so  unjustifiable  a  proceeding,  he  resolved  not  to  lake  any 
notice  of  it  till  his  sons  (who  were  then  abroad)  came  home.  Accordingly,  on  their 
arrival,  he  told  them  the  injury  their  sister  had  sustained,  and  by  whom;  upon 
which  their  resentment  was  raised  to  the  greatest  height,  and  they  vowed  severely 
to  revenge  the  dishonor  thus  thrown  upon  their  family. 

In  the  mean  time,  Shechem  having  prevailed  with  his  father  to  use  his  interest  m 
obtaining  for  him  the  beautiful  Dinah,  they  both  went  together  to  make  the  proposal 
to  Jacob,  whose  sons  were  Avith  him  at  the  time  of  their  arrival.  After  the  first  salu- 
tations were  over,  Hamor,  addressing  himself  to  Jacob,  told  him  the  great  affection 
his  son  had  for  his  daughter  Dinah,  and  earnestly  entreated  him  that  he  would  give 
her  to  him  in  marriage.  He  at  the  same  time  proposed  that  Jacob's  family  should 
intermarry  with  his  people,  and  offered  them  the  privilege  of  settling  and  trading  in 
any  part  of  his  dominions  they  thought  proper.  To  strengthen  this  proposal,  young 
Shechem  promised  to  give  Dinah  as  large  a  dowry,  and  her  relations  as  costly  pres- 
ents, as  they  should  desire.  In  short,  he  offered  them  whatever  advantages  they 
should  please  to  nominate,  bidding  them  only  name  their  terms,  and  they  should  be 
granted  to  the  uttermost,  provided  they  would  but  give  him  Dinah  in  marriage. 

These  were  certainly  very  fair  offers,  and  such  as  evinced  that  Shechem  was  de- 
sirous of  making  some  recompense  for  the  injury  he  had  done  his  beloved  Dinah. 
But,  instead  of  accepting  these  proposals,  the  treacherous  sons  of  Jacob,  who  only 
meditated  the  most  bloody  revenge,  made  the  following  reply :  "  That  it  was  not 
laAvful  for  them  to  contract  an  affinity  with  an  uncircumcised  nation,  but  that,  if  they 
and  their  people  would  consent  to  be  circumcised  (as  they  were),  they  would  then 
agree  to  the  terms  proposed." 

Shechem  was  so  enamored  with  Dinah,  and  Hamor  so  fond  of  his  son,  that,  not- 
withstanding the  singularity  of  this  proposal,  they  readily  agreed  to  it.  Accordingly, 
leaving  Jacob  and  his  son,  they  immediately  repaired  to  the  city,  and  having  convened 
a  general  assembly  of  the  inhabitants,  they  told  them  "  that  the  Israelites  were  a 
wealthy,  peaceable,  and  good-natured  people ;  that  they  might  reap  many  great  ad- 
vantages from  them,  and,  in  process  of  time,  by  intermarrying  with  them,  might 
make  all  their  substance  (which  was  very  considerable)  their  own ;  but  that  this 
could  not  be  done  without  a  general  consent  to  be  circumcised." 

Captivated  with  the  prospect  of  great  wealth,  and  influenced  by  the  powerful 
interest  both  Hamor  and  his  son  had  among  them,  they  unanimously  assented  to  the 
proposal ;  and  on  that  very  day  every  male  of  them  was  circumcised. 

This  circumstance  furnished  Simeon  and  Levi  (the  sons  of  Jacob,  and  brother  to 
Dinah,  by  the  same  mother)  with  an  opportunity  of  wreaking  that  revenge  on  the 
Shechemites  Avhich  they  had  privately  resolved  on  for  the  violation  of  their  sister's 
chastity.  Sensible  of  the  great  pain  the  Shechemites  felt  in  consequence  of  circum- 
cision, they  determined  to  take  advantage  of  it,  by  attacking  them  at  a  time  when 
they  knew  they  must  be  totally  incapable  of  making  the  least  resistance.  Accord- 
ingly, on  the  third  day*  after  the  operation  (having  properly  armed  then^elves  for 
the  purpose),  they  Avent  (unknown  to  their  father)  into^he  city,  and  suddenly  falling 
on  the  inhabitants,  put  every  male  to  the  sword,  Hamor  and  his  son  not  excepted. 
They  then  searched  the  king's  palace,  where,  finding  their  sister  Dinah,  they  imme- 
diately brought  her  away ;  after  which  they  plundered  the  houses  of  the  city,  took 
both  women  and  children  captive,  and  possessed  themselves  of  what  property  they 
could,  as  Avell  in  cattle  as  in  other  articles ;  and  such  things  as  they  could  not  take 
with  them,  they  totally  destroyed.! 

*  This  was  the  time,  according  to  most  physicians,  when  fevers  generally  attended  circumcision,  occa- 
Bioned  by  tlie  violent  inflammation  of  tlie  wound.  The  .lews  tliemselvcs  observe,  that  the  pain  was  m'lch 
more  severe  on  the  third  day  tlian  at  any  other  time  after  the  operation. 

t  Tliough  tlie  sacred  historian  only  mentions  Simeon  and  Levi  to  have  been  the  perpetrators  of  this  lior- 
rid  act  of  cruelty,  yet  there  is  not  the  least  doubt  but  they  had  considerable  assistance     They,  indeed,  are 


fflSTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  Si 

When  Jacob  (who  was  totally  unacquainted  with  these  unjustifiable  proceedings 
till  after  they  had  taken  place)  first  heard  of  them,  he  was  greatly  incensed  against 
his  sons,  and  very  severely  reprimanded  them  for  committing  so  treacherous  and 
barbarous  an  action.  But  Simeon  and  Levi  paid  little  attention  to  their  father's  re- 
buke ;  on  the  contrary,  such  were  their  ideas  of  the  crime  committed  in  the  violation 
of  their  sister's  chastity,  that  they  intimated  to  him  the  resentment  they  had  shown 
was  but  just  for  so  base  an  injury. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  this  violent  outrage,  committed  in  the  capital  of 
the  Shechemites,  should  exasperate  the  whole  people  of  the  country  against  the  Is- 
raelites. This  seems  to  have  been  the  reason  why  the  Almighty,  soon  after  the 
transaction  happened,  commanded  the  patriarch  to  remove  to  Bethel,  the  place  which 
he  had  dedicated  to  his  immediate  service.  Though  the  sons  of  Jacob  liad  wholly 
destroyed  one  colony  of  the  Canaanites,  yet  there  were  great  numbers  bordering  on 
the  spot,  who,  either  in  their  own  defence,  or  in  revenge  for  the  cruel  and  unjust 
treatment  of  their  countrymen,  might  give  the  good  patriarch  much  disquiet,  if  not 
totally  destroy  him  and  his  family.  His  omnipotent  Creator,  therefore,  in  order  tu 
secure  him  from  danger,  ordered  him  to  go  to  Bethel,*  there  to  fix  his  residence, 
and  erect  an  altar  to  the  same  God  who  appeared  to  him  when  he  fled  from  the 
presence  of  his  brother  Esau. 

The  obedient  and  pious  Jacob  hesitated  not  to  comply  with  the  divine  command  : 
but,  previous  to  his  setting  about  the  business,  he  thought  it  necessary  to  make  a 
reformation  in  his  family,  and  cleanse  it  from  the  pollutions  that  might  be  offensive 
in  so  sacred  a  place.  To  eflfect  this,  he  strictly  charged  not  only  his  own  family,  but 
all  that  belonged  to  bim,  to  bring  out  their  idols,  or  strange  gods,  then  clean  theuj- 
selves,t  and  change  their  garments,  telling  them  they  must  go  Avith  all  jsxpedition  to 
Bethel,  the  house  of  their  frod. 

They  readily  obeyed  the  patriarch's  orders,  and  delivered  up  to  him  not  only  their 
idols,!  but  also  their  ear-rings, ||  all  of  which  Jacob  buried  in  a  deep  hole  under  an 
oak^  near  Shechem. 

Jacob,  having  thus  cleansed  his  family  from  impurities,  set  out  with  them  on  his 

only  mentioned  because,  being  own  brothers  to  Dinah  both  by  father  and  mother,  and  consequently  more 
concerned  to  resent  the  injury  done  to  her  honor,  they  are  made  the  chief  contrivers  and  conductors  of  it 
It  is,  however,  reasonable  to  imagine,  that  the  rest  of  Jacob's  sons,  who  were  old  enough  to  bear  arms,  as 
well  as  the  greatest  part  of  his  domestics,  were  engaged  in  the  execution  of  this  wicked  exploit ;  because 
it  is  scarcely  conceivable  how  two  men  alone  should  be  able  to  master  a  whole  city,  to  slay  all  the  men  ni 
it,  and  take  all  the  women  captives,  who,  on  this  occasion,  may  be  supposed  more  tlian  sufficient  to  have 
overpowered  them. 

*  Bethel.— The  following  brief  but  interesting  notice  of  the  site  of  Bethel  has  lately  been  afforded  by 
Professor  Robinson.  After  telling  us  that  the  site  now  bears  the  name  of  Beit-in,  he  proceeds  to  state  that, — 
"  It  lies  just  east  of  the  Nablous  road,  forty-five  minutes  northeast  of  Bireh.  Here  are  ruins  of  very  con- 
siderable extent,  and  among  them  the  foundations  of  several  churches,  lying  on  the  point  of  a  low  Iiill  be- 
tween two  shallow  wadys,  which  unite  below,  and  run  off  southeast  into  a  deep  and  rugged  valley.  This 
was  evidently  a  place  of  note  in  the  early  Christian  ages,  and  apparently  also  in  the  days  of  the  Crusades 
It  is  now  entirely  uninhabited  ;  except  that  a  few  Arabs,  probably  from  some  neighboring  village,  had  pitched 
their  tents  here  for  a  time.  In  the  western  valley  we  spread  our  carpets,  and  breakfasted  on  the  grass 
within  the  limits  of  what  was  once  an  immense  reservoir.  We  obtained  here  from  the  Arabs  butter  of  ex- 
cellent quality,  which  might  have  done  honor  to  the  days  when  the  flocks  of  Abraham  and  Jacob  were  pas- 
tured on  these  hills." — Biblical  Repository,  April,  1839,  p.  420. 

t  The  Hebrew  word,  which  we  translate  clean,  properly  signifies,  the  washing  of  the  body  with  water.  As 
there  is  some  analogy  between  external  cleanliness  and  purity  of  mind,  it  may  denote  the  cleansing  of  the 
soifl  by  repentance  from  all  those  impurities  whereby  a  man  becomes  morally  poUuied  in  the  sight  of  God 
In  which  view,  this  rite  of  washing  the  body  with  water  was  used  as  a  sign  of  inward  purification,  not  only 
among  the  idolatrous  heatliens,  but  also  by  tlie  worshippers  of  the  true  God,  both  before  and  under  tlie  law. 
"Wash  ye,  make  ye  clean,  put  away  the  evil  of  your  doings  from  before  mine  eyes,  Isaiah  i.  16.  And  as 
men  should  at  all  times  have  their  souls  adorned  with  tlus  inward  purity,  so  especially  wlien  they  approach 
their  Maker  m  the  duties  of  his  immediate  worship.  It  was,  therefore,  higlily  commendable  in  Jacob,  on 
this  solemn  occasion,  to  enjoin  all  under  his  care  to  cleanse  and  purify  themselves  particularly  from  idola- 
try, and  from  those  guilty  stains  lately  contracted  by  shedding  innocent  blood,  as  they  would  otherwise  be 
unfit  to  hold  an  intercourse  with  their  God  ;  as  if  he  had  said,  "  Put  off  your  sordid  apparel,  especially  those 
garments  in  wliich  you  were  so  lately  defiled  with  blood,  and  put  on  your  cleanest  raiment,  as  an  emblem 
of  your  being  divested  of  all  impure  affections,  and  clothed  witli  those  internal  graces  and  pious  dispositions, 
which  are  the  ornament  of  the  soul,  and  render  it  comely  in  the  sight  of  God. 

t  The  greater  part  of  these  idols  belonged  to  the  Shechemites  ;  but  among  them  were  those  which  Rachel 
had  stole  from  her  father  Laban,  and  which  she  had  probably  worshipped  (unknown  to  her  father)  during 
her  stay  at  Shechem. 

II  The  ear-rings  and  other  jewels  worn  by  these  people  were  consecrated  to  the  honor  of  that  idol  whom 
they  worshipped  ;  and  on  them  were  engraven  some  figures.  The  reason  of  their  wearing  them  was,  to 
preserve  them  (as  they  thought)  from  any  danger  or  misfortune  ;  and  from  this  act  of  idolatry  we  may  sup- 
pose arose  the  custom  among  the  papists  of  wearing  the  relics  and  images  of  their  saints. 

I>  The  oak  here  mentioned  seems  to  have  been  the  place  where  these  servants  of  Jacob,  who  had  strange 
gods,  used  to  meet  ;  and  certainly  no  place  could  be  more  proper  for  burying  llieir  idols  thaji  tile  spot  ou 
which  they  had  worshipped  thenu 

6 


82  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

journey  to  Bethel.  In  order  to  ensure  their  safety,  the  Almighty,  ever  mindful  of  his 
promise  to  his  chosen  people,  struck  such  a  terror  into  the  people  belonging-  to  the 
country  through  which  they  passed,  that,  notwithstanding  the  provocation  given  by 
the  massacre  at  Shechem,  not  a  single  person  presumed  to  interrupt  them,  and  they 
travelled  to  their  destmed  place  without  the  least  molestation. 

No  sooner  did  Jacob  arrive  at  Bethel,*  than,  agreeably  to  the  divine  command,  he 
erected  an  altar,  which  he  called  El-belh-el ;  and  on  which  he  performed  the  very 
vow  he  had  before  made  when  on  his  journey  from  Canaan  to  Mesopotamia. 

A  short  time  after  Jacob  had  performed  this  act  of  worship,  the  Almighty  was 
pleased  to  appear  to  him  again,  and  to  give  him  fresh  assurances  of  his  design  to 
multiply  his  posterity,  and  to  bestow  on  him  the  inheritance  of  the  land  of  Canaan. 
As  a  lasting  monument  of  this  additional  mark  of  the  divine  favor,  Jacob  erected  a 
pillar  of  stone,  which  he  consecrated  with  the  usual  form,  by  pouring  on  it  wine 
and  oil. 

After  being  some  time  at  Bethel,  Jacob,  urged,  by  filial  affection,  resolved  to  leave 
It,  in  order  to  pay  a  visit  to  his  ancient  father  at  Mamre.  Accordingly,  taking  with 
him  his  family,  they  set  out  on  their  journey,  intending  to  stop  that  night  at  Ephrath 
(afterward  called  Bethlehem),  a  small  place  not  far  distant  from  Bethel.  But  before 
they  could  reach  the  intended  spot  Rachel  fell  suddenly  in  labor,  and  having  very 
severe  pangs,  the  midwife,  in  order  to  encourage  her,  bid  her  not  fear,  for  she  Avould 
have  another  son.  She  was  indeed  delivered  of  a  boy,  but  expired  immediately  after, 
having  but  just  a  moment's  space  of  time  to  give  him  the  name  of  Benoni,  which 
signifies  "the  son  of  my  sorrow."  But  Jacob,  unwilling  to  increase  the  remem 
brance  of  so  melancholy  a  circumstance,  called  him  Benjamin,  that  is,  "  the  son  of 
my  right  hand,"  or  "  my  strength;"  intimating  thereby  his  peculiar  affection  for  this 
last  pledge  of  his  beloved  wife. 

The  remains  of  Rachel  were  deposited  at  the  place  where  she  died,  and  in  order 
to  perpetuate  her  memory,  Jacob  erected  a  monument  of  stonef  over  her  grajre, 
which  the  sacred  historian  tells  us  was  extant  in  his  days. 

But  this  was  not  the  only  misfortune  that  attended  Jacob  on  his  journey  to  Mamre. 
After  travelling  some  way  farther,  in  order  to  refresh  himself  and  family,  he  stopped 
and  pitched  his  tents  on  a  pleasant  spot,  at  some  distance  from  the  tower  of  Edar.J 
During  his  stay  here  his  eldest  son  Reuben,  having  taken  a  liking  to  Bilhah  (the 
concubinary  wife  Avhich  Rachel  had  given  to  Jacob),  made  no  scruple  of  defiling  her. 
Though  Jacob  took  no  notice  of  this  disagreeable  circumstance  at  the  time  it  oc- 
curred, yet  he  was  greatly  afl[licted  in  his  mind,  and  retained  a  painful  sense  of  it 
even  to  his  dying  day,  as  is  evident  from  a  reproachful  hint  he  gave  him  a  short  time 
before  his  death. || 

Though  these  aggravated  griefs  sat  heavy  on  Jacob's  mind,  yet  he  continued  his 
resolution  ol  visiting  his  aged  parent.  He  accordingly  pursued  his  journey,  and  at 
length  came  to  Mamre,  the  place  of  his  father's  abode.  It  is  not  to  be  doubted  but, 
at  their  first  meeting,  a  reciprocal  affection  displayed  itself,  as  each  must  be  happy 
in  the  sight  of  the  other  after  so  long  an  absence. 

With  Ihis  circumstance  the  sacred  historian  concludes  the  life  of  Isaac,  who,  as 

♦  According  to  the  sacred  historian  (though  he  does  not  mention  any  time)  it  appears  that  soon  aftei"  Ja- 
cob's arrival  at  Bctliel,  Uoborali  (Rebecca's  nurse)  died  there.  What  age  she  was  we  are  not  informed  ; 
but  it  is  certain  she  must  liave  been  very  old,  as  she  came  with  Rebecca  from  Mesopotamia,  when  she  was 
married  to  Isaac.  Her  remains  were  deposited  beneath  an  oak  (as  was  the  custom  in  Uiose  days)  called 
AUon-bachuth,  from  which  the  Jews  have  a  tradition  that  Rebecca  died  on  the  same  day  with  her  nurse  . 
t)iat  word,  in  the  Hebrew  language,  signifying-  mourning. 

t  We  have  no  doubt  that  tlie  original  erection  by  Jacob  was  merely  the  most  tall  and  shapely  stone  which 
could  be  found  in  the  neighborhood.  The  site  seems  always  since  to  have  been  marked  by  some  sepulchral 
erectio7i  or  other.  That  which  now  exists  is  such  as  those  with  which  sheikhs  and  other  persons  of  note 
are  honored.  Its  date  we  can  not  find,  but  it  is  certainly  modern.  The  structure  which  the  travellers  of 
the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  figure  and  describe,  had  the  same  general  shape,  but  it  was  open, 
in  arches,  on  all  sides.  The  best  figure  otitis  in  "  Ainico's  Trattato  delle  Piante  e  Immagini  di  Sacn 
Edifizi  di  Terra  Santa,"  1620.  And  this  was  not  very  ancient ;  for  the  travellers  of  the  thirteenth  centurj 
{as  Brocard)  describe  Rachel's  sepulchre  as  a  pyramidal  monument. 

X  Some  commentators  are  of  opinion,  that  by  the  tower  of  Edar  is  meant  the  field  near  Bethlehem 
Tvhere  those  shepherds  were  keeping  their  flock  to  whom  the  angels  appeared,  and  gave  information  of  tlie 
birth  of  our  Saviour.  Among  others,  one  reason  which  induces  them  to  thmk  so  is  because  the  word 
Edar,  in  the  Hebrew  tongue,  signifies  a  Jlock:  so  that  what  is  here  called  the  toiccr  of  Edar  should  bo  ren- 
dered the  totoer  of  the  flocks.  Others  are  of  opinion  that  by  the  lover  of  Edar  is  to  be  understood  sonic  place 
near  Jerusalem ;  it  being  spoken  of  by  the  prophet  Micaii  as  the  place  or  stronghold  of  the  daugliters  of 
Sion.    Se  Micah  iv.  8. 

U  See  Genesis  xlix.  4. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  83 

he  infoims  us,  paid  the  debt  of  nature  in  the  one  hundred  arid  eightieth  year  of  his 
dge,  bemg  five  years  older  than  his  father  Abraham.  He  had  been  very  infirm,  and 
dfmost  blind,  for  a  considerable  time  ;  but  was  always  respectable  for  his  piety,  tran- 
quillity, and  submission  to  the  will  of  Heaven.  He  was  buried  by  his  two  sous, 
Esau  and  Jacob,  in  the  cave  of  Machpelah,  which  Abraham  purchased  of  Ephronas 
a  burying-place  for  his  family.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  the  death  of  Isaac  is  here 
mentioned  by  way  of  anticipation,  it  being  certain  that  he  lived  some  years  after 
Jacob's  return  from  Mesopotamia. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

The  pious  Jacob  had  not  long  enjoyed  the  company  of  his  aged  father,  after  his 
return  from  Mesopotamia,  before  a  circumstance  occurred  which  gave  him  great  un- 
happiness.  Joseph  was  his  beloved  child,  as  being  the  son  of  his  dear  departed 
Rachel,  besides  which,  he  particularly  attracted  the  attention  of  his  father  from  his 
very  extraordinary  genius.  In  consequence  of  these  circumstances,  Jacob,  as  a  token 
of  his  peculiar  love  to  his  favorite  Joseph,  gave  him  clothes  much  richer  than  he  did 
the  rest ;  and,  among  others,  one  coat  which  was  made  of  a  changeable  or  party- 
colored  stuff.*  This  naturally  raised  the  envy  of  his  brothers ;  besides  which,  they 
had  for  some  time  considered  him  as  a  spy,  because  he  had  told  his  father  of  some 
indiscretions  committed  by  the  sons  of  Bilhah  and  Zilpah,  with  whom  he  was  most 
conversant,  by  frequently  assisting  them  in  the  care  of  their  flocks.  From  these  cir- 
cumstances they  treated  Joseph  with  contempt,  withheld  from  him  the  common 
offices  of  civility,  and  made  it  their  constant  study  to  perplex  and  torment  him. 

But  what  completed  the  envy  and  resentment  of  Joseph's  brethren,  or,  rather,  pro- 
duced an  irreconcileable  hatred,  was  his  innocently  relating  to  them  two  dreams,  the 
explanations  of  which  seemed  to  portend  his  own  future  greatness.  The  substance 
of  the  first  of  these  dreams  was,  that  "  as  he  was  binding  sheaves  with  his  brethren 
m  the  field,  his  sheaf  arose  and  stood  upright,  while  their  sheaves  round  about  fell 
down,  and,  as  it  were,  made  obeisance  to  his."  This  dream  being  considered  by  his 
orethren  as  an  indication  of  his  pride  and  ambition,  their  malice  was  greatly  in- 
creased, but  still  more  so  when  they  heard  the  substance  of  the  second  dream. 
"  Behold,"  says  he,  "  the  sun  and  the  moon  and  the  eleven  stars  made  obeisance  to 
me."  AVhen  Joseph  related  this  last  dream  his  father  was  present,  on  which  the 
good  old  man,  either  to  appease  the  anger  of  his  other  sons,  or  check  that  presump- 
tion which  in  young  minds  so  naturally  arises  from  good  omens,  reprimanded  him  in 
these  words  :  "  Shall  I  and  thy  brethren  come  to  bow  down  ourselves  to  thee  to  the 
earth  ?"  But  though  Jacob  thought  proper  to  reprimand  his  son  Joseph,  for  the 
reason  here  assigned,  yet,  in  his  own  mind,  he  thought  there  was  something  very 
ominous  in  the  dreams,  and  that  they  were  predictions  of  events  that  would  some 
time  or  other  come  to  pass. 

After  Joseph  had  related  these  dreams  to  his  brethren  (notwithstanding  the  repri- 
mand given  him  by  his  father),  instead  of  their  hatred  being  abated,  they  grew  every 

*  This  party-colored  tunic  of  Josepn  lias  occasioned  some  speculatiori ;  but  it  would  seem  that  the  reil 
point  of  interest  lias  not  been  noticed.  It  would  be  desirable  to  Icnow  whether  the  art  of  interweaving  a 
piece  in  various  colors  was  at  this  time  discovered  or  not.  Judging  from  the  information  which  this  text 
gives,  it  would  seem  not ;  for  the  word  which  is  constantly  rendered  "colors"  may,  as  in  the  marginal 
reading,  with  more  than  equal  propriety  be  rendered  "  pieces  ;"  which  makes  it  probable  that  the  agreeable 
effect  resulting  from  a  combination  of  colors  was  obtained  by  patchwork  in  the  first  instance,  and  in  after 
limes  by  being  wrought  with  a  needle.  The  value  and  distinction  attached  to  such  variegated  dresses  show- 
that  they  wei.e  not  common,  and  were  worked  by  some  elaborate  process.  This  continued  long  after.  In 
the  time  of  David,  such  a  dress  was  a  distinction  for  a  king's  daughter  (2  Samuel  xiii.  18)  ;  and  in  Judges 
V.  iiO,  we  see  ladies  anticipating  the  return  of  a  victorious  general  with  "  a  prey  of  divers  colors,  of  divers 
colors  of  needlework  on  both  sides."  We  may,  therefore,  infer  that  in  these  times  people  generally  did 
not  wear  variegated  dresses,  the  common  use  of  which  must  have  been  consequent  on  the  discovery  of 
the  art  of  interweaving  a  variegated  pattern  in  the  original  texture,  or  of  printing  it  subsequently.  Except 
ig  Persia,  where  a  robe  is  usually  of  one  color,  most  Asiatic  people  are  partial  to  dresses  in  which  various 
patterns  are  interwoven  in  stripes  or  flowers  ;  and  party-colored  dresses  have  necessarily  ceased  to  form  a 
distinction.  The  most  remarkable  illustration  of  this  text  which  we  have  seen  is  given  by  Mr.  Roberts, 
who  states  that  in  India  it  is  customary  to  invest  a  beautiful  or  favorite  child  with  "a  coat  of  many 
colors,"  consisting  of  crimson,  purple,  and  other  colors,  which  are  often  tastefully  sewed  together.  He 
adds :  "  A  child  being  clothed  in  a  garment  of  many  colors,  it  is  beheved  that  neither  tongues  nor  evii 
spirits  fcill  injure  him,  because  the  attention  is  taken  from  the  beauty  of  the  person  to  that  of  the  g3  •■aent." 


54  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

day  more  and  more  exasperated  ;  so  that  they  resolved  at  length  to  cut  him  off,  and 
only  waited  for  a  convenient  opportunity  for  effecting  their  purposes. 

tSome  time  after  this,  Jacob,  having  purchased  some  land  near  Shechem,  sent  ah 
his  sons  (Joseph  excepted)  to  keep  their  flocks  there.  After  being  absent  a  long 
time,  and  no  intelligence  received  of  them  by  Jacob,  he  was  very  anxious  for  their 
welfare,  fearing  lest  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  should  revenge  on  them  the  loss  of 
their  countrymen,  who  had  been  put  to  death  by  Jacob's  sons.  To  remove  these 
disagreeable  apprehensions,  he  ordered  Joseph  to  go  to  Shechem,  and  inquire  after 
the  health  and  welfare  of  his  brethren,  and  return  with  all  convenient  expedition. 

•  Joseph,  in  obedience  to  his  father's  commands,  set  out  for  Shechem,  which  was 
about  sixty  miles  distant  from  the  place  where  his  father  now  dwelt.  When  he 
came  within  some  distance  of  Shechem,  he  happened  to  meet  a  stranger,  of  whom 
he  made  inquiry  after  his  brethren.  The  stranger  told  him  they  had  removed  from 
Shechem  some  time,  and  were  gone  to  a  place  called  Dothan.*  Joseph  accordingly 
hastened  to  Dothan ;  and  no  sooner  did  his  brethren  see  him  approaching  than  their 
old  malice  revived,  and  they  determined  to  embrace  this  opportunity  of  destroying 
him.  "  Behold"  (says  one  of  them  to  the  rest),  "  this  dreamer  cometh.  Come  now, 
therefore,  and  let  us  slay  him,  and  cast  him  into  some  pit,  and  we  will  say  some  evil 
beast  has  devoured  him;  and  we  shall  see  what  will  become  of  his  dreams." 

This  horrid  design  would  certainly  have  been  carried  into  exeaution  had  it  not 
been  for  the  interposition  of  Reuben,  who  used  the  most  forcible  arguments  to  dis- 
suade them  from  embruing  their  hands  in  the  blood  of  their  brother.  As  they  were, 
however,  determined  to  show  some  instance  of  their  resentment,  Reuben  proposed 
that  they  should  cast  Joseph  into  the  next  pit,  with  a  design,  no  doubt,  jof  taking 
him  out  privately  and  conveying  him  safe  to  his  father.  This  proposition  being  ap- 
proved of  by  the  rest  of  the  brethren,  as  soon  as  Joseph  came  up  to  them  they  im- 
mediately seized  him,  and,  after  taking  olf  his  party-colored  garment,  threw  him 
into  a  pit,  which  at  that  lime  happened  to  be  dry.  As  soon  as  this  was  done  Reu- 
ben withdreAV,  in  order  to  contrive  some  means  for  rescuing  his  brother,  while  the 
rest,  insensible  of  remorse  for  the  deed  they  had  committed,  sat  down  and  regaled 
themselves  with  such  provisions  as  the  place  afforded.  They  Avere  satisfied  in  their 
minds  that  their  base  ends  would  soon  be  answered,  and  that  Joseph  must  inevitably 
perish  hi  the  pit  for  the  want  of  food.  But  the  eye  of  Omnipotence  beheld  his  dis- 
tress, and  interposed  in  his  behalf;  for  as  Reuben  had  already  been  the  means  of 
preventing  his  immediate  death,  so  Judah  now  became  the  means  of  delivering  him 
out  of  the  pit. 

It  happened  that  while  they  were  regaling  themselves  they  espied  at  a  distance  a 
caravan  of  Ishmaelites,  who  were  travelling  from  Mount  Gilead  into  Egypt  with 
spices  and  other  merchandise.!     The  sight  of  these  furnished  Judah  with  a  thought 

»  Tins  place  is  mentioned  as  a  "  city"  in  2  Kings  vi.  13  —  15.  Euscl)ius  says  it  was  twelve  miles  south  of 
Samaria.  That  it  was  somewhere  north  of  Shecliern  would  appear  from  the  present  tc.vt.  What  is  meant 
by  the  "pit"  into  which  Joseph  was  cast  is  an  exhausted  cistern,  or  reservoir,  in  which  the  rain-water  is 
collected,  and  of  which  there  are  many  in  Palestine.  Many  of  thcni  arc  found  to  be  empty  in  summer,  the 
supply  of  water  they  contain  being  often  soon  exhausted.  Dr.  Richardson  thus  mention.s  the  place  which 
is  pointed  out  as  the  scene  of  the  atTair  recorded  in  this  chapter :  "  Having  cleared  the  intricate  defiles  of 
this  part  of  the  country,  we  got  upon  an  extensive  open  field  which  bore  an  abundant  crop  of  thistles,  and 
on  which  several  herds  of  black  cattle  were  feeding.  This,  by  some,  is  supposed  to  be  the  scene  of  the 
infamous  conspiracy  of  which  the  liberty  of  Joseph  was  the  temporary  victim.  A  little  farther  on  we  ar- 
rived at  Gib  Youssoufif,  or  the  pit  into  which  Joseph  was  cast  by  liis  brethren,  being  a  ride  of  three  hours 
and  forty  minutes  from  Mensura.  Here  there  is  a  large  Khan  for  the  accommodation  of  travellers,  and  a 
well  of  very  excellent  water,  and  a  very  comfortable  oratory  for  a  Mussulman  to  pray  in."  This  place  is 
about  two  and  a  half  or  three  days'  journey  from  Shechem,  which  is  nearly  equal  to  the  distance  between 
Hebron  and  Sliechem  ;  so  that  the  distance  fro.ii  Hebron  to  Dotlian,  if  tliis  be  JDothan,  was  about  live  or  six 
days' journey,  which,  as  Ur.  Richardson  observes,  "  is  a  long  way  for  the  sons  of  Jacob  to  go  to  feed  their 
herds,  and  a  still  farther  way  for  a  solitary  youth  like  Josepli  to  be  sent  in  quest  of  them."  But  we  do  not 
consider  this  distance  too  great,  particularly  as  we  know  the  place  was  somewhere  beyond  Shechem.  In- 
deed the  doctor  himself  admits  that  it  is  a  very  likely  place,  particularly  as  it  lies  in  what  is  still  one  of  the 
principal  roads  from  the  Haouran  and  Mount  Gilead  to  Egypt.  Speaking  of  the  same  neighborhood  (Nab- 
lous  or  Shechem),  Dr.  Clarke  says  :  "  Along  the  valley  wo  beheld  a  company  of  Ishmaelites  coming  from 
Gilead,  as  in  the  days  of  Reuben  and  Judah,  '  witli  their  camels,  bearing  spicery,  and  balm,  and  myrrh,' 
who  would  gladly  have  purchased  another  Josepli  of  liis  brethren,  and  conveyed  him  as  a  slave  to  some 
Potiphar  in  Egypt.  Upon  tlie  hills  around,  (locks  and  herds  were  feeding  as  of  old  ;  nor,  in  the  simple  garb 
of  the  shepherds  of  Samaria,  was  there  anything  to  contradict  the  notions  we  may  entertain  of  the  appea* 
ance  formerly  exhibited  by  the  sons  of  Jacob."  He  adds,  that  the  morning  after  his  arrival  at  Nablous,  he 
met  caravans  coming  from  Grand  Cairo,  and  noticed  others  reposing  in  the  large  olive  plantations  near  the 
jates. 

t  Midianitcs  being  also  mentioned  as  denominating  this  company,  we  may  infer  that  it  was  a  mixed  car- 
avan, and  principally  :oniposedof  Ishmaelites  and  Midianites.  We  might  call  them  generally  '  Arabians, 
as  the  Chaldee  does     "  Here,"  says  Dr.  Vincent,  "  upon  opening  the  oldest  liistorv  in  the  world,  we  find 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  g5 

in  what  manner  he  might  secure  his  brother 'Josepli  from  certai.i  death,  and  al  he 
same  time  answer  their  ends  by  getting  him  totally  removed.  As  the  caravan  ai> 
proached,  he  urged  the  iniquity  of  being  mstrumental  to  the  destruction  of  their  own 

the  Ishmaelites  from  Gilead  conducting  a  caravan  loaded  vvitli  the  spices  of  India,  tlie  balsam  and  myrrh 
of  Hadramaat ;  and  in  the  regular  course  of  their  traffic  proceeding  to  Egy;)t  for  a  mnrket.  The  date  of 
this  transaction  is  more  than  seventeen  centuries  before  tlie  ('hristian  era,  and  notwithstanding  its  anti- 
quity, it  has  all  the  genuine  features  of  a  caravan  crossing  the  Desert  at  tlie  present  hour."  (Commerce 
and  Navigation  of  the  Ancients,  vol.  li.,  p.  262.)  We  cannot  at  this  rnoineiit  enter  luln  the  question,  which 
Dr.  Vincent  assumes,  that  tlie  Arabians  had  already  become  the  medium  of  commuiiic  ation  betv.een  India 
and  Egypt.  As  the  subject  divides  itself  into  two  parts,  the  commerce  of  tlie  Aralnans  and  that  of  tlie 
Egyptians,  we  postpone  the  former,  and  confine  ourselves  to  a  few  remarlcs  ou  tlie  latter.  Dr.  Vincent 
calls  the  Egyptians,  with  great  propriety,  the  Chinese  of  antiquity ;  and  the  analog>  between  the  two  peo- 
ple might  form  a  subject  for  very  interesting  discussion.  In  the  present  text  we  see  a  caravan  of  foreign- 
ers proceeding  to  Egypt,  their  camels  laden  with  articles  of  luxury ;  whence  it  is  an  obvious  inference  that 
Egypt  had  then  become  what  it  is  always  recorded  to  have  been,  the  centre  of  a  most  extensive  land  com- 
merce : — the  great  emporium  to  which  the  merchants  brought  gold,  ivory,  and  slaves  from  Ethiopia,  incense 
fro  a  Arabia,  spices  from  India,  and  wine  from  Pha-nicia  and  Greece :  for  which  Egypt  gave  in  excliauge  its 
corn,  its  manufactures  of  fine  linen,  its  robes,  and  its  carpets.  In  after-times,  l!ie  merchauts  of  the  west, 
of  Greece  and  Rome,  resorted  to  Egypt  for  its  own  products,  and  for  the  goods  brought  thitlier  by  the  ori- 
ental merchants.  But  none  of  this  was  done  by  Egyptians  themselves.  We  never,  either  in  ancient  or 
modern  times,  read  of  Egyptian  caravans.  This  doubtless  arose  in  a  great  degree  from  the  aversion  which 
(m  common  with  all  people  who  observe  a  certain  diet  and  mode  of  life  prescribed  by  reUgion)  tliey  enter- 
tamed  to  any  intercourse  with  strangers,  and  which  reminds  us  continually  of  the  restrictive  policy  of  the 
.(apanese  in  some  respects,  and  of  the  rehgious  prejudices  of  Hindoos  and  strict  Mohammedans.  Thus,  it 
was  a  maxim  among  the  Egyptians  not  to  leave  their  own  country,  and  we  have  ample  evidence  that  they 
rarely  did  so,  except  in  attendance  upon  the  wars  and  expeditions  of  their  sovereigns,  even  when  tlieir  re- 
strictive policy  and  pecuhar  customs  became  relaxed  under  the  Greek  and  Roman  rulers  of  the  country 
"  Tliey  waited,"  says  Goguet,  after  Strabo,  '■  till  other  nations  brought  them  tlie  things  they  stood  in  need 
of,  and  they  did  this  with  the  more  tranquillity,  as  the  great  fertility  of  their  country  in  those  times  left 
them  few  things  to  desire.  It  is  not  at  all  surprising  that  a  people  of  such  principles  did  not  apply  them- 
selves to  navigation  until  very  late."  Besides,  the  Egyptians  had  a  religious  aversion  to  the  sea,  and  con- 
sidered all  those  as  impious  and  degraded  who  embarked  upon  it.  The  sea  was,  in  their  view,  an  emblem 
of  the  evil  being  (Typhon),  the  implacable  enemy  of  Osiris  ;  and  the  aversion  of  the  priests  in  particular 
was  so.  strong,  that  they  carefully  kept  mariners  at  a  distance,  even  when  the  rest  of  the  nation  began  to 
pay  some  attention  to  sea-alfairs.  But  besides  their  religious  iiatred  to  the  sea,  and  political  aversion  to 
strangers,  other  causes  concurred  in  preventing  the  cultivation  of  maritime  commerce  by  the  Egyptians. 
The  country  produces  no  wood  suitable  for  the  construction  of  vessels.  Therefore,  when  the  later  Egvp- 
tians  and  the  Greek  sovereigns  began  to  attend  to  navigation,  they  could  not  fit  out  a  fleet  till  they  had  ob- 
tained a  command  over  the  forests  of  Phcenicia,  which  gave  occasion  to  bloody  wars  between  the  Ptolemies 
and  the  Seleucidce  for  the  possession  of  those  countries.  The  unhealthiness  of  the  Egyptian  coast,  and 
the  paucity  of  good  harbors,  may  also  be  numbered  among  the  circumstances  which  operated,  with  others, 
in  preventing  attention  to  maritime  affairs.  Moreover,  all  the  nations  who  in  tliose  times  traded  in  the 
Mediterranean  were  also  pirates,  who  made  it  a  particular  branch  of  their  business  to  kidnap  men  from  the 
coasts  ;  and  it  was  therefore  natural  that  a  people  who  had  no  vessels  with  which  to  oppose  them  or  re- 
taliate upon  them,  should  allow  them  no  pretence  to  land  upon  their  shores. 

The  indifference  of  the  Egyptians  to  foreign  commerce  is  demonstrated  by  the  fact  that  they  abandoned 
the  navigation  of  the  Red  sea  to  whatever  people  eared  to  exercise  it.  They  allowed  the  Phcpnicians,  the 
Edomites,  the  Jews,  the  Syrians,  successively,  to  have  fleets  there  and  maritime  stations  on  its  shores.  It 
was  not  until  toward  the  termination  of  the  national  independence  that  the  sovereigns  of  Egypt  began  to 
turn  their  attention  to  such  matters.  The  parts  of  Lower  Egypt  were  ultimately  opened  to  the  Plioeniciaas 
and  Greeks,  by  Psammeticus,  about  658  years  B.  C.  His  son,  Necho,  for  the  purpose  of  facilitating  com- 
merce, attempted  to  unite  the  Mediterranean  and  Red  sea,  by  means  of  acanal  from  the  Nile  ;  but  desisted 
after  having  lost  100,000  workmen.  This  work  was  completed  by  the  Persians,  but  turned  out  to  be  of  little 
practical  benefit,  either  from  the  failure  of  the  eastern  channel  of  the  Nile,  or  from  being  choked  by  the 
sands  drifted  from  the  desert.  Failing  in  this  project,  Neclio  contrived  to  pay  great  attention  to  navigation. 
He  caused  slxips  to  be  built  both  on  the  Mediterranean  and  Red  sea,  and  interested  himself  in  maritime 
discovery,  with  a  view  to  the  extension  of  the  commercial  relations  of  Egy(>l.  lie  sent  on  a  voyage  of 
discovery  those  Phoenician  mariners  who  effected  the  famous  circumnavigation  of  Africa,  sailing  from  the 
Red  sea,  and,  after  doubling  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  returning  by  the  Mediterranean.  Tlie  maritime  power 
of  Egypt  increased  thenceforward,  the  clearest  proof  of  which  may  be  found  in  the  fact,  that  in  the  reign 
of  Necho's  grandson,  Apries,  the  Egyptian  fleet  ventured  to  give  battle,  and  actually  defeated  so  experi- 
enced a  naval  power  as  that  of  the  Phcenicians.  The  race  of  sailors  which  arose  were,  however,  consid- 
ered as  the  lowest  and  most  impure  of  the  castes  into  which  the  Egyptian  people  were  divided.  In  tlie 
next  reign,  that  of  Amasis,  the  sacred  Nile  was  at  last  opened  to  the  foreign  merchants.  Naucratis,  a  city 
of  Lower  Egypt,  on  the  Canopean  arm  of  the  Nile,  near  the  site  afterward  occupied  by  Alexandria,  was 
assigned  to  such  Greek  traders  as  chose  to  settle  in  Egypt.  The  commercial  states  of  Greece  were  also 
permitted  to  found  temples  or  sanctuaries,  in  certain  places,  for  the  accommodation  of  their  travelling 
merchants,  and  which  might  also  serve  as  .staples  and  marts  for  the  merchandise  which  tliey  should  send 
into  Egypt.  This  concession  was  found  to  have  a  most  favorable  operation  upon  the  piosperity  of  Egypt, 
and  in  its  ultimate  consequences  combined  with  other  causes  in  working  a  great  change  in  the  character 
and  habits  of  the  population,  which  thenceforward  became  progressively  modified  by  an  infusion  of  Greek 
manners  and  ideas.  Such  concessions  were  not  in  the  first  instance  made  without  hmitations.  The  Greeks 
were  obhged  to  enter  the  Canopean  branch  of  the  Nile,  and  were  required  to  land  at  Naucratis.  If  by  any 
accident  a  ship  entered  at  any  other  mouth  of  the  river  it  was  detained,  and  the  captain  was  obliged  to 
swear  that  he  had  been  compelled  to  enter  against  his  will.  He  was  then  compelled  to  sail  back  for  Nau- 
cratis ;  and  if  this  was  prevented  by  the  winds,  he  was  required  to  discharge  )iis  cargo,  and  to  send  it 
round  the  Delta  (more  inland)  in  the  small  vessels  in  which  the  Egyptians  navigated  the  Nile.  This  re- 
striction must  have  ceased  soon  after,  when  the  country  was  subdued  by  the  Persians,  and  all  the  mouths 
of  the  Nile  were  equally  thrown  open.  Its  subjection  to  the  Persians  does  not  seem  to  have  materially  ir- 
terfered  with  the  growing  maritime  commerce  of  Egypt.  But  Herodotus,  who  was  there  in  this  period, 
remarks  on  the  characteristic  singularity  which  the  Egyptians  had  carried  into  their  marine  and  trade. 
Their  ships  were  built  and  armed  after  a  fashion  quite  difierent  from  that  observed  by  other  nations  and 
tlieir  rigging  and  cordage  were  arranged  in  a  manner  that  appeared  very  singular  and  fantastic  to  the  Greek* 


86  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

brother,  by  which  they  would  contract  an  eternal  stain  of  guilt.  He  therefore  ad- 
vised them  to  sell  him  to  the  Ishmaelites,  by  which  means  they  would  not  only  save 
his  life,  but  likewise  promote  their  own  interest.  This  proposal  being  universally 
approved  of,  Joseph  was  taken  out  of  the  pit,  and  sold  to  the  merchants  for  tAveniy 
pieces  of  silver ;  and  the  merchants,  on  their  arrival  in  Egypt,  sold  him  again  to 
Potiphar,  one  of  the  king's  chief  officers,  and  captain  of  his  guards. 

Reuben,  who  was  absent  while  this  circumstance  happened,  came  soon  after  to  the 
pit,  in  order  to  assist  his  brother  in  making  his  escape ;  but,  astonished  at  not  finding 
him  there,  he  ran  hastily  to  his  brethren,  rent  his  clothes,  and  upbraided  himself  as 
the  cause  of  his  being  lost :  "  The  child,"  said  he,  "  is  not,  and  whither  shall  I  go  ?" 
In  short,  he  bewailed  himself  to  such  a  degree,  that  his  brethren,  in  order  to  mitigate 
his  grief,  told  him  in  what  manner  they  had  disposed  of  him ;  upon  which  Reuben, 
finding  it  impossible  now  to  recover  him,  joined  with  the  rest,  in  forming  a  tale  for 
their  father  which  might  take  from  them  all  suspicion  of  their  being  instrumental  to 
the  loss  of  his  beloved  Joseph. 

To  effect  this  purpose,  they  killed  a  kid,  and  dipping  Joseph's  coat  into  the  blood, 
took  it  to  their  father,  telling  him  they  had  found  it  in  the  field,  and  were  fearful  t 
was  their  brother's.  "  This,"  said  they,  "  have  we  found ;  know  now  whether  it  .e 
thy  son's  coat,  or  no." 

The  good  old  patriarch  no  sooner  saw  the  coat,  than  he  was  convinced  to  who*]-'  it 
belonged,  and  not  suspecting  that  any  human  hand  could  be  guilty  of  such  an  unnat- 
ural cruelty  as  to  murder  him,  concluded  that  he  had  been  unhappily  devoured  by 
some  wild  beast.  This  loss  was  the  most  severe  he  had  ever  sustained.  When  his 
beloved  Rachel  died,  it  was  in  a  natural  way ;  but  Joseph  (according  to  his  present 
apprehension)  is,  by  a  savage  animal,  barbarously  torn  in  pieces  before  his  time.  His 
grief,  therefore,  knew  no  boimds;  he  rent  his  clothes,  put  on  sackcloth,  and  mourned 
for  his  beloved  son  many  days:  nay,  so  excessive  was  his  affliction,  that  when  his 
children  in  general  endeavored  to  comfort  him,  it  availed  nothing,  and  all  the  answer 
he  made  them  Avas,  that  he  could  only  cease  to  mourn  when  he  should  follow  him  in 
the  path  of  mortality.* 

In  conformity  to  the  sacred  historian,  we  must  here  make  a  short  digression  from 
the  farther  transactions  of  Joseph,  in  order  to  admit  some  occurrences  which  are  ma- 
terially connected  with  the  history,  and,  therefore,  must  not  be  suffered  to  pass  un- 
noticed.f 

Some  time  before  Joseph  was  sold  into  Egypt,  Judah  (his  father's  son  by  Leah), 
who  had  been  the  means  of  saving  his  brother's  life,  married  a  CanaauitishAvoman, 
named  Shuah,  by  whom  he  had  three  sons,  viz.,  Er,  Onan,  and  Shelah. 

In  process  of  time,  when  Er,  his  eldest  son,  grew  up  to  years  of  maturity,  he  took 
him  a  wife  whose  name  was  Tamar;  but  Er,  being  naturally  of  a  very  wicked  dis- 
position, the  Almighty  was  pleased  to  cut  him  off  before  he  had  any  children  by  his 
wife.  In  consequence  of  this  Judah  (agreeably  to  the  custom  of  the  country)  advised 
Onan,  his  second  son,  to  marry  his  brother's  widow  in  order  to  preserve  the  succession 
of  his  family.  Onan  seemingly  obeyed  his  father's  orders,  but  not  brooking  the 
thoughts  that  any  of  his  children  should  inherit  his  brother's  name  (which  must  have 
been  the  case  had  Tamar  borne  him  any)  he  took  a  very  wicked  method  of  avoiding 

After  all,  the  Egyptians  were  not  themselves  a  people  addicted  to  maritime  commerce.  The  Greek  rulers 
of  Egypt  indeed  changed  the  entire  system  of  Egyptian  trade,  and  the  new  capital,  Alexandria,  hecamc  the 
first  mart  of  the  world,  while  the  ancient  inland  capitals,  which  had  arisen  under  the  former  system,  sunk 
into  insignificance.  But  it  was  the  Greeks  of  Egypt,  not  the  Egyptians,  who  did  this.  "  They  became,' 
says  Dr.  Vincent,  "  the  carriers  of  the  Mediterranean,  as  well  as  the  agents,  factors,  and  importers  of  ori 
ental  produce :  and  so  wise  was  the  new  policy,  and  so  deep  had  it  taken  root,  tliat  the  Romans,  upon  the 
sulijection  of  Egypt,  found  it  more  expedient  to  leave  Alexandria  in  possession  of  its  privileges,  than  to 
alter  the  course  of  trade,  or  occupy  it  themselves."  (The  facts  combined  m  this  sketch  of  Egyptian  trade, 
&c.,  have  been  drawn  from  the  works  of  Vincent,  Ileeren,  Reynier,  Goguet,  RenncI,  and  Hales.) 

*  What  an  affecting  idea  is  here  conveyed  to  the  mind  of  the  reader  !  The  hoary  patriarch  rends  his 
clothes,  covers  his  aged  body  with  sackclolli,  and  refuses  to  be  comforted.  Thus  Achilles  in  Homer  ex 
presses  his  grief,  on  receiving  the  news  of  Patroclus'  death. 

-With  furious  hands  he  spread 


The  scorching  a.shes  on  his  graceful  head  : 
His  purple  garments,  and  his  golden  hairs. 
Those  he  deforms  with  dust,  and  these  with  tears." — Popk. 

t  Though  the  past  and  following  events  seem  to  be  connected  by  the  sacred  writer,  yet  the  marriage  of 
Judah  certainly  took  place  long  before  Joseph  was  sold  into  Egypt ;  and,  in  all  probability,  a  short  time  after 
Jacob's  return  from  his  uncle  Laban. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  87 

It,  lor  which  offence  he  was  (as  his  brother  had  been  before  him)  punished  with  sutlJen 
death. 

Shelah,  the  third  son,  being  as  yet  too  young  for  marriage,  Judah  desired  his 
daughter-in-law  Tamar  to  retire  to  her  father's  house,  and  there  remain  a  widow,  till 
his  son  became  a  proper  age,  at  which  time  he  would  make  him  her  husband. 

Tamar  obeyed  her  father-in-law's  commands,  and  waited  till  Shelah  was  come  to 
man's  estate ;  but  finding  no  signs  of  his  intending  to  fulfil  his  promise,  she  deter- 
mined on  revenge  for  her  disappointment,  which  she  effected  by  the  following  strat- 
agem. 

Shuah,  Judah's  wife,  had  been  some  time  dead,  and  as  soon  as  the  usual  lime  of 
mourning  was  expired,  he  went,  accompanied  by  a  particular  friend,  to  Timnath,  in 
order  to  participcite  of  the  accustomed  amusements  of  sheep-shearing. 

Tamar,  having  received  previous  intelligence  of  his  intended  excursion,  and  the 
time  of  his  going,  threw  off  her  widow's  habit ;  and  dressing  herself  like  a  courtesan, 
she  threw  a  veil*  over  her  face,  and  then  placed  herself  between  two  ways  through 
one  of  which  she  knew  Judah  must  necessarily  pass  in  his  road  to  Timnath. 

As  soon  as  Judah  saw  her  he  took  her  to  be  what  she  appeared,  and  accordingly, 
in  a  very  familiar  manner,  paid  his  addresses  to  her.  Previous,  however,  to  any  far- 
ther intimacy,  she  insisted  upon  having  some  reward  for  her  compliance,  which  he 
readily  agreed  to,  and  promised  to  send  her  a  kid ;  but  she  having  a  farther  design 
upon  him,  demanded  a  pledge  for  the  performance  of  his  promise,  which  was,  his 
signet,!  his  bracelet,  and  his  staff.  Judah  readily  complying  with  this  request,  they 
retired  together,  the  consequence  of  which  was  that  Tamar  soon  after  proved  with 
child. 

Agreeably  to  the  promise  made  by  Judah  to  Tamar,  previous  to  their  intercourse, 
the  former  sent  his  friend  Hiiah  (for  that  was  his  name)  with  a  kid  to  redeem  his 
pledge ;  but  Avhen  he  came  to  the  place  the  woman  was  gone,  nor  could  he,  upon  the 
strictest  inquiry,  learn  that  any  such  person  as  he  described  had  been  ever  there. 
This  circumstance  greatly  perplexed  Judah,  who,  upon  cool  reflection,  thought  it 
most  prudent  to  let  her  go  with  the  pledges,  fearing,  if  he  should  make  farther  search 
after  her,  it  might  injure  his  reputation. 

About  three  months  after  this  Judah  received  intelligence  that  his  daughter-in-law 
had  played  the  harlot,  and  that  she  was  certainly  with  child.  Enraged  at  her  incon- 
tinence, he  ordered  her  to  be  brought  forth,  and,  according  to  the  laws  of  the  country, 
publicly  burnt.:}: 

Tamar,  instead  of  being  alarmed  at  this  dreadful  sentence  pronounced  against  her, 
only  sent  the  pledges  to  Judah,  and  with  them  this  message:  "That  the  man  to 
whom  those  belonged  was  the  very  person  by  whom  she  was  with  child." 

Judah,  struck  with  confusion  at  the  sight  of  the  pledge  he  so  well  knew,  and  re- 
flecting on  the  injury  he  had  done  Tamar  in  not  fulfilling  the  promise  of  giving  her 
his  son  in  marriage,  he  acknowledged  her  to  be  less  culpable  in  the  Avhole  affair  than 
himself.  "  She  hath,"  said  he,  "  been  more  righteous  than  I."i|  Tamar's  ends  were 
answered  in  this  stratagem,  for  Judah  immediately  took  her  home  to  his  house,  but 
never  after  had  any  intercourse  with  her. 

When  the  time  of  Tamar's  delivery  came,  she  was  brought  to  bed  of  twins,  whose 
births  were  attended  with  these  singular  circumstances.     One  of  them  having  put 

*  That  veils  were  not  peculiar  to  harlots,  but  worn  by  the  most  modest  women  in  those  times,  there  is 
not  the  least  doubt :  yet  as  harlots  were  not  then  allowed  to  enter  into  cities,  they  usually  sat  in  the 
public  ways,  and  covered  their  faces  with  a  veil,  in  order  to  conceal  their  infamy  ;  and  some  assert  Uial  the 
veils  they  wore  differed  from  those  used  by  modest  women.  Tamar  assumed  that  character,  most  probably, 
to  engage  Shelah.  who  was  her  betrothed  husband,  and  who  she  might  expect  would  come  with  his  father ; 
but,  being  disappointed  of  him,  she  gratified  Judah,  in  order  to  be  again  taken  into  the  family. 

t  The  word  here  translated  a  signet  should  have  been  a  ring,  which  ornaments  were  then  worn  according 
to  their  different  ranks.  At  that  time  there  could  be  no  occasion  for  signets,  it  being  mcist  i)robuble  that 
writing  was  not  then  known.  By  the  word  bracelets  is  generally  understood  a  girdle  of  twisted  silk,  which 
either  hung  from  the  neck,  or  was  fastened  round  the  waist  somewhat  in  the  form  of  a  child's  sash. 

t  It  may  appear  strange  tliat  Judah  should  have  such  authority  as  to  order  this  punishment  to  be  inllictcd 
on  his  daughter-in-law  Tamar.  But  it  Is  to  be  observed  that  the  ancients  supposed  every  man  to  be  judge  or 
chief  magistrate  in  his  own  family  ;  so  that,  though  Tamar  was  a  Canaanite,  yet,  as  she  married  into  .)u- 
dah's  family,  and  brought  disgrace  upon  it,  she  necessarily  lay  under  the  cognizance  of  liim,  who  may  be 
supposed,  from  what  followed,  to  have  suspended  the  sentence,  till  he  had  made  farther  inquiry  into  tiio 
nature  of  her  offence. 

H  He  does  not  say  Tamar  was  more  holy  or  chaste,  but  more  righteous  or  just ;  that  is,  Judah,  not  keep- 
ing his  promise  in  marrying  her  to  Shelah,  provoked  her  to  lay  this  trap  for  him,  resolving  since  he  would 
not  let  her  have  children  by  Shelah,  she  would  have  them  by  him.  Thus,  though  slie  may  be  deemed  more 
wicked  in  the  sight  of  God,  she  appeareth  more  just  in  the  opinion  of  Judah. 


88  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

forth  his  hand,  the  midwife  immediately  tied  around  it  a  scarlet  thread,  in  order  to 
distinguish  him  as  the  first-born;  but  the  child  having  withdrawn  its  hand,  the  other 
made  its  way,  and  came  first  into  the  world.  This  occasioned  his  name  to  be  called 
Pharez,  which  signifies  "breaking  forth:"  the  other  was  called  Zarah,  which  im- 
plies "  he  ariseth,"  alluding  to  the  sign  he  gave  of  his  coniing,  by  putting  forth  his 
hand. 

What  farther  circumstances  occurred,  after  this,  relative  to  Tamar,  we  are  not  in- 
formed ;  but  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  she  continued  the  remainder  of  her  life 
in  the  house  of  Judah,  and  that  she  lived  the  whole  time  in  a  state  of  widowhood. 

Having,  with  the  sacred  historian,  mentioned  the  before-mentioned  particulars 
elative  to  Judah  and  his  family,  we  shall,  in  like  manner,  now  resume  the  history 
of  Joseph,  and  relate  the  various  adventures  and  enterprises  that  befell  him  during  his 
residence  in  Egypt. 

From  the  time  that  Joseph  had  first  admission  into  Potiphar's  family,  he  conducted 
himself  with  the  greatest  diligence  and  fidelity.  By  his  faithful  services  he  so  ob- 
tained the  favor  of  his  master,  that,  after  some  time,  he  not  only  dismissed  him  from 
every  laborious  employment,  but  made  him  superintendent  ot  his  whole  property, 
and  committed  the  charge  of  his  house  solely  to  his  care  and  direction. 

Joseph  being  then  appointed  principal  manager  of  his  master's  affairs,  both  within 
doors  and  without,  the  Lord  was  pleased  to  bestow  a  blessing  on  the  house  of  the 
Egyptian ;  who,  by  means  of  Joseph,  flourished  exceedingly,  and  being  sensible  of 
the  cause  of  his  very  singular  success,  daily  increased  in  his  good  offices  toward  his 
faithful  servant. 

Thus  circumstanced,  Joseph  had  reason  to  hope  for  a  comfortable  life,  though  sold 
to  slavery ;  and  to  expect,  in  time,  his  liberty,  as  a  reward  for  his  truth  and  fidelity. 
But  it  pleased  the  Almighty  farther  to  exercise  his  faith  and  patience,  in  order  to 
prepare  him  for  a  still  brighter  display  of  his  grace  and  goodness  toward  his  chosen 
people. 

Joseph  was  now  about  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  of  a  comely  form,  beautiful  com- 
plexion, and  winning  deportment.  These  united  charms  not  only  engaged  the  atten- 
tion, but  also  excited  the  love  of  his  master's  wife,  who,  when  all  tacit  tokens  to  draw 
the  youth  into  an  indulgence  of  her  unlawful  flame  failed,  was  so  fired  by  her  eager 
passion,  that  she  broke  through  every  rule  of  decency,  and,  in  plain  terms,  courted 
him  to  her  bed.  But  how  great  was  her  surprise  when,  instead  of  a  ready  compli- 
ance, as  she  probably  expected,  she  found  herself  not  only  denied,  but  likewise 
severely  reprimanded  for  her  dissolute  and  illegal  passion !  "  Behold,"  said  he,  "  my 
master  wotteth  not  what  is  with  me  in  the  house,  and  he  hath  committed  all  that 
he  hath  to  my  hand.  There  is  none  greater  in  this  house  than  I ;  neither  hath  he 
kept  back  anything  from  me,  but  thee,  because  thou  art  his  wife :  how  then  can  I 
do  this  great  wickedness,  and  sin  against  God?"* 

But  this  repulse,  sufficient  to  have  filled  with  shame  a  mind  not  entirely  lost  to 
honor  and  virtue,  had  no  eff'ect  on  this  lewd  woman,  who  determined  still,  if  possible, 
to  obtain  her  ends.  After  making  several  other  fruitless  attempts,  at  length  a  favorable 
opportunity  ofi'ered  for  accomplishing  her  wishes.  It  happened  one  day  that  Poti- 
phar  was  engaged  abroad  on  some  particular  business,  and  all  the  servants,  except 
Joseph,  were  employed  about  their  work  in  the  adjoining  fields.  In  the  course  of 
the  day  (having  properly  prepared  herself  for  the  purpose)  Joseph's  mistress  called 
him  to  her  apartment,  which  he  had  no  sooner  entered  than  she  addressed  herself  to 
him  in  a  language  calculated  to  steal  the  soul  from  virtue,  and  melt  the  coldest  con- 
tinence into  the  warmest  desires.  But  Joseph's  integrity  was  not  to  be  shaken. 
Though  her  arguments  Avere  enforced  Avith  all  the  blandishments  of  art,  they  made 

*  Ttiis  answer  was  truly  noble,  and  is  hiijhly  worthy  of  imitation  :  it  speaks  a  mind  whose  passions  arc  in 
subjection  to  the  ruling  principle  of  reason  and  conscience  ;  a  niiud  that  had  the  most  delicate  sentiments 
of  honor,  and  the  most  lively  impressions  of  religion.  His  honest  heart  startles  at  the  tliought  of  commit- 
ting so  foul  a  crime  as  adultery  ;  and  the  ingratitude  and  breach  of  trust  with  which  it  would  have  been 
accompanied  in  him,  present  it  to  his  mind  in  the  blackest  colors  ;  so  that  these  virtuous  sentiments  con- 
curring with  his  awful  reverence  of  the  Supreme  Ueing,  wlio  beholds  and  judges  all  the  actions  of  the  sons 
of  men,  enal]led  him  to  repel  this  violent  assault  with  the  utmost  horror  and  indignation.  This  is  an  ex- 
ample of  the  greatest  probity  and  inrtexible  integrity  ;  an  example  worthy  of  the  highest  commendation. 
Joseph  was  then  a  servant  in  a  strange  country  ;  he  was  tempted  by  an  imperious  woman :  if  he  comphed, 
he  would  be  sure  of  concealment  and  rewards  ;  he  would  be  sure  to  enjoy  liis  place,  and  be  advanced  ;  if 
he  resisted,  he  must  expect  to  be  accused  and  treated  as  a  criminal,  be  deprived  of  his  place,  of  his  liberty, 
of  his  fame,  and  perhaps  of  his  life  too.  These  are  weighty  considerations  ;  but  he  prefers  chains,  ignominy 
and  even  death  itself,  to  the  crime  of  committing  so  heinous  an  action,  and  sinning  against  God. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


89 


90  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

not  the  least  impression  on  him.  On  the  contrary,  he  again  expostulated  with  her 
on  the  heinousness  of  the  crime,  begging  her  not  to  desire  him  to  commit  an  act 
which  must  be  destructive  to  him  and  disgraceful  to  her.  But  all  his  reasonings  Avere 
of  none  effect :  instead  of  her  passion  being  allayed  it  was  farther  inflamed,  and  at 
length,  breaking  through  all  decency,  she  caught  him  by  his  cloak,  and  attempted  to 
compel  him  to  compliance.  He  struggled  Avith  his  mistress  for  some  time,  and  find- 
ing he  had  no  other  way  of  escaping,  he  slipped  himself  from  his  garment,  which  he 
left  in  her  hand,  and  precipitately  fled. 

Fired  with  resentment  at  the  supposed  indignity,  and  fearful  of  the  disgrace  that 
would  attend  the  discovery  of  her  shameful  passion,  she  resolved  to  shield  herself  hv 
laying  a  malicious  accusation  against  Joseph.  Accordingly,  she  began  by  making  a 
most  horrid  outcry,  which  immediately  brought  in  all  the  servants  who  were  Avithin 
hearing  to  her  assistance.  As  soon  as  they  entered  the  room  she  showed  them  Jo- 
seph's cloak,  and  at  the  same  time  thus  vehemently  exclaimed :  "  See,"  said  she, 
"  he  hath  brought  in  a  Hebrew  unto  us  to  mock  us :  he  came  in  unto  me  to  lie  Avith 
me."  And  farther  to  engage  them  in  her  cause  Avhen  the  affair  should  come  to  ex- 
amination, she  craftily  added :  "  And  I  cried  Avith  a  loud  voice,  and  when  he  heard 
it,  he  left  his  garment  Avith  me  and  fled."  Having  then  prepared  the  servants  to 
confirm  her  declaration,  she  laid  the  cloak  by  her,  in  order  to  produce  it  as  an  evi- 
dence against  Joseph  Avhen  his  master  should  return. 

By  the  time  Potiphar  came  home  she  had  dressed  up  the  story  so  well,  and  ex- 
pressed the  pretended  indignity  put  upon  her  by  the  HebreAV*  servant  (as  she  called 
him)  with  such  an  air  of  resentment,  that  he  made  no  doubt  of  the  truth  of  her  tale. 
The  credulous  husband,  little  suspecting  his  wife's  treachery,  Avas  particularly  pre- 
possessed with  the  circumstance  of  the  cloak,  and  therefore,  without  making  the 
least  inquiry  into  the  merits  of  the  cause,  immediately  committed  Joseph  to  the 
king's  prison! 

Though  the  innocent  Joseph  was  thus  persecuted,  in  consequence  of  his  base  and 
treacherous  mistress,  and  Avas  thereby  bereft  both  of  friends  and  relations,  yet  he  was 
not  without  that  divine  Friend  Avho  had  hitherto  protected  him.  He  had  not  been 
long  in  prison  before  his  virtuous  and  obliging  deportment  gained  him  the  peculiar 
favor  of  the  keeper,  insomuch  that  he  not  only  intrusted  him  with  the  management 
of  the  affairs  belonging  to  the  prison,  but  also  with  the  custody  of  the  prisoners 
themselves. 

Some  time  after  Joseph's  confinement,  it  happened  that  two  persons  of  note  (name- 
ly, the  king's  cup-bearer  and  his  chief  baker)  Avere,  for  some  offence  or  other,t  com- 
mitted to  the  same  prison,  and  being  delivered  to  the  care  of  Joseph,  he  attended 
them  in  person,  and  by  that  means  an  intimacy  betAveen  them  was  soon  established. 

Joseph,  going  one  morning  to  their  apartment,  as  he  Avas  accustomed  to  do,  found 
them  both  in  a  very  pensive  and  melancholy  situation.  On  inquiring  the  caiase  of 
this  sudden  change,  they  told  him  that  each  had  (the  preceding  night)  a  very  extra- 
ordinary dream ;  and  that  they  were  uneasy  on  account  of  being  in  a  place  Avhere 
they  could  not  have  a  person  to  interpret  them.  To  allay  their  superstitious  humor 
in  trusting  to  diviners  and  soothsayers,  Joseph  told  them  that  the  interpretation  of 
dreams  did  not  depend  upon  rules  of  art ;  but,  if  there  Avas  any  certainty  in  them,  it 
must  proceed  from  a  divine  inspiration.  Having  said  this,  he  desired  that  each  Avould 
relate  the  particulars  of  Avhat  he  had  dreamed,  and  he  would  give  them  his  opinion 
with  respect  to  the  interpretation. 

The  cup-bearer  told  his  dream  first,  the  substance  of  which  Avas  as  follows :  "  That 
m  his  sleep  he  fancied  he  saw  a  A'ine  Avith  three  branches,  which,  all  on  a  sudden, 
budded,  then  blossomed,  and  at  length  brought  forth  ripe  grapes:  that  he  held 
Pharaoh's  cup  in  his  hand,  pressed  the  juice  into  the  same,  and  gave  it  to  the  king, 
who,  as  usual,  took  it  and  drank."  This  dream  Joseph  interpreted  thus:  "The 
three  branches,"  said  he,  "  denote  three  da^'^s,  Avithin  which  Pharaoh  Avill  restore  thee 
to  thy  place,  and  thou  shah,  as  usual,  give  him  to  drink,  according  to  the  duties  of 

*  She  did  not  call  Joseph  by  his  own  name,  but  that  of  the  people  to  whom  he  belonged.  This  she  did  in 
order  to  increase  her  husband's  rage  against  him,  the  Egyptians  and  Hebrews  being,  at  this  time,  inveterate 
enemies  to  each  other. 

t  Some  authors  are  of  opinion,  that  the  crime  of  which  these  men  were  accused  was  that  of  having  em- 
bezzled tne  king's  treasure  ;  but  the  Targum  says,  they  had  attempted  to  poison  him.  Whatever  were  theii 
crimes,  they  must  have  been  very  great  persons  with  respect  to  their  l>jrth ;  for,  according  to  Diodorus  Sir- 
ulus,  none  but  the  sons  of  the  chief  priests  were  admitted  into  those  offices 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  91 

tny  office."  He  then  told  the  cup-bearer  that,  if  his  interpretation  proved  true,  he 
hoped  he  would,  in  his  prosperity,  remember  him,  and  recommend  his  case  to  the 
king,  since  the  truth  was,  he  had  been  fraudulently  taken  from  his  own  country,  and 
thrown  into  prison,  without  having  been  guilty  of  the  least  offence. 

The  baker,  hearing  so  happy  an  interpretation  of  the  cup-bearer's  dream,  was  the 
more  ready  to  relate  his,  Avhich  was  to  this  effect ;  "  That  while,  as  he  thought,  he 
had  on  his  head  three  wicker  baskets,  in  the  uppermost  of  which  were  several  kinds 
of  baked  meats  for  the  king's  table,  the  birds  came,  and  ate  them  out  of  the  basket." 
The  interpretation  Joseph  gave  of  this  dream  was,  "  that  the  thr^e  baskets  (even  as 
the  three  branches  had  done)  signified  three  days ;  but  that,  in  the  space  of  that 
time,  tlie  king,  having  inquired  into  his  conduct,  and  found  him  guilty,  would  order 
him  to  be  first  beheaded,  and  afterward  his  body  to  be  hanged  on  a  gibbet,  for  the 
fowls  of  the  air  to  devour  his  flesh."* 

As  Joseph  had  foretold,  so  it  came  to  pass ;  for,  three  days  after  this,  the  cup- 
bearei  was  restored  and  the  baker  hanged.  The  cup-bearer,  however,  proved  very 
ungrateful  to  Joseph,  in  not  using  the  least  endeavors  to  get  his  releasement,  and  he 
might  probably  have  continued  in  prison  the  remainder  of  his  life,  had  it  not  been 
for  the  following  incident. 

When  Joseph  had  been  more  than  two  years  in  prison,  it  happened  that  Pharaoh 
the  king  had  in  one  night  two  very  portentous  dreams,  which  gave  him  the  more 
uneasiness,  because  none  of  the  Egyptian  Magif  (whom  he  consulted  the  next  morn- 
ing) could  give  him  the  least  explanation  of  their  meaning.  While  the  king  was  in 
this  state  of  perplexity  on  account  of  his  dreams,  he  received  some  agreeable  intelli- 
gence from  his  cup-bearer,  who,  recollecting  Joseph,  told  him  that  while  he  and  the 
chief  baker  were  under  his  majesty's  displeasure  in  prison,  each  of  them,  in  the 
same  night,  had  a  dream,  which  a  young  man,  a  Hebrew,  then  in  prison  with  them, 
interpreted  exactly,  and  as  the  events  happened ;  and  that,  in  his  opinion,  he  had  a 
talent  that  way  much  superior  to  any  that  had  been  hitherto  consulted. 

Pharaoh  was  so  pleased  with  this  intelligence,  and  so  anxious  to  have  his  dreams 
explained,  that  he  immediately  despatched  a  messenger  to  the  prison,  with  orders 
to  bring  Joseph  before  him.  Accordingly,  after  havmg  shaved  himself,  and  put  on 
his  best  attire,  he  left  the  prison,  and  being  conducted  to  the  palace,  was  immediately 
introduced  to  the  king,  who,  after  a  short  time,  related  to  him  his  dreams  as  follows : 
"  That,  as  he  was  walking  on  the  banks  of  the  river,|:  he  saw  seven  fat  kine  come 
out  of  it,  and  feed  on  the  meadow ;  after  which  seven  others,  exceeding  lean,  and 
frightful  to  behold,  came  also  to  the  river,  and  devoured  the  seven  fat  kine.  That 
after  this  he  dreamed  again,  and  fancied  he  saw  seven  full  ears  of  corn,  proceeding 
all  from  the  same  stalk,  which  Avere,  in  like  manner  with  the  kine,  devoured  by 
seven  others  that  were  blasted  and  withered." 

When  the  king  had  finished  relating  his  dreams,  Joseph  (after  givmg  him  to  un- 
derstand that  it  was  by  the  assistancell  of  God  alone  he  was  enabled  to  be  an  mter- 
preter  of  dreams)  told  him  "  that  the  seven  kine  and  seven  ears  of  corn  signified  the 

*  It  ma)'  appear  strange  that  the  sacred  historian  should  mention  the  baker's  being  first  beheaded,  and  af- 
terward hanged.  But  it  is  to  be  observed  tliat  this  practice  was  common  at  that  time.  Hence  Jeremiah 
says,  "  princes  were  hanged  up  by  their  hands,"  intimating  that  their  heads  had  been  previously  cut  otf. 
See  Lamentation  v.  12.    Also  1  Sam.  .xxxi.  9,  10. 

t  The  magicians,  or  interpreters  of  dreams,  were,  at  that  time,  a  regular  body  of  people  in  Egypt,  and 
always  consulted  with  respect  to  their  pretended  knowledge  of  future  events.  Their  method  of  interpre- 
tation was  from  an  attentive  consideration  of  the  symbols  or  images  that  appeared  in  the  dream.  Thus, 
the  best  they  could  pretend  was  no  more  than  conjecture  ;  but  they  always  gave  their  answers  to  whatever 
questions  they  were  asked  in  such  ambiguous  words  that  they  could  hardly  be  detected. 

i  The  river  here  mentioned  was  the  Nile,  so  much  celebrated  in  ancient  history.  This  river  has  its  rise 
:n  Numidia,  and  after  running  many  miles  northward  through  a  country  scorched  with  the  violent  heat  of 
the  sun,  it  enters  Upper  Egypt  with  great  force,  and  passes  over  a  cataract  or  broken  rock.  Hence  it 
continues  its  course  still  north,  and  receiving  the  addition  of  many  other  rivers,  it  falls  over  another  cat- 
aract, and  then  continues  its  course  to  the  Lower  Egypt  as  far  as  Grand  Cairo,  after  which  it  divides  itself 
into  three  branches,  in  the  form  of  the  Greek  letter  A,  and  then  empties  itself  into  the  Mediterranean  sea. 
Once  every  year  it  overflows  the  greater  part  of  Lower  Egypt,  and  from  that  proceeds  either  scarcity  or 
plenty.  If  tlie  water  rises  too  high,  scarcity  ensues,  because  it  lies  too  long  on  the  ground;  and  if  too  low, 
then  there  is  not  a  sulficiency  to  fertilize  the  soil. 

II  The  answer  Joseph  gave  the  king  when  he  first  asked  him  to  interpret  his  dreams  was  exceeding  mod- 
est, and  tnuch  of  the  same  nature  with  that  given  by  Daniel  to  King  Nebuchadnezzar.  See  Daniel  ii.  28, 
29.  He  elevates  the  monarch's  mind  to  the  first  cause  of  the  dreams  which  so  troubled  liim,  and  engages 
his  attention  by  making  him  hope  he  should  give  him  an  answer,  of  which  God  himself  was  the  author: 
"  It  is  not,"  says  he,  "  in  me  ;  God  shall  give  Pharaoh  an  answer  of  peace."  Which  was  as  much  as  to  say, 
"  I  have  no  more  skill  than  those  already  consulted  ;  from  God  alone  the  interpretation  must  proceed;  and 
he,  I  trust,  will  give  a  favorable  one  to  your  dreams." 


92  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

same  thing, 'and  the  repetition  of  the  dream  only  denoted  the  certainty  of  the  event, 
that,  therefore,  as  the  lean  kine  seemed  to  eat  up  the  fat,  and  the  withered  ears  of 
corn  to  consume  the  full  and  flourishing;  so,  after  seven  years  of  great  plenty,  other 
seven  years  of  extreme  famine  would  succeed,  insomuch  that  the  remembrance  of 
plenty  would  be  lost  throughout  the  land  of  Egypt." 

After  Joseph  had  thus  interpreted  the  king's  dreams,  he  advised  him  to  improve 
the  hints  given  in  them,  by  appointing  some  wise  and  prudent  person  over  his  whole 
kingdom,  who  should  take  care  to  build  granaries  and  appoint  officers  under  him  in 
everv  province,  anjj  that  these  officers  should  collect  and  lay  up  a  fifth  part  of  each 
plentiful  year's  produce,  that  a  proper  supply  might  be  had  during  the  succeeding 
years  of  famine. 

This  careful  and  prudent  advice  was  highly  approved  of  by  the  king,  who,  struck 
with  the  extraordinary  foresight  and  sagacity  of  Joseph,  did  not  long  hesitate  in  fix- 
ino'  on  the  person  thus  recommended ;  for,  turning  first  to  his  subjects,  and  then  to 
Joseph,  he  thus  respectively  addressed  them :  "  Can  we,"  says  he,  "  find  such  a  one 
as  this  is  ?  a  man  m  whom  the  Spirit  of  God  is.  Forasmuch  as  God  has  showed 
thee  all  this,  there  is  none  so  discreet  and  wise  as  thou  art :  thou  shalt  be  over  my 
•house ;  and  according  to  thy  word  shall  all  my  people  be  ruled :  only  in  the  throne 
will  I  be  greater  than  thou." 

Having  said  this,  Pharaoh  appointed  Joseph  his  deputy  over  the  land  of  Egypt, 
and  immediately  invested  him  with  the  ensigns  of  that  high  station.  He  took  the 
ring  from  his  own  finger,  and  put  it  on  Joseph's ;  caused  him  to  be  clothed  in  a  robe 
of  fine  linen,  and  put  a  golden  chain  about  his  neck.  He  ordered  him  to  ride  in  the 
chariot  next  to  his  ;  and  that  wherever  he  went  heralds  should  go  before,  to  give 
notice  of  his  coming  to  the  people,  who  should  show  their  subjection  to  him  by  bend- 
ing the  knee  as  he  passed. 

Pharaoh  having  thus  bestowed  on  Joseph  the  greatest  power  and  highest  honors, 
in  order  to  attach  him  more  strongly  to  his  interest,  and  make  him  forget  the  very 
thoughts  of  ever  returning  to  his  own  country,  changed  his  name  from  Joseph  to 
Zaphnath-paaneah;*  soon  after  which  he  procured  him  an  honorable  alliance,  by 
marriage,  with  Asenath,  the  daughter  of  Potipherah,  priest,  or  prince  of  On.f 

Joseph's  prediction  began  now  to  be  fulfilled ;  and  the  plenteous  years  having 
commenced,  he  entered  upon  the  duties  of  the  high  office  with  which  he  had  been 
invested.  He  made  a  progress  ihroughout  the  Avhole  kingdom,  built  granaries  in  all 
the  principal  places,  and  appointed  proper  officers  to  collect  and  lay  up  the  stipulated 
quantity  of  provisions.  The  same  method  he  invariably  pursued  every  season  of  the 
fruitful  years,  till  at  length  he  had  amassed  such  quantities  of  corn  as  even  to  exceed 
computation. 

During  the  seven  years  of  plenty,  Joseph  had  two  sons  by  his  wife  Asenath,  the 
first  of  whom  he  called  Manasseh,  intimating  that  God  had  made  him  forget  all  his 
toils ;  and  the  other  he  called  Ephraim,  because  he  had  made  him  fruitful  in  the 
land  of  his  affliction. 

The  seven  years  of  plenty  being  expired,  those  of  dearth  commenced,  according  to 
Joseph's  prediction,  and  the  famine  was  not  only  spread  throughout  the  land  of 
Egypt,  but  also  the  neighboring  countries.  But,  through  Joseph's  provident  care, 
under  the  blessing  of  Divine  Providence,  Egypt  was  so  well  furnished  with  provisions, 
as  not  only  to  supply  its  own  inhabitants,  but  also  foreigners,  with  bread  and  other 
necessaries  of  life.  The  king  referred  all  who  applied  to  him  for  these  articles,  to 
Joseph,  who  opened  the  storehouses,  and  sold  to  the  Egyptians  and  others,  in  such 
quantities,  and  at  such  rates,  as  seem.ed  to  him  most  just  and  equitable. 

The  famine  having  penetrated  as  far  as  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  particularly  affected 
that  part  of  the  country  where  Jacob  resided,  he,  hearing  there  was  corn  to  be  bought 
in  Egypt,  sent  ten  of  his  sons  thither  for  that  purpose.     On  their  arrival  they  were 

•  The  generality  of  interpreters  are  of  opinion,  that  this  is  a  Coptic  word,  and  implies  arevealer  of  secrets, 
alludinf.'  to  Joseph's  having  interpreted  Pharaoli's  dreams.  It  was  customary,  at  tliis  time,  for  princes  to 
give  foreigners  a  new  name,  to  denote  their  naturalization,  to  talie  away  all  invidious  distinction,  and  de- 
clare them  Worthy  of  their  most  intimate  favor  and  protection. 

t  On  was  a  famous  city  in  Egypt,  situated  between  the  Nile  and  the  Arabian  gulf,  about  twenty  miles 
from  Memphis,  the  metropolis  of  the  kingdom.  Here  was  celebrated  an  annual  festival,  in  honor  of  the 
sun,  from  which  it  was  afterward  called  Hcliopolis.  The  word  we  translate  piiesl  may  signify  one  who 
ministers  at  the  altar,  or  one  who  governs  in  civil  affairs  :  priests  were  anciently  the  chief  men  o(  the 
kingdom  ;  for  kings  themselves  were  priests. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  93 

directed  to  apply  to  Joseph  for  an  order,  Avhom  they  no  sooner  approached,  than 
they  Dowed  themselves  before  hirn,*  as  a  token  of  reverence  to  his  dignified  office. 

Joseph,  at  first  sight,  knew  his  brethren,  but  did  not  choose,  at  present,  to  make 
himself  known  to  them,  intending  to  take  this  opportunity  of  punishing  tiiem  for  tlie 
ill-ireatment  he  had  received  at  their  hands.  The  better  to  effect  his  purpose,  in- 
stead of  speaking  to  them  himself,  he  appointed  an  interpreter,  who,  by  his  directions, 
with  a  severe  look  and  angry  tone  of  voice,  asked  them,  Avhence  they  came. 
They  answered,  "  From  the  land  of  Canaan  to  buy  provisions ;"  upon  which  he 
charged  them  with  being  spies,  who  came  thither  for  no  other  purpose  but  to  dis- 
cover the  weakness  of  the  country.  They  replied,  that  they  came  with  no  other 
intent  than  purely  to  buy  corn  for  their  numerous  family ;  and  that  they  were  all  the 
sons  of  one  man,t  who  once,  indeed,  had  twelve,  but  that  the  youngest  was  left  at 
home,  and  the  next  to  him  was  dead. 

But  Joseph  still  insisted  they  were  spies,  and,  to  put  their  honesty  to  the  test, 
made  this  proposition:  "That,  since,  as  they  said,  they  had  a  younger  brother  at 
home,  some  one  of  them  should  be  despatched  to  bring  him,  while  the  rest  should 
be  kept  in  confinement  till  his  arrival;  and  if  they  did  not  assent  to  this  he  should 
coirsider  them  in  no  other  light  than  that  of  spiesand  enemies."  Having  said  this, 
he  ordered  them  all  to  prison,  there  to  remain  till  they  should  give  a  proper  answer 
to  the  matter  proposed. 

On  the  third  day  of  their  confinement,  Joseph  sent  for  them  again,  and,  showing  a 
more  pleasant  countenance  than  he  had  yet  done,  told  them,  by  means  of  his  huer- 
preter,  that  as  himself  feared  God,  and  was  desirous  of  acting  justly  by  them,  he  was 
unwilling  that  their  family  should  want  provision,  or  that  they  themselves  should 
suffer,  if  innocent.  He  therefore  proposed,  "That  one  of  them  should  be  confined 
as  a  hostage  for  the  rest,  while  they  returned  Avith  corn  for  the  family;  and  that, 
when  they  came  again,  and  brought  their  youngest  brother  with  them,  the  one  con- 
fined should  be  immediately  released,  and  all  of  them  considered  as  men  of  honesty 
and  integrity." 

Being  reduced  to  a  state  of  extremity,  and  knowing  it  was  in  vain  to  remonstrate 
with  one,  under  whose  immediate  power  they  were,  they  unanimously,  though  no 
doubt  with  reluctance,  agreed  to  this  proposal.  The  interpreter  was  at  this  time 
absent,  and,  supposing  no  one  else  understood  their  language,  they,  imagining  their 
present  distressed  situation  was  a  punishment  for  their  cruel  treatment  of  their 
brother,  began,  in  Joseph's  presence,  to  condemn  each  other  for  their  barbarous  con- 
duct. "  Justly,"  said  they,  "  do  we  now  suffer  for  our  cruelty  to  our  brother,  to 
whoni  we  refused  rnercy,  though  he  begged  it  in  the  anguish  of  his  soul ;  therefore 
God  is  just  in  sending  upon  us  this  distress."  Reuben,  who  was  not  so  culpable  as 
the  rest,  told  them,  that  all  this  mischief  might  have  been  prevented  had  they 
listened  to  his  counsel,  and  not  acted  so  inhumanly  to  their  innocent  brother,  for 
whose  sake  it  was  no  more  than  what  they  might  expect,  that  vengeance,  at  one 
rime  or  other,  would  certainly  overtake  them. 

Though  Joseph  could  counterfeit  the  stranger  in  his  looks,  hismein,  and  his  voice, 
et  he  still  reiained  the  brother  in  his  heart.  The  confusion  and  distress  of  his 
rethren  awakened  all  his  fraternal  tenderness,  and  he  was  ohliged  to  withdraw  from 
their  presence  to  give  a  vent  to  his  passions.  In  a  short  time,  however,  he  returned, 
and,  after  commanding  Simeon|:  to  be  bomid  in  their  presence,  he  sent  him  to  prison. 
Having  done  this,  he  set  all  the  rest  at  liberty,  and  ordered  the  officer  who  distributed 
the  corn,  to  supply  them  with  what  they  wanted,  and,  at  the  same  time,  unknown  to 
them,  to  put  each  man's  money  into  the  mouth  of  his  sack. 

»  This  manner  of  salutation  was  common  in  their  own  country,  but  not  in  use  among  the  Egyptians  :  a 
gufficient  proof  that  Jacob's  family  had  little  or  no  acquaintance  witli  the  inhabitants  of  the  neighboring 
kingdoms.  But  by  using  the  customary  form  of  their  family,  tliey  fulfilled  the  dreams  of  Joseph  (as  far  as 
they  had  any  relation  to  themselves)  and  no  doubt  brought  those  dreams  to  Joseph's  remembrance. 

t  This  part  of  their  answer  was  certainly  very  pertinent,  as  it  was  not  probable  that  a  father  would  have 
sent  his  sons,  and  much  less  all  of  them,  in  one  company,  upon  so  dangerous  an  expedition :  nor,  that  one 
particular  person,  or  family,  would  have  formed  a  design  against  so  capital  a  kmgdom  as  that  of  Egypt. 

t  The  Jewish  Rabbles  say,  that  Joseph  determined  to  retain  Simeon  rather  than  any  other,  because  it  was 
he  who  threw  him  into  the  pit.  This  tradition  is  far  from  being  improbable.  It  is  certain  that  Reuben  was 
desirous  of  saving  Joseph,  and  Judah  inclined  to  favor  him  ;  so  that  if  Simeon  had  joined  with  them,  their 
authority  might  have  prevailed  over  the  rest  to  save  him.  We  may  add  to  tliis,  that  Simeon  was  a  violent 
man,  as  is  evident  from  his  barliarous  treatment  of  the  Shechemites  ;  and  that  Joseph  might  think  proper 
to  detain  liim,  as  it  would  least  afflict  his  father. 


I 


94  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

These  orders  being  punctually  obeyed,  they  set  out  for  Canaan,  and  at  the  close  of 
their  first  day's  journey,  met  with  a  circumstance  they  little  expected.  One  of  them 
opening  his  sack  to  give  his  ass  pr-ovender,  observed'  his  money  in  the  mouth  of  it, 
which,  on  examination,  appeared  to  be  the  case  with  all  the  rest.  This  unexpected 
event  gave  them  great  uneasiness,  and,  looking  confusedly  at  each  other,  they  ex- 
claimed, "  What  is  this  God  hath  done  unto  us  ?"  They  iniagined  it  to  be  a  plot' con- 
certed by  the  viceroy  of  Egypt,  and  that  he  intended,  on  their  return,  to  make  them 
slaves,  by  accusing  them  of  theft. 

Prosecuting  their  journey,  they  at  length  arrived  at  the  habitation  of  their  vene- 
able  parent,  to  whom  they  related  all  the  particulars  of  their  journey  into  the  land 
f  Egypt.  They  informed  him  of  the  treatment  they  had  received  from  the  viceroy  : 
that  he  had  accused  them  of  being  spies,  and  that  they  had  no  method  of  clearing 
themselves,  but  by  leaving  Simeon  bound  in  prison,  as  a  pledge,  till  they  should 
return  with  Benjamin,  on  which  terms  alone  their  innocence  could  be  justified. 

The  good  old  patriarch  was  sensibly  affected  at  these  melancholy  tidings,  and,  in 
the  affliction  of  his  soul,  thus  complained:  "That  one  way  or  other,  he  had  been 
deprived  of  his  children  ;  that  Joseph  was  dead,  Simeon  was  left  in  Egypt,  and  now 
they  were  going  to  take  Benjamin  from  him  likewise,  which  were  things  too  heavy 
for  him  to  bear." 

Reuben,  finding  his  father  thus  unhappily  circumstanced,  in  order  to  mitigate  his 
affliction,  told  him  he  need  not  be  apprehensive  of  any  danger  from  the  absence  of 
Benjamin.  He  begged  that  he  would  put  him  under  his  protection,  and  at  the  same 
time  assured  him,  that  if  he  did  not  bring  him  safe  back,  he  would  readily  agree  to 
the  loss  of  his  own  two  sons  for  such  defect. 

But  this  proposal  had  little  weight  with  Jacob,  and,  instead  of  assuaging  his  grief, 
only  contributed  to  augment  it.  Resolved,  therefore,  not  to  trust  Beniauiin  with 
them,  he  answered  Reuben  as  follows  :  "  My  son,"  said  he,  "  shall  not  go  d<;wn  with 
you,  for  his  brother  is  dead,  and  he  is  left  alone  ;  if  mischief  befall  him  by  the  way  in 
the  which  ye  go,  then  shall  ye  bring  down  my  gray  hairs  withsttrruw  to  ihe  grave."* 

In  this  state  of  doubt  and  perplexity  did  they  spend  their  time,  till  the  famine, 
every  day  increasing,  and  their  stock  of  provisions  being  nearly  consumed,  Jacob  told 
hissons  to  go  again  into  Egypt  for  a  fresh  supply;  but  at  ihe  same  time  took  no 
notice  of  their  obligation  to  the  viceroy  to  bring  with  them  their  youngest  brother. 

Jacob's  sons,  knowing  their  departure  without  Benjamin  would  not  only  argue  in 
them  the  greatest  folly  and  rashness,  but  also  expose  them  to  the  resealnient  of  (hi- 
viceroy,  and,  at  the  same  time,  thinking  it  impossible  to  obtain  their  father's  consent, 
were  reduced  to  the  utmost  dilemma.  Reuben  had  already  tried  his  efforts  in  vain  ; 
Judah,  therefore,  now  addressed  him  m  more  positive  terms,  urging  at  once  tiie  ab- 
solute and  indispensable  necessity  of  taking  Benjamin  with  them,  "as  the  viceroy 
had  most  solenrnly  dtclared  they  should  not  so  much  as  see  his  face,  if,  a'l  their  re- 
turn, he  was  not  with  them." 

Jacob,  being  now  put  to  his  last  shifts  for  the  preservation  of  hi.?  favorite  son  Benja- 
min, knew  not  how  to  act,  and,  in  the  fulness  of  his  soul,  reproved  his  sons  for  having 
informed  the  viceroy  they  liad  a  brother.  In  answer  to  tiiis  Judah  told  him,  that 
what  was  said  upon  that  head  proceeded  from  the  simplicity  of  tlieir  hearts ;  thai 
he  inquired  so  minutely  into  their  circumstances  and  fiimily,  that  they  could  not 
possibly  avoid  giving  th.-  information  he  required;  and  added,  that  they  had  little 
suspicion  of  his  making  so  singular  a  demand. 

Judah,  finding  his  father  waver  a  little  in  his  resolution,  repeated  the  necessity  of 
their  going  again  into  Egypt,  and  pressed  him  to  consent  to  give  up  their  brother 
Benjamin,  solemnly  promising  that,  at  the  hazard  of  liis  own  life,  he  would  lake  care, 
and  return  him  safe  into  his  hands.  "Send  the  lad,"  said  he,  "with  me,  and  we  will 
arise  and  go;  that  we  may  live,  and  not  die,  Ixjth  we.  and  those,  and  also  our  little 
ones:  I  will  be  surety  for  him;  of  my  hand  shah  thdu  require  him:  if  1  bring  him 
not  unto  thee,  and  set  him  before  thee,  then  let  me  bear  the  blame  for  ever." 

From  the  strong  importunities  of  Judah,  and  a  proper  reflection  on  the  necessity  of 

»  Nothing  can  be  more  tendeiand  picturesque  than  tliese  words  of  tlie  venerable  palriarcli.  Still  f-.ffected 
With  tliq  rejiiembrance  of  his  liclovud  Kachel.he  can  not  think  of  parting;  vvilli  IJ(!njaniin,  the  only  remaining 
pled;,'e  of  that  love,  now  Joseph,  as  he  supposes,  is  no  more  ;  for,  by  her,  he  had  only  these  two  sons.  We 
here  seem,  as  it  were,  to  behold  the  array-headed  venerable  parent  pleading  with  his  sons  ;  tlie  belovod 
Benjamin  standinj^by  his  side  ;  impatient  sorrow  in  their  countenances,  and,  in  his,  all  the  roeliii;;  anxiety 
si  patern  il  lore. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  95 

aHairs  Jacob  was  at  length  induced  to  comply,  and  therefore  delivered  up  to  them 
h"  uu  Beabn.in.  But  before  their  departure  he  advised  them,  since  .t  inast  be  so, 
\akpadSle  quantity  of  money  with  them,  lest  there  should  luive  been-  some 
i.take  made  a  the  other  that  was  returned,  and  the  price  of  what  they  liud  already 
buu  'lit  demanded.  He  likewise  told  them  to  take  some  such  presents  a.  the  coumiy 
artfeded  and  what  they  imagined  would  be  most  acceptable  to  the  viceroy.  Havmg 
said  his  e  entreated^Heaven  for  their  safety,  and  then  disn^issed  them  with  an 
Sunfh^art  though  fully  resolved  to  acquiesce  in  God's  good  Providence,  whatever 

'"'un'theil^a'rrlvaUn  Egypt,  thev  immediately  went  to  the  king's  principal  granaries 
and  n  Psented  themselves  before  Joseph,  who,  seeing  iheir  brother  Benjamin  with 
Zn    Sue  l.rs  to  his  steward  to  conduct  them   to  his  house,  where  he  desigiied 

e«h    .1(1  that  dav  dine  with  him.     They  now  began  to  have  disagreeable  appre- 
^^ii^  s  feJ  ^- th  s  mi,<jht  be  a  contrivance  against  them  on  account  of  the  money 

icru;.  ? ■  uvued  in  their  sacks.     They,  therefore,  before  they  entered  the  house, 
aauamed  ^r^^^^^  with  the  whole' affair ;  and,  to  demonstrate  their  honesty, 

S  him  ha  besides  the  money  which  they  found  returned,  they  had  brought  more 
w  fhXm  to  buy  a  fresh  quantity  of  provision.  The  steward,  having  been  let  into 
The  Ucret  a\"d  pjrc^^  the  concern  they  were  in,  desired  thein  not  to  make  them- 

elvesTn  he  least  uneasy.  He  told  them,  that  what  they  found  in  their  sacks  they 
ou'h?  to  ook  upon  as  a  treasure  sent  from  Heaven:  he  owned  that  he  himself  had 
f.iflv  received  their  money,  and  gave  them  assurance  that  they  would  never  hear 
more  Jfk  To  convince  them  that  they  might  rely  on  what  he  said,  he  left  them  a 
Zrtthiie  and  then  returned  with  their  brother  iSimeon  unbound:  after  which  he 
acquaiS  tSem  ^^^^^  thev  were  that  day  to  dine  with  us  master ;  and,  m  the  mean- 
S  "howed  them  all  the  tokens  of  civility  due  to  welcome  guests. 
Ts  the  thne  was  near  at  hand  that  Joseph  was  to  come   home  to  dmner,  his 

AS  tne  time  was  1  present  ready;  and,  on  his  entering  the  apartment, 

^^I'^aUthin'  n°h:  mosr'hSmM"  a„d  ^ul„„i.sive  manner,    He  salmed  .hem 
iney  gave  iL  uiui  anxious  inquiry  concerning  the  health  and 

:L\i«'oPrirlreffe      T:'1cK  U,ey  sub.'ni.sively  replied  :"  Thy  servam, 

°"U"u:i;'  foiepl^add'SleV  llu  bredrfn  general  ,er,.s.  his  attention  was  prin- 

eipIlfflhishr„.herBe,,a,nin^^^^ 

mquirmg  of  the  rest    f  he  was    ''=  >|»'^;'j^  j      i„  j^^.^^  „„4    ?.  q^j  te  graeious 

rfo™  eTSn'^-  "h  fpSoas  weie  tto»  raised  to  such  a  piteh   that,  unable  to 
unlo  thee  111)  son.  i'  ^        from  his  eyes,  and  fearnig  lest  he 

ZSHiscovS  hmi  self  too  sooZhe  retfred  hito  an  adjoining,  apartment,  aad  there 

l£SiK-!  z^z,  a-^if  haf ^;.^hr5.Sro  tr: 
-K\fomX?fX"eSt^;^;:;^rr°rit^ 

JoJeph  alone  on  aceount  of  his  dignity  ;  another  for  his  Egypl.an  guests,  who  would 
"iefe'l^  te';:  "if  pla'-c:;!  -^-rort'^iV'Srio  .Heir  seniority,  a  circu.ti 

respective  ages.  behaved  in  the  most  courteous  manner,  not  only 

.      During  the  ^^^^"^"'"J^V^fg^PJj^  He  sent  from  his  own  tablet  messes  to 

''  ^,;'  f'btrolhers    but  wit^^^^^^^^^  that  the  one  sent  to  Benjamin  was  fivQ 

Sneslarc;er  thin  any  of  the  Jest.ll     This  was  another  mystery  they  could  not  account 

°         u        ,    I    ♦;..,nfRp.iiammbv  his  mother  Rachel.    His  calling  liim  son,  therefore,  was  only 

10  themselves,  as  fathers  "^  t'^^  cou'Uiy  •  jjgbrews  did  not  arise,  as  some  have  imagined,  from  the 

t  The  dishke  .^v'f^;the  EgypUans^t^ook^^^^  de^ee  in  life,  bcig  shepherds,  an  employment,  which,  though 

nrSlISfm'^i.rg"  ^^^^^^^  t°  •^^  P^-^^^  -  °-  tame,  and  the  ^sterof 

the  feast  to  distribute  to  every  one  his  porU^^^^^^    particular  regard  to  Benjamin,  bat  also  to  observe  whether 
U.e  Svould  roo}ru;on';heSo''u^g:r  brother  w^h  the  same  env.ous  eye  as  they  had  formerly  done  upon 


9o  •  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

for ;  however,  they  made  themselves  easy  for  the  present,  and  enjoyed  the  repast 
which  had  been  so  bountifully  prepared  for  them. 

The  entertainment  being  over,  Joseph's  brethren  took  their  leave,  and  made  the 
necessary  preparations  for  setting  off,  the  next  morning,  to  the  land  of  Canaan,  pleased 
with  the  thoughts  of  what  had  passed,  and  the  satisfaction  their  aged  parent  would 
receive  on  their  safe  arrival.  But  Joseph  had  one  more  fright  for  them  still  in  re- 
serve. He  ordered  his  steward,  Avhen  he  filled  their  sacks  with  corn,  to  return  their 
money  (as  he  had  done  before)  but  into  Benjamin's  sack  not  only  to  put  his  money, 
but  the  silver  cup  likewise,  out  of  which  himself  was  accustomed  to  drink.* 

This  being  done,  early  the  next  morning  they  proceeded  on  their  journey  toward 
Canaan;  but  they  had  not  got  far  when  Joseph  ordered  his  steward  to  pursue  them, 
and  upbraid  them  with  ingratitude  in  having  so  basely  requited  his  master's  civility, 
as  to  steal  away  his  cup. 

The  steward  did  as  he  was  commanded,  and  having  overtaken  them,  accused  them 
of  theft.  Conscious  of  their  innocence,  they  were  not  in  the  least  affected  at  the 
charge.  As  a  test  of  their  integrity  they  reminded  the  steward  of  their  bringing  back 
the  money  which  they  found  in  their  sacks  in  their  former  journey ;  and  to  obviate 
every  suspicion  of  their  being  guilty  of  the  accusation  laid  against  them,  they  offered 
to  stand  search  under  the  severest  penalties:  "With  whomsoever  of  thy  servants," 
said  they,  "  it  may  be  found,  let  him  die,  and  we  also  will  be  my  lord's  bondmen. 

The  steward  took  them  at  their  word,  but  softened  the  penalty,  by  fixing  it,  tnai 
the  person  on  whom  the  cup  should  be  found  should  be  his  servant,  and  the  rest  con- 
.sidered  as  blameless. 

Impatient  to  prove  their  innocence,  every  one  hastily  unloaded  his  beast,  and,  as 
they  opened  their  sacks,  the  steward  searched  them ;  Avhen  behold,  to  their  great  as- 
tonishment and  surprise,  the  cup  was  found  in  the  sack  belonging  to  Benjamin.  It 
was  to  no  purpose  for  the  poor  youth  to  say  anything  in  his  defence :  upon  such  a  dem- 
onstration none  Avould  believe  him.  As  they  Avere  all  concerned  in  the  disgrace, 
they  rent  their  clothes,  and,  without  attempting  even  to  palliate  the  fact,  loaded  their 
asses,  and,  in  a  mournful  manner,  returned  to  the  city. 

Joseph  had  remained  at  home  m  expectation  of  their  return,  and  no  sooner  did  they 
'approach  his  presence  than  they  immediately  prostrated  themselves  before  him.  Jo- 
seph, without  giving  them  time  to  speak  a  Avord  in  their  defence,  charged  them  Avith 
the  fact,  and  reprimanded  them  for  their  folly  in  committmg  a  theft,  Avhich  ii  was 
totally  out  of  their  poAver  to  conceal.  "  What  deed,"  says  he,  "  is  this  ye  have  done  ? 
Wot  ye  not,  that  such  a  man  as  I  can  certainly  divine."! 

In  the  midst  of  a  general  horror,  Judah,  in  a  very  humble  tone,  addressed  himself 
to  Joseph  in  Avords  to  this  effect :  "  We  have  nothing  to  offer  in  our  defence ;  God 
hath  detected  our  iniquity,  and  we  must  remain  slaves  Avith  him  in  Avhose  sack  the 
cup  was  found."  But  Joseph  interrupted  him  by  declaring,  that  he  could  by  no  means 
do  such  injustice  ;  for  that  he  only  Avho  stole  the  cup  should  be  his  slave,  Avhile  the 
rest,  Avhenever  they  pleased,  were  at  full  liberty  to  return  to  their  father. 

Judah,  encouraged  by  finding  the  viceroy  somewhat  softened,  presumed  farther  to 
address  him,  Avhicli  he  did  in  the  most  submissive  and  pathetic  terms.  He  acquainted 
him  with  the  Avhole  case  betAveen  them  and  their  father,  in  relation  to  their  bringing 
Benjamin  into  Egypt,  to  take  away  the  suspicion  of  their  being  spies.  He  very  feel- 
ingly described  their  father's  melancholy  situation  for  the  loss  of  his  son  Joseph  ;  the 
extreme  fondness  he  had  for  his  son  Benjamin  ;  the  difficulty  they  Avere  under  tc  pre- 
vail Avith  him  to  trust  him  with  them,  insomuch  that  himself  was  forced  to  become 

himself.  The  custom  of  allotting  the  largest  portion  at  the  banquets  of  the  ancients  to  any  particular  per- 
son, by  way  of  preference,  was  practised  in  Homer's  days,  as  appears  from  Agamemnon's  speech  to  Ido- 
meneus : 

"  For  this  in  banquets  when  the  generous  bowls 

Restore  onr  blood,  and  raise  the  warrior's  souls, 

Though  all  the  rest  with  stated  itjIcs  are  bound, 

Unmixed,  unmeasured,  are  thy  goblets  crowned." 
*  Joseph  orilerod  this  cup  to  be  privately  put  into  Benjamin's  sack,  in  order  to  make  a  farther  trial  of  his 
brethren's  temper,  and  to  see  whether,  mojjed  with  envy,  they  would  give  up  Benjamin,  or  endeavor  to 
assist  him  in  his  danger.  It  is  not  hkely  (as  some  have  thoujilU)  that  he  really  designed  to  have  made  a 
pretence  for  detaining  Benjamin ;  or  tliat  he  could  be  ignorant  of  his  father's  warm  affection  to  his 
youngeft  son. 

+  This  was  as  much  as  to  say,  "  You  see  by  my  office  that  I  am  one  of  the  great  ministers  of  state  ;  while 
the  other  diviners  are  preferred  only  from  the  college  of  priests.  As  I  am,  therefore,  so  superior  to  them 
could  you  be  insensible  that  it  was  in  my  power  to  divine,  or  detect  your  robbery  V 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  •  97 

security  for  his  safe  return  ;  and  that,  if  he  should  go  home  without  him,  his  father's 
life  was  so  wrapped  up  in  the  child,  that  he  would  certainly  die  with  grief.  To  pre- 
vent, therefore,  so  melancholy  a  scene,  he  offered  himself  as  an  equivalent  for  his 
brother.  "  I  pray  thee,"  said  he,  "  let  thy  servant  abide,  instead  of  the  lad,  a  bond- 
man to  my  lord,  and  let  the  lad  go  up  with  his  brethren  ;  for  how  shall  I  go  up  to  my 
father,  and  the  lad  be  not  with  me  ?" 

This  moving  speech,  and  generous  offer,  so  operated  on  the  passions  of  Joseph,  that 
he  could  no  longer  contain  himself:  the  force  of  nature  shook  his  frame,  and  obliged 
him  to  throw  off  all  disguise.  Orderuig,  therefore,  the  rest  of  the  company  to  de- 
part, that  he  might  discover  himself  Avith  more  affectionate  freedom,  they  were  no 
sooner  gone,  than  he  burst  into  a  flood  of  tears,  and,  looking  earnestly  at  his  brethren, 
pathetically  exclaimed,  "  I  am  Joseph ;  doth  my  father  yet  live  ?"* 

Conscious  guilt,  at  the  very  name  of  that  Joseph  whom  they  had  so  uimaturally 
treated,  struck  them  dumb,  as  they  now  dreaded  the  power  he  had  of  resenting  the 
injuries  they  had  done  him.  But  brotherly  love  overcame  resentment,  and  banished 
every  desire  of  revenge.  Joseph,  observing  their  confusion,  bid  them,  in  the  most 
endearing  manner,  approach  nearer  to  him,  when  he  assured  them,  that  he  was  the 
very  brother  they  had  sold  into  Egypt,  and  though  he  had  assumed  the  dignity  be- 
coming his  office,  he  still  retained  the  tenderness  of  a  brother.  To  remove  all  fur- 
ther apprehensions  of  danger,  he  told  them,  that  their  selling  him  into  Egypt,  was 
directed  by  an  unforeseen  Providence ;  and  that  they  had  no  reason  to  be  angry  with 
themselves  for  doing  it,  since  they  were  no  more  than  the  instruments  in  God's  hand 
to  bring  about  what  his  wise  purpose  had  determined.  That  himself  had  no  reason 
to  resent  it,  since,  by  that  means,  he  had  been  advanced  to  the  honor  and  dignity  of 
being  goveruer  of  all  Egypt.  And,  lastly,  that  neither  his  father,  nor  any  of  hif  fam- 
ily, ought  to  murmur  at  it,  since  God  appointed  this  method  for  the  preservation  of 
their  lives. f 

Having  said  this,  he  told  them  that  there  were  yet  five  years  of  the  famine  to  come, 
and  therefore  he  would  advise  them  to  hasten  home,  and,  as  soon  as  possible,  bring 
their  father,  together  with  all  the  family,  into  Egypt.  As  an  inducement  for  them  to 
leave  their  own  country,  he  desired  them,  from  him^  to  address  their  father  to  this 
effect :  "  that  God  had  made  him  lord  of  all  Egypt,  and  that  therefore  he  must  not 
defer  coming ;  for  he  would  provide  Goshen^  for  the  place  of  his  habitation,  and  thert 
would  he  carefully  nourish  not  only  him  but  all  his  family."  He  acknowledged  that 
this  relation  must,  of  course,  appear  strange  to  his  father;  but  that  he  certainly  would 
not  doubt  the  testimony  of  so  many  eyewitnesses;  and  above  all,  that  he  would  not 
fail  to  believe  what  was  told  him  by  his  favorite  son  Benjamin.  He  then  threw  him- 
self upon  Benjamin's  neck,  kissed  him,  and  wept  for  joy;  and  having  a  little  recov- 
ered himself,  he  treated  all  the  rest  with  like  tenderness.  His  brethren  bemg  thus 
convinced  that  a  perfect  reconciliation  had  taken  place  between  them,  took  courage, 
and  conversed  Avith  him  in  a  manner  very  different  to  what  they  had  done  previous 
to  this  happy  discovery. 

The  rumor  had  reached  the  king  that  Joseph's  brethren  were  come ;  and  it  is  a 
pleasing  evidence  of  the  esteem  in  Avhich  he  was  held,  and  the  regard  which  he  had 
conciliated,  that  a  domestic  incident  which  Avas  calculated  to  be  a  satisfaction  to  him, 
was  highly  agreeable  to  Pharaoh  and  all  his  court.  The  monarch  sent  for  him,  and 
authorized  him  to  express  the  kindest  attentions  toAvard  them,  and  the  utmost  anxiety 
for  their  Avelfare.     He,  as  Avell  as  Joseph,  saw  that  it  would  be  best  for  them  to  come 

*  There  is  certainly  a  dislinguished  beauty  in  tliis  interrogation;  and  the  transition  is  finely  wrought. 
The  soul  of  Joseph  was  so  full  of  filial  affection  for  his  father,  that,  before  he  had  finished  his  sentence,  he 
inquired  after  him,  though  but  a  short  time  before,  they  liad  told  him  he  was  alive.  And  how  must  such  an 
abrupt  declaration  alfect  bis  brothers  !  No  wonder  they  were  dumb  for  some  time  with  astonishment,  and 
unable  to  answer  the  question  asked. 

+  These  passages  point  out  to  us  the  very  noble  and  just  ideas  which  Joseph  entertained  concerning  the 
providence  of  God :  but,  besides  this,  we  may  observe  a  pecuUar  generosity  and  tenderness  of  temper  in 
this  apology  to  his  brethren,  wherein  he  endeavors  to  remove  every  uneasy  apprehension  from  their  minds. 
Good  hearts  are  always  averse  to  giving  pain ;  the  same  benevolence  of  disposition  which  makes 
them  zealous  to  diffuse  happiness,  makes  them  tender  of  inflicting  a  momentary  smart.  Joseph  was 
unwilling  tliat  liis  brethren  should  feel  any  alloy  to  their  satisfaction  which  the  present  event  afforded ; 
and  therefore  he  turned,  as  it  were,  from  their  view  the  very  thought  and  remembrance  of  their  former 
unnatural  behavior  to  him,  and  directed  their  attention  to  reflections  which  were  equally  comfortable  and 
important. 

t  This  was  the  most  fruitful  part  of  all  Lower  Egypt,  especially  for  pasturage  ;  and  therefore  the  most 
commodious  for  those  who  were  brought  up  shepherds  and  accustomed  to  a  pastoral  life.  Besides  this,  it 
w»s  very  conveniently  .situated,  being  but  a  .small  distance  from  the  city  wheie  Pharaoh  kept  his  court. 

7 


98  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

to  Egypt,  and  he  had  the  consideration  to  direct  that  they  should  be  well  supplied 
with  provisions  on  the  way,  and  that  they  should  be  furnished  with  carts,*  in  which 
the  aged  Jacob,  with  the  women  and  young  children,  might  pass  from  Canaan  to 
Egypt  with  more  comfort,  than  by  the  more  ordinary  means  of  conveyance. 

It  is  little  to  be  wondered  at  that  Joseph  should  very  readily  obey  the  king's  com 
mands.  Accordingly,  he  furnished  them  with  a  proper  number  of  carts  for  bruiging 
their  family  and  substance,  together  with  a  sufficient  quantity  of  provision  for  their 
journey  as  well  home  as  back  agaui.  He  sent  his  father  a  present,  consisting  of  ten 
asses  laden  with  the  choicest  dainties  Egypt  afforded.  To  his  brethren  he  gave  each 
changes  of  raiment,  but  to  Benjamin  he  gave  five  changes,  together  with  three  hun- 
dred pieces  of  silver.  Having  done  this,  Joseph  dismissed  his  brethren,  giving  ihem, 
at  the  same  time,  a  strict  charge  that  they  should  not  fall  out  hy  ihe  n'OT/.f 

Thus  supplied,  and  thus  circumstanced,  the  sons  of  Jacob,  with  hearts  full  of  joy, 
prosecuted  their  journey  to  Canaan.  As  soon  as  their  aged  father  saw  them,  his 
drooping  spirits  revived,  more  especially  when  Jie  beheld  his  sons  Benjamin  and  Sim- 
eon, whose  return  he  had  little  expected.  But  when  theymformed  him  that  his  son 
Joseph  was  likewise  alive,  and  described  the  great  pomp  and  splendor  in  which  he 
lived,  the  good  old  patriarch  was  affected  indeed ;  and,  unable  to  bear  so  much  good 
news  at  once,  fainted  in  their  arms. 

When  Jacob  came  again  to  himself,  his  sons  showed  him  the  presents  sent  by  Jo- 
seph, together  with  the  carts  that  were  to  carry  him  and  his  family  uito  Egypt.  The 
sight  of  these,  with  many  particulars  they  related  of  their  brother  Joseph,  revived 
his  spirits;  his  doubts  and  fears  vanished,  and,  in  an  ecstacy  of  joy,  he  exclaimed, 
"  It  is  enough  !  Joseph,  my  son,  is  yet  alive  :  I  will  go  and  see  him  before  I  die." 

The  necessary  preparations  being  made,  Jacob  and  his  family  left  Hebron,  and  pro- 
ceeded on  their  journey  toward  Egypt.  It  might  be  supposed  that  the  old  man's 
anxiety  to  see  so  dear  a  son,  and  for  whom  he  had  so  loirg  mourned,  would  have  made 
him  proceed  with  the  greatest  expedition ;  but  parental  affection  gave  way  to  religious 
duties.  Being  desirous  of  making  proper  acknowledgments  to  God  for  the  benefits 
already  received,  as  well  as  to  implore  his  farther  protection,  he  stopped  at  Beersheba, 
and  there  offered  up  sacrifices  to  the  Lord.  The  reasons  of  his  choosing  this  spot  on 
the  present  occasion  were,  because  it  was  the  place  where  Abraham  and  Isaac  had 
lived  so  long :  and  at  the  same  time  it  was  in  the  way  to  Egypt,  being  the  utmost 
boundary  of  Canaan  toward  the  south. 

On  the  evening  of  the  same  day  that  Jacob  had  performed  his  religious  duties  at 
Beersheba,  the  Almighty  appeared  to  him  in  a  vision,  bidding  him  not  fear  to  go  down 
into  Egypt,  since  he  would  be  with  him  and  protect  him,  and  in  due  lime,  bring  his 
posterity  out  of  it  to  take  possession  of  the  promised  land.  That  as  to  himself,  he 
should  live  near  his  beloved  Joseph,  die  m  his  arms,  and  have  his  eyes  closed  by  his 
hand.| 

*  Carts. — The  EprjTitians  had  no  chariots,  except  perhaps  war  chariots,  suited  to  bear  such  a  journey  as 
this,  and  they  would  have  heen  most  unsuitalilc  lor  tire  present  purpose.  I!csides,the  word  for  a  chariot  is 
different  from  tliat  which  is  here  employed,  althoufjh  a  wheel-carriage  of  some  kind  or  other  is  certainly 
indicated.  To  indicate  that  carriage,  we  have  taken  the  word  "  cart,"  as  preferable,  upon  the  wliole,  to 
that  of  "  wagon" — partly  as  being  less  definite.  But  it  does  not  appear  tlial  the  Egj'plians  had  any  carts, 
or  any  wheeled  carriages  save  chariots  of  war,  and  light  curricles  for  civil  use.  Tlie  Nile  and  the  nume- 
rous canals  offered  such  facilities  for  carriage  and  conveyance  by  water,  that  the  use  of  carts  and  wagons 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  thought  of.  Carts  are  indeed  represented  in  the  paintings  and  sculptures  of 
that  ancient  country ;  but  not  as  being  in  use  among  the  Egyptians  themselves,  hut  by  a  people  with 
whom  they  are  at  war,  apparently  a  nomade  people  of  Asia,  and  wlio  are  represented  as  escaping  in  their 
carts.  Now,  we  infer,  that  as  the  Egyptians  had  no  carts  of  their  own,  those  whicli  were  sent  for  Jacob 
were  such  as  they  had  either  taken  in  war  from  a  people  by  whom  they  were  used,  or  had  been  left  behind 
by  the  intrusive  sheplicrd-race.  As  having  been  used  by  a  pastoral  people,  they  would  seem  to  the  king 
particularly  suitable  for  the  removal  of  a  pastoral  family.  In  connexion  with  preceding  statements,  and 
with  the  conjecture  just  olfered,  it  deserves  to  be  noticed  that  the  next  instance  of  carts  which  occurs  in 
tlie  scriptural  history  is  found  among  the  Philistines.  1  Samuel  vi.  7.  The  first  of  our  engravings  repre- 
sents the  only  kind  of  wheel-carriage  now  used  in  Syria,  and  tliat  chiefly  for  agricultural  purposes.  The 
second  represents  the  carts  of  tlie  Tartar  nomades  of  Central  Asia,  wliose  usages  olfer  many  remarkable 
resemblances  to  those  of  the  patriarchs  and  the  early  pastoral  races  with  wliicli  early  Bible  history  makes 
ns  acquainted. 

+  Josepli  was  no  stranger  to  the  tempers  of  his  brethren,  and  therefore  thought  proper  to  reprove  them 
in  this  gentle  manner.  Probably  he  suspected  they  might  accuse  each  other  witli  the  cruelty  they  had 
exercised  toward  him,  or  tluow  envious  reflections  on  Benjamin,  because  he  had  been  eminently  dis- 
tinguished above  the  rest. 

t  It  must  certainly  liave  given  great  consolation  to  good  old  Jacob  to  find,  from  the  promise  of  God,  that 
Joseph  was  to  attend  him  on  his  death-bed,  and  to  close  tliose  eyes  that  had  often  assisted  liim  in  contem- 
plating the  beauties  of  nature.  The  custom  of  closing  the  eyes  of  persons  departed  is  very  ancient,  and 
ihey  were  usually  the  nearest  and  dearest  friends  who  performed  tliis  iast  office. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


99 


'm^ 


Carts  pf  tlip  Tartar  Nornades. 


100  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

Encouraged  by  this  divine  promise,  Jacob  left  Beersheba,  and  cheerfully  pursued 
his  journey  toward  Egypt,  his  sons  taking  with  them  their  children  and  wives  in  the 
carts  which  Joseph  had  sent  for  the  purpose.  They  likewise  took  with  them  all  their 
cattle  and  goods ;  and  the  whole  number  of  souls  descended  from  Jacob's  loins 
amounted  to  three  score  and  ten. 

As  soon  as  they  came  to  the  borders  of  Egypt  (and  not  far  from  the  land  of  Go- 
shen) Jacob  despatched  his  son  Judah  before  them,  in  order  to  acquaint  Joseph  with 
their  arrival.  This  intelligence  was  very  agreeable  to  Joseph,  who  immediately  or- 
dered his  chariot  to  be  got  ready,  and,  with  a  retinue  suitable  to  his  high  station, 
hastened  to  meet  his  father,  whom  he  congratulated  on  his  safe  arrival  at  a  place 
where  it  was  in  his  power  to  make  him  happy  and  comfortable  during  ihe  remainder 
of  his  life.  Words  can  not  describe  the  expressions  of  filial  duty  and  paternal  afieciiou 
that  took  place  on  this  occasion.  Tears  of  joy  plentifully  flowed  on  both  sides. 
While  the  son  was  contemplating  the  goodness  of  God  in  bringing  him  to  the  sight 
of  his  aged  parent,  the  father,  on  the  other  hand,  thought  all  his  happiness  on  earth 
completed  in  this  interview ;  and,  therefore,  in  the  fulness  of  his  soul,  he  exclaimed, 
"  Now  let  me  die,  since  I  have  seen  thy  face,  because  thou  art  yet  alive." 

These  mutual  endearments  being  over,  and  Joseph  having  paid  his  respects  to  the 
whole  family,  he  told  his  father  and  brethren  that  he  would  go  before  and  acquaint 
the  king  with  their  arrival.  As  he  imagined  Pharaoh  Avould  be  desirous  of  seeing 
some  of  them,  he  gave  them  this  caution :  that  in  case  he  should  ask  of  what  occu- 
pation they  were,  their  answer  should  be,  that  they  were  shepherds,  as  their  ances- 
tors, for  many  generations,  had  been  before  them.  By  these  means,  he  told  them,  he 
might  secure  the  land  of  Goshen  for  their  residence,  which  was  not  only  one  of  the 
most  pleasant  parts  of  Egypt,  but  the  best  calculated  for  feeding  their  flocks  and  herds. 
Besides  this,  he  said,  there  would  be  another  material  advantage,  namely,  that  it 
would  be  a  happy  retreat  from  the  insults  of  the  Egyptians,  who  were  known  to  have 
an  utter  detestation  to  those  who  followed  a  shepherd's  life. 

Having  given  this  caution,  Joseph  took  with  him  live  of  his  brothers,  and  after  pre- 
viously informing  Pharaoh  that  his  father  and  family  were  arrived  at  Goshen,  pre- 
sented them  before  the  king.  Pharaoh  received  them  with  great  courtesy,  out  of  re- 
spect to  Joseph,  and,  among  other  questions,  asked  them  of  what  occupation  they 
were.  They  answered  (agreeably  to  the  directions  given  them  by  Joseph)  that  they 
were  shepherds,  as  their  ancestors,  for  many  generations  before,  had  been  :  that  want 
of  pasturage  for  their  cattle,  and  sustenance  for  themselves,  had  made  them  leave 
Canaan,  and  they  humbly  beseoched  his  majesty  that  ihey  might  be  permitted  to  set- 
tle in  the  land  of  Goshen,  that  part  of  the  country  being  best  adapted  for  the  purposes 
of  their  employment.  Pharaoh  readily  granted  their  request,  and  moreover  told  Jo- 
seph, that  if  any  of  his  brethren  were  remarkable  for  their  activity  and  knowledge,  he 
might,  if  he  thought  proper,  appoint  them  as  su])erintendents  over  the  royal  shepherds. 
Joseph's  project  having  so  far  happily  succeeded,  he,  soon  after,  introduced  his  aged 
parent  to  Pharaoh,  who  after  receiving  him  in  a  very  courteous  manner,  among  otJier 
questions,  asked  him  his  age.  Jacob  answered,  he  was  a  hundred  and  thirty  ;  upon 
which  the  king  expressing  some  surprise  from  his  appearing  so  strong  and  healthy, 
Jacob  farther  told  him,  that  his  life  was  not,  as  yet,  near  so  long  as  some  of  his  an- 
cestors, nor  did  he  look  so  well  as  those  who  were  much  farther  advanced  in  life, 
which  was  owing  to  the  great  troubles  and  perplexities  under  which  he  had  long  la- 
bored. Some  other  questions  being  asked,  and  the  answers  given,  Jacob,  after  wish- 
ing the  king  health  and  prosperity,  took  his  leave,  and  returned  to  Goshen,  where  Jo- 
seph took  care  to  supply  him  and  his  family  with  such  an  abundance  of  necessaries 
as  made  them  insensible  of  the  general  calamity. 

While  Jacob  and  his  family  were  thus  happily  circumstanced,  by  means  of  the 
power  and  affection  of  Joseith,  the  Egyptians  were  in  the  utmost  distress.  The 
dreadful  effects  of  the  famine  appeared  more  and  more  evei-y  day,  and  Joseph  keeping 
up  the  corn  at  a  very  high  price,  in  a  short  time  all  the  money  was  brought  into  the 
king's  coffers.  When  their  money  was  gone,  they  were  all  (except  the  priests  who 
were  furnished  from  the  king's  stores)  obliged  to  part  with  their  cattle,  their  houses, 
their  lands,  and,  at  length,  even  their  liberty,  for  provision.* 

•  Wliatever  Uiosc  may  tliintt  who  liave  endeavored  to  depreciate  tlie  conduct  of  Joseph,  it  is  certain  tliat 
there  was  no  injustice  in  Joseph's  making  tlie  Egyptians  pay  for  tlie  corn  wliich  he  had  bought  with 
rharaolk's  money,  and  laid  up  witti  great  care  aitd  expon^ie.    In  deiuandiug  tlieir  cattle,  he  had  most 


fflSTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


101 


I02  A  NEW  AND  COMrLETE 

All  these  Joseph  purchased  of  the  people  in  the  king's  name,  and  for  the  king's  use, 
and,  to  let  them  see  that  the  purchase  was  m  earnest,  and  that  their  liberties  and 
properties  were  now  becsome  the  king's,  he  removed  them,  from  their  former  places 
of  abode,  into  different,  and  very  distant  parts  of  the  kingdom. 

In  any  nthcr  person  such  conduct  might  have  been  considered  as  arising  from  an 
immoderate  zeal  for  absolute  power  in  the  king,  and  an  advantage  unjustly  taken  of 
the  necessities  of  the  people  ;  but  so  Joseph  managed  the  matter  as  lo  gain  the  appro 
bation  both  of  prince  and  people.  When  the  seventh  and  last  year  of  the  famine  was 
come,  he  told  them  they  might  expect  to  have  a  crop  the  ensuing  year;  for  that  the 
Nile  would  overflow  its  banks,  and  the  earth  bring  forth  her  fruits  as  usual.  Having 
made  this  known,  he  distributed  fresh  lands,  cattle,  and  corn  to  the  people,  that  they 
might  return  to  their  tillage  as  before;  but  this  he  did  on  the  following  condition: 
that  thenceforth  the  fifth  part  of  all  the  produce  of  their  lands  should  become  the 
property  of  the  king.  "  Behold,"  says  he,  "  I  have  bought  you  this  day  and  your 
land  for  Pharaoh.  Lo,  here  is  seed  for  you,  and  ye  shall  sow  the  land.  And  it  shall 
come  to  pass  in  the  increase,  that  you  shall  give  the  fifth  pan  unto  Pharaoh,  and  four 
parts  shall  be  your  own  for  seed  of  the  field,  and  for  your  food,  and  for  them  of  your 
household,  and  for  food  for  your  little  ones." 

To  these  conditions  the  people  willingly  consented,  imputing  the  preservation  ol 
their  lives  to  Joseph's  care :  "Thou  hast  saved,"  said  they,  "our  lives;  let  us  find 
grace  in  the  sight  of  my  lord,  and  we  will  be  Pharaoh's  servants."  From  this  time 
it  passed  into  a  law,  that  the  fifth  part  (jf  the  produce  of  the  land  of  Egypt  (except 
what  belonged  to  the  priests)  should  become  the  property  of  the  crown. 

While  Joseph  was  enjoying  the  fruits  of  his  great  success  and  policy,  his  family  ai 
Goshen  (whom  he  failed  not  frequently  to  visit)  became  not  only  numerous,  but  ex- 
ceeding wealthy.  The  seven  years  of  famine  were  succeeded  by  great  plenty,  the 
earth  resuming  its  former  fertility,  and  the  whole  land  abounding  in  all  the  usual 
productions  of  nature.  Seventeen  of  these  years  of  plenty  did  Jacob  live  to  see,  at 
the  expiration  of  which  nature's  lamp  grew  dim,  and  life  was  nearly  exhausted;  his 
decayed  spirits  warn  him  of  his  approaching  fate,  and  each  drooping' faculty  beats  an 
alarm  to  d^eath. 

When  Jacob  found  himself  thus  circumstanced,  he  sent  for  his  son  Joseph,  whom 
he  addressed  in  words  to  the  following  etfect :  "  Though  the  desire  of  seeing  a  son 
so  dear  to  me  as  you  are  raised  to  the  height  of  Egyptian  glory,  joined  to  the  raging 
famine  which  then  visited  our  land,  made  me  willingly  come  down  into  this  strange 
country;  yet  Canaan  being  the  inheritance  which  God  promised  to  Abraham  and  his 
posterity,  and' where  he  lies  interred  with  my  father  Isaac,  and  some  other  of  our 
family,  in  the  ground  which  he  purchased  of  the  inhabitants  for  thai  purpose ;  my 
last  and  dying  request  to  you  is,  that  you  will  not  suffer  me  to  be  buried  here,  but 
swear  to  see  me  carried  to  Machpelah,  and  there  deposited  with  mv  ancestors.  Your 
great  power  with  the  king  will  easily  obtain  that  favor,  which  is  the  last  I  have  to  ask." 

Joseph  not  only  promised,  but  likewise  swore,  strictly  to  fulfil  his  father's  request; 
upon  which  the  good  old  man  was  so  perfectly  satisfied,  that,  after  thaiiking  his  son 
for  these  fresh  assurances  of  his  fidelity,  he  "bowed  himself  in  acknowledgment  to 
God,  who,  besides  all  his  oth*er  mercies,  had  given  him  this  last  token  of  his  protec- 
tion, in  assuring  him,  by  Joseph's  promise  and  oath,  that  he  should  be  removed  from 
Egypt  into  the  promised  land. 

Joseph,  having  thus  satisfied  his  father  in  this  particular,  toak  his  leave,  but  not 
without  giving  a  strict  charge  to  those  who  attended  him,  that,  upon  the  very  first 
appearance  of  danger,  they  should  immediately  send  for  him.  He  had  been  but  a 
short  time  at  court,  before  a  messenger  arrived  with  the  dismal  intelligence  that  his 
father  was  near  expiring  ;  upon  which,  taking  with  him  his  two  sons,  Manasseh  and 
Ephraim,  he  hastened  with  ail  expedition  to  visit  him. 

As  soon  as  the  feeble  j)atriarch  understood  that  his  son  Joseph  had  arrived,  it  im- 
mediately raised  his  sinking  spirits,  and  he  became  so  far  revived  as  to  be  able  to  sit 
upright  in  his  bed.     Desiring  his  favorite  Joseph  to  approach  near  him,  he  began 

probably  a  view  to  save  tliem  ;  for,  as  they  liad  not  com  for  tliemselves,  they  could  much  less  have  it  for 
their  caltle  ;  and,  tlieicforc,  tliis  was  the  only  way  to  preserve  the  lives  of  both,  and  to  prevent  that  waste 
of  the  corn  which  must  have  been  made  if  they  had  had  the  keeping  and  feeding  of  the  caltle  Ihoniselvos ; 
and  it  is  highly  probable  that  he  returned  them  their  cattle  after  the  famine,  when  they  were  fixed  again  in 
their  several  habitations — otherwise  it  would  have  been  hardly  possible  for  them  to  support  their  families 
and  carry  on  their  business. 


.     fflSTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  103 

with  recapitulating  all  the  glorious  promises  which  God  had  formerly  made  him 
concerning  his  posterity  possessing  the  land  of  Canaan ;  and  after  mentioning  the 
death  of  Rachel,  together  with  the  place  where  her  remains  were  deposited,*  he 
spoke  to  the  following  effect :  "  How  tenderly  I  loved  my  dear  Rachel,  all  my  family 
can  testify ;  but  this  farther  proof  I  now  give  you  of  my  affection  to  her.  You  have 
two  sons  born  in  a  foreign  country,  and  who,  according  to  the  usual  order  of  inherit- 
ance, should  have  only  the  portion  of  grandchildren  in  the  division  of  the  promised 
land ;  but,  from  this  day  forward,  they  shall  be  esteemed  my  sons,  and,  as  heads  of 
two  distinct  tribes  (for  they  shall  not  be  called  the  tribe  of  Joseph,  but  the  tribes  of 
Ephraim  and  Manasseh),  receive  a  double  portion  in  that  allotment.  But  it  must  not 
be  so  with  the  other  sons  which  you  may  beget  after  these :  they  must  come  in  onhy 
for  the  portion  of  grandchildren.  And  to  you  in  particular  I  bequeath  that  tract  of 
land  which,  by  the  force  of  arms,  I  took  from  the  Amorites."t 

During  the  time  Jacob  was  thus  talking  with  Joseph  concerning  himself  and 
children^  he  had  not  observed  that  Joseph's  sons  were  Avith  him,  but  spoke  of  them 
as  if  they  had  been  absent.  At  length,  turning  to  Joseph,  and  observing  (as  he 
thought)  somebody  with  him  (though  he  could  not  discern  who  it  was,  on  account 
of  his  eyes  being  dim  with  age),  he  asked  who  he  had  with  him.  To  which  Joseph 
repMed,  Ijis  sons  Ephraim  and  Manasseh,  and  at  the  same  time,  with  great  reverence, 
bowed  himself  to  the  ground. 

•Tacob  was  greatly  rejoiced  at  this  intelligence,  and  immediately  ordered  them  to 
be  brought  near,  that  he  might  bestow  on  them  his  blessing.  Joseph  obeyed  his 
father's  commands,  and  placed  the  children  according  to  the  order  of  their  age,  that 
is,  Manasseh,  as  being  the  first-born,  on  the  right,  and  Ephraim  on  the  left :  but  Ja- 
cob, crossing  his  hands,  laid  his  right  (which  carried  with  it  the  preference)  upon 
the  younger,  and  his  left  upon  the  elder  of  them.  Joseph,  observing^  this,  and  sup- 
posing it  to  proceed  from  a  mistake,  was  going  to  rectify  it ;  but  his  father  told  him 
that  what  he  did  was  by  divine  direction,  and  therefore  made  Ephraim  not  only  the 
first  in  nomination,  but  gave  him  a  blessing  much  more  extensive  than  that  conferred 
on  his  elder  brother. 

This  conversation  was  hitherto  private,  being  only  between  Jacob  and  his  favorite 
son  Joseph.  But  the  good  old  patriarch,  finding  his  dissolution  near  at  hand,  ordered 
all  his  sons  to  be  brought  before  him,  that,  while  he  had  strength  to  speak,  he  mi^ht 
take  his  last  farewell,  and  not  only  distribute  his  blessing  among  them,  but  likewise 
foretell  what  should  happen  to  them  and  their  posterity  in  future  times. 

Accordingly,  all  Jacob's  sons  being  brought  before  him,  he  addressed  them  sep- 
arately, beginning  Avith  Reuben,  the  eldest. 

"  Reuben,"  says  he,  "  thou  art  my  first-born,  and,  by  right  of  primogeniture,  enti- 
tled to  many  privileges  and  prerogatives  in  superiority  over  thy  brethren ;  but,  for 
the  crime  of  incest  in  polluting  thy  father's  bed,  both  thou  and  thy  tribe  are  totally 
degraded  from  the  privileges  of  birthright." 

Having  said  this  to  Reuben,  he  next  addressed  himself  to  Simeon  and  Levi  con- 
jmictivefy ;  telling  them,  that  for  their  impious  massacre  of  Hamor  and  his  people, 
their  tribes  should  be  ever  separate,  and  dispersed  among  the  rest.  "  I  will  divide 
them,"  says  he,  "  in  Jacob,  and  scatter  them  in  Israel. "t 

Jacob,  then  turning  to  Judah,  prophesied  of  him  to  this  effect :  That  to  his  tribe 
should  the  sovereimty  belong,  and  they  should  be  situated  in  a  very  fruitful  country : 
that  from  his  naine  should  the  whole  nation  of  the  Jews  derive  their  appellation; 
and  that  the  form  of  government  which  he  then  instituted  should  remain  among  them 
until  the  coming  of  the  Messiah.  || 

*  It  is  probable  that  Jacob  here  mentioned  to  Joseph  the  place  of  Rachel's  interment,  in  hopes  that  he 
might,  at  some  convenient  opportunity,  remove  her  ashes  to  the  cave  of  Machpclah. 

t  There  are  many  particulars  in  the  lives  of  the  patriarchs,  and  of  others,  which  are  not  at  all  mentioned 
in  scripture  ;  and  there  are  some  instances  of  a  transient  reference  to  facts  of  this  kind,  to  things  which 
have  been  said  and  done,  but  are  never  related.  Of  this  kind,  it  is  reasonable  to  supposa,  is  the  passage  in 
question  ;  at  least,  we  have  no  mention  in  scripture  of  any  portion  of  land  taken  from  the  Arnorites  by 
Jacob.  All,  therefore,  which  can  be  said  upon  the  subject  must  be  mere  conjecture  ;  of  which  the  most 
probable  is,  that  the  parcel  of  ground  near  Shechem,  which  Jacob  purchased  of  Hamor,  is  here  meant,  and 
which,  probably,  he  took  or  recovered,  by  force  of  arms,  from  the  Amorites,  who,  it  seems,  had  seized  on 
it  after  his  removal  to  another  part  of  Canaan. 

t  This  prophecy  was  literally  fulfilled  ;  for  the  Levites  were  scattered  throughout  all  the  other  tribes,  and 
Simeon  liad  only  a  part  of  the  land  of  Judah  for  his  residence. 

II  The  words  in  the  text  run  thus  :— Judah,  "  thou  art  he  whom  thy  brethren  shall  praise  ;  thy  father's 
children  shall  bow  down  before  thee.    The  sceptre  shall  not  depart  from  Judah,  nor  a  lawgiver  froiij 


104  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

Of  Zebulun,  Jacob  prophesied  that  his  tribe  should  be  planted  near  the  seacoasts, 
and  have  harbors  convenient  for  shipping;*  and  of  Issachar,  that  his  should  prove  a 
pusillanimous  people,  and  be  lovers  of  inglorious  ease  more  than  of  liberty  and 
renown.f 

Jacob,  having  predicted  the  fate  of,  and  bestowed  his  blessings  on,  the  children 
descended  from  Leah,  proceeds  next  to  those  of  his  two  concubinary  wives.  He  be- 
gan with  Dan,  the  son  of  Bilhah,  whose  posterity,  he  foretold  (though  descended 
from  a  handmaid),  should  have  the  same  privileges  with  the  other  tribes,  become  a 
politic  people,  and  greatly  versed  in  the  stratagems  of  war4     Of  Gad's  posterity  he 

between  his  feet,  until  Shiloh  come  ;  and  unto  him  shall  the  gathering  of  the  people  be."    Many  commenta- 
tors have  written  largely  on  this  remarkable  prophecy  related  by  Jacob  to  his  son  Judah. 

From  the  time  that  our  first  parents  ate  of  tlie  forbidden  fruit,  we  have  seen  that  the  promised  seed  was, 
one  age  after  another,  more  and  more  circumscribed,  although  its  salutary  effects  were  to  be  the  same.  It 
IS  first  called  the  seed  of  the  woman  ;  it  is  next  consigned  over  to  Seth  ;  Shem,  the  younger  son  of  Noah, 
gets  the  preference  ;  afterward  Abraham  is  mad«  choice  of;  from  Isaac,  the  son  of  Abraliam.  it  goes  to 
his  second  son  Jacob  ;  and  here  Jacob,  by  the  spirit  of  prophecy,  conveys  it  to  the  posterity  of  Judah. 

There  are  several  things  to  be  attended  to  in  this  remarkable  prophecy,  and  such  as  are  of  the  utmost 
importance  for  us  to  know.  First,  we  are  told  that  Judah's  brethren  should  praise  him,  and  that  his  hand 
should  be  in  the  neck  of  his  enemies.  This  was  remarkably  fulfilled  in  the  local  situation  of  the  tribe  of 
Judah  ;  for  their  being  so  near  the  Arabians,  obliged  them  to  be  continually  on  their  guard  ;  and  as  they 
were  for  the  most  part  successful,  so  it  may  be  justly  said  that  the  hand  of  Judah  was  in  the  neck  of  his 
enemies,  and  that  his  bretliren  praised  him  for  standing  up  in  their  defence.  Secondly,  it  is  here  said  that 
his  father's  children  should  bow  down  before  him,  and  certainly  nothing  was  ever  more  literally  fulfilled. 
David,  in  whose  family  the  royal  sovereignty  was  placed,  was  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and  to  him  all  the 
other  tribes  bowed  down.  But  the  prophecy  conveys  a  further  idea,  namely,  that  from  Judah,  according  to 
the  flesh,  the  Messiah  should  come,  to  whom  all  nations  should  bow  down  ;  and  in  the  book  of  Revelations 
he  is  called  the  hon  of  the  tribe  of  Judah.  Thirdly,  "  the  sceptre  shall  not  depart  from  Judah."  &c. ;  by 
wWch  we  are  to  understand  that  there  should  never  be  one  wanting  to  sway  the  regal  sceptre,  or  exercise 
sovereign  authority  in  the  tribe  of  Judah,  till  that  glorious  and  Divine  Person  came,  whose  kingdom  was 
to  have  no  end,  and  to  nvhom  the  people  were  to  be  gathered  ;  for  the  Messiah  is,  in  many  places  of 
scripture,  called  the  "  desire  of  all  nations."  Such  is  the  nature  of  this  remarkable  prophecy  ;  and  now,  in 
order  to  prove  the  concurring  authenticity  of  the  Mosaic  and  Gospel  history,  let  us  see  in  what  manner  it 
has  been  fulfilled. 

During  the  time  of  Joshua's  wars  with  the  Canaanites,  the  tribe  of  Judah  was  more  distinguished  for  its 
valor  than  the  others  ;  and  it  appears,  from  the  book  of  Judges,  that  they  were  always  the  most  forward  to 
engage  with  the  common  enemy.  When  it  is  said  that  "  the  sceptre  shall  not  depart  from  Judah,"  it  implies 
that  it  should  depart  from  all  those  of  the  other  tribes  who  should  enjoy  it.  Thus  it  departed  from  the  tribe 
of  Benjamin  on  the  death  of  Saul ;  and  it  is  well  known  that  the  ten  tribes  were  carried  away  captive,  and 
incorporated  with  other  nations,  wliile  that  of  Benjamin  put  itself  under  the  protection  of  Judah 

From  the  time  of  David  till  the  taking  of  Jerusalem  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  Judah  exercised  the  regal 
authority  ;  and  althougli  ten  of  the  tribes,  who  followed  the  idolatry  of  Jeroboam,  had  kings,  yet  they  were 
for  the  most  part  subject  to  those  of  Judah.  It  is  true,  the  Jews  were  also  carried  captive  to  Babylon ;  but 
during  the  seventy  years  they  were  in  that  country,  they  were  so  far  from  being  treated  as  slaves,  that 
they  were  allowed  to  build  houses,  and  lived  in  such  afl^uence,  that  many  of  them  refused  to  return  to  their 
own  country  when  permission  was  granted  them.  When  Cyrus,  the  emperor,  issued  his  orders  for  them 
to  return  to  the  land  of  Judea,  they  had  rulers  among  tliem,  for  they  were  expressly  mentioned  in  the  royal 
proclamation.  It  is  certain,  that  after  returning  from  their  captivity  they  were  not  so  free  as  before, 
because  they  were  frequently  oppressed  by  the  Persians,  Greeks,  and  Romans ;  but,  for  all  that,  they  lived 
as  a  distinct  people,  under  their  own  laws  and  government.  It  continued  to  be  the  same  under  the 
Asmodean  princes  ;  and  it  is  well  known  that  Herod  the  Great  married  Mariamne,  the  last  female  of  that 
line  ;  and  in  the  latter  end  of  his  reign  the  Messiah  was  born.  It  is  true,  the  Romans,  in  some  cases, 
deprived  them  of  the  power  of  judging  in  cases  of  treason  ;  but,  notwithstanding,  we  find,  in  the  cases  of 
our  Saviour  and  the  apostle  Paul,  that  the  Roman  prastors  or  governors  never  proceeded  to  judge  a  criminal 
till  he  was  condemned  by  the  rulers  of  the  people. 

The  learned  Dr.  Shaw  says,  the  blessings  given  to  Judah  were  very  different  from  all  those  bestowed  on 
the  other  tribes.  Tlie  mountains  in  Judea  abound  with  so  much  wine,  oil,  and  milk,  that  one  is  surprised 
at  the  fertility  of  a  place  which,  at  a  distance,  has  the  appearance  of  barrenness.  Grapes  and  raisins  are 
sent  annually  in  great  quantities  from  Hebron  to  Egypt,  besides  several  other  sorts  of  fruit. 

From  these  observations,  will  not  the  impartial  reader  declare  that  this  prophecy  has  been  literally 
fulfilled?  and  is  not  the  present  melancholy  state  of  the  Jews  a  striking  proof  of  its  authenticity?  Till 
the  Messiah  came,  they  had  a  regal  government ;  but,  because  they  rejected  him,  they  are  now  scattered 
up  and  down  through  all  nations,  without  being  permitted  to  enjoy  the  privileges  of  any  nation  whatever. 
Surely  this  should  convince  us  that  no  human  testimony  can  overthrow  the  evidence  brought  in  support  of 
the  Mosaic  and  Gospel  histories. 

*  It  is  remarkable  that  Zebulun  is  mentioned  by  Jacob  before  Issachar,  who  was  the  eldest;  but  tliis 
distinction,  it  is  probable,  arose  from  his  great  superiority  and  merit.  Zebulun's  portion  of  the  country  was 
likewise  very  preferable  to  Issachar's  ;  for,  besides  the  advantage  he  had  in  common  with  him,  and  that 
our  Lord  chiefly  resided  in  his  tribe,  and  was  thence  called  a  Galilean,  he  is  here  promised  a  seacoast,  with 
harbors  commodious  for  ships.  If  Jacob  had  been  present  at  the  division  of  the  promised  land,  he  could 
nardly  have  given  a  more  exact  description  of  Zebulun's  lot ;  for  it  extended  from  the  Mediterranean  sea 
on  the  west  to  the  lake  of  Tiberias,  or  sea  of  Galilee,  on  the  east. 

t  Of  all  the  tribes  of  Israel,  that  of  Issachar  was  distinguished  for  being  the  most  indolent.  That  part  of 
the  country  which  fell  to  their  share  was  exceeding  fertile  ;  but  that  fertility  only  served  to  enervate  the 
people,  so  that  when  they  were  invaded  by  foreign  enemies,  they  soon  became  an  easy  prey  to  them,  and 
were  often  obliged  to  pay  tribute. 

t  The  words  in  the  text  are,  "  Dan  .shall  be  a  serpent  by  the  way,  an  adder  in  the  path  ;  that  biteth  the 
horse's  heels  so  that  his  rider  shall  fall  backward."  It  is  to  be  observed,  that  the  part  of  Canaan  which  the 
descendants  of  Dan  inhabited  was  noted  for  serpents  of  a  particular  species,  who  were  so  cunning  that 
they  used  to  lie  in  wait  to  bite  the  feet  of  passengers.  This  very  justly  alluded  to  the  disposition  of  Dan's 
descendants,  who,  when  engaged  in  war,  frequently  did  more  execution  by  craft  and  stratagem  than  by 
forco  of  arms.  It  is  the  opinion  of  the  Jews  that  the  prophecy  of  Dan's  destroying  his  enemies  by  cunning 
was  more  particularly  fulfilled,  when  Sampson,  who  was  of  that  tribe,  pulled  down  the  temple,  which 
f  rushed  liimself  and  the  Pluhstines  to  death.    See  Judges  xvi.  30 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BfBLE.  105 

foretold,  that  they  should  be  frequently  infested  with  robbers,  but  should  overcome 
dt  last.*  Of  Asher's,  that  they  should  be  situated  in  a  pleasant  and  fruitful  country  ;t 
and  of  Naphtali's,  that  they  should  spread  their  branches  like  an  oak,  and  multiply 

exceedingly4 

Jacob,  havino-  now  done  with  those  children  begotten  on  Leah  and  his  concubinary 
wives,  riext  directs  his  attention  to  the  sons  of  his  beloved  Rachel.  Turning  himself 
to  Joseph,  he  first  took  some  notice  of  his  past  troubles,  and  then  set  forth  the  future 
greatness  of  his  descendants;  after  which  he  bestowed  his  benediction  on  him  in 
words  to  the  following  effect :  "  The  Lord,"  says  he,  "  even  the  God  of  thy  fathers, 
shall  bless  thee  with  the  dew  of  heaven  and  with  the  fatness  of  the  earth,  with  the 
fruit  of  the  womb,"  that  is,  with  a  numerous  posterity,  "and  with  plenty  of  all  sorts  of 
cattle.  May  all  the  blessings  promised  to  me  and  my  forefathers  be  doubled  upon 
Joseph's  head ;  may  they  outtop  and  outstretch  the  highest  mountains ;  and  prove  to 
him  more  fruitful  and  more  lasting  than  they."|| 

The  only  one  now  remaining  to  receive  Jacob's  blessing  was  his  youngest  son 
Benjamin,  who,  no  doubt,  from  having  been  a  great  favorite  with  his  father,  expected 
a  suitable  distinction  from  the  rest  of  his  brethren ;  but,  whether  Jacob  foresaw  that 
no  extraordinary  merit  or  happiness  would  attend  this  tribe,  or  that  it  should  after- 
ward be  blended  with  that  of  Judah,  and  consequently  share  the  blessing  of  that 
tribe,  so  it  was  that  he  only  prophesied  of  him  that  his  descendants  should  be  of  a 
fierce  and  warlike  disposition;  and,  "  like  a  ravenous  wolf,  should  shed  the  blood  of 
their  enemies,  and  in  the  evening  divide  the  spoil."^ 

The  good  old  patriarch  having  thus  (by  divine  direction)  foretold  the  fate  of  his 
descendants,  he  bestowed  his  blessing  on  "each  of  his  sons  separately ;  after  which 
he  reminded  them,  all  (but  more  especially  Joseph),  that  it  was  his  most  earnest  re- 
quest they  Avould  bury  him  among  his  ancestors,  m  the  cave  of  Machpelah,  which 
had  been  purchased  by  Abraham,  and  where  not  only  the  remains  of  him  and  his 
wife  Sarah  were  deposited,  but  likewise  those  of  Isaac  and  Rebecca,  and  where  he 
had  also  buried  his  wife  Leah.  . 

Having  given  this  last  charge,  the  pious  Jacob  laid  himself  gently  down  in  his 
bed,  a  short  time  after  which  he  calmly  resigned  his  soul  into  the  hands  of  Him  who 
gave  it.  He  died  in  the  one  hundred  and  forty-seventh  year  of  his  age,  during  the 
last  seventeen  of  which  he  resided  in  Egypt. 

The  loss  of  so  good  a  father  must  undoubtedly  be  very  afl[licting  to  the  whole 
family,  but  none  of  them  expressed  their  grief  with  such  filial  aff'ection  as  the  pious 
Joseph,  Avho  could  not  behold  his  a^ed  parent's  face,  though  dead,  without  kissing 
and  bathing  it  with  his  tears.  Having  thus  given  vent  to  his  passions,  and  some- 
what recov'ered  himself  he  ordered  the  physicians  (according  to  the  custom  of  the 
country)  to  embalm  his  father's  body,  and  then  set  about  making  the  necessary 
preparations  for  his  funeral. 

The  time  that  Jacob's  family  mourned  for  their  father  was  seventy  days,  during 

*  Tlie  tribe  of  Gad  had  their  portion  of  land  on  the  frontiers  of  the  Jewish  territories,  so  that  they  were 
continually  exposed  to  the  incursions  of  the  bordering  Arabs  ;  but,  in  the  course  of  time,  they  became  so 
expert  in  war,  that  they  always  repulsed  them. 

t  The  tribe  or  Asher  possessed  that  part  of  the  country  which  reached  from  Zidon  to  Mount  Carrnel :  it 
was  so  beautiful  and  fertile  a  spot,  that  it  not  only  abounded  with  aU  kinds  of  provisions,  but  also  with  the 
choicest  fruits,  and  most  luxuriant  productions  of  the  earth.  ,  .  ,    ,  r        ., 

+  In  the  territories  allotted  to  the  tribe  of  Naphtali  was  the  country  of  Genesarat ;  which  (Josephus  says) 
was  looked  upon  as  the  utmost  effort  of  nature  in  point  of  beauty.  It  was  also  remarkable  for  producing 
some  of  the  best  wines  in  all  Palestine.  In  one  part  of  the  prophecy,  as  related  by  Moses,  it  is  said,  Naph- 
tali is  a  hind  let  loose  ;"  the  meaning  of  which  is,  that  the  people  should  be  exceeding  swift  in  the  pursuit 
of  their  enemies   which,  indeed,  was  the  case,  in  a  very  peculiar  manner,  with  this  tribe. 

II  The  fruitfulness  promised  to  Joseph  in  the  great  increase  of  his  posterity  was  exemplified  in  the  pro- 
digious number  of  his  two-fold  tribe,  Ephraim  and  Manasseh.  At  the  first  numbering  of  the  tribes,  these 
produced  72,70(1  men  capable  of  bearing  arms.  (See  Numb.  i.  33-35.)  And  at  the  second  numbering,  85,200 
(Numb   xxvi   34-37),  which  by  far  exceeded  the  number  of  either  of  the  other  tribes. 

6  History  sufficiently  justifies  the  truth  of  this  prediction  relative  to  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  for  they  alone 
maintained  a  war  with  all  the  other  tribes,  and  overcame  them  in  two  battles,  though  they  had  sixteen  to 
one  It  mu-it  however,  be  observed,  that  the  comparison  does  not  only  respect  mere  valor  and  fortitude 
in  defending  themselves,  but  also  fierceness  in  making  wars  and  depredations  upon  others.  But  what  is 
chieflv  to  be  regarded  in  this  prophecy  is,  that  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  should  continue  till  the  final  destruc- 
tion of  the  Jewish  polity.  For  since  the  natural  morning  and  evening  can  not  with  the  least  propriety  be 
here  under-^tood  and  asthe  Jewish  state  is  the  subject  of  all  Jacob's  prophecy,  we  must  consider  tlie  morn- 
in?  and  the  ni°-ht  as  the  beginning  and  final  period  of  that  state  ;  and,  consequently,  that  the  tribe  ot  Benjamin 
would  exist  till  Shloh  came.  And  tftis  prophecy  was  fully  accomplished  ;  for,  upon  the  division  of  the 
kinedom  after  Solomon's  death,  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  adhered  to  that  of  Judah,  and  forniqd  one  people  with 
it-  continued  to  share  the  same  fortune,  and  by  that  means  existed  till  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  the 
Romans,  which  happened  many  years  after  the  other  ten  tribes  were  no  longer  a  people. 


106  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

which  Joseph  never  appeared  at  court,  it  being  improper  for  him  so  to  do  on  such 
an  occasion.  In  consequence  of  this,  he  requested  some  of  the  officers  about  the 
king  to  acquaint  him  that  his  father,  previous  to  his  death,  had  enjoined  him,  upon 
oath,  to  bury  him  in  a  sepulchre  belonging  to  their  family,  in  the  laud  of  Canaan  ; 
and  that  therefore  he  begged  permission  that  he  might  go  and  fulfil  his  last  com- 
mands ;  after  which  he  would  return  to  court  with  all  convenient  expedition. 

Pharaoh  not  only  complied  with  Joseph's  request,  but  (in  compliment  to  him  and 
his  family)  gave  orders  that  the  chief  officers  of  his  household,  together  with  some 
of  the  principal  nobility  of  the  kingdom,  should  attend  the  funeral ;  who,  joined  with 
his  own,  and  his  father's  whole  family,  some  in  chariots  and  others  on  horseback, 
formed  one  of  the  most  pompous  processions  ever  seen  on  a  similar  occasion. 

On- their  arrival  in  the  land  of  Canaan  they  halted  at  a  place  called  "  the  thresh- 
ing-floor of  Atad,"*  where  they  continued  seven  days  mourning  for  the  deceased. 
The  Caiiaanites,  who  inhabited  that  part  of  the  country,  observing  the  Egyptians 
mixing  themselves  in  these  obsequies,  were  astonished,  and  imagining  them  to  be 
the  principals  concerned  in  the  funeral  lamentation,  could  not  forbear  exclaiming, 
"  This  is  a  grievous  mourning  to  the  Egyptians  !"  whence  they  called  the  name  of 
the  place  Abel-Mizraim,  which  signifies  "  the  mourning  of  the  Egyptians." 

This  solemnity  being  ended,  they  proceeded  on  their  journey,  and  at  length,  arriv- 
ing at  the  field  of  Machpelah,  they  deposited  the  remains  of  Jacob  in  the  cave  with 
his  ancestors,  after  which  the  whole  company  returned  m  solemn  procession  to  Egypt. 

During  the  life  of  Jacob,  Joseph's  brethren  thought  themselves  secure ;  but  now 
their  aged  father  was  no  more,  their  former  fears  returned,  and  suggested  to  them 
the  just  revenge  Joseph  might  yet  take  for  the  great  injuries  he  had  received  from 
their  hands.  In  consequence  of  this,  they  held  a  consultation  together  inAvhat  man- 
ner to  proceed  for  their  own  security ;  the  result  of  which  was  to  form  a  message 
(purporting  to  have  been  delivered  by  Jacob),  and  send  it  to  their  brother.  This  was 
accordingly  done,  and  the  substance  of  the  message  was  to  the  following  eff'ect: 
"  Thy  father  commanded,  before  he  died,  saying.  Thus  shall  ye  say  to  Joseph :  For- 
give, I  pray  thee  now,  the  trespass  of  thy  brethren  and  their  sm ;  for  they  did  evil 
mito  thee  ;  but  pardon  them,  not  only  for  my  sake,  but  because  they  are  the  servants 
of  the  God  of  thy  father." 

When  Joseph  read  this  message,  such  was  his  compassionate  and  forgiving  tem- 
per, that  he  could  not  refrain  from  weeping.  To  remove,  therefore,  the  fears  and 
apprehensions  of  his  brethren,  he  immediately  sent  for  them,  and,  receiving  them 
with  the  same  kind  affection  as  when  their  father  was  alive,  excused  the  actions 
they  had  formerly  committed  to  his  prejudice  in  the  most  obliging  manner ;  and,  in 
order  fully  to  remove  their  ill-fomided  fears,  dismissed  them  with  the  assurance  that 
they  should  always  find  in  him  a  constant  friend  and  an  affectionate  brother. 

Though  Joseph  lived  fifty-four  years  after  his  father's  death,  yet  the  sacred  histo- 
rian does  not  mention  any  ilirther  particulars  of  him  except  the  following ;  namely, 
that  he  lived  to  see  himself  the  hajjpy  parent  of  a  numerous  offspring  in  his  two 
sons,  Ephraim  and  Manassch,  even  to  the  third  generation;  during  which  time,  it  is 
reaso)iable  to  suppose,  he  continued  in  high  favor  with  his  prmce,  and  in  a  consider- 
able employment  under  him. 

When  Joseph  grew  old,  and  found  his  death  approaching,  he  sent  for  his  brethren, 
and,  with  the  like  prophetic  spirit  that  his  father  Jacob  had  done,  told  them  that 
God,  according  to  his  promise,  would  not  fail  bringing  their  posterity  out  of  Egypt 
into  the  land  of  Canaan,  At  the  same  time  he  made  them  swear,  that  when  it 
should  please  God  thus  to  visit  them,  they  should  not  forget  to  carry  his  remams 
with  them,  that  they  mi^ht  be  deposited  in  the  burial-place  of  his  ancestors. 

The  pious  Joseph,  having  thus  bound  his  brethren  by  oath  to  convey  his  remains 
to  his  native  land,  soon  after  departed  this  life,  in  the  one  hundred  and  tenth  year 
of  his  age.  In  compliance  with  the  injunction  laid,  his  brethren  had  the  body  im- 
mediately embalmed,  put  into  a  coffin,  and  carefully  secured,  till  the  time  should 
come  when  the  prediction  was  to  be  fulfilled  of  their  leaving  Egypt,  and  possessing 
the  land  of  Canaan. 

Thus  have  we  finished  the  life  of  the  great  patriarch  Joseph,  who  is  certainly  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  characters  to  be  met  Avith  either  in  sacred  or  profane  his- 

*  This  place  is  supposed  to  have  been  situated  about  two  leagues  from  Jericho,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
'ordan,  and  about  fifty  miles  from  Hebron. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


107 


108  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

tory.  To  enliven  what  has  already  been  said  of  him,  we  shall  conclude  this  chapter 
with  some  general  reflections  and  observations  on  the  whole  of  his  conduct ;  and  like- 
wise point  out  some  of  the  most  distinguished  writers,  whose  accounts  of  him  justly 
corroborate  that  given  by  the  sacred  historian. 

It  is  observable  that  Moses  is  more  diffuse  on  the  history  of  Joseph,  than  on  that 
of  any  other  of  the  patriarchs:  indeed,  the  whole  is  a  master-piece  of  history :  there 
is  not  only  in  the  manner  throughout  such  a  happy,  though  uncommon  mixture  of 
simplicity  and  grandeur  (which  is  a  double  character  so  hard  to  be  united  as  is  sel- 
dom met  with  in  compositions  merely  human),  but  it  is  likewise  related  with  the 
greatest  variety  of  tender  and  affecting  circumstances,  Avhich  would  afford  matter  for 
reflections  useful  for  the  conduct  of  almost  every  part  and  stage  of  the  life  of  man. 

Consider  him  in  whatever  point  of  view  or  in  Avhatever  light  you  Avill,  he  must 
appear  amiable  and  excellent,  worthy  of  imitation,  and  claiming  the  highest  applause. 
You  see  him  spoken  of  in  the  sacred  books  with  the  highest  honor;  as  a  person 
greatly  in  the  favor  of  God,  and  protected  by  him  wherever  he  went,  even  in  so  ex- 
traordinary a  manner  as  to  become  the  observation  of  others, — as  one  of  the  strictest 
fidelity  in  every  trust  committed  to  him, — ^^of  the  most  exemplary  chastity  and  honor, 
that  no  solicitations  could  overcome, — of  the  most  fixed  reverence  for  God,  in  the 
midst  of  all  the  corruptions  of  an  idolatrous  court  and  kingdom, — of  the  noblest  reso- 
lution and  fortitude,  that  the  strongest  temptations  could  never  subdue, — of  such  ad- 
mirable sagacity,  wisdom,  and  prudence,  that  made  even  a  prince  and  his  nobles 
consider  him  as  under  divine  inspiration, — of  that  indefatigable  industry  and  diligence 
which  made  him  successful  in  the  most  arduous  attempts, — of  the  most  generous 
compassion  and  forgiveness  of  spirit,  that  the  most  malicious  and  cruel  injuries  could 
never  weaken  or  destroy, — as  the  preserver  of  Egypt  and  the  neighboring  nations, 
and  as  the  stay  and  support  of  his  own  father  and  family, — as  one  patient  and  hum- 
ble in  adversity, — moderate  in  the  use  of  power  and  the  height  of  prosperity, — faith- 
ful as  a  servant,  dutiful  as  a  son,  affectionate  as  a  brother,  and  just  and  generous  as 
a  ruler  over  the  people ; — in  a  word,  as  one  of  the  best  and  most  finished  characters, 
and  as  an  instance  of  the  most  exemplary  piety  and  strictest  virtue. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

TirE  distinguished  happiness  which  the  descendants  of  Jacob  had  possessed  during 
the  power  invested  in  their  great  protector  Joseph,  was,  after  his  death,  materially 
Interrupted  by  the  accession  of  a  new  king  to  the  throne  of  Egypt.  This  monarch 
ueheld,  with  a  jealous  eye,  not  only  the  prosperity,  but  also  the  great  increase,  of  the 
xsraelites,  and  began  to  fear  that,  in  case  of  an  invasion,  they  might  possibly  take  part 
with  the  enemy,  and  thereby  divest  him  of  his  regal  dignity. 

In  consequence  of  these  conjectures  Pharaoh  summoned  a  council  of  his  principal 
nobility,  to  whom  he  stated  the  absolute  necessity  of  taking  some  measures  to  lessen 
not  only  the  power,  but  also  the  great  increase  of  the  Israelites,  who  were  to  bes;on- 
sidered  as  strangers  in  the  land  where  they  now  dwelt,  and,  in  time,  might  be  preju- 
dicial to  the  public  weal. 

The  council  agreed  in  opinion  with  the  king ;  upon  which  it  was  resolved  not  only 
to  impose  heavy  taxes  on  them,  but  to  confine  them  likewise  to  the  hard  labor  of 
bearing  burdens,  digging  clay,  making  bricks,  and  building  strong  fortresses  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  kingdom ;  by  means  of  which  their  spirits  would  be  sunk,  their  bodies 
empoverished,  and  the  great  increase  that  had  for  some  time  taken  place  among 
them  in  a  great  measure  stopped.* 

No  sooner  was  this  resolution  formed  than  it  was  carried  into  execution.  The 
wretched  Israelites  were  set  about  the  laborious  employ  to  which  they  were  assigned, 
and  that  they  might  not  be  negligent  in  the  execution  of  their  business,  taskmasters 
were  set  over  them,  whose  natural  dispositions  were  so  cruel,  that  they  did  all  in 
their  power  to  make  their  lives  truly  miserable. 

*  In  our  engraving  on  tlie  previous  page  the  wojiian  in  the  foreground  is  employed  in  baking  bread  at  the 
very  usual  kind  ol"  oven— a  hole  in  the  glound.  The  other  women  are  weaving.  Both  are  the  principal 
employments  of  women  among  the  pastoral  tribes,  and  were  such  among  tlie  Hebrews.  It  will  be  remem- 
bered that  the  hangings  for  the  tabernacle  were  woven  by  the  women,  in  the  wilderness. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  109 

But  such  Avas  the  goodness  of  God  in  behalf  of  the  poor  Israelites,  that  Pharaoh's 
project  was  far  from  succeeding  to  his  wishes;  for  the  more  they  were  oppressed, 
the  more  they  multiplied.  'I'his  so  aggravated  the  king,  and  increased  his  jealousy 
to  such  a  degree,  that,  in  order  to  obtain  his  purposes,  he  hit  upon  another  expedient. 
He  sent  for  two  of  the  most  eminent  of  the  Egyptian  midwives  (whose  names  were 
Shiprah  and  Puah),  to  whom  he  gave  a  strict  charge,  that  whenever  they  were  called 
to  do  their  office  to  any  Hebrew  woman,  if  the  child  were  a  male  they  shouLl  pri- 
vately strangle  it,  but  if  a  female,  they  might  let  it  live. 

The  midwives,  touched  with  the  cruelty  of  this  injunction,  and  fully  satisfied  in 
their  minds  that  it  was  better  to  obey  God  than  man,  paid  no  regard  to  Pharaoh's 
orders,  but  saved  both  male  and  female  alike.  Irritated  at  their  disobedience,  the 
king  sent  flir  them,  and  reprimanded  them  for  their  conduct  in  very  severe  terras ; 
but  they  excused  themselves  by  telling  him  that  the  Hebrew  women  were  so  nuich 
stronger  in  their  constitutions  than  the  Egyptians,  and  so  lively,  that  they  were  gen- 
erallv  delivered  before  they  could  reach  them. 

The  judicious  as  well  as  humane  conduct  of  the  Egyptian  midwives  was  very  ac- 
ceptable to  God ;  but  Pharaoh  was  highly  incensed  against  them,  considering  the 
excuse  they  made  as  a  mere  evasion.  He  therefore  determined  not  to  trust  them 
any  longer,  but  to  try  another  expedient,  which  might  more  effectively  answer  the 
intended  purposes,  and  totally  extirpate  the  whole  male  race  of  the  Hebrews.  To 
accomplish  this  end,  he  issued  out  an  edict,*  commanding  that  every  male  born 
among  the  Israelites  should  be  thrown  into  the  river  and  drowned,  but  that  all  the 
females  should  be  saved. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  so  barbarous  an  edict  should  greatly  afflict  the 
already  distressed  Israelites,  and  that  they  should  concert  various  methods  whereby 
they  might  secure  their  offspring  from  the  consequences  of  so  mhuman  a  decree. 
That  methods  of  this  nature  were  used,  will  appear  from  the  following  circum- 
stances. 

Some  years  before  this  cruel  edict  was  published,  one  Amram,  of  the  house  of 
Levi,  married  a  woman  named  Jochebed,  of  the  same  tribe.  The  first  child  they 
had  was  a  daughter,  whom  they  called  Miriam,  and  about  four  years  after  she  was 
delivered  of  a  son,  whom  they  named  Aaron.  In  the  time  of  this  cruel  persecution 
Jochebed  was  delivered  of  another  son,  who  being  a  child  of  most  exquisite  beauty, 
she  was  particularly  anxious  for  the  preservation  of  its  life. 

In  hopes  of  accomplishing  her  wishes,  she  concealed  the  child  in  her  house  for 
three  months  ;t  but,  not  being  able  to  secrete  him  any  longer,  and  fearful  that  he 
would  fall  into  the  hands  of  those  appointed  to  drown  the  male  children,  she  at  lengih 
resolved  to  commit  him  to  the  Providence  of  God.  Accordingly,  having  made  a  little 
ark  or  boat  of  rushes,^  and  well  plastered  it,  both  within  and  without,  with  pitch  or 
bitumen,  she  put  the  child  into  it,  and  going  privately  down  the  river,  left  it  among 
the  flags  by  the  bank,  placing  his  sister  Miriam  at  a  proper  distance  to  observe  the 
event. 

But  the  Providence  of  God  soon  interposed  in  behalf  of  the  helpless  infant.  A  short 
time  after  the  mother  had  left  it,  Pharaoh's  daughter, ||  attended  by  the  maids  of 

*  It  is  the  opinion  of  most  commentators,  and  the  learned  in  general,  that  this  inhuman  edict  was  so  ab- 
horred by  the  Egyptians,  that  they  scarce  ever  put  it  in  execution  ;  and  that  it  was  recalled  immediately 
after  the  death  of  the  king  who  enacted  it ;  which  time  Eusebius  and  others  place  in  the  fourth  year  after 
the  birth  of  Moses. 

t  Josephus,  ill  speaking  of  this  circumstance,  relates  the  following  story :  "  That  Amram,  findin;;  his  wife 
with  child,  and  fearing  the  consequences  of  the  king's  edict,  prayed  earnestly  to  God  to  put  an  end  to  that 
dreadful  persecution  ;  and  that  God  appeared  to  him  and  told  him,  that  he  would,  in  due  time,  free  his  peo- 
ple from  it,  and  that  the  son,  who  sliorlly  would  be  born  unto  him,  should  prove  the  happy  instrument  of 
their  glorious  deliverance,  and  thereby  eternise  his  own  name."  Tlutt  this  made  him  conceal  him  as  long 
as  he  could,  but  feanng  a  discovery,  he  resolved  to  trust  him  to  the  care  of  Providence,  arguing  to  this  ef- 
fect: that  if  the  child  could  be  concealed  (as  it  was  very  difficult  to  do  and  hazardous  to  attempt)  they 
must  be  in  danger  e  /ery  moment,  but  as  to  the  power  and  veracity  of  God,  he  did  not  doubt  of  it,  but  was 
assured,  that  whatever  he  had  promised  he  would  certainly  make  good  ;  and  with  this  trust  and  persuasion 
he  was  resolved  to  expose  him. 

i  Though  his  ark,  or  boat,  is  said  to  have  been  made  with  rushes,  it  is  most  probable  that  it  was  formed 
with  flajs  of  tlic  tree  papyrus,  of  which  the  Egyptians  made  their  paper,  and  wliich  grew  particularly  on  the 
banks  of  the  Nile.  Clemens  Alexandrinus  expressly  says,  that  the  vessel  was  made  of  papyrus,  the  product 
of  the  country  ;  and  his  assertion  is  confirmed  by  several  other  profane  writers. 

il  Josephus  calls  this  princess  Thurmuthis  ;  and  from  him  Philo,  who  adds,  that  she  was  the  king's  only 
daughter  and  heir  ;  and  that  being  some  time  married  without  having  issue,  she  pretended  to  be  big  with 
child,  and  to  be  delivered  of  Moses,  whom  she  owned  as  her  natural  son.  That  he  was  esteemed  so  is 
evident,  from  what  the  Apostle  to  the  Hebrews  says,  namely,  "  That  when  Moses  was  grownup,  he  scorn 
ed  to  be  thought  the  son  of  Pharaoh's  daughter."    See  Heb.  xi.  24. 


110  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

honor,  came  to  the  river  to  bathe  herself,  and  seehig  the  basket  at  some  i/istancc, 
she  ordered  one  of  her  attendants  to  go  and  bring  it  out  of  the  flags.  Her  orders 
were  immediately  obeyed,  upon  which,  no  sooner  did  she  uncover  the  chihl  than  it 
made  its  mourning  complaint  to  her  in  a  flood  of  tears.  This  circumstance,  ioiued 
to  the  extraordinary  beauty  of  the  infant,  so  moved  her  heart  with  compassion,  thai 
(notwithstanding  she  perceived  it  was  one  of  those  children  whom  her  father,  in  his 
edict,  had  ordered  to  be  drowned)  she  determined  to  preserve  it,  and  declared  her 
intention  of  having  it  brought  up  under  her  direction. 

By  this  time  Miriam,  the  child's  sister,  had  mixed  herself  with  the  aiiendants  of 
he  princess,  and  observing  with  what  tenderness  she  looked  upon  her  brother,  and 
at  tlie  same  time  hearing  her- intimate  her  desire  of  procuring  a  proper  nurse  for  it, 
she  very  officiously  olfered  her  service  to  procure  one.  The  princess  accepted  this 
ofier,  and  ordered  her  to  go  immediately  and  bring  the  person  with  her,  and  she 
would  wait  her  return.  Accordingly,  the  girl  hastened  Avith  all  expedition  to  the 
mother,  and  soon  bringing  her  to  the  place,  the  princess  delivered  the  child  into  her 
hands,  ordermg  her  to  take  the  utmost  care  of  it,  and  at  the  same  time  told  her,  that 
whatever  expenses  attended  the  rearing  of  it,  she  would  defray.  This,  no  doubt,  was 
a  welcome  bargain  to  the  mother,  who,  taking  the  child  home  with  her,  nursed  it 
openly,  her  fears  being  removed  by  having  a  royal  protection  for  its  security. 

When  the  child  was  of  a  proper  age,  his  mother  took  him  to  court,  in  order  to 
show  him  to  the  princess.  The  graces  of  his  person,  joined  to  the  beautiful  yet  noble 
simplicity  of  his  countenance,  so  engaged  her  attention,  that  she  adopted  him  as  her 
own  son,' and  gave  him  the  name  of  Moses.*  That  he  might  l)e  perfectly  accom- 
plished, she  kept  him  constantly  at  court,  where  he  was  instructed  in  all  the  learning 
and  discipline,  both  civil  and  military,  used  among  the  Egyptians,  and  in  every  other 
respect  treated  in  a  manner  becoming  the  dignity  of  a  prince  of  the  blood.f 

Moses  continued  to  live  in  Pharaoh's  court  till  he  arrived  at  the  age  of  maturity, 
when  he  resolved  to  leave  it,  and  associate  himself  with  his  persecuted  brethren  the 
Israelites.  Observing  their  wretched  state  of  servility,  and  the  cruel  manner  in 
which  they  were  treated  by  their  merciless  taskmasters,  he  was  greatly  affected ; 
and  to  such  a  degree  was  his  indignation  raised,  that,  seeing  one  day  an  Egyptian 
treat  a  Hebrew  in  a  very  cruel  manner,  he  immediately  stepped  up  to  his  assistance, 
and,  not  perceiving  any  person  near,  slew  him,  and  buried  his  body  in  the  sand. J 

As  he  was  walking  out  the  next  day  he  met  with  two  Hebrews,  in  strong  contest 
with  each  other ;  upon  which  he  admonished  them  to  consider  that  they  were  breth- 
ren, and  endeavored  to  decide  the  quarrel  between  them.  But  he  who  was  the  ag- 
fressor,  instead  of  listening  to  his  advice,  treated  it  with  contempt,  and  upbraided 
im  with  having  been  guilty  of  murder  in  killing  an  Egyptian. 

Moses  (little  suspecting  that  any  one  had  seen  the  transactions  of  the  preceding 
day)  was  greatly  alarmed  at  this  circumstancp,  being  apprehensive  as  it  was  known 
by" one,  it  would  circulate  from  him  among  the  multitude,  and  that  it  could  not  be 
long  before  it  reached  the  ears  of  Pharaoh,  in  which  case  it  might  be  attended  with 
thernost  fatal  consequences.  To  remove,  therefore,  these  disagreeable  apprehen- 
sions, and  secure  himM^lf  from  all  danger,  he  resolved  to  leave  Egypt,  which  he  ac- 
cordingly did,  and  fled  into  the  land  of  Midian,|l  a  beautiful  and  fertile  country  situ- 
ated to  the  east  of  the  Red  sea. 

*  The  word  Mo,  in  the  Egyptian  language  signifies  water,  and  yses,  saveil ;  so  that  the  name  Meses  was 
very  suitaljle  to  the  circumsta-ce  of  liis  being  saved  from  perisliing  in  tlie  water. 

t  It  is  uncertain  at  what  age  Moses  was  delivered  to  tlie  princess.  It  is,  liovvever,  reasonalile  to  suppose 
that  his  parents  had  so  well  insi  r\icted  him  in  their  religion,  and  taken  such  care  to  let  liim  know  botli  what 
relation  they  bore  to  him,  and  ^^  hat  hope  they  had  conceived  of  his  being  designed  by  Heaven  to  be  the  de- 
liverer of  his  nation  ;  that  he  had  made  no  other  use  of  his  education,  which  the  princess  gave  him,  than  to 
confirm  himselfmore  and  more  against  tlie  superstitions  and  idolatry  of  the  Eg.vplians  ;  and  lo  make  him- 
self fit  to  answer  those  ends,  fi.r  which,  by  Providence,  lie  seemed  designed. 

t  Wc  may  reasonably  supposi.  that  the  13g3ptian  whom  Moses  slew,  through  indignation  at  his  brethren's 
wrongs,  was  one  of  tlie  task-masters.  It  has  been  questioned  how  far  tliis  action  of  Moses  was  iiislitiable. 
Le  Clerc  observes,  that,  as  the  Esyplian  king  authorized  the  oppression  of  the  Israelites,  it  was  fniilless  to 
apply  to  him  for  redress  of  their  grievances.  The  civil  magistrate,  wlio  ought  to  have  protected  injured 
innocence,  was  himself  become  the  oppressor;  and,  conse.iuently,  the  society,  being  degenerated  into  a 
confederacy,  in  oppression  and  injustice,  it  was  as  lawful  lo  use  private  force  and  resistance,  as  against  a 
band  of  rolibers  and  cut-lhroats.  However,  we  are  to  remember,  that  the  Divine  hand  was  in  all  this  :  and 
that  thus  the  way  was  preparinfr'  for  the  grand  deliverance  of  Israel  from  Egyptian  oppression. 

II  Midian  is  supposed  to  be  that  part  of  Aral)ia  Petr:ca,  which  bordered  on  the  land  of  Goshen,  and  whose 
metropolis  (called  Petrea)  was  situated  not  far  fiom  Mount  Iloreb.  It  is  generally  agreed  that  tlie  peojile 
of  this  country  originated  from  Midian,  the  fourth  son  of  Abraham  by  Keturah,  from  whom  tliey  were  called 
Midianites. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BILLE.  1]? 

This  was  the  happy  spot  where  majesty,  guarded  only  by  rural  innocence,  submit- 
ted to  the  humble  office  of  a  shepherd,  and  a  crook,  instead  of  a  sceptre,  graced  the 
hand  of  the  peaceful  monarch.  Here  Jethro  (the  principal  man  of  the  country),  in 
quality  both  of  prince  and  priest,  enjoyed  the  blessings  of  a  quiet  reign,  and  whose 
daughters  (laying  aside  the  distinction  of  their  birth)  took  more  delight  in  the  inno- 
cent employment  of  tending  their  father's  flocks,  than  in  all  the  gayeties  of  a  luxuri- 
ous court. 

In  the  plains  of  Midian  was  a  well  to  which  it  was  common  for  all  the  neighboring 
people  to  drive  their  flocks  to  water.  Moses,  havmg  reached  this  spot,  and  being 
greatly  fatigued,  after  quenching  his  thirst  with  the  water,  sat  himself  down  to  rest. 
He  had  not  been  long  here  before  the  seven  daughters  of  Jethro  came  to  draw  water 
for  their  flocks ;  but  they  had  no  sooner  filled  their  vessels  than  some  rude  shep- 
herds, who  came  on  the  like  errand,  being  resolved  to  have  their  turn  first  served, 
violently  seized  on  the  water  drawn  by  the  damsels,  and  thereby  greatly  frigliteued 
them.  Moses,  disapproving  of  such  ill  conduct  in  the  men,  interposed  in  behalf  of 
the  women,  and,  obliging  the  shepherds  to  retire,  drew  more  water  for  them,  and 
gave  it  to  their  flocks.  The  damsels,  in  the  most  engaging  manner,  made  their 
acknowledgments  to  him  for  his  services,  after  which  they  took  leave  and  hastened 
home. 

Jethro  expressed  great  surprise  at  the  quickness  of  his  daughters'  return ;  upon 
which  they  informed  him  that  they  had  met  with  a  stranger  at  the  aa'cU,  who  not 
only  assisted  ihem,  but  likewise  protected  them  from  tlie  insults  of  several  rustics, 
who  had  forcibly  taken  from  them  the  water  they  had  drawn  for  their  cattle.  After 
hearing  this  story,  and  not  seeing  the  person  who  had  thus  gallantly  defended  them, 
Jethro  reprehended  his  daughters  for  being  guilty  of  ingratitude  and  incivilitv,  and 
asked  what  had  become  of  the  generous  stranger.  They  answered  they  had  left 
him  at  the  well,  upon  which  he  ordered  them  immediately  to  return,  and  mvite  him 
home. 

The  daughters  obeyed  their  father's  command,  and  Moses  being  introduced  into 
the  house  of  Jethro,  he  treated  him  with  every  mark  of  the  most  distinguished  re- 
spect. And  so  pleased  was  Moses  with  the  courteous  reception  he  met  with,  that, 
after  a  short  time,  he  expressed  his  willingness  to  take  up  his  abode  with  him  and 
become  his  shepherd.  Jethro  very  readily  accepted  this  proposal,  and,  to  attach 
Moses  the  more  strongly  to  his  interest,  gave  him  his  daughter  Zipporah  in  mar- 
riage. By  this  wife  he  had  two  sons,  the  eldest  of  whom  he  called  Gershom, 
which  signifies  a  "  stranger,"  alluding  to  his  own  condition  in  that  country.  The 
younger  he  called  Eliezar,  which  signifies  "  God  is  my  help,"  m  grateful  acknowledg- 
ment of  God's  having  delivered  him  from  the  hands  of  Pharaoh. 

After  Moses  had  been  some  few  years  in  Jethro's  fjftnily,  the  king  of  Egypt,  who 
was  upon  the  throne  at  the  time  he  left  the  country,  died ;  but  this  was  not  produc- 
tive of  the  least  benefit  to  the  persecuted  Israelites ;  his  successor  was  no  less  a 
tyrant  than  himself,  and  their  miseries,  mstead  of  being  mitigated,  were  daily  in- 
creased. At  length  their  complaints  reached  heaven ;  the  Almighty,  remembering 
the  covenant  which  he  had  made  with  their  forefathers,  looked  upon  them  Avith  au 
eye  of  compassion ;  and  having  resolved,  in  his  secret  providence,  to  make  Moses 
the  principal  instrument  in  bringing  about  their  deliverance,  he  began  to  prepare 
him  for  so  distinguished  an  undertaking. 

As  Moses  was  one  day  attending  his  father-in-law's  sheep,  they  happened  to  stray 
much  farther  than  usual,  upon  which  he  followed  them  as  far  into  the  desert  as 
Moiint  Horeb.  He  had  no  sooner  arrived  here  than  the  angel  of  the  Lord  appeared 
to  him  in  a  flame  of  fire  out  of  the  midst  of  a  bush.  So  uncommon  a  sight  fjreatly 
startled  Moses,  but  what  increased  his  astonishment  was  the  continuance  of  the  bush 
unconsumed,  notwithstanding  it  appeared  to  be  wholly  encompassed  with  flames. 

After  reflecting  some  time  on  this  extraordinary  circumstance,  Moses  resolved  to 
approach  nearer  the  bush,  in  order,  if  possible,  to  discover  the  cause  of  its  seeming  to 
burn,  and  yet  appearing  not  to  be  in  the  least  damaged.  But  the  Almighty,  to  pre- 
vent his  irreverent  approaches,  and  to  strike  the  greater  awe  and  sense  of  the  divine 
presence  into  him,  called  out  of  the  bush,  and  iforbade  him  drawing  near;  and,  to 
make  him  still  more  sensible  of  the  sacredness  of  the  place,  commanded  him  to  take 
oft'  his  sandals,  because  the  ground  on  which  he  stood  was  holy. 

Moses  immediately  obeyed  the  divine  order,  upon  which  the  Almighty  discovered 


112  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

himself  to  him  in  these  words :  "  I  am  the  God  of  thy  father,  the  God  of  Abraham, 
the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob."  The  frightened  Moses  was  struck  with 
such  reverence  of  the  divine  Majesty,  and  fear  of  the  effects  of  his  presumption,  thai 
he  immediately  fell  on  the  ground  and  covered  his  face,  being  miable  to  sustain  the 
refulgency  of  the  divine  presence. 

When  Moses  had  a  little  recovered  himself,  the  Almighty,  in  words  to  this  effect, 
addressed  him  :  "  I  have  seen,"  said  he,  "  the  affliction  of  my  people  which  are  in 
Egypt,  and  have  heard  their  cry  by  reason  of  their  taskmasters :  for  I  know  their 
orroAvs.  And  I  am  come  down  to  deliver  them  out  of  the  hand  of  their  oppressors, 
nd  to  conduct  them  to  the  promised  land,  a  land  flowing  Avith  milk  and  honey.  Thee 
have  I  chosen  to  be  the  instrument  in  this  great  work :  therefore  be  of  good  courage, 
for  I  Avill  send  thee  to  Pharaoh,  to  demand  liberty  of  him  for  my  people  the  children 
of  Israel." 

Moses  had  long  laid  aside  all  thoughts  of  attempting  to  rescue  his  brethren,  the 
Israelites,  from  their  thraldom ;  nor  had  he  any  opinion  of  his  own  abilities,  should 
he  make  the  attempt,  to  succeed  in  so  difficult  an  undertaking.  Wherefore,  when 
the  Almighty  proposed  the  thing  to  him,  he  endeavored  to  excuse  himself,  by  urging 
his  meanness  and  insufficiency  to  take  upon  him  the  character  of  a  divine  ambassa- 
dor. "  Who  am  I,"  said  he,  "  that  I  should  go  unto  Pharaoh,  and  that  I  should 
bring  forth  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  Egypt?"  But  this  difficulty  the  Almighty 
removed,  by  assuring  him  that  he  would  be  with  him,  and  assist  him  in  every  step 
he  took ;  that  he  would  enable  him,  however  perplexed  and  arduous  the  task,  to 
accomplish  it ;  and  for  a  token  of  his  veracity  herein,  told  him  that  within  a  small 
compass  of  time  he  should  see  those  very  people,  who  were  now  in  slavery,  set  free 
and  worshipping  him  on  that  very  mountain. 

Still  unwilling  to  undertake  the  task,  Moses  desired  to  know  what  he  should  say 
to  the  people,  and  by  what  name  he  Avas  to  call  the  person  Avho  sent  him  on  the 
message.  To  which  the  Almighty  replied,  that  he  should  tell  him  it  Avas  an  eternal, 
independent,  self-existing  Being,  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  by  which 
name  he  had  ever  gone,  and  by  which  he  would  continue  to  go,  to  all  eternity.  He 
then  ordered  him  to  go  into  Egypt;  where,  on  his  arrival,  he  should  first  assemble 
together  the  chief  of  the  Israelites,  and  acquaint  them  Avith  his  business  ;  after  Avliich 
he  should  go  directly  to  the  king,  and  demand  of  him  their  liberty,  at  least  for  three 
days,  that  they  might  retire  into  the  Avilderness,  in  order  to  sacrifice  to  their  God. 
This  request,  he  told  Moses,  the  king  would  not  at  first  grant,  but  in  the  end  he 
would  be  glad  to  consent,  Avhen  he  should  see  the  divine  power  displayed  in  a  vari- 
ety of  miracles  which  Avould  take  place  on  sundry  occasions.  "  I  Avill  exert  myself,' 
said  he,  "in  many  miraculous  operations  on  him  and  his  subjects,  and  at  last  he 
shall  permit  you  to  depart ;  but  you  shall  not  go  away  empty,  for  ye  shall  be  loaded 
with  the  spoils  of  the  Egyptians." 

It  might  be  thought  that  such  solemn  assurances,  even  from  the  mouth  of  God 
himself,  Avould  have  been  sufficient  to  have  gained  a  ready  compliance;  but  Moses, 
either  from  the  ideas  he  entertained  of  the  difficulty  of  the  enterprise,  or  from  diffi- 
dence of  his  own  abilities,  Avas  still  desirous  of  declining  the  task,  and  objected,  that 
when  he  came  into  Egypt  the  people  would  probably  doubt  his  Avord,  and  consider 
him  as  an  impostor. 

This  objection  God  immediately  removed  by  showing  him  a  miracle.  Asking  him 
what  he  had  in  his  hand,  he  replied,  a  rod ;  upon  Avhich  the  Almighty  ordered  him 
to  throw  it  on  the  ground,  which  he  had  no  sooner  done  than  it  Avas  immediately 
turned  into  a  serpent.  Moses,  frightened  at  this  sudden  change  of  his  rod,  attempted 
to  run  away;  but  God,  to  encourage  him,  bid  him  take  it  up  by  the  tail,  Avhich  he 
had  no  sooner  done  than  it  resumed  its  former  shape;  and  to  convince  him,  at  the 
same  time,  that  he  should  not  Avant  credit  with  the  Israelites,  he  gave  him  a  com- 
mission to  perform  the  same  miracle  before  them  Avhen  he  should  get  into  Egypt.  _ 

Still  farther  to  remove  Moses's  scruples,  the  Almighty  was  pleased  to  give  him 
another  instance  of  his  great  and  distinguished  poAver.  He  ordered  him  to  put  his 
hand  into  his  bosom,  which  he  accordingly  did,  and  on  pulling  it  out,  it  Avas  covered 
all  over  Avith  leprosy.  He  then  told  him  to  put  his  hand  into  his  bosom  again,  Avhich 
he  likewise  did,  and  on  taking  it  out  the  leprosy  Avas  gone,  and  it  became  as  clean 
as  at  first.  This  miracle  he  likeAvise  commissioned  Moses  to  shoAV  the  Israelites ; 
.  and  moreover,  to  arm  him  sufficiently  beyond  all  doubt,  he  was  pleased  to  empower 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  113 

•turn  with  a  third  miracle.  "  If,"  says  he,  "  they  will  not  bei  eve  these  two  former, 
thou  shah  take  of  the  water  of  the  river,  and  pour  it  upon  dry  land,  and  the  water 
shall  become  blood." 

Notwithstanding  these  solemn  and  repeated  assurances  of  the  divine  aid,  favor, 
and  protection,  Moses  still  endeavored  to  waive  the  important  office,  urging  as  a 
farther  plea  that  he  wanted  eloquence,  the  great  qualification  of  an  ambassador;  and 
that  since  God  had  condescended  to  talk  to  him,  he  was  much  more  deficient  in  his 
speech  than  before.  But  this  obstacle  the  Almighty  was  likewise  pleased  to  remove, 
by  putthig  Moses  in  mind  of  his  omnipotence.  "  Who,"  said  he,  "  hath  made  man's 
niouth  ?  or  who  maketh  the  dumb,  or  deaf,  or  the  seeing,  or  the  blind  ?  have  not  I 
the  Lord  ?  Now  therefore  go,  and  I  will  be  with  thy  mouth,  and  teach  thee  what 
thou  shalt  say." 

Hitherto  Moses  had  some  shadow  of  pretence  for  his  unwillingness  to  go  into 
Egypt ;  but  now,  all  his  objections  being  answered,  he,  in  very  plain  terms,  desired 
to  be  excused  from  the  enterprise,  and  begged  of  God  that  he  would  be  pleased  to 
appoint  some  other  person  in  his  stead. 

So  long  as  Moses  had  anything  to  plead  in  excuse  for  not  going,  God  heard  him 
patiently,  and  graciously  condescended  to  remove  his  doubts ;  but,  when  all  this  was 
done,  and  he  at  length  gave  an  absolute  refusal,  the  Almighty  was  greatly  displeased, 
though  at  the  same  lime  he  did  noi  display  any  instance  of  his  resentment.  On  the 
contrary,  he  resumed  Moses's  last  objection  (which  he  had  already  answered  in 
geneial),  and  showed  him,  in  a  more  particular  manner,  how  he  should  supply  that 
defect:  "  Is  not,"  said  he,  "  Aaron,  the  Levite,  thy  brother?  He  is  eloquent,*  and 
I  will  appoint  him  To  meet  thee.  Tell  him  what  I  have  said  ;  and  be  assured  that 
I  Avill  always  assist  you  both,  and  direct  you  what  to  say.  He  shall  be  the  orator, 
and  thou  shalt  be  to"  him  instead  of  God.  And  to  strengthen  thy  commission,  and 
give  thee  credit  among  thy  people,  take  this  rod  in  thy  hand,  for  with  it  shalt  thou 
be  enabled  to  perform  many  miracles." 

Every  obstacle  being  renioved,  and  the  most  evincing  demonstrations  of  a  miracu- 
lous power,  together  with  the  protection  of  Divine  Providence,  given  to  Moses,  he 
was  at  length  "prevailed  on  to  accept  the  commission.  He  accordmgly  went  first  to 
his  father-in-law  Jethro,  and,  without  telling  him  the  occasion,  requested  permission 
to  go  and  visit  his  brethren,  who  were  then  in  the  land  of  Egypt. 

Jethro  readily  consented  to  Moses's  request ;  upon  which,  taking  his  wife  and 
children  with  him,  he  proceeded  on  his  journey.  He  had  not,  however,  gone  far, 
when  an  angel  appeared  to  him,  and  with  a  stern  countenance,  and  flaming  sword  in 
his  hand,  threatened  to  kill  him,  because,  either  from  the  persuasions  of  his  wife  or 
from  his  own  neglect,  he  had  not  yet  circumcised  his  younger  son  Eliezar.  As  soon 
as  Zipporah  understood  the  cause  of  the  Divine  displeasure,  she  immediately  took  an 
instrument  made  of  a  sharp  flint,  and  with  it  circumcised  the  child ;  which  being 
done,  the  angry  vision,  after  giving  signs  that  God  was  appeased,  disappeared.! 

While  Moses  was  on  his  journey  to  Egypt,  Aaron,  by  a  Divine  revelation,  was 
informed  thereof,  and  ordered  to  go  and  meet  him  in  the  wilderness.  Aaron  obeyed 
the  Divine  command,  and  met  his  brother  at  a  small  distance  from  Mount  Horeb. 
After  mutual  embraces  and  endearments,  Moses  opened  to  him  the  purport  of  his 
commission,  the  instructions  he  had  received  from  God,  and  the  miraculous  works  he 
was  empowered  to  perform. 

*  Moses  excelled  in  wisdom  and  conduct,  Aaron,  his  brother,  in  eloquence.  Such  is  the  wise  order  of 
Providence,  which  has  dispensed  different  gifts  to  different  persons,  that  they  may  each  be  assisting  to  one 
another,  and  knit  more  firmly  the  band  of  society  !  Thus  Polydamus  in  Homer,  Iliad  13,  tells  Ilector,  God 
gives  to  different  men  different  accomplishments  : 

"  To  some  the  powers  of  bloody  war  belong, 
To  some  sweet  music,  and  the  charm  of  song ; 
To  few,  and  wondrous  few,  has  Jove  assigned 
A  wise,  extensive,  all-considering  mind." — Pope. 

t  The  best  interpretation  that  can  be  given  of  this  extraordinary-  circumstance  is,  that  Moses  having  de- 
ferred the  circumcision  of  his  youngest  son  (perhaps  in  compliance  to  his  wife),  God  was  peculiarly  offend- 
ed with  him  for  such  neglect  ;  not  only  because  Moses  knew  that  no  child  could  be  admitted  a  member  of 
the  Jewish  community,  nor  be  entitled  to  the  blessings  of  God's  covenant  with  those  people,  without  cir- 
cumcision ;  but  also  because  his  example  was  of  the  greatest  consequence  :  for  who  would  have  regarded 
the  law,  if  the  law-giver  himself  had  neglected  it  ?  Zipporah,  therefore,  conscious  of  her  husband's  danger, 
as  well  as  of  her  own  negligence,  immediately  performed  the  office  herself;  in  consequence  of  which  the 
cause  being  removed,  God's  anger  also  ceased  ;  and  he  suffered  Moses  to  pursue  his  journey.  Zipporah  is 
supposed  to  have  performed  the  office,  because  Moses  was  in  toe  great  a  consternation  to  do  it  himself. 

8 


lU  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

The  two  brothers,  being  thus  joined  in  the  same  commission  (though  Moses  was 
the  sovereign),  repaired  with  all  expedition  to  Egypt.  Immediately  on  their  arrival 
they  called  an  assembly  of  the  chief  elders  of  the  Israelites,  to  whom  Aaron  declared 
the  message  which  God  had  sent  by  Moses ;  while  the  latter,  to  confirm  the  truth  of 
his  divine  mission,  wrought  the  several  miracles  which  God  had  appointed  in  the 
presence  of  the  whole  assembly.  In  consequence  of  this,  they  all  appeared  fully 
convinced  that  he  was  a  true  prophet  come  from  the  God  of  their  fathers,  who  had  at 
length  commiserated  their  afflictions,  and  sent  him  now  to  deliver  them  from  their 
bondage ;  and,  with  this  persuasion,  they  all  knelt  down  and  worshipped  God. 

A  few  days  after  this,  Wloses  and  Aaron  went  to  Pharaoh's  court,  and,  having 
obtained  admission  to  the  king,  requested  of  him  that  he  would  permit  the  Israelites 
to  go  three  days'  journey  into  the  wilderness,  in  order  to  perform  a  solemn  service  to 
the  Lord  their  God.  But  the  haughty  tyrant  not  only  refused  complying  with  their 
request,  but  most  impiously  arraigned  the  divine  prerogative,  and  called  in  question 
the  existence  of  the  only  wise  and  true  God  in  these  presumptuous  words :  "  Who  is 
the  Lord,  that  I  should  obey  his  voice  to  let  Israel  go  ?  I  know  not  the  Lord,  neither 
will  I  let  Israel  go." 

Pharaoh  suspected  that  the  Israelites  had  a  design  of  revolting  from  his  service, 
and  that  they  had  been  laying  schemes  to  get  out  of  his  dominions.  This  to  him 
was  an  argument  that  they  had  loo  much  leisure  time  from  business,  and  that  the 
most  effectual  way  to  check  their  contrivances  would  be  to  curtail  their  vacant  hours ; 
he  therefore  ordered  greater  tasks  and  more  work  to  be  laid  on  them.  He  repri- 
manded Moses  and  Aaron  for  going  among  the  people  and  interrupting  them  in  their 
employments;  and  strictly  charged  the  task-masters  not  to  allow  them  any  more 
straw,  and  yet  to  exact  the  same  tale  of  bricks  from  them  without  abatement. 

The  task-masters  acquainted  their  under-officers  with  this  severe  injunction,  who 
immediately  communicated  it  to  the  people,  and  they  were  accordingly  forced  to 
wander  about  the  country  to  seek  for  straw,  the  task-masters,  at  the  same  time, 
exacting  from  them  their  usual  number  of  bricks ;  and  when  they  were  unable  to 
perform  their  task,  the  under-officers,  who  were  Israelites,  and  whom  the  task-mas- 
ters had  set  over  them,  were  called  to  account  and  punished. 

Not  knowing  whence  this  unreasonable  severity  proceeded,  whether  from  the 
royal  edict  or  the  rigor  of  the  task-masters,  the  under-officers  addressed  the  king 
himself,  and,  in  the  most  humble  manner,  laid  their  grievances  before  him.  But  so 
far  were  they  from  receiving  any  redress,  that  the  answer  returned  them  was — 
that  "  the  king  would  have  his  edict  fully  executed,  and  insisted  on  having  their  full 
number  of  bricks,  though  he  was  resolved  not  to  allow  them  any  straw." 

This  answer  greatly  afflicted  the  poor  Israelites,  msomuch  that  they  were  almost 
driven  to  despair.  On  their  return  from  the  king  they  happened  to  meet  Moses  and 
Aaron,  and  supposing  them  to  be  the  cause  of  the  additional  burden  laid  on  them, 
expressed  their  grief  and  resentment  in  words  to  this  effect:  "That  they  had  taken 
care  to  infuse  an  odium  into  the  king  against  them,  and  given  him  a  plausible  handle 
to  destroy  them,  which  they  wished  to  God  might  fall  on  their  o"\^n  heads." 

These  bitter  expressions  greatly  afflicted  Moses,  who,  retiring  to  a  private  place, 
addressed  himself  to  God  in  this  humble  expostulation:  "Why,"  said  he,  "0  Lord, 
hast  thou  thus  afflicted  the  people  ?  For  since  I  spoke  to  Pharaoh  in  thy  name,  he 
hath  treated  them  with  more  seyerity  than  before,  and  they  are  more  unlikely  to  be 
delivered  -than  ever." 

The  great  concern  Moses  had  for  the  oppression  of  the  Israelites  was  certainly  the 
cause  of  his  forgetting  the  promise  which  God  had  given  him,  as  also  what  he  had 
foretold  relative  to  the  perverseness  of  Pharaoh.  But,  notwithstanding  this,  the 
Almighty  was  pleased  to  give  him  fresh  assurances  of  his  divine  intentions  of 
removing  the  Israelites  from  the  state  of  bondage:  "I  am  the  Lord,"  said  he,  "the 
Almighty  God,  that  appeared  unto  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob.  Was  I  not  knoAvn  to 
them  by  my  name  Jehovah  ?  Be  assured  that  I  the  Lord,  who  made  a  covenant 
with  them  to  give  their  jjosterity  the  land  of  Canaan,  have  heard  their  complaints 
and  remembered  my  promise.  Therefore,  say  thus  to  the  children  of  Israel,  I  am 
Tehovah,  who  exist  only  of  myself,  and  give  existence  to  all  beings.  Tell  them  I  will 
deliver  them  from  the  Egyptian  slavery,  with  the  power  of  my  Almighty  arm,  and 
inflict  heavy  judgments  on  them  that  oppress  them.  Nor  will  I  only  deliver  you  all 
from  this  bondage,  but  I  will  take  you  imder  my  immediate  protection :  ye  snail  be 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  • ,  115 

my  people,  and  I  will  be  your  God.    I  am  Jehovah,  the  Lord,  that  promiseth  tnis, 
and  that  can  and  will  do  it." 

Encouraged  by  this  gracious  and  divine  declaration,  Moses  immediately  repaired  to 
the  Israelites,  to  whom  he  delivered  his  message  as  God  had  commanded.  But  such 
was  their  affliction  of  mind,  in  consequence  of  the  increase  of  their  servitude,  and 
which  they  attributed  to  have  arisen  from  him,  that  they  paid  no  attention  to  what 
he  said.  They  were  prejudiced  against  him,  and  rather  looked  upon  him  as  an 
enemy  than  as  one  who  was  desirous  of  procuring  their  enlargement. 

The  Almighty,  fully  resolved  to  pursue  the  ends  of  his  Providence,  again  com- 
manded Moses  to  go  to  the  king  of  Egypt  and  demand  the  liberty  of  the  Israelites. 
Having  been  so  roughly  dismissed  from  Pharaoh's  presence  before,  and  so  unkindly 
rejected  by  the  Israelites,  Moses  endeavored  to  decline  the  errand  by  drawmg  an 
argument  from  each  circumstance :  "  Since,"  says  he,  "  the  children  of  Israel,  thine 
own  people,  would  not  hear  me,  though  what  I  offered  was  so  much  to  their  advan- 
tage, how  can  I  expect  that  so  wicked  a  prince  as  Pharaoh  is  should  pay  any  atten- 
tion to  so  insignificant  a  person*  as  I  am,  and  in  a  matter  so  much  to  his  loss?" 

To  remove  this  objection,  the  Almighty  was  pleased  to  address  himself  to  Moses  in 
words  to  this  effect:  "  Consider,"  said  he,  "I  have  made  thee  as  a  Godf  to  Pharaoh 
and  Aaron,  thy  brother,  shall  be  thy  interpreter,  or  orator.  Thou  shalt  tell  him  all 
that  I  have  commanded  thee,  and  ye  shall  demand  of  Pharaoh  the  deliverance  of  my 
people.  And  that  thou  mayest  not  be  discouraged  by  a  repulse,  as  before,  take  notice 
that  Pharaoh  shall  give  no  credit  to  what  thou  sayest,  that  I  may  thereby  show  my 
power  and  wonders  to  him  and  his  people,  and  deliver  the  children  of  Israel  by  the 
strength  of  my  hand.  For  since  Pharaoh  has  begun  to  harden  his  heart  in  ^con- 
temptuously treating  me  and  abusing  my  people,  I  will  now  permit  him  to  go  on  in 
his  obstinate  humor,  that  I  may  exert  my  power  in  miraculous  operations'  in  the 
land  of  Egypt.  Therefore,  when  ye  come  into  Pharaoh's  presence,  and  he  shall 
demand  a  miracle  of  you,  to  convince  him  of  the  truth  of  your  mission,  thou  shalt 
direct  Aaron  to  cast  his  rod  on  the  ground  before  Pharaoh,  and  it  shall  be  turned  into 
a  serpent." 

In  consequence  of  these  instructions,  Moses  and  Aaron  went  again  to  the  king,  and 
repeated  their  demand  of  his  dismissing  the  Israelites.  Pharaoh  desired  them  to 
show  him  some  miracle,  Avhereby  he  might  be  induced  to  believe,  that  the  God,  of 
whom  they  had  so  much  spoken,  had  really  sent  for  them.  Upon  this  Aaron  threw 
down  his  rod,  which  had  no  sooner  touched  the  ground,  than  it  was  changed  into  a 
living  serpent. 

Though  Pharaoh  was  somewhat  surprised  at  this  incident,  yet  he  was  determined, 
if  possible,  to  make  it  appear  of  no  great  importance.  To  effect  this,  he  sent  for  his 
principal  magicians,  Avhom  he  ordered  to  try,  if,  by  their  magical  arts,  they  couid 
cause  the  like  transmigration.  They  obeyed  the  king's  commands,  and,  to  his  great 
satisfaction,  their  attempts  succeeded.  They  threw  down  their  rods,  which  were  im- 
mediately changed  into  serpents,  only  Avith  this  remarkable  circumstance,  that  Aaron's 
rod  swallowed  up  (while  in  the  figure  of  a  serpent)  all  those  of  the  magicians,  after 
which  it  resumed  its  accustomed  form.  It  might  have  been  supposed,  that  this  would 
have  been  sufficient  to  have  convinced  the  proud  monarch  of  the  superior  power  of 
the  God  of  Israel ;  but  his  heart  Avas  so  averse  to  the  thoughts  of  parting  with  the 
Hebrews,  that  it  did  not  in  the  least  affect  him. 

As  this  miracle  made  no  impression  on  the  obstinate  tyrant,  the  Almighty  resolved 
to  make  use  of  more  forcible  scourges,  and  to  afflict  the  Egyptians  Avith  such  a  suc- 

*  It  is  remarkable,  that  in  the  text  Moses  here  calls  himself  an  uncircumcised  person,  or  rather  a  man 
whose  lips  had  not  been  circumcised.  See  Exod.  vi.  12.  By  this  we  are  to  understand,  that  he  meant  nc 
more  than  that  he  was  not  possessed  of  that  fluency  of  speech  which  was  necessary  on  so  important  an  oc- 
casion. The  word  circumcised  is  phraseologically  used  by  the  Hebrews  on  several  occasions,  as  when  they 
call  any  one  uncircumcised  in  heart,  mind,  or  tongue,  they  mean  no  more  than  that  the  person  spoken  of  is 
not  so  perfect  in  these  particulars  as  might  be  wished.  Besides,  as  circumcision  was  the  first  and  greatest 
sacrament  among  them,  so  uncircumcision  was  esteemed  the  greatest  scandal  and  disgrace.  The  phrase 
therefore,  naturally  and  clearly  expresses  the  humble  opinion  Moses  had  for  himself,  his  unfitness  for  such 
an  office,  and  his  inability  to  persuade  or  prevail  with  so  haughty  a  monarch  as  Pharaoh. 

t  The  word  here  translated  a  God,  signifies  a  prince,  a  counsellor,  or  governor  ;  and  as  Moses  was  to 
work  many  wonders  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  so  there  is  no  doubt  but  Pharaoh  would  look  upon  him  as  a  person 
endued  with  supernatural  power.  It  was  then  beginning  to  grow  common  with  the  heathen  nations,  particu 
larly  the  Egyptians,  to  rank  their  great  men  among  the  number  of  their  gods  ;  and,  therefore,  when  the  Lord 
here  speaks  to  Moses,  he  does  not  say  that  he  made  liim  an  object  of  worship,  but  only  that  he  would  endue 
mm  with  so  much  power,  that  the  Egyptians  would  look  upon  him  efe  a  God. 


#' 


116  .-.  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

cession  of  plagues  as  should  compel  them  to  dismiss  the  long-enslaved  Israelites. 
Having  observed  to  Moses,  that  Pharaoh's  heart  was  hardened,  he  ordered  him  to  take 
the  rod,  Avhich  had  been  turned  into  a  serpent,  and  (in  company  with  his  brother 
Aaron)  to  throw  himself  in  the  way  of  Pharaoh,  at  his  usual  time  of  coming  to  the 
banks  of  the  river  Nile.  That  as  soon  as  he  saw  the  king,  he  should  again  demand 
of  him  the  liberty  of  the  Israelites ;  and  that  if  he  still  continued  obstinate,  as  a  far- 
ther sign  that  they  were  messen;^ers  from  God,  he  should  give  the  rod  to  Aaron,  who, 
by  striking  it  on  the  water,  should  immediately  change  it  into  blood. 

In  obedience  to  the  divine  command,  Moses,  at  the  time  appointed,  went  to  the 
bank  of  the  river,  soon  after  which  the  king  arriving,  he  accosted  him  in  words  to 
this  effect :  "  That  he  was  sent  from  the  Almighty  God  of  the  Hebrews,  to  demand 
tlie  release  of  the  Israelites,  and  that  if  he  did  not  comply  with  his  request,  but  still 
lemaiiied  obstinate,  his  Gud  should  not  only  afflict  him  for  his  perverseness,  bur 
bring  down  the  most  heavy  judgments  on  his  people." 

The  intidel  prince,  regardless  of  the  order  of  God,  by  these  two  appointed  mission- 
aries, still  persisted  in  his  resolution  (so  little  did  the  first  miracle  operate  on  his 
mind)  of  detaining  the  Israelites,  and  continuing  them  in  their  w^retched  state  of 
bondage.  Findin<j  all  remonstrances  in  vain,  Moses  delivered  his  rod  to  Aaron,  who 
s-triking  the  water  with  it,  as  God  had  commanded  him,  it  changed  into  blood,  and  so 
continued  for  the  space  of  seven  days,  by  means  of  which  the  fish  were  suffocated, 
and  the  inhabitants  compelled  to  dig  for  water  to  allay  their  thirst.  As  it  was  known 
that  Moses  received  his  education  among  the  Egyptians,  Pharaoh  concluded,  that  all 
this  was  performed  by  magic  skill.  Wherefore,  calling  for  his  magicians,  he  put  them 
upon  the  like  trial ;  who,  taking  some  water  out  of  the  wells  they  had  dug,  so  artfully 
changed  its  color,  as  to  make  it  appear  like  blood.  Though  this  Avas  but  a  delusion, 
yet  Pharaoh  was  satisfied  in  his  own  mind  that  what  Moses  and  Aaron  had  done  was 
not  the  effect  of  any  supernatural  power,  but  a  mere  trick  of  art;  and  therefore  still 
resuhed  nui  [u  permit  the  departure  of  the  Israelites. 

But  the  Almighty  was  pleased  to  display  still  farther  miracles  before  this  impious 
and  obstinate  tyrant.  When  the  seven  days  were  expired,  and  the  waters  had  re- 
s  iiTjed  their  natural  qualities,  Moses,  at  the  command  of  God,  accosted  Pharaoh  again, 
a.:d  renewed  his  solicitations  for  the  delivery  of  the  Israelites,  threatening,  on  his  re- 
fusal, to  bring  upon  the  land  such  prodigious  numbers  of  frogs,  as  should  visit  him 
and  his  subjects  in  their  most  private  recesses. 

Pharaoh,  regardless  of  these  threats,  defied  him  ;  upon  which  Moses  ordered  Aaron 
to  take  his  rod,  and  stretch  forth  his  hand  with  it  over  the  rivers,  which  in  an  instant 
aff'ected  all  the  waters  of  Egypt,  that,  not  waiting  for  the  slow  productions  of  nature, 
the  animated  streams  unburdened  themselves  upon  the  land  in  shoals  of  frogs,  which 
immediately  invaded  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  infested  even  the  royal  palace  itself* 

The  obstinate  and  perverse  king  had  again  recourse  to  his  magicians,  Avho,  by  their 
mimic  power,  so  deluded  Pharaoh  as  to  make  him  believe  they  had  wrought  the  like 
miracle,  'i'his  hardened  his  heart  for  a  time ;  but  the  loathsome  plague  continuing, 
and  pursuing  his  people  Avherever  they  went,  he  was  at  length  forced  to  apply  to 
Moses  and  Aaron,  to  whom  he  promised  that  the  Israelites  should  have  their  liberty, 
provided  their  God  would  remove  so  infestuous  a  plague.  "  Entreat  the  Lord,"  said 
he,  "  that  he  may  take  away  the  frogs  from  me,  and  from  my  people ;  and  I  Avill  let 
the  people  go  that  they  may  do  sacrifice  mito  the  Lord." 

Moses  demanded  the  time  when  this  should  be  put  to  an  issue,  upon  which  the  next 
day  was  conjunctively  agreed  on.  Accordingly,  Moses,  in  order  to  fulfil  his  part  ol 
the  contract,  after  leaving  Pharaoh,  retired  to  a  private  place,  and,  addressing  himself 
to  God,  humbly  besought  him  to  remove  the  plague  of  the  frogs  from  the  land  of 
Egj^pt.  The  Almighty  was  pleased  to  listen  to  Moses's  solicitations :  the  frogs  soon 
died,  which  the  people  gathered  together  in  heaps ;  but  they  were  so  numerous,  that 
before  they  could  be  removed,  the  scent,  which  was  exceedmg  obnoxious,  spread  it- 
self throughout  the  whole  country. 

*  Tliis  plague  of  the  frogs,  as  well  as  that  of  the  water  being  changed  into  blood,  M'as  excellently  adapted 
to  subvert  the  superstitions  of  Egypt,  and  to  demonstrate  the  over-ruling  power  of  the  Almighty ;  for  as  the 
bank  of  the  river  Nile  was  the  grand  scene  of  tlie  magical  operations  of  the  Egyptians,  in  whicli  blood  and 
frofrs  made  a  principal  part  of  the  apparatus  ;  so,  by  commanding  that  river  to  produce  such  an  infinite  niul 
titude  of  these  creatures  to  annoy  them,  God,  with  wonderful  propriety,  adapted  tlioir  chastisement  to  the 
nature  of  their  crimes  :  for  frogs  wore  not  only  the  instruments  of  their  abominations,  but  likewise  the  em- 
hleriis  of  those  im),urc  demons  wliom  they  invoked  by  their  incantations. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


y 


117 


118  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

As  Moses  had  now  fulfilled  his  part  of  the  contract,  he  naturally  expected  that 
Pharaoh  would  have  performed  his ;  but  the  impious  monarch,  vainly  imagining  that 
the  artillery  of  divine  vengeance  was  now  exhausted,  imfaithfuUy  broke  his  word, 
and  still  refused  to  let  the  Israelites  depart. 

This  breach  of  promise  so  offended  the  Almighty,  that  he  resolved  to  treat  the 
haughty  tyrant  in  a  more  severe  manner  than  he  had  hitherto  done.  As  yet  God  had 
given  him  previous  notice  of  the  judgments  he  intended  to  denounce,  that  he  might 
have  the  opportunity  of  escaping  them;  but  now,  without  giving  him  the  least  inti- 
mation of  his  design,  he  commanded  Moses  to  direct  Aaron  to  stretch  out  his  rod,  and 
strike  the  dust  with  it,  that  it  might  become  lice  throughout  all  the  land  of  Egypt. 
Aaron  had  no  sooner  obeyed  the.  divine  command,  than  the  animated  dust  was  imme- 
diately turned  into  swarms  of  vermin,  which  not  only  infested  the  human  species,  but 
also  the  beasts  of  the  field.  Pharaoh  again  had  recourse  to  his  magicians,  who  (though 
they  had  faintly  imitated  the  former  plagues)  now  attempted  this  in  vain :  they  owned 
their  art  outdone,  and  acknowledged  this  to  be  the  inimitable  work  of  a  divine  hand. 

But  notwithstanding  this,  Pharaoh's  heart  was  so  hardened,  that  he  would  not  pay 
the  least  attention  to  the  solicitations  of  Moses  ;  upon  whicli  the  Almighty  was  pleased 
to  give  him  another  summons,  in  words  to  this  effect :  "  Rise  up,"  says  he  to  Moses, 
"  early  in  the  morning,  and  meet  Pharaoh  as  he  comes  to  the  river  :  tell  him.  Thus 
saith  the  Lord :  let  my  people  go,  that  they  may  serve  me,  or  I  will  send  swarms  of 
flies  upon  thee  and  thy  people,  which  shall  fill  their  houses,  and  cover  the  face  of  the 
earth.  And  that  thou  mayest  know,  that  this  is  brought  as  a  judgment  upon  thee  and 
thy  subjects,  for  oppressing  my  people,  I  Will,  on  that  day,  separate  the  land  of  Go- 
shen, in  which  my  servants  dwell,  from  the  rest  of  Egypt",  that  the  flies  shall  not  mo- 
lest them." 

Moses,  in  conformity  to  the  divine  command,  delivered  this  message  to  Pharaoh, 
whose  obstinacy  and  perverseness  were  so  great,  that  he  still  refused  the  Israelites  to 
depart.  Iri  consequence  of  this,  the  next  day,  clouds  of  swarming  insects  filled  the 
air,  which  in  numberless  troops  descended  to  the  earth,  and,  with  their  unusual  noise, 
surprised  and  affrighted  the  wretched  inhabitants.  All  attempts  to  remove  this  dread- 
ful calamity  proved  vain  and  fruitless ;  their  most  private  recesses  could  not  secure 
them  from  the  poisonous  stings  of  these  obnoxious  animals,  and  a  succession  of  pain- 
ful misery  invaded  them  on  all  sides.  The  magicians  beheld,  with  confusion,  this 
direful  plague,  and  no  more  attempted  to  oflFer  any  imitation.  A  general  horror  was 
spread  throughout  the  whole  country,  and  every  part  echoed  with  the  cries  of  tortured 
men  and  cattle. 

Not  being  able  longer  to  endure  this  dreadful  calamity,  and  finding  no  likelihood  of 
its  being  removed,  tha  obstinate  Pharaoh  sent  for  Moses  and  Aaron,  and,  in  a  sullen 
dissatisfied  tone,  bade  thern  go  and  sacrifice  to  their  God ;  but  with  this  injunction, 
that  they  should  not  pass  beyond  the  bounds  of  Egypt.  He  was  desirous  of  obtaining 
relief  but,  at  the  same  time,  was  unwilling  to  part" with  a  people,  from  whose  slavery 
he  had  reaped  such  great  advantage.  Being  a  stranger  to  the  true  God,  he  did  not 
conceive  that  the  Israelites  could  not  acceptably  sacrifice  to  their  God  while  under 
Egyptian  bondage. 

Moses,  desirous  of  convincing  rather  than  inflaming,  the  infidel  prince,  prudently 
answered  :  "  We  can  not  sacrifice  to  our  God  in  this  land,  for  that  would  be  an  affront 
to  the  Egyptians,*  and  they  will  be  revenged  on  us.  Permit  us,  therefore,  to  avoid 
their  resentment,  by  going  three  days'  journey  into  the  wilderness,  where  we  can  sac- 
rifice to  our  God  in  the  manner  he  hath  commanded." 

In  reply  to  this,  the  haughty  monarch  said,  "  If  nothing  else  will  serve  you  but  to 
go  mto  the  desert,  I  will  let  you  go;  but  remember,  it  must  not  be  far.  And  in  re- 
turn for  this  concession,  I  desire  you  will  entreat  your  God  to  remove  the  plague." 

Moses  promised  to  intercede  for  him,  but  at  the  same  time  cautioned  him  to  be  sin- 
cere m  what  he  said,  and  not  violate  his  engagements  as  he  had  before  done.  Leav- 
mg  Pharaoh,  Moses  retired  to  a  proper  place,  where  he  addressed  himself  to  God,  be- 

*  The  meaning  of  this  expression  is,  that  the  animals  which  they  were  to  sacrifice  to  the  Lord,  bein? 
those  which  were  worshipped  by  the  Egyptians,  it  would  be  such  an  affront  and  abomination  to  them,  as 
would  endanger  the  lives  of  the  Israelites.  Herodotus  tells  us,  that  the  Egyptians  esteemed  it  a  profana- 
tion to  sacrifice  any  kind  of  cattle  except  swine,  bulls,  calves,  and  geese  ;  and  that  heifers,  rams,  and  goats 
(the  usual  sacrifices  of  the  Israelites),  were,  by  thern,  held  sacred.  It  is.  therefore,  no  wonder  that  the 
Israehtes  should  wish  to  offer  up  their  sacrifices  in  a  place  detached  from  the  sight  of  the  Egyptians  iustiv 
suspecting,  that  had  they  not,  it  might  have  been  attended  with  fatal  consequences. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  119 

seeching  him  to  remove  the  plague  of  the  tlies.  His  prayers  were  accordmgly  heard, 
and  the  insects  soon  took  their  Hi^ht.  But  tliis  obstacle  was  no  sooner  removed,  than 
the  haughty  tyrant  reassumed  his  former  obstinacy,  and  peremptorily  forbid  the  Is- 
raelites worshipping  their  God  in  the  way  and  manner  he  had  directed. 

This  additional  provocation  so  incensed  the  Almighty  against  Pharaoh,  that  he  again 
sent  Moses  to  him  with  this  message  :  "  Tell  him,"  said  he,  "  Thus  saith  the  God  of 
the  Hebrews,  let  my  people  go,  that  they  may  serve  me,  or  be  assured  I  will  visit  all 
thy  cattle  that  are  in  the  field  with  a  grievous  murrain ;  and  to  make  thee  still  more 
sensible  of  my  Omnipotence,  I  will,  by  a  wonderful  distinction,  preserve  the  cattle  of 
my  people,  while  I  destroy  those  of  the  Egyptians." 

Pharaoh  paid  no  more  attention  to  this  message  than  he  had  done  to  the  former,  in 
consequence  of  which,  the  very  next  day,  this  awful  threat  was  most  severely  exe- 
cuted. The  generous  horse  loathed  his  full  manger  and  loved  pastures,  and  sunk  be- 
neath his  rider ;  the  ass  and  camel  could  no  longer  support  their  burdens,  or  bear  their 
own  weight ;  the  laboring  ox  fell  dead  before  the  plough ;  the  harmless  sheep  died 
bleating,  and  the  faithful  dogs  lay^ gasping  by  them. 

Though  this  was  certainly  a  most  horrid  spectacle,  yet  it  made  not  the  least  im- 
pression on  the  hardened  Pharaoh,  who  still  resolved  to  brave  Heaven  with  his  impi- 
ous perverseness.  Remembering  what  Moses  had  said  of  the  preservation  of  the  Is- 
raelites' cattle,  he  sent  to  Goshen  to  learn  how  it  had  fared  with  them,  and  was  assured 
that  not  one  of  their  cattle  had  died,  or  received  the  least  infection.  This  circumstance 
was  certainly  sufficient  to  have  convinced  him  that  it  was  no  casualty,  but  a  direct 
judgment  upon  him,  seeing  that  it  exactly  answered  the  divine  prediction.  But  not- 
withstanding this,  his  heart  was  so  callous,  that  he  still  preserved  the  resolution  of 
not  suffering  the  Israelites  to  depart. 

These  means  proving  ineffectual,  the  Almighty,  in  order  to  make  some  impression 
on  the  mind  of  this  impious  monarch,  detiermined  to  afflict  him  and  his  people  with 
a  plague,  and  that  without  giving  him  the  least  notice  of  his  intentions.  He  accord- 
ingly commanded  Moses  and  Aaron  to  take  ashes  of  the  furnace,  and  throw  them  into 
the  air  in  the  presence  of  Pharaoh.  This  was  accordingly  done,  upon  which  the  ashes 
soon  spread  the  dire  contagion,  and  the  tainted  air  infected  the  Egyptian  blood  with 
its  pernicious  influence.  The  most  inveterate  biles  and  ulcers  appeared  on  their  flesh, 
and  their  whole  constitution  became  a  noisome  spring  of  sores.  So  universal  was 
this  plague,  that  even  the  magicians  (who,  it  is  probable,  would  willingly  have  once 
more  tried  their  skill)  were  affected,  and  that  in  such  manner,  that  they  dared  not 
appear  in  public. 

Pharaoh's  obstinacy,  Avhich  before  proceeded  from  an  implacable  hatred  to  the 
chosen  people  of  God,  now  arose  from  the  mere  hardness  of  his  heart,  and  notwith- 
standing he  must  be  sensible  that  the  present  plague  Avas  the  immediate  effect  of  a 
divine  and  supernatural  direction,  yet  he  continued  firm  in  his  resolution  of  detaining 
the  Israelites.  But  the  Almighty,  determined  to  make  some  impression  on  him,  ren- 
dered the  very  powers  of  Heaven  subservient  to  his  divine  purpose,  giving  this  charge 
to  his  servant  Moses :  "  Go,"  says  he,  "  early  in  the  morning,  to  the  king  of  Egypt, 
and  tell  him,  that  I,  the  God  of  the  Hebrews,  demand  the  liberty  of  my  people,  that 
they  may  worship  me ;  which,  if  he  refuse,  he  may  be  assured  that  I  will  shower 
my  plagues  upon  him  and  his  people ;  and  I  will  make  him  know  that  I  am  the  only 
God  on  earth.  Say  farther  to  him  :  If,  when  lately  I  smote  the  cattle  with  a  murrain, 
I  had  smitten  thee  and  thy  people  with  pestilence,  thou  hadst  been  cut  off  from  the 
earth.  But  I  have  reserved  thee  to  show  my  power,  and  by  the  judgments  I  shall  m- 
flict  will  I  make  known  my  name  to  all  the  world.  Oppress  not,  nor  detain  my  peo- 
ple ;  for  if  thou  dost,  to-morrow,  by  this  time,  unless  thou  submitteth  thyself,  I  will 
send  such  a  storm  of  hail  from  heaven  upon  Egypt  as  never  was  known  since  it  has 
been  a  nation.  And  that  thou  mayest  not  lose  what  cattle  the  murrain  left,  which 
being  not  in  the  field  escaped  that  plague,  send  thy  servants,  and  let  them  drive  them 
under  shelter  ;  for  upon  every  man  and  beast,  which  shall  be  found  in  the  field,  the 
storm  shall  fall,  and  they  shall  surely  die." 

So  careless,  as  well  as  impious,  was  Pharaoh,  that  even  this  declaration  would  not 
make  him  submit,  though  his  own  life,  as  well  as  those  of  his  people,  was  m  immi- 
nent danger.  But  some  of  them,  who  had  been  witnesses  of  the  dreadful  wrath  of 
God,  made  a  prudent  use  of  the  divine  caution,  and,  housing  their  cattle  in  time,  they 
were  preserved  from  the  general  destruction. 


\20  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

The  appoiiued  time  being  come,  Moses,  in  obedience  to  the  divine  command,  wared 
his  rod  in  the  air,  which  soon  began  to  murmur  in  imperfect  sounds,  till  the  full 
charged  clouds,  with  impetuous  force,  burst  and  discharged  themselves  in  such  horrid 
peals  of  thunder,  as  to  shake  the  whole  frame  of  nature.  This  was  succeeded  by  a 
stormy  shower  of  hail,  which  covered  the  ground  with  the  scattered  remains  of  trees 
and  houses,  and  the  dead  bodies  of  men  and  beasts.  Nor  did  the  divine  vengeance 
stop  here ;  the  heavens  discharged  a  body  of  liquid  fire,  which,  darting  on  the  ground, 
glided  over  the  waters,  and  filled  every  place  with  the  most  dreadful  horror. 

The  haughty  tyrant  began  now  to  be  impressed  with  those  sensations  to  which  he 
had  hitherto  been  a  stranger.  Seeing  all  nature,  as  he  imagined,  ready  to  dissolve, 
he  melted  into  penitence,  and,  sending  for  Moses  and  Aaron,  confessed  himself  guilty. 
"I  have  sinned  this  time,"  said  he;  "  the  Lord  is  righteous,  and  I  and  my  people  are 
wicked.  Entreat  the  Lord  that  there  be  no  more  mighty  thunderings  and  hail ;  and 
I  will  let  you  go,  and  ye  shall  stay  no  longer."  Moses  promised  to  comply  with  this 
request,  but  at  the  same  time  assured  him,  he  knew  there  was  no  sincerity  in  his 
heart ;  and  that  his  seeming  repentance  was  only  the  effect  of  his  fright. 

Moses,  however,  in  conformity  to  his  promise,  addressed  himself  to  the  Almighty, 
beseeching  him  to  remove  the  plague  ;  which  was  no  sooner  done,  than  his  prediction 
was  verified :  for,  Avhen  Pharaoh  found  the  storm  was  ceased,  and  all  was  calm  and 
serene,  his  fears  totally  vanished,  his  perverseness  returned,  and  he  resolved  still  to 
keep  the  Israelites  in  a  state  of  bondage. 

The  Alniighty  was  now  pleased  to  make  another  trial,  and  to  send  his  servant  Mo- 
ses to  apprize  the  haughty  and  perfidious  tyrant  of  his  intentions.  The  message  he 
delivered  to  Moses  was  prefaced  by  his  reasons  (as,  indeed,  he  had  done  before)  why 
he  permitted  Pharaoh  to  continue  in  his  obstinacy ;  the  substance  of  which,  together 
with  the  message  itself,  was  to  this  effect :  "  I  have,"  says  he,  "  hardened  Pharaoh's 
heart,  and  the  hearts  of  his  servants,  that  I  may  sliow  these  my  wonders  before  them, 
and  that  thou  mayest  tell,  in  the  hearing  of  thy  sons,  and  the  Israelites  to  succeeding 
generations,  what  prodigies  I  have  wrought  in  Egypt,  that  ye  may  all  know  that  I  am 
the  Lord,  the  Almighty  Jehovah.  Wherefore,  go  to  Pharaoh,  and  tell  him,  Thus  saith 
the  Lord  God  of  the  Hebrews,  Why  dost  thou  persist  in  thy  obstinacy  ?  Let  my  peo- 
ple go,  that  they  may  serve  me,  or  I  will  bring  the  locusts  into  thy  land  to-morrow, 
which  shall  come  in  such  swarms,  as  to  cover  the  surface  of  the  earth,  and  devour  all 
the  products  of  it  that  have  escaped  the  former  plagues.  And  this  shall  prove  such  a 
plague  as  none  of  thy  predecessors  ever  saw." 

This  message  Moses  carefully  delivered  to  Pharaoh  in  the  presence  of  his  nobles, 
and,  not  receiving  any  answer  to  it,  he  retired.  As  soon  as  he  was  gone,  Pharaoh's 
courtiers,  still  sensibly  impressed  with  the  late  calamities,  and  fearful  that  he  was 
about  to  call  down  more  plagues  upon  them,  very  roughly  accosted  their  king,  desiring 
him  to  let  the  Israelites  go  and  serve  their  God,"  lest,  for  his  obstinacy,  not  only  him- 
self, but  also  the  whole  people  of  his  kingdom,  should  be  totally  destroyed. 

The  importunity  of  Pharaoh's  courtiers  prevailed  more  than  God's  threats  and  judg- 
ments. He  immediately  despatched  a  messenger  after  Moses  and  Aaron,  who  ac- 
cordingly returning,  he  told  them  they  might  go  and  serve  their  God ;  but  under  this 
limitation,  that  it  should  only  be  the  men,  for  that  all  the  women  and  children  should 
be  left  behind.  This,  hoAvever,  would  not  do  for  Moses :  he  insisted  that  all  the  Is- 
raelites should  go,  both  old  and  young,  sons  and  daughters;  nay,  and  their  flocks  and 
herds  ;  '■  for,"  said  he,  "  we  must  hold  a  feast  to  the  Lord,  and  all  must  be  at  it." 
Pharaoh  considered  this  demand  as  not  only  peremptory,  but  insolent :  he  therefore 
bade  them  look  to  it,  and  consider  well  what  they  insisted  on ;  after  which,  in  a  very 
threatening  manner,  he  dismissed  them. 

This  repulse  occasioned  another  judgment  to  be  inflicted  on  the  miserable  subjects 
of  an  infidel  king ;  for  Moses,  by  the  divine  command,  stretched  out  his  hand,  with 
the  rod  in  it,  and  immediately  a  scorching  wind  blew  all  that  day  and  the  succeeding 
night ;  the  consequence  of  which  was,  the  next  morning  there  appeared  endless  le- 
gions of  locusts,  which,  in  a  short  time,  so  devoured  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  that  it 
became,  as  it  were,  quite  naked:  the  happy  productions  arising  from  the  fertile  Nile, 
and  all  that  bountiful  nature  afforded,  were  carried  off  by  these  airy  pillagers,  and 
nothing  appeared  but  horror  and  desolation  throughout  the  land  of  Egypt. 

The  hardened  Pharaoh  was  more  sensibly  aflecied  at  this  plague,  than  he  had  been 
at  any  of  the  former.     He  plamly  saw  that  the  destruction  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  121 

must  be  succeeded  by  the  destruction  of  man  and  beast.  Wherefore,  sending  for 
Moses  and  Aaron,  he,  in  a  more  suppliant  manner,  addressed  them  in  words  to  this 
effect :  "  I  have,  indeed,  offended  Jehovah  your  God,  in  refusing  to  obey  his  command, 
and  you,  in  so  often  breaking  my  word  with  you :  forgive  me  this  offence,  and  entreat 
your  God  to  avert  this  judgment,  that  I  and  my  people  perish  not  by  devouring 
famine." 

Moses,  once  more  compassionating  the  case  of  the  justly  afflicted  king,  addressed 
himself  to  the  Almighty  in  his  behalf,  and  the  locusts,  by  the  force  of  a  strong 
westerly  wind,  were  driven  into  the  Red  sea.  But  this  plague  was  no  sooner 
removed  than  Pharaoh's  obstinacy  and  contempt  of  God's  commands  returned,  and 
he  again  refused  the  departure  of  the  Israelites. 

All  these  methods  to  reduce  Pharaoh  to  an  obedience  of  the  Divine  command 
proving  ineffectual,  the  Almighty  commanded  Moses  to  stretch  forth  his  hand  toward 
heaven,  that  there  might  be  a  universal  darkness,  such  as  before  had  never  been 
known,  throughout  the  land  of  Egypt. 

Moses  obeyed  the  Divine  command,  immediately  on  which  such  solid  and  thick 
clouds  of  darkness  invaded  the  sky,  that  nature  seemed  at  once  to  be  involved  in  one 
dreadful  eclipse:  the  smi  no  longer  enlightened  the  lower  world  with  his  cheerful 
beams;  the  moon,  with  the  stars,  no  more  illuminated  the  air;  and  so  dismal  was 
the  aspect  of  all  things,  that  nature  appeared  as  if  about  to  return  to  her  original 
chaos. 

This  dreadful  scene  of  horror  lasted  three  days,  and  the  haughty  Pharaoh  was  so 
affected  at  it,  that  though  he  had  long  stood  immoveable  against  the  threats  and 
judgments  of  God,  yet  he  now,  fearing  a  universal  dissolution,  and  frightened  at  the 
continual  terror  of  this  long  night,  began  seriously  to  relent,  and  sending  for  Moses, 
thus  addressed  him : — "  Ye  may  go,"  said  he,  "  Avith  your  little  ones,  and  serve  the 
Lord ;  but,  for  my  security,  I  would  have  you  leave  your  flocks  and  herds  behind." 

But  this  not  being  absolutely  consistent  with  the  Divine  command,  Moses  would 
not  accept  it.  He  told  Pharaoh  that  it  was  the  express  command  of  their  God  to 
remove  with  all  their  substance;  and  that  they  knew  not  in  what  manner  they  were 
to  offer  sacrifice  to  their  God,  nor  should  they  till  they  came  into  the  wilderness. 

The  haughty  tyrant,  mcensed  at  the  non-compliance  of  Moses  to  what  he  esteemed 
a  distinguished  indulgence,  commanded  him  to  be  gone,  and,  Avith  great  austerity,  told 
him  if  he  ever  appeared  before  him  again,  it  should  cost  him  his  life. 

Moses  promised  Pharaoh  he  should  never  again  see  his  face ;  but,  by  the  Divine 
command,  he  once  more  visited  him,  and  that  with  a  message  more  severe  than  any 
he  had  yet  delivered.  "  Tell  him,"  says  the  Almighty  to  Moses,  "in  the  hearing  of 
his  people.  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  About  midnight  will  I  go  out  into  the  midst  of 
Egypt.  And  all  the  first-born  in  the  land  of  Egypt  shall  die,  from  the  first-born  of 
Pharaoh  that  sitteth  upon  his  throne,  even  unto  the  first-born  of  the  female  servant 
that  is  behind  the  mill;*  and  all  the  first-born  of  beasts.  And  there  shall  be  a  great 
cry  throughout  all  the  land  of  Egypt,  such  as  was  never  before,  nor  shall  be  again. 
But  the  children  of  Israel  shall  not  be  in  the  least  affected,  that  ye  may  know  the 
distinction  made  by  the  Lord  between  you  and  them.  And  all  thy  servants  shall 
come  down  unto  me,  saying,  Get  thee  out,  and  all  the  people  that  follow  thee ;  and 
after  that  will  I  go  out  myself." 

Moses  delivered  this  message  to  Pharaoh  in  the  manner  he  had  been  commanded. 
But  the  haughty  tyrant  defied  his  threats,  and  still  persisted  in  his  obsiinacy  that  the 
Israelites  should  not  depart  from  Egypt ;  upon  Avhich  Moses,  finding  him  inflexible, 
turned  away  and  left  him. 

Previous  to  the  carrying  of  this  last  sentence  into  execution,  the  Almighty  instructed 
Moses  and  Aaron  in  what  manner  to  direct  the  people  to  prepare  the  passover,  which 

*  It  was  usual  for  the  lowest  slaves  to  be  employed  in  the  druclsrery  of  the  mill ;  and  therefore  the  prophet 
Isaiah  uses  this  idea,  to  express  tlie  abject  state  of  slavery  to  wliich  Babylon  sliould  be  reduced:  "  Come 
down,  and  sit  in  the  dust,  O  virgin  daughter  of  Babylon  :  sit  on  the  ground,  take  the  mill-stones  and  grind 
meal."  Isaiah  Ivii.  1,  2.  Dr.  Shaw  observes,  that  most  families  in  those  countries  still  grind  their  wheat 
and  barley  at  home,  having  two  portable  mill-stones  for  that  purpose  ;  the  uppermost  whereof  is  turned 
round  by  a  small  handle  of  wood,  or  iron,  wliich  is  placed  in  the  rim.  When  the  stone  is  large,  or  expedi- 
tion is  required,  then  a  second  person  is  called  in  to  assist ;  and,  it  is  usual  for  the  women  alone  to  be  con 
cerned  in  this  emploi-ment,  who  seat  themselves  over  against  each  other,  with  the  mill-stones  between 
Ihem.  We  may  ^eo  not  only  the  propriety  of  the  expression  in  this  verse,  of  sitting  behind  the  mill,  but  the 
force  of  another,  Matt.  xxiv.  41,  that  "Two  women  shall  be  grinding  at  the  mill;  the  one  shall  be  taken 
and  the  other  left." 


122  A  KEW  AWD  COMPLETE 

was  to  be  a  feast  in  commemoration  of  their  departure  out  of  Egypt,  and  was  to  be 
held  on  the  day  preceding  that  event.*  The  directions  which,  by  the  Divine  com- 
mand, Moses  gave  to  the  people  on  this  occasion,  were  to  the  following  effect :  that 
every  family  of  Israel  (or,  if  the  family  was  too  small,  two  neighboring  families 

i'oining  together)  should,  on  the  tenthf  day  of  the  month,  take  a  lamb,  or  kid,  and 
laving  shut  it  up  till  the  fourteenth  day,  then  kill  it.  That  the  lamb,  or  kid,  should 
be  a  male  not  above  a  year  old,  and  without  any  manner  of  blemish  :  that,  when 
they  killed  it,  they  should  catch  the  blood  in  a  vessel,  and,  with  a  bunch  of  hyssop 
dipped  in  it,  sprinkle  the  side  posts  of  the  outer  door,  after  which  they  should  not 
stir  out  of  the  huuse  till  the  next  morning.  In  the  meantime,  they  were  to  eat  the 
lamb,  or  kid  (dressed  whole  and  without  breaking  a  bone  of  it),  neither  raw  nor 
sodden,  but  roasted,  with  unleavened  bread  and  bitter  herbs  ;  that  if  there  was  more 
than  they  could  dispense  with,  they  were  to  bury  it;  and,  lastly,  that  the  posture  in 
which  they  were  to  eat  it  was  to  be  in  a  hurry,  with  their  clothes^  on  their  shoulders 
and  their  staves  in  their  hands,  as  if  they  were  just  upon  the  point  of  going  to  depart. 

The  tremendous  night  was  not  long  delayed.  While  the  Jews  were  celebrating 
this  newly  instituted  feast— at  midnight — the  destroying  angel  went  forth  in  a  pesti- 
lence, and  smote  all  the  first-born  in  the  land  of  Egypt, — "from  the  first-born  of  Phar 
aoh,  that  sat  on  his  throne,  to  the  first-born  of  the  captive  that  lay  in  the  dungeon ; 
and  all  the  first-born  of  cattle."  And  there  was  a  great  cry  in  Egypt — lamentation 
and  bitter  weeping — for  there  was  not  a  house  in  which  there  was  not  one  dead. 

The  effect  of  this  dreadful  blow  was  exactly  such  as  Moses  had  foretold.  The  king, 
his  nobles,  and  the  Egyptian  people,  rose  in  sorrow  from  their  beds  that  night.  The 
shrieks  of  the  living,  with  the  groans  of  those  about  to  die,  breaking  in  upon  the  still- 
ness of  the  night — the  darkness  of  which  must  greatly  have  aggravated  the  horror 
and  confusion  of  that  hour — made  the  people  fancy  they  were  all  doomed  to  destruc- 
tion, and  that  the  work  of  death  would  not  cease  till  they  had  all  perished.  The  king 
himself  was  filled  with  horror  and  alarm.  Without  truly  repenting  his  obduracy,  he 
bitterly  lamented  its  effects.  It  appeared  to  him  that  the  only  method  of  arresting  the 
progress  of  the  destruction  was  to  send  the  Hebrews  instantly  away — in  the  fear  that 
every  moment  they  tarried  would  prove  the  loss  of  a  thousand  lives  to  Egypt.  He 
therefore  sent  to  Moses  and  Aaron  by  that  very  night — that  hour — to  tell  them,  "  Get 
you  forth  from  among  my  people,  both  ye  and  the  children  of  Israel ;  and  go  and  serve 
the  Lord  as  ye  said;  take  also  your  flocks  and  herds,  and  begone  ;  and  bless  me  also." 
And  the  Egyptian  people  also,  says  the  scriptural  narrative,  were  urgent  upon  them, 
to  send  them  away  in  haste ;  for  they  said,  "  We  are  all  dead  men."  In  their  anxiety 
to  get  them  off,  lest  every  moment  of  their  stay  should  prove  the  last  to  themselves 
or  those  dear  to  them,  the  Egyptians  would  have  done  anything  to  satisfy  and  oblige 
them.  This  favorable  disposition  had  been  foreseen  from  the  begimiing,  and  the  He- 
brews had  been  instructed  by  Moses  to  take  advantage  of  it,  by  borrowing  ornaments 
of  precious  metal — "  Jewels  of  gold  and  jewels  of  silver,"  with  rich  dresses,  from  the 
Egyptians.  On  the  principle  that,  "  all  that  a  man  hath  he  will  give  for  his  life," 
there  can  be  no  doubt  but  that,  under  circumstances  which  made  them  consider  their 
own  lives  in  jeopardy,  and  when  the  losses  they  had  sustained  were  calculated  to  make 
their  finery  seem  of  small  value  in  their  sight,  the  Egyptians  were  quite  as  ready  to 

*  These  directions  given  by  the  Almighty  to  Moses  are  introduced  by  the  following  passage  :  "This  month 
shall  be  unto  you  the  beginning  of  months  ;  it  shall  be  the  first  <iay  of  the  first  month  of  the  year  to  you." 
The  Jews,  like  most  other  nations,  began  their  year,  before  this  event,  about  the  autumnal  equinox,  in  the 
month  Tifri,  after  their  harvest  and  vintage  :  but  that  which  was  their  first  month,  now  became  their 
seventh;  as  the  month  of  Abib,  which  answers  principally  to  our  March,  was,  by  God's  appointment,  and 
in  commemoration  of  this  Iheir  deliverance,  constituted  the  first  month  of  their  sacred  year.  Abib  signi- 
fies the  green  corn;  and  the  month  was  so  named,  because,  about  this  time,  the  corn  in  those  countries  be- 
gan to  ripen. 

t  The  passover,  or  feast  was  to  be  celebrated  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  month,  so  that  four  days  were 
allowed  previous  to  its  being  held.  In  after-times  the  .lews  did  not  begin  their  preparations  till  the  thir- 
teenth, or  the  day  preceding  the  passover  :  but  here,  they  are  ordered  to  prepare  on  the  tenth  day  of  the 
month,  not  only  because  tliis  being  the  first  time  of  the  celebration  of  the  passover,  they  might  require 
more  time  to  prepare  for  a  ceremony  entirely  new,  but  because,  being  to  depart  from  Egypt  suddenly,  and 
in  great  haste,  they  might  be  perfectly  ready,  and  have  no  hmderance  to  make  them  neglect  any  part  of  the 
duty  enjoined. 

t  These  clothes  were  slight  thin  garments,  resembling  those  which  the  Arabs  now  wear,  and  which  they 
call  hijkes.  "  Those  hykes,"  says  Dr.  Shaw,  "are  of  various  sizes,  and  of  different  qualilies  and  fineness. 
The  usual  size  of  them  is  six  yards  long  and  two  broad.  It  .serves  thern  for  a  complete  dress  in  the  day; 
and,  as  they  sleep  in  their  raiments,  as  the  Israehtes  did  of  old  (Deut.  xxiv.  13)  it  serves  likewise  for  theii 
bed  and  covering  at  night." 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


123 


124  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

lend  as  the  Hebrews  to  borrow.  The  women  also  were  authorized  to  borrow  from 
the  Egyptian  females  :  and  we  may  easily  believe  that  their  exertions  added  mui;ii  lo 
the  large  amount  of  valuable  properly  which  was  extracted  from  the  fears  of  the 
Eg}'-ptians.  With  whatever  understanding  these  valuable  articles  were  given  and  re- 
ceived, the  ultimate  effect  is,  that  in  this  final  settlement,  the  Hebrews  received  some- 
thing like  wages — though,  as  such,  inadequate — for  the  long  services  they  had  ren- 
dered to  the  Egyptians.* 

So  eager  were  the  Egyptians  to  get  them  off,  that,  between  persuasions,  bribery, 
and  gentle  compulsion,  the  whole  body  had  commenced  its  march  before  daybreak, 
although  it  was  not  till  midnight  that  the  first-born  had  been  slain.  They  had  no  time 
even  to  bake  the  bread  for  Avhich  the  dough  was  ready ;  and  they  were,  therefore, 
obliged  to  leave  it  in  their  dough  bags,  which  they  carried  away,  wrapped  up  in  their 
clothes,  with  the  view  of  preparing  their  bread  when  an  opportunity  might  be  offered 
by  their  first  halt.  Hurried  as  they  were,  they  forgot  not  the  bones  of  Joseph,  which 
they  had  kept  at  hand,  and  now  bore  away  with  them.  On  they  marched,  driving 
before  them  their  cattle  and  their  beasts  of  burden,  laden  with  their  moveables  and 
tents;  and  themselves,  some,  doubtless,  riding  on  camels,  some  on  asses;  but,  from 
the  great  immber  of  these  required  for  the  women  and  the  children,  most  of  the  men 
doubtless  marched  on  foot.  Thus,  laden  with  the  spoils  of  Egypt,  they  went  on  their 
way  rejoicing,  leaving  the  Egyptians  to  the  things  which  belong  lo  mourning  and  the 
grave. 

We  are  told  that  the  number  of  the  Israelites  Avho  on  this  eventful  night  com- 
.menced  their  march  was  "about  six  hundred  thousand  men  on  foot,  besides  women 
and  children."  The  description  of  "  men  on  foot"  denotes,  as  elsewhere  appears,  men 
fit  to  bear  arms,  excluding  therefore  not  only  those  Avho  are  too  young,  but  those  who 
are  too  old  for  such  service.  As  this  prime  class  of  the  community  is  usually  in  the 
proportion  of  one  fourth  of  the  whole  population,  the  result  would  give  nearly  two 
millions  and  a  half  as  the  number  of  the  posterity  of  Jacob.  This  number  is  so  very 
high,  that  it  has  seemed  incredible  to  many.  We  must  confess,  that  it  is  difficult  to 
realize  the  presence  of  so  vast  a  host,  with  their  flocks  and  herds,  and  lo  form  an  idea 
of  the  immense  area  they  would  cover,  were  only  standing-room  given  to  them,  much 
more  where  encamped  under  tents; — and  Avhen  we  further  consider  the  length  and 
breadth  of  their  moving  body  on  a  march,  as  Avell  as  the  quantities  of  water  they 
would  reijuire,  we  may  be  tempted  to  conclude  that  a  mucji  smaller  number  would 
amply  justify  the  promises  of  God,  and  would  render  many  circumstances  in  the  en- 
suing portion  of  their  history  more  easy  to  be  understood.  Besides  this,  the  ancient 
manner  of  notation  afforded  temptations  and  facilities  for  the  corruption  uf  numbers, 
whence  it  happens  that  the  most  disputed  texts  of  Scripture,  and  those  in  which,  as 
the  copies  now  stand,  there  are  palpable  contradictions,  are  those  which  contain  nu- 
merical statements.  We  are  not  insensible  to  these  considerations,  and  have  endeav- 
ored to  assign  them  all  the  Aveight  Avhich  they  are  entitled  to  bear.  But  seeing  that 
the  present  number,  high  as  it  is,  has  some  support  from  collateral  evidence,  and  from 

*  The  "Borrowed"  Jewels. — Much  learning  and  labor  have  been  bestowed  on  explanations  of  this 
transaction.  Tlie  most  general  improvement  w'hich  has  been  suggested  is,  that  we  slioulil  assign  the  sense 
of  "  ask,"  or  "demand,"  to  the  word  which  most  versions  translate  into  "borrow:"  and  the  meaning  will 
then  be,  that  the  Hebrews  availed  tliemselves  of  the  consternation  in  which  they  saw  the  Egyptians,  to  de- 
mand these  valuable  articles,  in  compensation  for  the  long  service  they  had  rendered.  In  this  explanation 
one  little  circumstance  is  forgotten,  which  is,  the  probability  tliat  these  precious  articles  were  obtained 
from  persons  wlio  had  never  any  direct  benefit  from,  or  interest  in,  their  services.  It  seems  to  us  that  not 
so  nmch  as  is  conmionly  supposed  is  gained  by  this  alteration.  We  prefer  to  adhere  to  the  more  received 
view  of  the  case  ;  because  that  seems  more  In  agreement  with  all  the  circumstances  which  surround  the 
transaction.  The  explanation  proceeds  on  the  notion  tliat  the  Israelites  had  avowed  their  intention  to  es- 
cape ;  for,  had  it  been  presumed  that  they  intended  to  return,  it  would  have  been  a  piece  of  the  grossest  and 
most  fatal  madness  in  them  to  "demand"  this  valuable  property  from  the  Egyptians  in  a  compulsory  man- 
ner. But  their  intention  to  withdraw  altogether  was  never  avowed  while  they  were  in  Egypt.  Moses 
never  avowed  it.  Even  when  rather  closely  pressed  on  the  suljject,  he  persisted,  at  least  by  implication, 
that  there  was  no  other  object  than  that  of  holding  a  feast  to  Jehovah  at  the  distance  of  three  days'  journey 
into  the  wilderness,  and  the  ulterior  intention  was  not  distinctly  avowed  by  the  move  which  was  made 
from  "  Etliam  on  the  edge  of  the  wilderness."  Tiiis,  tlierefore,  only  being  the  avowed  object  of  the  Israel- 
ites, it  must  have  seemed  perfectly  natural  to  the  Egyptians  that  they  should  wish  to  appear  as  richly  attired 
as  possible  at  the  great  feast  they  were  about  to  celebrate  ;  and  as  natural,  that  they  should  borrow  such 
articles  as  they,  in  their  state  of  bondage  and  poverty,  did  not  possess.  The  consternation  they  were  in  at 
the  death  of  their  first-born,  and  their  haste  to  get  the  Hebrews  away,  precluded  much  deliberation.  But 
by  the  time  the  Israelites  moved  from  Etliam  there  had  been  leisure  for  reliection,  and  they  manifested  their 
sense  that  the  substance  with  which  they  parted  on  that  occasion  had  only  been  lent,  by  the  haste  wliich 
they  made  to  recover  it,  as  soon  as  they  became  assured  that  the  Hebrews  intended  to  escape 


HISTORY   OF  THE  BIBLE. 


12.: 


the  considerations  to  which  we  have  already 
adverted,  and,  above  all,  reflecting  that  the 
present  number  is  a  positive  circumstance, 
whereas  all  alteration  could  only  be  conjec- 
tural,* we  deem  it  the  best  and  safest  course 
to  lake  the  number  as  we  find  it  in  the  pres- 
ent copies  of  the  Pentateuch.  But  besides 
the  descendants  of  Jacob,  there  was  a  large 
"mixed  multitude,"  which  went  out  of  Egypt 
on  this  occasion.  Who  tliey  Avere  is  not 
clearly  stated ;  but  it  would  appear  that  the 
mass  was  formed  of  foreign  slaves,  belong- 
ing to  the  principal  persons  among  the  He- 
brews, with  a  good  number,  probably,  be- 
longing to  the  Egyptians,  who  were  glad  to 
take  the  opportunity  of  escaping  with  the 
Israelites.  Besides  this,  there  were  mani- 
festly a  considerable  number  of  Egyptians  of 
the  poorer  class,  who  perhaps  expected  to 
better  their  condition  in  some  way,  or  had 
other  very  good  reasons  for  leaving  Egypt 
indeed,  as  it  did  not  turn  out  that  the  Israel- 
ites were  anything  the  better  for  their  pres- 
ence, Ave  are  free  to  confess  that  we  think  it 
likely  they  were  chiefly  such  thieves,  vaga- 
bonds, adventurers,  and  debtors,  as  could  no 
longer  stay  safely  in  Egypt. 

The  circumstance  that  Moses  was  so  well 
acquainted  with  the  number  of  the  Israelites 
before  they  left  Egypt,  intimates  that  an  ac- 
count of  their  numbers  had  not  long  before 
been  taken  by  the  Egyptians.     That  iiigeni- 

*  So  conjectural  that  while  some  strike  off  one  cipher, 
reducing  fiOO,000  to  60,000,  others  are  not  content 
witliout  takinf^  off  two,  thus  reaching  the  certainty  to 
the  very  convenient  and  manageable  number  of  6,000 
Another  conjecture  has  been  that  the  600,000  includes 
■aU  the  population,  and  not  merely  the  men  fit  to  bear 
arms  ;  but  this  is  precluded  by  the  terms  of  the  text, 
'  besides  women  and  children  " 


126  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

ous  people  employed  very  early,  if  they  did  not  invent,  the  practice  of  taking  a  census 
of  what  is  called  the  effective  part  of  the  population  ;  and  from  them,  unquestionably, 
the  Israelites,  under  the  direction  of  Moses,  adopted  this  useful  custom.  In  all  such 
enumerations,  in  ancient  times,  the  women  and  children  were  not  mcluded,  and  their 
number  is  never  stated.  But  probably  they  were  able  to  form  an  estimate  of  the  pro- 
portion which  the  numbered  part  of  the  population  bore  to  the  whole;  although  their 
conclusions  in  this  matter  must  have  been  more  uncertain  than  our  own,  which  have 
been  found  on  repeated  actual  enumerations  of  portions  of  the  entire  population  which 
were  never  included  in  the  ancient  enumerations. 

The  point  from  which  the  Hebrew  host  started  on  their  march  was  Rameses,  one 
of  the  "  treasure  cities"  which  they  had  built  for  Pharaoh  in  the  land  of  Goshen,  and 
which  seems  to  have  become  the  chief  place  in  the  territory  they  occupied.  The 
difficulties  in  tracing  their  march  begin  at  the  very  first  stage. 

There  are  two  preliminary  questions,  satisfactory  mformation  on  which  would 
much  assist  us  in  understanding  the  early  part  of  their  journey.  The  first  is,  the 
situation  of  Rameses,  from  which  they  started ;  and  the  second,  the  point  to  which 
their  journey  was,  in  the  first  instance,  directed.  On  the  first  point  no  very  satisfac- 
tory information  can  be  obtained.  It  is,  indeed,  not  quite  clear  that  any  particular 
locality  is  intended,  or  whether  the  land  of  Goshen,  in  the  large  indefinite  sense,  may 
not  be  denoted  by  "  the  land  of  Rameses."  But  some  information  is  reflected  upon 
the  first  by  the  answer  to  the  second  of  these  questions,  Avhich  answer  is,  that  the 
destination  which  was  in  the  first  instance  contemplated,  was  doubtless  the  wilder- 
ness of  Sinai.  The  land  of  Goshen  appears  most  evidently  to  have  bordered  on,  if  it 
did  not  include,  part  of  the  tract  over  which  the  nearest  and  most  convenient  road  to 
the  peninsula  of  Sinai  from  the  banks  of  the  Nile  has  always  passed.  This  is  nearly 
the  line  in  which,  in  after  ages,  a  canal  was  made  connecting  the  Nile  with  the  Gulf 
of  Suez ;  and  that,  while  it  is  the  nearest  route,  it  is  the  only  one  which  offers  a  sup- 
ply of  water,  is  a  consideration  which  doubtless  as  much  recommended  it  m  ancient 
times  to  those  going  from  Egypt  to  Sinai  or  Arabia,  as  it  does  now  recommend  it  to 
the  great  caravan  of  pilgrimage  which  yearly  journeys  from  Cairo  to  Mecca.  The 
route  of  this  caravan  is  the  same,  as  far  as  the  head  ol'  the  Gulf  of  Suez,  as  one  would 
take  which  proceeds  to  the  Desert  of  Sinai.  We  shall  therefore  presmne  that  this 
was  the  route  taken. 

If  the  Hebrews  were  to  have  gone  direct  to  take  possession  of  the  Promised  Land, 
their  nearest  road  would  have  been  "  by  the  way  of  the  Philistines ;"  that  is,  by  the 
usual  route  from  Egypt  to  Gaza.  But  the  Philistines  were  unquestionably  the  most 
powerful  and  warlike  people  then  in  Palestine,  and  there  was  already  some  ill  blood 
between  them  and  the  Israelites,  and  would  be  likely  to  offer  a  nfost  formidable  op- 
position to  them  at  the  very  first  step  of  their  progress.  The  Hebrews  were  in  fact 
altogether  unfit  to  face  such  enemies,  or  any  enemies  whatever:  they  were  not  yet 
even  fit  to  be  a  nation ;  and  therefore,  instead  of  being  at  once  led  to  their  promised 
heritage,  it  was  the  divine  will  that  they  should  be  conducted  into  the  desert,  there 
to  be  trained,  disciplined,  and  instructed,  so  as  to  fit  them  for  their  future  destinies. 
Moses  knew  that  their  first  destination  was  the  wilderness  of  Sinai;  for  when  the 
Lord  appeared  to  him  in  Horeb,  it  was  amiounced  that  the  bondaged  children  of 
Abraham  should  be  brought  to  worship  God  m  that  very  mountain. 

The  Hebrews  left  Rameses  and  proceeded  on  their  way.  And  now  it  appeared 
that  the  Lord  provided  against  their  going  astray,  by  placing  a  miraculous  column 
of  cloud  to  go  before  them  by  day  and  mark  out  their  road  ;  while  by  night  it  became 
a  column  of  fire,  and  gave  light  to  all  the  camp.  This  was  important,  also,  as  evin- 
cing that  Moses  was  not  acting  by  his  own  authority,  and  that,  hoAvever  highly  he 
was  entitled  to  their  confidence  and  respect,  they  had  a  more  unerring  Guide  and  a 
more  exalted  Protector. 

Their  first  day's  journey  brought  them  to  Succoth.  We  relinquish  the  notion 
which  we  once  entertained  that  Succoth  may  have  been  at  or  near  the  place  (Birket 
el  Hadj,  or  Pilgrim's  Pool)  where  the  great  pilgrim  caravan  encamps  and  makes  its 
final  arrangements  for  its  journey.  We  think  it,  upon  the  whole,  more  likely  that 
the  pohit  from  which  the  Hebrews  departed  in  the  first  instance  may  have  been  in 
that  neighborhood.  Succoth,  therefore,  must  be  sought  somewhere  about  a  day's 
journey  in  the  direction  toward  Suez.     The  name  denotes  tents  or  booths,  and  it  is 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


127 


us  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

useless  to  seek  its  site,  as  the  naine  appears  only  to  denote  a  place  where  caravans 
pass^ing  that  way  usually  encamped. 

Their  next  resting-place  of  which  we  are  told  was  "  Etham,  on  the  edge  of  the 
wilderness."  Btit  in  this,  as  in  other  cases,  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  the  places 
which  are  named  are  the  only  places  at  which  they  rested;  and  in  the^esent  in- 
stance the  distance  may  suggest  that  this  Etham  was  the  third  rather  th^imie  second 
encampment.  The  halting-places  of  caravans  are  in  these  desert  reg^s  so  much 
determined  by  the  presence  of  wells,  that,  in  connexion  with  the  circumstance  of  its 
being  siiuated  "  on  the  edge  of  the  wilderness,"  there  is  not  much  difficulty  in  con- 
cluding that  Etham  is  represented  by  the  modern  Adjeroud,  which  forms  the  third 
stage  of  the  pilgrim's  caravan,  and  where  there  is  an  old  fortress,  a  small  village,  and 
copious  Avell  of  indifferent  Avater.  This  place  is  about  eleven  miles  to  the  northwest 
of  Suez.  The  neighborhood  seems  indeed  to  be  on  the  edge  of  the  wilderness:  for 
what  M.  du  Bois-Ayme  says  of  Bir-Suez  (which  he  identifies  with  Etham)  is  true 
also  of  Adjerotid,  that,  in  effect,  it  appears  to  be  toward  the  extremity  of  the  desert : 
for  hence  the  sea  is  seen  to  make  a-bend  to  the  west,  and  by  joining  the  high  chain 
of  Mount  Attaka  to  terminate  the  desert  to  the  south.  The  journey  to  this  point  had 
been  for  the  most  part  over  a  desert,  the  surface  of  which  is  composed  of  hard  gravel, 
often  strewed  with  pebbles. 

They  had  now  arrived  near  the  head  of  the  Red  sea,  and  also,  as  we  suppose,  at 
the  limit  of  the  three  days'  journey  into  the  wilderness  for  which  they  had  applied. 
It  is  therefore  evident  that  their  next  move  must  decide  their  future  course,  and  con- 
vey to  the  Egyptians  a  clear  and  decisive  intimation  of  their  intentions.  If  they 
designed  to  do  as  they  had  all  along  declared  to  be  their  only  wish,  they  would  stay 
at  this  place,  and  proceed  to  celebrate  the  feast  to  Jehovah,  of  which  so  much  had 
been  said :  but,  if  they  intended  to  escape  altogether,  they  would  resume  their  jour- 
ney, and,  passing  by  the  head  of  the  Red  sea,  strike  off  into  the  desert.  And  here 
God,  who  knew  that  the  king  of  Egypt  had  so  far  recovered  his  consternation  that 
he  was  determined  to  pursue  and  drive  them  back,  if  they  made  any  move  indicating 
an  intention  to  escape,  directed  a  move  which  must  have  been  most  unexpected  to 
all  parties,  and  which  could  not  to  any  indifferent  spectator  have  seemed  the  result 
of  the  most  gross  and  fatal  infatuation. 

About  the  head  of  the  Gulf  of  Suez  a  desert  plain  extends  for  ten  or  twelve  miles 
to  the  west  and  north  of  the  city  of  that  name.  On  the  west  this  plain  is  bomided 
by  the  chain  of  Attaka,  which  comes  down  toward  the  sea  in  a  northeasterly  direc- 
tion. Opposite  Suez  this  chain  is  seen  at  a  considerable  distance,  but,  as  we  advance 
southward,  the  mountains  rapidly  approach  the  sea,  and  proportionately  contract  the 
breadth  of  the  valley;  and  the  chain  termmates  at  the  sea,  and  seems,  in  the  distant 
view,  to  shut  up  the  valley  at  Ras-el-Attaka,  or  Cape  Attaka,  twelve  miles  below 
Suez.  But,  on  approaching  this  point,  ample  room  is  found  to  pass  beyond ;  and  on 
passing  beyond  we  find  ourselves  in  a  broad  alluvial  plain,  forming  the  mouth  of  the 
valley  of  Bedea.  This  plain  is  on  the  other  or  southern  side  nearly  shut  up  by  the 
termmation  of  anothe.-  chain  of  these  mountains,  which  extend  between  the  Nile 
and  the  western  shore  o{  the  Red  sea.  Any  further  progress  in  this  direction  would 
be  impossible  to  a  large  army,  especially  when  encumbered  with  flocks  and  herds, 
and  with  women,  children,  and  baggage ;  and  this  from  the  manner  in  which  the 
rocks,  the  promontories,  and  the  cliffs  advance  on  the  western  shore.  And,  besides, 
any  advance  in  this  direction  would  be  suicidal  to  a  body  desiring  to  escape  from 
Egypt,  as  they  would  have  the  Red  sea  between  them  and  Arabia  Proper,  and  could 
only  get  involved  among  ;he  plams  and  valleys  which  separate  the  mountain  chains 
of  Egyptian  Arabia. 

The  valley  of  Bedea,  which  opens  to  the  Red  sea  in  the  broad  plain  to  which  Ave  have 
brought  the  reader,  narrows  as  it  proceeds  westward  toward  the  Nile.  It  forms  a  fine 
roadway  between  the  valley  of  the  Nile  and  the  Red  sea,  and,  as  such,  has  in  all 
ages  been  one  of  the  most  frequented  routes  in  all  the  country,  being  traversed  by 
all  parties  and  caravans  which  desire  to  proceed  from  the  neighborhood  of  Cairo,  or 
places  to  the  south  of  Cairo,  to  Suez,  or  to  places  lying  beyond  the  head  of  the  gulf 
Now,  the  Hebrew  host  being  at  Etham,  and  their  next  step  thence  being  of  the 
utmost  importance,  they  were  directed,  not — as  might  obviously  have  been  expected 
— to  pass  round  the  head  of  the  gulf  into  the  Sinai  peninsula,  but  to  proceed  south- 
ward, between  the  mountams  of  Attaka  and  the  western  shore  of  the  gulf,  and,  after 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE- 


129 


ISO  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

passing  the  Ras-cl-Attaka,  to  encamp  in  the  plain  into  which  the  valley  of  Bedea 
opens.  The  more  thoroughly  any  one  makes  himself  acquainted  with  the  topogra- 
phy of  this  region,  the  more  obvious  and  reasonable,  we  are  persuaded,  will  seem  to 
him  this  explanation  of  the  text — "  Turn  and  encamp  before  Pi-ha-hiroth  [the  mouth 
of  the  ridge],  between  Migdol  and  the  sea,  over  against  Baal-zephon:  before  it  ye 
shall  encamp  by  the  sea."  As  the  names  Migdol  and  Baal-zephon  are  not  now 
recognisable  anywhere  about  the  head  of  the  gulf,*  no  facts  or  inferences  can  be  de- 
duced from  them ;  but  an  important  confirmation  is  derived  from  the  circumstance 
that  we  are  told  that,  in  consequence  of  the  move  which  was  made,  the  Hebrew  host 
were  stmt  up  between  the  sea  and  the  mountains,  without  any  means  of  escape, 
unless  through  the  sea,  when  the  retreat  in  the  rear  was  cut  off. 
•  Many  luive  i bought  they  found  cause  to  wonder  at  this  extraordinary  movement, 
which  placed  the  Hebrews  in  a  position  of  such  inextricable  difficulty,  forgetting  that 
this  was  the  very  purpose  of  God,  thai  the  prospect  of  an  extraordinary  advantage 
might  tempt  the  Egyptians  on  to  their  own  destruction,  and  brmg  them  within  the 
reach  of  those  agencies  by  which  God  intended  to  act  against  them.  The  wonder 
which  the  reader  may  feel  is  exactly  the  wonder  which  the  king  of  Egypt  felt,  and 
by  which  he  was  led  on  to  his  ruin. 

The  movement  was  made ;  and  the  thousands  of  Israel  encamped  in  the  plain  of 
Bedea. 

The  days  which  had  passed  had  given  the  Egyptians  time  to  recover  from  some 
portion  of  (heir  panic ;  and  their  first  feeling  of  unmixed  horror  and  alarm  gave  place 
to  considerable  resentment  and  regret,  on  the  king's  part,  that  he  had  so  suddenly 
conceded  all  the  points  which  had  been  contested  between  him  and  Moses,  and  had 
allowed  them  all  to  depart ;  and  as  for  his  subjects,  such  of  them  as  had  a  profitable 
interest  in  the  labors  of  the  Israelites  would,  to  some  extent,  join  in  the  king's  feel- 
ings, as  soon  as  their  bondsmen  took  any  course  to  intimate  that  they  intended  to 
escape ;  and  the  same  intimation  would  not  fail  to  alarm  those  who  had  "  lent"  to 
the  Hebrews  their  "jewels  of  silver  and  jewels  of  gold,"  and  who  by  this  time  had 
found  leisure  to  think  that  they  had  too  easily  parted  with  their  wealth.  Thus  it 
seems  that  the  course  which  the  Israelites  might  take  after  their  arrival  at  Etham 
was  regarded  Avith  much  anxiety  by  the  Egyptians,  who  took  care  to  be  informed  of 
all  their  movements. 

When,  therefore,  the  king  heard  not  only  that  they  had  taken  a  decisive  move 
from  Etham,  but,  through  some  astonishing  infatuation,  had  so  moved  as  to  become 
"  entangled  in  the  land,"  and  "  shut  in  by  the  wilderness,"  he  hastened  to  avail  him- 
self of  the  extraordinary  advantage  which  they  had  placed  in  his  hands.  "He  made 
ready  his  chariot,  and  took  his  people  with  him."  He  mustered  not  less  than  six 
hundred  chariots,  which  are  said  to  be  "  all  the  [war]  chariots  of  Egypt."  This  is 
in  correspondence  with  the  sculptures,  which  show  that  the  Egyptians  made  great 
use  in  war  of  such  chariots  as  our  engraving  exhibits.  A  large  body  of  infantryf  was 
also  assembled,  and  the  pursuit  commenced.  Their  light,  unencumbered  march  was 
no  doubt  much  more  quickly  performed  than  that  of  the  Israelites  to  the  same  place. 

One  of  the  citations  in  Eusebius  from  the  lost  history  of  Manctho,  the  Egyptian 
priest,  says :  "  The  Heliopolitans  relate  that  the  king  with  a  great  army,  accompanied 
by  the  sacred  animals,  pursued  after  the  Jews,  ivho  had  carried  off  vith  Ihem  the  sub- 
stance of  tlip.  Egyptians.''''*  This  takes  notice  of  two  facts  not  mentioned  by  Moses, 
but  not  at  all  disagreeing  with  his  statement,  namely,  that,  for  their  jirotection  against 
the  God  of  Israel,  the  Egyptians  took  with  them  their  sacred  animals,  by  which 
means  the  Lord  executed  judgment  upon  the  [bestial]  gods  of  Egypt,  as  had  been 
foretold  (Exod.  xii.  12) ;  and  then  that  to  recover  the  substance  which  the  Hebrews 
had  "borrowed"  was  one  of  the  objects  of  the  pursuit. 

We  do  not  agree  with  those  who  think  that  the  king  of  Egypt  came  upon  the 

*  Migdol  was  probably  a  tower,  as  the  name  imports,  and  may  seoiri  to  have  been  on  the  mountains  wliicli 
hem  in  the  valley.  Baal-zephon,  meaning  the  Northern  Baal  or  Lonl,  would  seem  to  have  been  a  town  or 
temple  situated  somewhere  in  the  plain  of  Medea,  or  over  against  it  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  sea. 

t  Tliese  must  be  intended  by  "his  army,"  as  distinguished  from  his  "chariots  and  horsemen  "  Our  engra- 
ving, (p.  133)  composed  from  Egyptian  sculptures  and  paintings,  shows  Egyptian  soldiers  with  the  equipments 
and  arms  of  different  corps.  The  man  in  the  foreground  witli  the  round  studded  sliield  is,  however,  not  an 
Egyptian,  but  belongs  to  a  nation,  the  soldiers  of  which  are  often  seen  fighting  as  auxiliaries  along  with 
those  of  Egypt.  A  native  Egyptian  soldier,  if  he  has  any  shield,  has  it  round  at  tlie  upi)er  end  and  square 
at  the  lower.    The  charioteer  in  the  background  is  known  to  be  a  king  by  his  liead-dress. 

t  "  Pra;p.  Evang."  lib.  x.  cap.  27. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


131 


132  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

encamped  Hebrews  through  the  valley  of  Bedea,  in  the  plain  at  the  mouth  of  which 
they  were  encamped.  As  he  was  so  glad  to  find  how  they  had  "entangled  them- 
selves in  the  land,"  he  was  not  likely  to  take  a  course  which  would  deprive  him  of 
all  the  advantages  derivable  from  their  apparent  oversight.  This  he  would  do  by 
coming  upon  them  through  the  valley  of  Bedea ;  for  this  would  have  left  open  to 
them  the  alternative  of  escaping  from  their  position  by  the  way  they  entered: 
whereas,  by  coming  the  same  way  they  had  come,  he  shut  up  that  door  of  escape, 
and,  if  they  fled  before  him,  left  them  no  other  visible  resource  but  to  march  up  the 
valley  of  Bedea,  back  to  Egy^pt,  before  the  Egyptian  troops.  That  this  was  really 
the  advantage  to  himself  which  the  king  saw  in  their  position,  and  that  it  was  his 
object  to  drive  them  before  him  back  to  Egypt  through  this  valley,  or  to  destroy  them 
if  they  offered  to  resist,  we  have  not  the  least  doubt ;  and  it  is  unlikely  that  he  would 
take  any  road  but  that  which  would  enable  him  to  secure  these  benefits. 

The  Egyptians,  being  satisfied  that  they  had  secured  their  prey,  and  that  it  was 
impossible  for  their  fugitive  bondsmen  to  escape  but  by  returning  to  Egypt,  were  in 
no  haste  to  assail  them.  They  were  also,  themselves,  probably  wearied  by  their 
rapid  march.  They  therefore  encamped  for  the  night — for  it  was  toward  evening 
when  they  arrived — intending,  probably,  to  give  effect  to  their  intentions  in  the 
morning. 

As  for  the  Israelites,  the  sight  of  their  old  oppressors  struck  them  with  terror. 
There  was  no  faith  or  spirit  in  them.  They  knew  not  how  to  value  their  newly- 
found  liberty.  They  deplored  the  rash  adventure  in  which  they  had  engaged  ;  and 
their  servile  minds  looked  back  with  regret  and  envy  upon  the  enslaved  condition 
which  they  had  so  lately  deplored.  Moses  knew  them  well  enough  not  to  be  sur- 
prised that  they  assailed  him  as  the  author  of  all  the  calamities  to  which  they  were 
now  exposed.  "  Is  it  because  there  were  no  graves  in  Egypt,"  said  they,  "  that  thou 
hast  taken  us  away  to  die  in  the  wilderness  ?  Is  not  this  the  word  that  we  did  tell 
thee  in  Egypt,  saying,  Let  us  alone,  that  we  may  serve  the  Egyptians  ?  For  it  had 
been  better  for  us  to  serve  the  Egyptians  than  to  die  in  the  wilderness."  This  is  one 
specimen  of  a  mode  of  feeling  and  character  among  this  spiritless  and  perverse 
people  of  Avhich  Moses  had  seen  something  already,  and  of  which  he  had  soon  occa- 
sion to  see  much  more.  One  might  be  disposed  to  judge  of  their  feelings  the  more 
leniently,  attributing  them  to  the  essential  operation  of  personal  slavery  in  enslaving 
the  mind,  by  debasing  its  higher  tones  of  feeling  and  character,  did  we  not  know  that 
the  same  characteristics  of  mind  and  temper  constantly  broke  out  among  this  remark- 
able people  very  long  after  the  generation  which  liuew  the  slavery  of  Egypt  had 
passed  away. 

Moses  did  not  deign  to  remonstrate  with  them  or  to  vindicate  himself.  It  seems 
that  the  Divine  intention  had  been  previously  intimated  to  him ;  for  he  answered, 
with  that  usual  emphasis  of  expression  which  makes  it  a  pleasure  to  transcribe  his 
words:  "  Fear  ye  not:  stand  still,  and  see  the  salvation  of  the  Lord,  which  he  will 
show  to  you  this  day :  for  the  Egyptians  whom  ye  have  seen  to-day  ye  shall  see  no 
more  again  for  ever.  The  Lord  shall  fight  for  you,  and  ye  shall  hold  your  peace." 
They  were  pacified  by  this  for  the  present ;  but  there  is  good  reason  to  suspect,  that 
if  measures  of  relief  had  long  been  delayed,  they  would  have  given  up  Moses  and 
Aaron  to  the  Egj'^ptians,  and  have  placed  themselves  at  their  disposal.  But  measures 
of  relief  were  ?iot  long  delayed.  When  the  night  was  fully  come,  the  Lord  directed 
Moses  to  order  the  people  to  march  forward  to  the  sea ;  on  their  arriving  at  which, 
the  prophet  lifted  up  his  rod  upon  the  waters,  over  which  instantly  blew  a  powerful 
east  wind,  by  which  they  were  divided  from  shore  to  shore,  so  that  the  firm  bottom 
of  hard  sand  appeared;  offering  a  dry  road  in  the  midst  of  the  sea,  by  which  they 
might  pass  to  the  eastern  shore.  At  that  instant,  also,  the  pillar  of  fire  whicli  had 
gone  before  the  Hebrews  to  guide  them  on  their  way  was  removed  to  their  rear,  and, 
bemg  thus  "between  them  and  the  Egyptians,  it  gave  light  to  the  former  m  theii 
passage,  while  it  concetjled  their  proceedings  and  persons  from  the  latter.* 

It  thus  happened  that  some  time  passed  before  the  Egyptians  discovered  that  the 
Israelites  were  in  motion.  -When  they  made  this  discovery,  the  king  determined  to 

*  According  to  a  well-known  optical  effect,  by  which  wo  can  see  by  night  all  that  stands  between  us  ami 
the  light,  but  nothing  that  lies  beyond  the  light.  No  doubt  the  pillar  gave  good  light  to  the  Egyptians  them- 
selves,  but  did  not  enable  them  to  see  the  Israelites.  In  like  manner  the  Israelite.^,  doubtless,  could  not 
see  the  Egyptians.  A  little  attention  to  a  matter  so  perfectly  obvious  would  have  spared  us  some  specula 
tions,  such  as  that  which  gives  the  pillar  a  cloudy  side  and  a  flaming  side,  &c. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


133 


134  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

follow.  It  is  by  no  means  clear  that  they  knew  or  thought  that  they  were  following 
them  into  the  bed  of  the  sea.  Considering  the  darkness  of  the  night,  except  from 
the  light  of  the  pillar,  with  the  confusion  of  ideas  and  indistinct  perceptions  of  a 
people  who  had  not  been  on  the  spot  long  enough  to  make  particular  observations, 
and  most  of  them  probably  roused  from  sleep  to  join  in  the  pursuit,  it  seems  likely 
that  they  felt  uncertain  about  the  direction,  and  supposed  that  they  were  following 
some  accustomed  route  by  which  the  Israelites  were  either  endeavoring  to  escape  or 
to  return  to  Eg}'pt.  They  may  even  have  thought  they  were  going  up  the  valley  of 
Bedea,  although  that  actually  lay  in  an  opposite  direction.  Anything,  however 
improbable,  secins  more  likely  to  have  occurred  to  them  than  that  they  were  passing 
through  the  divided  sea. 

By  the  time  the  day  broke  and  the  Egyptians  became  aware  of  their  condition,  all 
the  Hebrews  had  safely  reached  the  other  side,  and  all  or  nearly  all  the  Egyptians 
were  in  the  bed  of  the  gulf;  the  van  approaching  the  eastern  shore,  and  the  rear 
havino-  left  the  western.  The  moment  of  vengeance  was  come.  They  found  them- 
selves in  the  midst  of  the  sea,  with  the  waters  on  their  right  hand  and  on  their  left, 
and  only  restrained  from  overwhelmuig  them  by  some  power  they  knew  not,  but 
which  they  must  have  suspected  to  have  been  that  of  the  God  of  the  Hebrews. 
The  marine  road,  ploughed  by  the  multitudes  which  went  before  them,  became 
distressing  to  them ;  their  chariot-wheels  dragged  heavily  along,  and  very  many  of 
them  canie  off  from  the  cars  which  they  supported.  The  Lord  also  began  to  trouble 
them  with  a  furious  warfare  of  the  elements.  The  Psalmist  more  than  once  alludes 
to  this.  He  exclaims :  "  The  waters  saw  thee,  O  God,  the  waters  saw  thee,  and 
were  afraid :"  and  then  speaks  as  if  every  element  had  spent  its  fury  upon  the 
devoted  heads  of  the  Egyptians.  The  earth  shook ;  the  thunders  rolled  ;  and  most 
appalling  lightnings — the  arrows  of  God — shot  along  the  firmament ;  while  the  clouds 
poured  down  heavy  rains,  "hailstones,  and  coals  of  fire."*  It  deserves  to  be  men- 
tioned that  this  strife  is  also  recorded  by  the  Egyptian  chronologer,  who  reports,  "  It 
is  said  that  fire  flashed  against  them  in  front." 

By  this  time  the  pursuers  were  thorougly  alarmed.  "  Let  us  flee,"  said  they, 
from  the  face  of  Israel,  for  Jehovah  fighteth  for  them  against  the  Egyptians."  But  at 
that  instant  the  Lord  gave  the  word,  Moses  stretched  forth  his  hand  over  the  sea, 
and  the  restrained  waters  returned  and  ingulfed  them  all. 

This  stupendous  event  made  a  profound  impression  upon  the  Hebrew  mind  at 
large.  From  that  day  to  the  end  of  the  Hebrew  politj%  it  supplied  a  subject  to  which 
the'sacred  poets  and  prophets  make  constant  allusions  in  language  the  most  sublime. 
Its  effect  upon  the  generation  more  immediately  concerned  was  very  strong,  and, 
although  thev  Avere  but  too  prone  to  forget  it,  was  more  abiding  and  operative  than 
any  which  had  yet  been  made  upon  them.  When  they  witnessed  all  these  things, 
and  soon  after  saw  the  carcases  of  those  who  had  so  lately  been  the  objects  of  such 
intense  dread  to  them,  lying  by  thousands  on  the  beach,  "  they  feared  the  Lord,  and 
believed  the  Lord  and  his  servant  Moses." 

In  the  sublime  song  which  Moses  composed  and  sang  with  the  sons  of  Israel  in 
commemoration  of  this  great  event — their  marvellous  deliverance  and  the  overthrow 
of  their  enemies — he,  with  his  usual  wisdom,  looks  forward  to  important  ulterior 
effects,  to  secure  to  the  Hebrews  the  benefit  of  which  may  not  improbably  have 
formed  one  of  the  principal  reasons  for  this  remarkable  exhibition  of  the  power  of 
Jehovah,  and  his  determination  to  protect  the  chosen  race.  These  anticipations, 
which  were  abundantly  fulfilled,  are  contauied  in  the  following  verses: 

"  Tlie  nations  slialt  Iiear  this  and  tremble  ; 
Anguish  shall  seize  the  inhabitants  of  Palestine. 
Then  shall  the  princes  of  Edom  be  amazed: 
And  dismay  shall  possess  the  miglity  ones  of  Moab. 
All  the  inhal)itants  of  Canaan  shall  melt  away ; 
Fear  and  terror  shall  fall  upon  them  : 
Through  the  greatness  of  thine  arm 
Tliey  shall  become  still  as  a  stone, 
TJnlil  thy  people  pass  over  [Jordan],  O  Jehovah, 
Until  thy  people  pass  over  whom  thou  hast  redeemed." 

On  this  occasion  the  first  instance  is  offered  of  a  custom,  learned  most  probably  in 
Egypt,  and  ever  retained  by  the  Hebrew  women,  of  celebrating  with  dances  and 

*  Psalm  xviii.  13-15;  Ixxvii.  16,  17. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


135 


.36  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

timbrels  every  remarkable  event  of  joy  or  triumph.  They  were  now  led  by  Miriam, 
the  sister  of  Moses  and  Aaron ;  and  they  seem  to  have  taken  part  as  a  chorus  in  the 
song  of  the  men,  by  answering : — 

"  Let  us  sing  unto  the  Lord,  for  he  hath  triumphed  gloriously, 
The  horse  and  his  rider  hath  he  tlirown  into  the  sea." 

As  the  timbrels  of  the  women  were  doubtless  Egyptian,  and  the  dresses  of  those 
of  superior  rank  were  probably  Egyptian  also,  we  have  considered  that  a  similar 
dance  of  females,  from  Egyptian  sources,  would  form  a  satisiactory  illustration. 

It  will  appear,  from  the  opinion  we  have  been  induced  to  entertain  respecting  the 
place  in  which  the  Israelites  encamped,  and  from  which  they  departed,  on  the  west- 
em  shore  of  the  gulf,  that  we  concur  with  those  who  regard  Ain  Mousa*as  the  place, 
on  the  eastern  shore,  where  they  came  up  from  the  bed  of  the  sea,  and  where  they 
witnessed  the  overthrow  of  their  oppressors.  That  the  site  is  thus  distinguished  in 
the  local  traditions  of  the  inhabitants  of  Sinai,  the  name  alone  suffices  to  indicate ; 
and,  although  undue  weight  should  not  be  attached  to  such  traditions,  it  would  be 
wrong  entirely  to  disregard  them  when  they  support  or  illustrate  conclusions  other- 
wise probable.  We  shall,  however,  content  ourselves  with  adding,  descriptively,  that 
a  number  of  green  shrubs,  springing  from  numerous  hillocks,  mark  the  landward  ap- 
proach to  this  place.  Here  are  also  a  number  of  neglected  palm-trees  grown  thick 
and  bushy  for  want  of  pruning.  The  springs  which  here  rise  out  of  the  ground  in 
various  places,  and  give  name  to  the  spot,  are  soon  lost  in  the  sands.  The  water  is 
of  a  brackish  quality,  in  consequence,  probably,  of  the  springs  being  so  near  the  sea; 
but  it  is,  nevertheless,  cool  and  refreshing,  and  in  these  waterless  deserts  aifords  a 
desirable  resting-place.  The  view  from  this  place,  looking  westward,  is  very  beau- 
tiful, and  most  interesting  from  its  association  with  the  wonderful  events  which  it 
has  been  out  duty  to  relate.  The  mountain  chains  of  Attaka,  each  running  into  a 
long  promontory,  stretch  along  the  shore  of  Africa;  and  nearly  opposite  our  station 
we  view  the  opening — the  Pi-ha-biroth — the  "  mouth  of  the  ridge,"  formed  by  the 
valley  in  the  mouth  of  which  the  Hebrews  were  encamped  before  they  crossed  the 
sea.  On  the  side  where  we  stand,  the  access  to  the  shore  from  the  bed  of  the  gulf 
would  have  been  easy.  And  it  deserves  to  be  mentioned,  that  not  only  do  the  springs 
Dear  the  name  of  Moses,  but  the  projecting  head-land  below  them,  toward  the  sea, 
t)ears  the  name  of  Ras  Mousa.  Thus  do  the  Cape  of  Moses  and  the  Cape  of  Deliv- 
erance look  toward  each  other  from  the  opposite  shores  of  the  Arabian  gulf,  and  unite 
their  abiding  and  unshaken  testimony  to  the  judgments  and  wonders  of  that  day  in 
which  the  right  hand  of  Jehovah  was  so  abundantly  "  glorified  in  might,  "f 

*  The  Fountains  of  Moses. 

t  As  Egypt  has  been  the  grand  scene  of  the  very  important  transactions  related  in  this  chapter,  it  may 
not  be  improper  to  close  it  with  a  few  observations  on  its  learning,  language,  religion,  idolatry,  <&c.  Egj'pt 
(that  binds  or  troubles),  an  ancient  country  of  Africa,  peopled  by  Mizraim,  a  son  of  Ham,  the  son  of  Noah, 
from  whom  it  received  its  name  ;  and  the  Arabs  still  call  it  Mesr.  Egypt  is  about  six  hundred  miles  long, 
and  from  one  hundred  to  three  hundred  broad  :  it  lies  at  the  northeast  corner  of  Africa,  bounded  on  the 
nortli  by  the  Mediterranean  sea,  on  the  east  by  the  isthmus  of  Suez  and  the  Red  sea,  which  divide  it  from 
Asia,  on  the  south  by  Abyssinia,  and  on  the  west  by  Libj'a.  Egypt  was  divided  into  two  districts.  Upper 
Egypt,  or  Thebias,  -id  Lower  Egj-pt,  or  the  Delta.  The  river  Nile,  running  through  the  whole  length  of 
the  land,  from  north  to  south,  abounds  with  fish,  crocodiles,  and  hippopotami ;  and,  by  its  annual  overflow- 
ing, the  country  became  one  of  the  most  fruitful  in  the  world,  so  that  its  majestic  waters  formed  the  glory 
of  the  king  of  Egypt,  Ezeic.  xxi.x.  3-5.  Egypt  was,  at  an  early  period,  famous  above  every  other  country, 
for  its  progress  in  the  arts  and  sciences,  Acts  vii.  22  ;  1  Kings  iv.  29,  30,  attracting  thither  the  most  cele- 
oraled  pliilosophers  and  historians  of  Greece,  to  complete  their  studes.  Pythagoras,  Herodotus,  Plato,  and 
many  others,  sought  instruction  in  Egypt,  among  its  celebrated  sages  ;  yet  idolatry  was  carried  to  such  a 
height,  by  the  wisest  instructors  of  that  country,  that  the  Egyptians  made  gods  for  their  religious  worship, 
not  only  of  the  sun  and  moon,  but  of  their  various  beasts,  oxen,  sheep,  goats,  and  cats,  and  even  of  leeks, 
onions,  and  diseases,  and  of  monsters  having  no  existence,  except  in  their  own  disordered  imaginations 
Divine  prophecy  has  been  strikinglj'  illustrated  in  the  history  of  Egypt,  Ezek.  xxix.  8-15,  xxx.  10-13.  Neb- 
uclradnezzar  conquered  it,  as  foretold  by  the  prophet ;  then  it  became  subject  to  Persia  ;  and  in  succession 
to  the  Greeks,  Romans,  Saracens,  Maraaluke-slaves,and  Turks.  Napoleon  Bonaparte  conquered  it  in  1798, 
in  the  hope  of  acquiring  India ;  but  the  French  were  expelled  by  the  British,  who  delivered  it  up  to  the 
Turks,  against  whom  it  is  now  in  a  state  of  rebellion.  It  has,  therefore,  had  no  prince  of  its  own;  and  it 
nas  been  "  the  basest  of  kingdoms  :"  the  decrees  of  Heaven  have  been  accomplished,  and  they  will  yet  be 
'ulfiUed,  in  the  triumphs  of  Christianity,  Isa.  xi.  9-16.  Egypt  still  abounds  with  vast  monuments  of  its 
former  grandeur :  the  ruins  of  it  ancient  cities  and  temples  attest  its  magnificence,  riches,  and  populous- 
ness.  The  tombs  of  its  kings,  the  stupendous  pyramids  alone,  evince  these  things  :  the  largest  of  three  of 
hem,  situated  a  few  leagues  from  Cairo,  the  site  of  the  celebrated  Memphis,  according  to  the  recent  meas- 
urement of  a  French  engineer,  forms  a  square,  each  side  of  whose  base  is  seven  hundred  and  forty-six 
'eel,  covering  more  than  thirteen  acres  of  land  :  the  perpendicular  height  of  it  is  five  hundred  and  forty-six 
'eet ;  and  it  contains  6,000,000  of  tons  of  stone,  sufficient  to  build  a  wall  ten  feet  high,  and  one  foot  thick, 
eighteen  hundred  miles  in  length  I  These  prodigious  monuments  of  the  ancient  glory  of  Egypt,  at  once 
confirm  and  illustrate  the  truth  and  divinity  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


137 


J«i)Ji\iiiyiiiii. -'^''^^*^^ 


138  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 


CHAPTER    IX. 


The  Israelites,  having  acknowledged  their  thankfulness  to  God  for  his  beneficent 
protection  in  delivering  them  out  of  Egyptian  bondage,  Moses  conducted  them  from 
the  Red  sea  into  the  desert  of  Shur  or  Etham.  Here  they  travelled  three  days  ■with- 
out fiading  any  water,  which,  to  so  great  a  number  of  people,  and  in  so  hot  a  country, 
must  have  been  very  afflicting.  At  length,  they  came  to  a  place  called  Marah,  where 
they  found  some  water ;  but,  on  tasting  it,  they  could  not  drink  it,  on  account  of  its 
being  so  exceeding  bitter.  This  disappointment  inflamed  their  thirst,  and  increased 
their  dissatisfaction,  insomuch  that  they  began  to  murmur  against  Moses,  asking  him 
what  they  should  drink  ?  Moses  was  sensible  of  the  calamity  under  which  they  la- 
bored;  and,  fearful  lest  they  should,  by  their  future  murmurings,  provoke  the  Al- 
mighty to  punish  them,  he  addressed  himself  to  God  in  their  behalf,  who  no  sooner 
heard  the  complaint,  than  he  was  pleased  to  remove  it.  He  ordered  Moses  to  make 
use  of  the  wood  of  a  certain  tree,  which,  as  soon  as  it  was  thrown  into  the  water, 
changed  its  offensive  quality  and  became  sweet. 

From  Marah  the  Israelites  proceeded  to  Elim,  where  they  found  not  only  plenty  of 
water,  but  also  great  numbers  of  palm  or  date  trees,*  the  fruit  of  which  bemg  ripe 
supplied  them  with  food.  Here  it  may  be  supposed  they  made  some  stay  ;  for  when 
they  left  tlie  place  it  was  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  second  month,  which  was  just  a 
moiilh  from  the  day  of  their  departure  from  Egypt. 

On  their  removal  from  Elim  they  proceeded  to  the  wildernessf  of  Sin,  situated  be- 
tween Elim  and  Mount  Sinai.  Here  again  they  fell  into  a  general  murmur  against 
Moses  and  Aaron,  on  account  of  the  barrenness  of  the  place,  and  the  scarcity  of  pro- 
visions. "  Would  to  God,"  cried  they,  "we  had  died  by  the  hand  of  the  Lord  in  the 
land  of  Egypt,  where  we  had  plenty  of  bread  and  meat;  for  now  ye  have  brought  us 
into  this  desert,  where  we  must  perish  with  famine." 

The  Almiglity,  to  convince  these  murmuring  people  of  his  divine  power  and  pro- 
tection, was  pleased  to  inform  them  by  the  mouth  of  Moses,  that  he  would  take  care 
to  supply  them  with  food  from  heaven,  and  it  was  not  long  before  his  beneficent  prom- 
ise was  fulfilled.  On  that  very  evening  he  caused  such  a  number  of  quails  to  fall 
among  tliem,  as  almost  covered  their  camp,  by  which  they  were  plentifully  supplied 
with  the  article  of  flesh.  The  next  morning,  as  soon  as  the  dew  was  gone,  they 
found  the  surface  of  the  earth  covered  with  little  white  round  things,  resembling,  in 
shape,  the  coriander  seed.  The  Israelites,  astonished  at  so  singular  a  circumstance, 
said  one  to  another,  "  What  is  this  ?"  Upon  which  Moses  answered,  "  It  is  the 
bread  which  the  Lord  hath  given  you  to  eat."  And  thence  they  gave  it  the  name  of 
Manna. 

As  this  was  the  bread  designed  by  the  Almighty  for  the  Israelites  during  their  stay 
m  the  wilderness,  and  as  they  were  strangers  to  its  qualities,  he  was  pleased  to  give 
them  the  following  directions  in  what  manner  they  were  to  manage  it  for  the  intended 
purposes. 

That  it  was  to  be  gathered  by  measure,  an  omer  for  every  head,  according  to  the 
number  of  each  family  ;  but  this  direction  some  persons  slighting,  and  gathering  above 
the  portion  allowed,  found  their  quantity  miraculously  lessened,  while  the  more  mod- 
erate had  theirs  mcreased. 

That  it  was  to  be  gathered  fresh  every  morning,  all  of  which  should  be  consumed 
the  same  day.  This  precept  was  likewise  not  observed  by  some,  who,  keeping  a  part 
till  the  next  morning,  found,  upon  examination,  that  it  stunk,  and  was  so  putrefied  as 
to  be  totally  useless. 

•  Palm-tiiee  (see  Engraving),  a  tall,  fruit-bearing,  shadowy  tree,  whose  fruit  is  the  date  :  it  arrives  at 
perfection  in  about  tliirty  years,  and  thus  continues  about  seventy  years,  bearing  fifteen  or  twenty  clusters 
of  dates,  each  cluster  weighing  from  fifteen  to  twenty  pounds.  Exod.  xv.  27.  The  palm-tree  is  held  in  great 
estimation  by  the  inhabitants  of  Arabia,  Egypt,  and  Persia,  on  account  of  its  adaptation  to  various  valuable 
purposes.  The  Arabs  celebrate  its  three  hundred  and  sixty  uses  to  which  the  different  parts  may  be  applied: 
they  used  the  leaves  for  making  ropes,  sacks,  mats,  hats,  sandals,  and  other  things ;  and  many  people  sub- 
sist almost  entirely  on  its  fruit.  Palm-branches  were  carried  as  tokens  of  victory  or  joy  (Ltv.  xxlii.  40, 
John  xii.  13) ;  and  the  beauty  of  this  tree  is  made  an  emblem  of  the  active  virtues  of  a  Christian.  Ps.  xcii.  12. 

t  Wilderness,  a  desert,  or  uncultivated  tract  of  land.  Exod.  xiv.  3,  1  Kings  xix.  15,  Acts  xxi.  38.  The 
northwestern  part  of  Arabia  was  almost  wholly  uncultivated  ;  and  hence  Moses  calls  it  "  a  terrible  and  a 
waste-howling  wilderness."  Deut.  i.  19,  xxxii.  10.  Paran,  Sin,  and  Sinai,  were  deserts  in  that  dangerous 
country.  Several  wildernesses  or  small  deserts  existed  in  Canaan;  as  "the  wilderness  of  Judea,"  famous 
for  the  ministry  of  John  the  Baptist.  Matt.  iii.  1 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


139 


Palm-Tree  in  the  Sinai  Mountains. 


140  A  ^hw   AMD  COMPLETE 

That,  on  the  seventh  day  ^which  was  the  Sabbath)  there  could  not  be  any  found 
and  therefore,  on  the  sixth,  they  should  gather  a  double  portion,  which  being  laid  up 
against  the  ensuing  day,  should  be  perfectly  sweet  and  wholesome. 

Such  were  the  directions  given  by  God  to  the  Israelites  for  the  use  of  this  miracu- 
lous bread,  on  which  they  were  chiefly  supported  for  forty  years.  And  in  order  to 
perpetuate  the  remembrance  of  it,  and  that  their  posterity  might  see  on  what  God 
had  fed  them  while  in  the  wilderness,  he  appointed  an  omer  of  it  to  be  put  into  a 
pot,  and  to  be  carefully  preserved  for  that  purpose. 

Thus  did  the  Almighty  supply  the  wants  of  the  discontented  Israelites  in  the  most 
ample  manner;  and  farther  to  convince  them  of  his  peculiar  favor  and  regard,  directed 
their  marches  from  place  to  place,  and  appointed  their  respective  encampments. 

Leaving  the  desert  of  Sin,  and  proceeding  on  their  journey,  they  came  to  a  place 
called  Rephidim,  where  they  struck  their  tents  and  encamped.  Here  they  were  again 
distressed  for  water,  upon  which  they  fell  into  their  old  way  of  distrusting  God's 
providence,  and  murmuring  against  Moses ;  but  on  this  occasion  they  were  much  more 
mutinous  and  desperate  than  ever.  It  was  in  vain  for  Moses  to  endeavor  to  persuade 
them  to  be  patient,  and  wait  the  will  of  God  :  this  only  inflamed  them  the  more,  and 
at  length  their  rage  arose  to  such  a  height,  that  they  threatened  to  stone  him. 

Moses,  not  knowing  what  to  do  in  order  to  appease  the  rage  of  the  people,  addressed 
himself  to  God,  who  was  pleased  to  dissipate  his  fear,  by  promising  to  signalize  that 
place  by  a  miraculous  supply  of  water,  as  he  had  lately  done  another  by  a  miraculous 
supply  of  food.  "  Go,"  said  he,  "  on  before  the  people,  and  take  with  ihee  of  the  el- 
ders of  Israel :  and  thy  rod  wherewith  thou  smotest  the  river,  take  in  thine  hand  and 
go.  Behold  I  will  stand  before  thee  there  upon  the  rock  in  Horeb ;  and  tliou  shall 
smite  the  rock,  and  there  shall  come  water  out  of  it,  and  the  people  shall  drink." 
Moses  did  as  he  was  commanded,  and  no  sooner  had  he  smitten  the  rock  with  his 
rod,  than  water  in  abundance  gushed  out  from  several  places  at  the  same  time,  which 
joining  in  one  common  stream  ran  down  to  the  camp  at  Rephidim,  by  which  the  peo- 
ple were  immediately  supplied,  and  their  thirst  being  quenched,  their  rage  against 
Moses  instantly  ceased.*  This  station,  however,  on  account  of  the  infamous  mutiny 
of  the  people,  and  their  distrust  of  God,  Moses  (as  a  caution  and  remembrance  to 
them  in  future)  called  Massah  and  Meribah,  which  in  the  Hebrew  language,  signifies 
temptation  and  contention. 

A  short  time  after  this  singular  circumstance  happened,  and  while  the  Israelites 
were  yet  encamped  at  Rephidim,  they  were  one  day  suddenly  alarmed  at  the  approach 
of  an  army  of  the  Amalekites.  Moses  reflecting  a.little  on  this  unexpected  circum- 
stance, ordered  Joshuaf  (a  valiant  young  man  who:was  always  about  him)  to  draw 

it  a  party  of  the  choicest  men  in  the  camp,  and  early  the  next  morning,  to  give  the 
aemy  battle. 

Joshua  obeyed  the  command  of  Moses,  who  the  next  morning,  accompanied  by 
Aaron  and  Hur,  went  to  the  top  of  an  eminence,  whence  they  might  have  a 
view  of  the  engagement.  Moses  took  with  him  his  rod,  and  Avhile  he  held  it  up 
during  the  battle,  the  Israelites  prevailed ;  but  when,  through  weariness,  his  hand 
began  to  drop,  the  Amalekites  had  the  better.  Aaron  and  Hur,  observing  this,  took 
a  stone,  on  which  they  sat  Moses,  and,  placing  themselves  on  each  side,  supported 
his  hands,  in  one  of  which  was  the  rod,  and  the  other  uplifted  to  God.  This  they 
continued  to  do  till  the  going  down  of  the  sun,  in  which  time  the  Amalekites  were 
routed,  and  every  man  put  to  the  sword. 

*  Pretended  Rock  of  Mosks. — We  are  indebted  to  Professor  Robinson's  invaluable  work  ("  Biblical 
Researches  in  Palestine")  for  the  following  interesting  extract:  "We  came  to  the  rock  which  they  say 
Moses  smote,  and  the  water  gushed  out.  As  to  tliis  rock,  one  is  at  a  loss  whether  most  to  admire  the 
credulity  of  the  monks  or  tlie  lefrondary  and  discrepant  reports  of  travellers.  It  is  liardly  necessary  to 
remark,  that  there  is  not  the  slightest  ground  for  assuming  any  connexion  between  this  narrow  valley  and 
Rephidim  ;  but  on  the  contrary,  there  is  everything  against  it.  The  rock  itself  is  a  large  isolated  cube  of 
coarse  red  granite,  which  h»s  fallen  from  the  eastern  mountain.  Down  its  front,  in  an  oblique  bne  from 
top  to  bottom,  runs  a  seam  of  a  finer  texture,  from  twelve  to  fifteen  inches  broad,  having  in  it  several  ir- 
regular horizontal  crevices,  somewhat  resembling  the  human  mouth,  one  above  another.  These  are  said 
to  be  twelve  in  ntimber  ;  but  I  could  make  out  only  ten.  The  scam  extends  quite  through  the  rock,  and  is 
visible  on  the  opposite  or  back  side  ;  where  also  are  simf^r  crevices,  though  not  so  large.  The  holes  did 
not  appear  to  us  to  be  artificial,  as  is  usually  reported,  although  vvc  examined  them  particularly.  They  be- 
long rather  to  the  nature  of  the  seam  ;  yet  it  is  possible  that  some  of  them  may  have  been  enlarged  by  ar- 
tificial means.  The  rock  is  a  singular  one  ;  and  doubtless  was  selected,  on  account  of  this  very  singularity, 
as  the  scene  of  the  miracle." 

t  This  Is  the  first  mention  made  of  Joshua,  who  makes  so  distinguished  a  figure  in  the  subsequent  part 
of  the  sacred  history  ;  in  whictl  he  is  frequently  styled  the  servant  of  Moses. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


141 


A2  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

This  distinguished  success,  in  their  first  martial  enterprise,  gave  great  encourage- 
ment to  the  Israelites ;  and  that  so  remarkable  an  action  might  be  transmitted  to 
posterity,  God  commanded  Moses  to  record  it  in  a  book,  that  Joshua,  the  general, 
might  thereby  be  animated  to  future  services;  "  for,"  said  he,  "  I  will  utterly  put 
out  the  remembrance  of  Araalek  from  under  heaven."*  As  a  memorial  of  this  vic- 
tory, Moses  erected  an  altar  on  the  spot,  and  offered  sacrifice  to  the  Lord.  The  name 
he  gave  it  was  jEHOVAH-iVwse,  which  signifies  "  che  Lord  is  my  banrier." 

Soon  after  the  defeat  of  the  Amalekites,  Moses  left  Rephidim,  and  proceeded  with 
all  his  people  toward  Alount  Sinai,t  where  God  at  first  appeared  to  him  in  the  burning 
bush,  and  not  far  whence  dwelt  Jethro,  his  father-in-law. 

Jethro  having  heard  of  all  that  God  had  done  for  Moses  and  his  people,  and  under- 
standing they  were  now  near  him,  he  took  his  daughter  Zipporah  (Moses's  wife) 
with  their  two  sons,  Gershom  and  Eliezar,  and  went  to  the  Israelites'  camp,  where, 
after  mutual  salutations  and  embraces,  Moses  entertained  his  father-in-law  with  a 
particular  account  of  everything  that  had  happened  to  him  during  his  absence.  In 
return,  Jethro  offered  up  solemn  praises  to  God,  and  joined  with  Moses  and  the  rest 
of  the  elders  of  Israel  in  sacrifices,  and  such  other  rejoicings  as  were  thought  proper 
on  the  occasion. 

During  Jetliro's  stay  in  the  camp,  he  took  notice  of  the  great  weight  of  business 
under  which  Moses  labored,  in  hearing  the  complaints,  and  determining  the  differ- 
ences, of  so  great  a  body  of  people;  and  therefore,  being  a  wise  and  experienced  man 
himself,  he  advised  his  son-in-law  to  appoint  certain  subordinate  officers,  properly 
qualified,  men  of  sincerity  and  abilities,  such  as  feared  God  and  hated  covetousness, 
to  be  rulers ;  some  over  thousands,  some  over  hundreds,  some  over  fifties,  and  some 
over  tens,  who  should  hear  and  determine  all  trifling  disputes  among  the  people,  and 
refer  the  greater  and  more  weighty  causes  only  to  him;  assuring  him  tliat  if,  with 
God's  approbation,  he  followed  this  advice,  it  would  prove  advantageous  both  to  him 
and  the  people. 

Moses,  highly  approving  of  this  salutary  advice  from  his  father-in-law,  immediately 
put  it  in  practice,  soon  after  which  Jethro  took  his  leave,  and  returned  to  his  own 
habitation. 

It  was  three  months  after  the  departure  of  the  Israelites  from  Egypt,  when  they 
encamped  in  the  wilderness  of  Sinai,  near  the  mount  of  God.  They  had  not  been 
long  here  before  the  Almighty  summoned  Moses  to  come  up  to  him  on  the  mount 
Moses  readily  obeying  the  Divine  command,  the  Almighty  charged  him  to  remind 
the  Israelites  of  the  many  wonders  he  had  wrought  in  their  favor,  and  to  assure 
them  that  (notwithstanding  their  frequent  murmurings  and  distrust  of  his  providence) 
if,  for  the  future,  they  would  becoine  obedient  to  his  laws,  he  would  still  look  upon 
them  as  his  peculiar  people,  a  favorite  nation,  and  a  royal  priesthood. 

Moses  having  communicated  this  gracious  message  from  the  Almighty  to  the 
elders,  and  they  to  tiie  people,  they  unanimously  answered,  that  whatsoever  the 
Lord  had  commanded,  or  should  afterward  command,  they  would  strictly  and 
obediently  perform. 

With  this  answer  Moses  ascended  the  mount,  and  after  making  it  knov/n  to  the 
Almighty,  he  commanded  him  to  direct  the  people  to  cleanse  and  purify  ihemselvcs 
two  days,  for  that  on  the  third  he  should  come  down  upon  the  mountain  and  iiiake  a 
covenant  Avith  them.  He  likewise  gave  him  a  strict  charge  to  set  boundaries  aliuu*. 
the  foot  of  the  moimt,  which  none  should  attempt  to  pass  under  the  severest  penalties. 
These  orders  were  strictly  obeyed,  and  every  preparation  made  conformable  lo  ihe 
Divine  injunctions.     On  the  third  day,  early  in  the  morning,  the  people  saw  the 

•  Amalek,  or  Amalekites,  a  very  ancient  people,  supposed  to  liave  descended  from  Ilani,  Gen.  xiv.  7, 
Num.  xxiv.  20  ;  but  especially  tl;0  posterity  of  Esau's  grandson  :  they  were  powerful  in  Arabia,  and  cherish- 
ing the  hatred  of  Esau  against  J  icob,  they  endeavored  to  cut  off  Israel  in  the  desert,  but  tliey  wore  defeated 
oy  Joshua,  Exoil.  xvii.  8-lt).  For  this  wickedness  God  doomed  them  to  be  extirpated,  Num.  xxiv.  20  ;  ] 
Sam.  XV.  1-33  ;  xxx.  1-18. 

t  A  mountain  of  Arabia  Petrea,  famous  for  its  being  the  supposed  place  round  which  tlie  Israelites  were 
assembled  when  God  gave  them  his  law  by  the  ministry  of  Moses,  Exod.  xvi.  1,  xix.  1,  2-20  ;  Lei'.xxvi.46  . 
Gal.  iv.  25.  Sinai  is  a  summit  of  the  rocky  district  of  .Mount  Horeb,  on  the  peninsula  formed  by  the  two 
aims  or  gulfs  of  the  Red  sea,  about  two  hundred  and  sixty  miles  from  Cairo  in  Egypt.  There  are  two  lofty 
peaks  in  this  range  from  six  to  eight  thousand  feet  high,  Horeb  and  Sinai :  but  travellers  are  not  able  tt 
determine  which  of  them  is  Sinai  proper:  one  is  called  El  Tor,  or  the  Mountain,  and  the  whole  mountain 
range  is  called  Djebel  Mo\isa,  or  the  Mount  of  Moses,  by  the  Arabs,  Exod.  id.  1-12  ;  Dcut.  iv.  10-15,  v.  2. 
Superstition  has  determined  that  the  more  elevated  is  Sinai,  on  which  is  built  a  cliapel  dedicated  to  St. 
Catharine,  and  a  monastery  to  the  same  saint,  at  the  foot  of  the  nmuntain:  to  visit  these  sacred  pjares. 
travellers  are  obliged  to  submit  to  various  impositions  from  the  Arabs. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  143 

mountain  surrounded  with  a  thick  cloud,  out  of  which  proceeded  such  dreadful  peals 
of  thunder  and  flashes  of  lightning,  as  filled  them  with  horror  and  amazement. 

The  first  sounding  of  the  trumpet  was  the  signal  for  the  people  to  approach  the 
mountain;  upon  which,  as  soon  as  it  began,  Moses  brought  them  out  of  the  camp, 
and  conducted  them  as  near  to  the  mount  as  the  barrier  would  permit.  Here  they 
beheld  an  alarming  sight  indeed:  the  whole  surface  of  the  mount  was  covered  with 
fire  and  smoke,  while  the  foundation  of  it  seemed  to  tremble  and  siiake  under  them. 
h\  the  midst  of  this  dreadful  scene  the  trumpet  was  heard  to  sound  louder  and  louder, 
and  the  claps  of  thunder  and  flashes  of  fire  were  more  frequent  and  violent.  At 
length,  on  a  sudden,  the  most  solemn  silence  took  place ;  and,  after  a  short  pause, 
the  Almighty  was  heard  (from  the  midst  of  the  fire  and  smoke  which  yet  continued) 
to  pronounce  the  Law  of  the  Decalogue,  or  Ten  Commandments;*  which  is,  indeed, 
a  complete  system  of  the  moral  part  of  the  Jewish  institutes,  and,  in  few  but  very 
significant  words,  comprehends  the  duty  of  mankind  to  God,  themselves,  and  their 
neighbor. 

When  the  Divine  voice  ceased,  the  people,  astonished  at  what  they  saw  and 
heard,  removed  farther  from  the  camp :  and,  in  the  height  of  their  fear  and  surprise, 
addressed  themselves  to  Moses,  beseeching  him  that,  for  the  future,  he  would  speak 
to  them  in  God's  stead,  and  whatever  he  enjoined  they  would  obey,  because,  were 
they  again  to  hear  the  dreadful  voice  of  God,  they  should  certainly  die  with  horror 
and  astonishment. 

Moses  was  far  from  being  displeased  at  this  request,  as  it  evinced  the  reverence 
and  respect  they  entertained,  first,  to  the  Divine  Being,  and  next  to  himself.  To 
ease  their  minds  from  the  great  terror  they  had  felt,  he  assured  them  that  all  this 
wonderful  scene  was  not  exhibited  to  them  Avith  a  design  to  create  in  them  any 
slavish  fear,  but  a  filial  confidence  and  submission  to  such  laws  as  the  Divine  wisdom 
should  hereafter  think  fit  to  enjoin. 

Having  said  this  to  the  people,  Moses  again  ascended  the  mountain,  where  (in 
addition  to  the  Decalogue)  he  received  from  God  several  other  laws,  both  ceremonial 
and  political ;  the  whole  of  which  were  calculated  with  a  wise  design  to  preserve 
the  people  in  their  obedience  to  God ;  to  prevent  their  intermixture  with  other 
nations,  and  to  advance  the  welfare  of  their  commonwealth,  by  securing  to  all  the 
members  of  it  a  quiet  enjoyment  of  their  lives  and  properties.! 

When  Moses  had  received  these  additional  laws,  he  returned  from  the  mount,  and 
immediately  erected  an  altar  to  God,  on  which  he  off'ered  up  burnt  and  peace  offer- 
ings. Having  written  down  the  last  laws  delivered  to  him  by  God,  he  caused  them 
to  be  read  to  all  the  people,  and  exacted  a  solemn  promise  from  them  that  they 
would  keep  them  faithfully.  He  then  confirmed  the  covenant,  by  sprinkling  the 
altar,  the  book,  and  the  people,  with  the  blood  of  the  victims  slaughtered  on  the 
occasion ;  and,  to  perpetuate  the  remembrance  of  this  alliance  between  God  and  his 
people,  he  ordered  twelve  pillars  to  be  raised  near  the  altar,  according  to  the  number 
of  the  twelve  tribes. 

Having  delivered  these  laws  to  the  people,  and  offered  sacrifices  to  God,  Moses 
took  Nadab,  Abihu,  and  seventy  of  the  elders  of  Israel,  some  part  of  the  way  toward 

*  Thk  Ten  Commandments. — Though  the  ten  commandments  were  given  to  tlie  Jews  particularly,  yet 
the  things  contained  in  them  are  such  as  all  mankind  from  the  beginning  were  bound  to  observe V  and 
therefore  under  the  Mosaic  dispensation  they,  and  the  tables  on  whicli  they  were  engraven,  and  the  ark  in 
which  they  were  put,  wore  distinguished  from  the  rest  of  God's  ordinances  by  a  peculiar  regard,  as  con- 
taining the  covenant  of  the  Lord.  And  though  the  Mosaic  dispensation  be  now  at  an  end,  yet  concerning 
these  moral  precepts  of  it,  our  Saviour  declares,  that  "one  jot  or  tittle  shall  in  nowise  pass  from  the  law 
till  all  be  fulfilled."  To  comprehend  the  full  extent  of  these  commandments  it  will  be  requisite  to  observe 
the  following  rules.  Where  any  sin  is  forbidden  in  them,  the  opposite  duty  is  implicitly  enjoined :  and 
where  any  duty  is  enjoirted,  the  opposite  sin  is  implicitly  forbidden.  Where  the  liighest  degree  of  any  evi) 
is  prohibited,  whatever  is  faulty  in  the  same  kind,  though  in  a  lower  degree,  is  by  consequence  prohibited. 
And  where  one  instance  of  virtuous  behavior  is  commanded,  every  other,  that  hath  the  same  nature,  and 
the  same  reason  for  it,  is  understood  to  be  commanded  too.  What  we  are  expected  to  abstain  from,  we 
are  expected  to  avoid,  as  far  we  can,  all  temptations  to  it,  and  occasions  of  it ;  and  what  we  are  expected 
to  practise,  we  are  expected  to  use  all  fit  means  that  may  better  enable  us  to  practise  it.  All  that  we  are 
bound  to  do  ourselves,  we  are  bound  on  fitting  occasions  to  exhort  and  assist  others  to  do  when  it  belongs 
to  them ;  and  all  that  we  are  bound  not  to  do,  we  are  to  tempt  nobody  else  to  do,  but  keep  tiiem  back  from 
it  as  much  as  we  have  opportunity.  The  ten  commandments,  excepting  two  that  rc(iuired  enlargement, 
are  delivered  in  a  few  words  :  which  brief  manner  of  speaking  hath  great  majesty  in  it.  But  explaining 
them  according  to  these  rules, — which  are  natural  and  rational  in  themselves,  favored  by  ancient  Jewish 
writers,  authorized  by  our  blessed  Saviour, — we  shall  find  that  there  is  no  part  of  the  moral  law  but  may 
be  fitly  ranked  under  them. 

t  These  laws  the  reader  will  find  in  the  Book  of  Exodus  beginning  at  the  twenty-first  chapter,  and  ending 
at  the  twenty-third,  both  inclusive. 


144  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

the  mountain,  where,  without  incurring  the  least  hurt,  they  were  vouchsafed  a  pros- 
pect of  the  divine  presence.  Here  Moses,  having  committed  the  care  of  the  people 
to  these  elders,  left  them,  and  taking  only  Joshua  with  him,  proceeded  toward  the 
moimt,  on  arriving  at  which  he  left  Joshua,  and  ascended  it  alone. 

No  sooner  had  Moses  reached  the  summit  of  the  mount,  than  the  whole  was  cov- 
ered with  a  thick  cloud,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  appeared  upon  it,  like  a  devouring 
fire,  in  the  sight  of  the  children  of  Israel.     On  the  seventh  day  God  called  to  Moses, 
upon  whicli  he  entered  the  midst  of  the  cloud,  and  there  continued  for  the  space  of   , 
forty  days  and  forty  nights. 

During  this  long  stay  of  Moses  in  the  mount,  he  received  instructions  from  God  in 
what  manner  the  tabernacle  should  be  made,  wherein  he  intended  to  be  worshipped. 
He  described  to  him  the  form  of  the  sanctuary,  the  table  of  the  show-bread,  the  altar 
of  frankincense,  the  altar  of  burnt-offerings,  the  court  of  the  tabernacle,  the  basin  to 
wash  in,  the  ark,  the  candlestick,  and  all  the  other  sacred  utensils.  He  gave  him 
the  form  of  the  sacerdotal  vestments,  and  taught  him  how  the  priests  were  to  be 
consecrated ;  what  part  of  the  oblation  they  were  to  take,  and  in  what  manner  the 
perpetual  sacrifice  was  to  be  offered.  He  appointed  the  two  chief  men  who  were  to 
be  the  builders  of  the  tabernacle,  namely,  Eezaleel,  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and  Aho- 
liab,  of  the  tribe  of  Dan.  Having  done  this,  and  recommended  a  strict  observation 
of  the  sabbath,  the  Almighty  gave  Moses  the  two  tables  of  stone,  on  which  were 
written,  with  his  own  hand  (at  least  by  his  own  direction),  the  ten  great  Command- 
ments, which  were  the  sum  and  substance  of  their  moral  law. 

The  long  absence  of  Moses  during  his  stay  in  the  mount  occasioned  great  mur- 
murings  among  the  people  in  the  camp,  who,  giving  their  ruler  over  for  lost,  assem- 
bled themselves  in  a  riotous  mamier  about  Aaron's  tent,  demanding  him  to  make 
some  gods  to  go  before  them.  Astonishing  as  this  demand  was,  yet  such  was  the 
weakness  of  Aaron,  and  such  his  want  of  courage,  that,  instead  of  expostulating  the 
matter  with  them,  he  not  only  laniely  submitted  to  their  request,  but  even  contributed 
to  their  idolatry.  He  ordered  them  to  take  the  golden  ear-rings  from  their  wives 
and  children  and  bring  them  to  him :  having  done  this,  he  converted  them  into  the 
figure  of  a  molten  calf,*  with  which  the  people  were  so  well  pleased  that  they 
unanimously  exclaimed,  "  This  is  thy  God,  0  Israel,  that  brought  thee  out  of  the 
land  of  Egypt." 

When  Aaron  saw  with  what  satisfaction  the  people  received  their  golden  god  (as 
if  possessed  with  the  same  idolatrous  spirit),  he  built  an  altar  before  it,  and  proclaimed 
a  solemn  feast  to  be  held  the  succeeding  day.  But  it  proved  rather  a  feast  of  revel- 
ling and  luxury,  than  one  arising  from  religious  motives ;  for  after  they  had  made 
their  oblations  and  peace-offerings,  they  sat  down  to  eat  and  drink,  and  spent  the 
whole  day  in  feasting,  dancing,  and  other  imprudent  amusements. 

While  the  Avanton  Israelites  Avere  thus  idolatrously  revelling  in  the  camp,  Moses 
was  in  conversation  Avith  God  on  the  mount,  little  suspecting  so  sudden  a  change  in 
a  people,  Avho  had  so  lately  and  solemnly  entered  into  a  covenant  of  obedience  to  all 
that  God  should  command.  But  he  from  Avhom  no  secrets  can  be  hid  Avas  instantly 
apprized  of  this  sudden  revolt:  "Go,  get  thee  doAvn,"  said  he:  "for  thy  people, 
whom  thou  broughtest  out  of  Egypt,  have  corrupted  themselves.  I  know  them  to 
be  an  obstinate  people,  therefore  intercede  not  for  them,  but  see  me  express  my  re- 
sentment in  their  destruction;  and  to  thee  will  I  transfer  the  blessings  I  mtended  for 
them,  and  of  thee  will  I  make  a  great  nation." 

But  so  far  Avas  Moses  from  seeking  his  oAvn  interest  in  the  destruction  of  the  people, 
that  he  throAV  himself  at  the  feet  of  the  Lord,  and  interceded  for  their  pardon  with 
so  much  importunity,  that  the  Almighty  was  at  length,  in  some  measure,  appeased, 
and  Moses  had  reason  to  imagine  that  he  would  not  inflict  on  them  the  punishment 
he  had  intended. 

Happy  in  having  obtained  this  pardon  for  the  Israelites,  Moses,  taking  with  him 
the  two  tables  on  Avhich  Avere  written  the  laAvs,  hastened  from  the  mount,  and  at  the 
bottom  of  it  found  Joshua,  Avho  had  been  waiting  his  return.     As  they  proceeded  on 

•  It  is  the  opinion  of  most  commentators,  that  the  reason  why  they  worshipped  the  figure  of  a  calf  rather 
than  any  otlier  creature  was,  from  the  corruptions  they  had  learned  among  the  Egyptians.  These  people 
worshipped  their  idol  Apis,  or  Serapis,  in  a  living  bull,  as  likewise  an  ima^'e  made  in  the  form  and  similitude 
of  a  bull  with  a  bushel  on  his  head,  in  memory  as  some  say,  of  Pharaoli's  dreams,  and  Joseph's  wise  man 
agement  in  measuring  out  the  corn  to  the  people  during  the  seven  years'  famine. 


.     HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  145 

•oward  the  caaip,  Joshua,  hearing  the  noise  of  people  shouting,  observed  to  Moses, 
that  there  was  the  sound  of  war  in  the  camp.  But  rkloses,  who  knew  the  cause  of 
It,  told  him  that  the  noise  was  not  like  that  which  was  either  common  to  victory,  or 
those  who  cried  for  quarters ;  but  like  the  noise  of  those  who  rejoiced  on  some  other 
occasion. 

As  soon  as  they  approached  the  camp  Moses  saw  the  golden  calf,  and  the  people 
da)icing  before  it ;  at  which  he  was  so  incensed,  that,  in  the  violence  of  his  rage,  he 
Jiiiw  the  tables  on  which  the  lavv  was  written  against  a  stone  on  the  ground,  and 
thty  were  broken  to  pieces.  He  then  took  the  idol  calf  and  melted  it,  after  Avhich, 
grinding  it  into  a  powder,  and  mixing  it  with  water  (in  order  to  make  them  more 
sensible  of  their  folly  in  worshipping  that  for  a  god  which  was  to  pass  through  their 
bodies),  he  obliged  them  to  drink  it.* 

Having  inflicted  this  punishment  on  the  people,  Moses  proceeded  to  chastise  Aaron 
for  having  suffered  sucli  idolatrous  acts  to  be  practised.  But  all  the  excuse  he  could 
make  was,  that  the  peu})le  became  so  turbulent  that,  for  his  own  safety,  he  was  com- 
pelled to  comply  wiih  iheir  demand. 

But  Moses's  business  was  to  take  vengeance  on  the  idolaters;  and,  therefore, 
leaving  his  brother  Aaron,  he  went  into  the  midst  of  the  camp,  and  called  such  to  his 
assistance  as  had  not  been  concerned  in  the  late  rebellion :  "  Let  those,"  said  Ife, 
"  who  are  for  the  Lord,  join  themselves  with  me."  In  consequence  of  this,  all  the 
sons  of  Levi  (who  were  totally  exempt  from  the  general  guilt)  immediately  repaired 
to  Moses,  who  ordered  them  to  take  their  swords,  go  through  the  camp,  and  kill  all 
the  ringleaders  of  this  idolatrous  defection,  together  with  their  adherents,  without 
paying  any  respect  to  age  or  quality,  friendship  or  consanguinity.  The  Levites 
strictly  obeyed  the  orders  of  Moses,  and  the  number  slain  on  that  day  was  about 
three  thousand  men.  For  this  laudable  zeal  and  ready  obedience  Moses  blessed  the 
family  of  Levi,  assuring  them  that  by  thus  shedding  the  blood  of  their  idolatrous 
brethren,  Avithout  favor  or  distinction,  they  had  obtained  the  approbation  of  the  Lord, 
who  would  certainly  not  fail  of  rewarding  them  for  it  hereafter.f 

This  severe  punishment  inflicted  on  the  idolatrous  delinquents  struck  a  terror 
throughout  the  whole  camp.     The  next  day  Moses,  in  a  very  solemn  manner,  re- 
proved them  for  their  ingratitude  and  folly ;  but  at  the  same  time  promised  them    • 
that  he  would  go  again  up  to  the  mount,  and  try  how  far  his  prayers  would  prevail 
with  the  divine  mercy  to  avert  the  punishment  which  they  had  so  justly  deserved. 

Moses,  agreeably  to  his  promise,  returned  to  the  mount,  and  acknowledged  to  the 
Lord  the  great  sin  committed  by  his  people.  At  the  same  time  he  besought  forgive- 
ness for  them  with  that  earnestness  and  concern,  that  he  prayed  God  to  blot  him  out 
of  his  book  rather  than  not  pardon  them.  But  this  was  inconsistent  with  the  divine 
justice,  and  therefore  God  gave  him  this  short  answer:  "  Whosoever  hath  sinned 
against  me,  him  will  I  blot  out  of  my  book." 

The  divine  wrath  being  in  a  great  measure  appeased  at  the  intercession  of  Moses, 
the  Lord  commanded  him  to  lead  the  people  to  the  place  he  had  appointed ;  but  at 
the  same  time  let  him  know  he  was  not  willing  to  go  with  them,  because,  being  a 
stifi-necked  people,  they  might  provoke  him  to  consume  them  on  the  way.    To  show, 

*  Destruction  of  the  Golden  Calf. — As  there  is  not  the  least  luestion  but  that  all  which  was  known 
to  the  Hebrews  of  the  metallurgic  arts  at  this  early  time,  had  been  acquired  in  Egypt,  the  making  of  the 
golden  calf  may  be  taken  in  evidence,  amply  confirmed  by  their  existing-  monuments,  of  the  very  great  skill 
in  those  arts  which  tlie  Egyptians  had  attained.  But  the  destruction  of  the  same  image,  in  the  manner  de 
scribed,  is  a  still  more  striking  evidence  of  this.  The  art  of  thus  treating  gold  was  a  secret,  probablv  but 
known  to  Moses,  in  virtue  of  liis  perfect  acquaintance  with  all  the  sciences  wliich  the  Egyptians  cultivated 
Goguct,  remarking  on  the  subject,  observes  that  those  who  work  in  metal  know  that  this  is  aji  e.vceedingly 
difficult  operation.  "  Commentators  have  been  much  perplexed  to  explain  how  Moses  burnt  the  golden 
image,  and  reduced  it  to  powder.  Most  of  them  offer  only  vain  and  improbable  conjectures.  But  an  able 
chymist  has  removed  every  diinculty  on  the  sul)ject,  and  has  suggested  this  simple  process  as  that  which 
Moses  employed.  Instead  of  tartaric  acid,  whicli  we  employ  for  a  similar  purpose,  the  Hebrew  legislator  rsed 
natron,  which  is  very  common  in  the  East.  (Stahll.  Vitull.  aureus,  in  Opusc.  Chym..  Phys.,  Medic  .  p. 
585.)  The  Scripture  in  informing  us  that  Moses  made  the  Israelites  drink  this  powder,  shows  that  he  was 
perfectly  acquainted  with  all  the  effect  of  his  operation.  He  wished  to  aggravate  the  punishment  of  their 
disobedience  ;  and  for  this  purpose  no  means  could  have  been  more  suitable  :  for  gold,  rendered  potable  bv 
the  process  of  which  I  have  spoken,  is  of  a  most  detestable  taste."  ("  Origine  des  Lois,"  epoq.  ii.  liv  ii  , 
chap  14.) 
To  this,  from  Goguet,  it  may  be  well  to  add  that  the  operation  of  the  acid,  which  acts  upon  gold  is  much 
•sisted  by  the  metal  being  previously  heated.  In  this  we  see  the  reason  why  Moses  cast  the  golden  image 
to  the  fire  in  the  first  instance  J* 

t  This  prediction  was  afterward  fulfilled:  for,  on  the  institution  of  the'priesthood,  the  I.evites  were    * 
'opointed  to  the  honor  and  emoluments  of  that  office,  thoug^h  in  subordination  to  that  of  Aaron  and  his 
.  Aterity. 

10 


146  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

however,  that  he  had  not  quite  forsaken  them,  he  told  Moses  that  he  would  send  his 
angel  before  them  to  drive  out  the  inhabitants  of  the  promised  land,  that  he  might 
perform  the  oath  which  he  had  made  to  their  forefathers,  Abraham,  Isaac,  and 
Jacob. 

This  was  very  afflicting  news  to  the  Israelites,  who  now  plainly  perceived  that 
God's  withdrawing  his  immediate  presence  from  them  Avas  the  consequence  of  their 
rebellion ;  upon  which  they  very  grievously  mourned,  and,  to  show  their  humilia- 
tion, laid  aside  the  ornaments  they  were  accustomed  to  wear. 

But  Moses,  still  to  humble  them  the  more,  and  to  show  them  how  highly  they 
had  offended  God  by  their  wicked  apostacy,  took  a  tent,  and  pitching  it  at  some  dis- 
tance wiihout  the  camp,  called  it  "  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation,"  intimating 
that  the  Lord  was  so  highly  off'ended  with  them  for  their  idolatry  that  he  had  re- 
moved from  them,  and  would  no  longer  dwell  among  them,  as  he  had  hitherto  done. 
Soon  after  Moses  repaired  to  the  tabernacle,  which  he  had  no  sooner  entered  than  it 
was  surrounded  by  the  cloudy  pillar,  which  had  so  much  assisted  the  Israelites  in 
their  departure  from  Egypt. 

This  additional  token  of  the  divine  wrath  made  the  people  particularly  attentive 
to  the  motions  of  Moses;  and  therefore  when  he  went  out  of  the  camp  to  the  taber- 
nacle they  rose  up,  and  stood  every  man  at  his  tent  door,  looking  after  him  till  he 
had  got  in.  And  when  they  saw  the  cloudy  pillar,  which  they  knew  was  a  token 
of  God's  presence,  they  all  fell  down  and  worshipped. 

While  Moses  was  in  the  tabernacle  he  was  visited  by  God,  who  permitted  him, 
in  a  very  familiar  manner,  to  converse  with  him ;  which  favor  Moses  improved  to 
the  advantage  of  the  people,  endeavoring,  with  the  greatest  importunity,  to  obtain  a 
reconciliation  between  them  and  their  justly  offended  God. 

A  short  time  after  this  the  Almighty  commanded  Moses  to  prepare  two  new  tables 
of  stone,  like  the  former  Avhich  he  had  broken,  and  to  come  up  alone  with  them  in 
the  morning  to  Mount  Sinai ;  "  and  I,"  said  he,  "  Avill  write  m  those  tables  the  words 
that  were  in  the  first." 

Moses  strictly  obeyed  this  command,  and,  early  in  the  morning,  repaired  to  Mount 
Sinai  with  the  two  tables,  where,  prostrating  himself  before  the  divine  Majesty,  he 
with  the  greatest  fervency  besought  him  to  pardon  the  sins  of  the  people.  The  Al- 
mighty was  pleased  to  listen  to  his  request,  at  the  same  time  promising  that  he 
would  make  a  covenant  with  his  people  on  these  conditions :  That  they  should  keep 
his  commandments ;  that  they  should  not  Avorship  the  gods  of  the  Canaanites ;  that 
they  should  make  no  alliances  Avith  the  people  of  that  country ;  that  they  should 
have  no  strange  gods ;  and  that  they  should  strictly  keep  the  sabbath,  the  passover, 
and  other  festivals  ordained  by  the  law. 

For  forty  days  and  nights  did  Moses  at  this  time  contmue  (as  he  had  done  before) 
on  Mount  Sinai,  Avithoul  either  eating  or  drinking,  at  the  expiration  of  Avhich  he  re- 
turned to  the  people,  bringing  Avith  him  the  tAvo  tables  of  the  laAV.  By  the  long 
converse  he  had  held  Avith  God,  his  face  had  contracted  such  a  lustre  that  the  people 
were  not  able  to  approach  him;  and  therefore  Avhenever  he  talked  Avith  them  he 
covered  his  face  Avith  a  veil,  but  took  it  off  when  he  went  into  the  tabernacle  to 
receive  the  divine  commands. 

Agreeably  to  the  instructions  Moses  had  received  from  God  during  his  last  stay  on 
the  mount,  he  called  the  people  together,  and  informed  them  that  it  was  the  Lord's 
will  to  have  a  tabernacle  built  for  the  performance  of  religious  Avorship ;  and  that  he 
had  commanded  him  to  speak  to  them  to  bring  in  their  offerings,  Avhich  Avere  to  con- 
sist of  such  articles  as  were  necessary  for  accomplishing  the  Avork.*  These  offerings 
were  not  to  be  exacted,  but  the  people  Avere  to  present  them  voluntarily ;  and  so 
desirous  were  they  of  making  some  atonement  for  their  past  sins,  that  they  soon 
brought  in  more  than  Avas  requisite,  so  that  Moses  was  obliged  to  cause  proclamation 
to  be  made  to  restrain  their  liberality. 

Having  thus  obtained  a  suflUcient  collection  of  all  kinds  of  materials,  Moses  placed 
them  in  the  hands  of  Bezaleel  and  Aholiah,  the  two  great  artists  in  building,  Avhom 
God  had  before  made  choice  of;  and  so  expeditious  Avere  they  in  executing  the  Avork, 

*  The  directions  given  at  thi^  time  were  the  same  with  those  which  Moses  received  on  his  first  going  up 
to  the  mount ;  but,  by  reason  of  the  people's  transgression  in  idolizing  the  calf,  they  were  not  then  delivered 
to  them. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


147 


148  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

tlui!,  ill  less  than  six  months,  the  tabernacle,  with  all  its  rich  t'uniiiure,  was  entirely 
completed;  and  ol'whicii  tlie  tbllowing  is  an  accurate  dcscriptioi: : 

Tiie  tabernacle  was  formed  somewhat  like  a  tent,  thou:;;ii  much  larger,  ana  .he 
whole  was  covered  with  curtains  and  skins.  It  was  divided  into  two  parts — the  one 
covered,  and  properly  called  the  tabernacle;  and  the  other  open,  called  the  court. 
The  covered  part  was  a'^am  divided  into  two  other  parts,  one  of  which  was  called 
the  "holy  of  holies,"  and  the  cunains  belonging  lo  it  were  made  of  embroidered 
linen  of  several  colors.  There  were  ten  curtains,  twenty-eight  cubits  long^  and  lour 
broad:  five  cunains  together  made  the  two  coverings,  and  the  other  five,  being 
joined  to  these,  covered  the  whole  tabernacle.  Above  the  rest  were  two  other  cover- 
ings, the  one  of  goal's  hair,  the  other  of  sheep-skins.  These  veils  or  coverings  were 
laid  on  a  square  frame  of  planks  resting  on  bases.  There  were  forty-eight  large 
planks,  each  a  cubit  and  a  half  wide  and  ten  cubits  high,  twenty  of  them  on  each 
side,  and  six  at  one  end  to  the  westward,  and  one  on  each  corner:  each  plank  uas 
borne  on  two  silver  bases;  they  were  let  into  one  another,  and  held  by  bars  running 
the  length  of  the  planks.  The  east  end  was  open,  and  only  covered  with  a  curtain. 
The  holy  of  holies  was  parted  from  the  rest  of  the  tabernacle  by  a  curtain  made  fast 
to  four  pillars,  standing  ten  cubits  from  the  end.  The  whole  length  of  the  tabernacle 
was  thirty-two  cubits;  the  upper  curtain  which  hung  on  the  north  and  south  sides 
was  eight  cubits  in  length,  and  that  on  the  east  and  west  four  cubits. 

The  court  was  a  spot  of  .ground  a  hundred  cubits  lung  and  fifty  in  breadih,  euelosed 
by  twenty  columns,  each  of  them  twenty  cubits  high  and  ten  in  breadth,  covered 
Avith  silv(?r,  and  standing  on  copper  bases  five  cubits  distant  from  each  other,  betAveen 
which  there  were  curtains  drawn  and  fastened  Avith  hooks.  At  the  east  end  was  an 
entrance  twenty  cubits  wide,  covered  with  a  curtain  hanging  loose. 

The  ark  Avas"  in  the  sanctuary;  it  was  a  square  chest  made  of  shittim-Avood,  tAvo 
cubits  and  a  half  long,  and  one  cubit  and  a  half  wide  and  deep.  It  Avas  covered  .>vith 
gold  plates,  and  had  a  gold  cornice  which  bore  the  lid.  On  the  sides  of  it  Avere  rings, 
to  put  poles  through  to  carry  it.  The  covering  Avas  all  of  gold,  and  called  the  pro- 
pitiatory or  mercy-seat.  There  Avere  tAVO  cherubims  on  it,  Avhich  covered  it  Aviih 
their  wings;  the'  tables  of  the  laAV  Avere  in  the  ark,  which  Avas  therefore  called  the 
ark  of  the  testimony,  or  of  the  covenant. 

The  table  was  made  of  cedar  covered  Avith  gold,  tAvo  cubits  long,  one  m  breadth, 
and  one  and  a  half  m  height.  About  the  edge  of  it  was  an  ornament ;  it  stood  on 
four  feet,  and  had  Avooden  bars  plated  Avith  gold  to  carry  it  on.  On  it  was  laid  the 
otfering  or  shoAv-bread  (Avhich  Avas  changed  every  day),  six  loaves  at  each  end,  AA'ith 
incense  over  them.     It  Avas  not  laAvful  for  any  but  the  priests  to  eat  of  that  bread. 

The  candlestick  Avas  of  pure  gold,  had  seven  branche's,  three  on  each  side  and  one 
in  the  middle :  each  branch  had  three  knobs  like  apples,  and  three  sockets  in  the 
shape  of  half  almond-shells:  that  in  the  middle  had  four.  On  each  branch  Avas  a 
aold  lamp,  and  there  Avere  gold  snuffers  and  nippers  to  dress  them. 

There  Avcre  tAvo  altars:  one  for  the  burnt-ofi'eruigs,  five  cubits  long  and  Avide,  and 
three  in  height,  Avith  the  figure  of  a  seraphim  at  each  comer.  It  Avas  holloAV,  cov- 
ered both  within  and  without  with  brass  plate,  and  open  both  at  top  and  bottom.  In 
the  midst  of  it  Avas  a  copper  grate,  standing  on  four  feet,  a  cubit  and  a  half  high,  and 
fastened  Avith  hooks  and  rings.  On  this  grate  were  bound  the  oHerings,  for  the  per- 
formance of  which  there  Avas  every  necessary  article,  such  as  kettles,  ladles,  tongs, 
hooks,  &:c. 

The  altar  for  incense  Avas  but  one  cubit  in  length  and  breadth,  and  two  cubits  hi^h. 
It  Avas  plated  Avilh  gold,  and  over  it  Avas  a  croAAm  of  the  sahie  metal.  This  aliar  Avas 
in  the  sanctuary  Avith  the  ark,  but  that  for  burnt-ofierings  Avas  placed  on  the  north 
side  of  the  tabernacle.  On  a  pillar  in  the  court  Avas  a  large  copper  basin,  with  seA'- 
eral  cocks  for  the  Avater  to  run  out,  that  those  Avho  ministered  might  conveniently 
Avash  their  hands  previous  to  the  discharge  of  their  priestly  function. 

The  vestments  of  the  high-priest  Avere,  the  breast-plate,  the  ephod,  the  robe,  the 
close  coat,  the  mitre,  and  the  girdle.  The  ephod,  the  robe,  and  the  close  coat,  Avere 
of  fine  linen,  and  covered  the  whole  body  from  the  neck  to  the  heels.  Over  all  was 
a  purple  tunic,  a  vestment  larger  and  finer  wrought,  but  not  reaching  so  Ioav,  the 
bottom  of  which  was  ornamented  with  the  representation  of  pomegranates  and  bells. 
The  ephod  consisted  of  tAvo  bands  made  of  gold  thread,  and  fastened  to  a  kind  of 
collar  which  hunij  down  both  before  and  behind  from  each  shcu'Uler,  and   lueetijiar, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


1# 


i'^ 


150 


A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 


served  as  a  girdle  to  the  tuaic  or  vestment.  On  the  shoulders  were  two  large  pre- 
cious stones,  which  joined  the  front  and  hind  parts  of  the  ephod,  and  on  them  were 
marked  the  names  of  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  six  on  each.  The  breastplate  was 
made  of  the  same  materials  as  the  ephod,  to  which  it  was  fastened  with  gold  chains. 
It  was  a  square  ornament,  very  thick,  and  covered  the  whole  breast.  The  girdle 
was  likewise  made  of  the  same  materials  with  the  ephod.  The  mitre  was  made  of 
fine  flax,  and  covered  the  head ;  and  in  the  front  was  a  gold  plate,  on  which  were 
carved  these  Avords :  HOLINESvS  TO  THE  LORD.  These  were  the  solemn  orna- 
ments belonging  to  the  high-priest :  the  others  were  only  a  simple  tunic  or  vestmeni, 
a  linen  mitre,  and  a  girdle.  They  had  all  garments  made  of  Imen  and  cotton,  which 
were  fastened  at  the  waist,  whence  they  reached  down  to  about  the  middle  of  the  legs. 

Such  was  the  form  of  the  tabernacle,  and  such  the  vestments  appointed  for  the 
high-priest ;  the  whole  of  which,  as  soon  as  completed,  was  presented  to  Moses  for 
his  inspection  and  approbation.  Having  viewed  them  attentively,  and  found  that  all 
was  done  as  the  Lord  had  commanded,  he  first  praised  God,  and  then  bestowed  his 
benediction  on  the  people,  for  having  so  diligently  attended  to  the  divine  injunction. 

All  things  being  now  ready,  on  the  first  day  of  the  first  month,*  in  the  second  year 

*  Month,  a  space  of  four  weeks,  or  the  period  of  the  revolution  of  the  moon.  Gen.  xxix.  14.  The  Israel- 
ites reckoned  their  time  by  montiis,  of  winch  they  had  two  series  ;  one  for  civil  purposes,  commencing  the 
year  in  their  month  Ethanirn,  the  seventh  of  the  sacred  year  (1  Kings  viii.  2),  computing  from  the  creation 
of  the  world,  and  answering  to  our  September ;  the  other  for  their  sacred  purposes  m  their  festivals,  com 
mencing  the  year  in  their  month  Abib,  the  seventh  of  the  civil  year,  computing  from  tlie  redemption  from 
Eg)T)t  (Exod.  xii.  2-18,  xiii.  4),  and  answering  to  our  March.  The  following  table  exhibits  the  order  of  thu 
Jewish  months,  with  the  principal  religious  festivals  of  the  Israelites  and  Jews  ; 


HEBREW  MONTHS. 

^f early  correspond- 
ing  with   our 
months  of 

Months  of  the 

o 
S 

a) 
M 

SACRED   FESTIVALS 
and  Memorable  Days. 

• 

Sacred 
Year. 

Civil 
Year. 

Abib,  or  Nisan, 

Exod.  xii.  2-18,  xiii.  4, 

Esth.  iii.  7. 

March. 

1st. 

7th. 

X 

. 

en 

e 

1 

1 

K 
o 

>  a 
o 

CO 

ct> 

■  & 
3 

a 
$ 

■  5 

1 

o 
J  s 

14.  Paschal  Lamb  killed. 

15.  Passover. 

16.  First-fmits  of  barley  harvest 
presented  to  the  LORD. 

21.  Last  day  of  the  Passover. 

Zif,  or  lyar, 
1  Kings  vi.  1. 

April. 

2d. 

8th. 

Sivan, 
Est.  viii.  9. 

May. 

3d. 

9th. 
10th. 

6.  Pentecost. 

First-fruits  of  wheat  offered  to 
the  LORD. 

Tammuz, 
Ezek.  viii.  14. 

June. 

4th. 

Ab. 

July. 

5th. 

llth. 

EIul. 
Neh.  vi.  15. 

August. 

6th. 

12th. 

9.  Solomon's   Temple   taken    by 
the  Chaldeans  ;   and  the  sec- 
ond Temple  afterward  by  the 
Romans. 

Ethanim,  or  Tisri, 
1  Kings  viii.  2. 

September. 

7th. 

1st. 

1.  Feast  of  Trumpets. 
10.  Day  of  Atonement. 
15.  Feast  of  Tabernacles. 
22.  Last  day  of  the  feast. 

Marchesvan,  or  Bui, 
1  Kings  vi.  38. 

October. 

8th. 

2d. 

Chisleu, 
Zech.  vii.  1. 

November. 

9th. 

3d. 

25.  Feast  of  the  Dedication  of  the 
second  Temple. 

Tebeth, 
Est.  ii.  16. 

December. 

10th. 

4th. 

Sebat, 
Zech.  i.  7. 

January. 

llth. 

5th. 

Adar, 
Est.  iii.  7.     Ve-Adar, 
or  Second  Adar,  is 
here   added   when 
necessary. 

Febraary. 

12th. 

6th. 

14  and  15.   Feast  of  Purim,  Est. 
ix.  1&-21. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


151 


Costume  of  the  High  Priest. 


■•-5 


152  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

after  the  departure  of  the  Israelites  from  Esfypt,  the  tabernacle  was,  by  God's  imme- 
diate command,  set  up,  and  all  its  rich  furniture  disposed  in  the  proper  places  that  had 
been  appoinl'ed.  But  no  sooner  was  this  done,  than  the  pillar.of  the  cloud  (which  is 
called  the  Glory  of  the  Lord)  covered  the  whole,  so  that  Moses  himself,  for  some  time, 
was  not  able  to  enter  it. 

The  Almig-hiy,  at  length,  promising  Moses  to  enter  the  tabernacle,  gave  him  in- 
structions (which  iie  communicated  to  the  people)  in  what  manner  (according  to  this 
new  institution)  he  was  to  be  worshipped  by  sacrifices  and  oblations  ;  what  festivals 
were  to  be  observed,  and  how  celebrated ;  what  meats  were  forbidden ;  what  the  in- 
stances of  uncleanness  were ;  and  what  the  degrees  of  consanguinity  prohibited  in 
marriage. 

The  creatures  appointed  to  be  offered  in  sacrifice  were  of  five  sorts,  namely,  oxen, 
lambl^,  goats,  doves,  and  young  pigeons,  all  of  which  were  to  be  males  and  without 
blemish.  The  person  who  presented  the  offering  was  to  do  it  at  the  altar,  laying  his 
two  hands  on  the  head  of  the  creature,  and  then  cutting  its  throat.  The  blood  was 
to  be  received  in  a  basin,  and  with  it  the  priest  was  to  sprinkle  the  vessels  and  cor- 
ners of  the  altar,  throwing  the  principal  part  at  the  foot  of  it.  The  victiin  was  to  be 
flayed,  cut  in  pieces,  and  laid  on  the  altar,  where,  either  the  whole,  or  some  part  of  it 
(accordiflg  to  the  several  sorts  of  sacrifice),  was  to  be  burnt. 

Libations  were  likewise  added  to  the  sacrifices.  All  the  wine,  or  flour,  off"ered  with 
the  victims,  was  called  effusion,  or  pouring  out.  There  was  to  be  also  a  separate 
offering  of  fine  flour  and  oil,  baked  on  an  iron,  or  in  a  pan,  and  spruikled  with  oil  and 
frankincense. 

The  sacrifices  Avere  of  four  sorts,  namely, 

1.  The  burnt-offering,  every  part  of  which  was  to  be  consumed  by  fire  on  the  altar, 
after  washing  the  feet  and  entrails. 

2.  The  peace-offering,  of  which  only  the  inward  fat  or  tallow  was  to  be  burnt  on 
the  altar,  made  up  with  the  liver  and  kidneys,  and  the  tails  of  the  lambs.  The  breast 
and  the  right  shoulder  belonged  to  the  priests,  the  rest  to  him  who  offered  the  sacrifice. 

3.  The  sacrifice  of  sin,  committed  either  wilfully  or  ignorantly.  In  this  the  priest 
was  to  take  some  of  the  blood  of  the  victim,  dip  his  fimger  in  it,  and  sprinkle  seven 
times  toward  the  veil  of  the  sanctuary.  The  same  parts  of  the  victim  were  to  be 
burnt  on  the  altar  in  this  as  in  the  former  sacrifice  ;  the  rest,  if  the  sacrifice  was  of- 
fered lor  the  sin  of  the  high-priest,  or  for  the  people,  was  to  be  carried  without  the 
camp  to  be  burnt  there,  with  the  skin,  the  head,  the  feet,  and  the  bowels.  If  it  was 
for  a  private  person,  the  victim  was  to  be  divided,  one  half  to  the  priest,  and  the  other 
to  him  who  offered  the  sacrifice. 

4.  The  sacrifice  of  oblation  was  to  consist  either  of  fine  flour,  or  incense,  or  cakes 
of  fine  flour  and  oil  baked,  or  the  first-fruits  of  new  corn.  With  the  things  olfered 
were  always  to  be  oil,  salt,  wine,  and  frankincense,  the  latter  of  which  was  to  be 
thrown  into  the  fire.  Of  the  other  things  offered  the  priest  was  to  take  the  whole, 
one  part  of  which  he  was  to  burn,  and  the  other  to  convert  to  his  own  use. 

With  respect  to  their  festivals,  the  first  and  grand  one  to  be  observed  was  the  Sab- 
bath, which  they  were  to  keep  in  the  strictest  manner,  dedicating  it  wholly  to  rest, 
and  not  doing  any  kind  of  business  whatever. 

The  passover  was  likewise  to  be  observed  with  great  solemnity.  It  Avas  to  begin 
on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  March  moon  ;  and  for  the  seven  days  it  lasted  they  were 
to  eat  only  bread  unleavened.  The  first  day  after  the  passover  they  were  lo  oft'er  new 
ears  of  corn;  and  on  the  fifteenth  day  was  to  be  held  another  feast,  called  the  harvest 
festival,  on  which  they  were  to  offer  in  thanksgi^dng  two  loaves  made  of  new  wheat, 
as  the  first-fruits  of  the  harvest.  The  first  day  of  the  seventh  mouth  (Avhicli  Avas  the 
first  of  the  civil  year)  was  also  to  be  held  as  a  very  solemn  festival,  in  remembrance 
of  the  departure  of  the  Israelites  from  Egypt.  On  the  tenth  of  the  same  month  was 
to  be  kept  the  feast  of  expiation,  on  which  day  the  priests  were  to  go  into  the  sanc- 
tuary, and  offer  tAvo  goats,  one  of  which  Avas  to  be  there  given  up  as  a  solemn  sacri- 
fice for  sin;  but  the  other  was  to  be  carried,  not  only  out  of  the  tabernacle,  but  Avitli- 
out  the  camp,  also,  and  was  therefore  to  be  called  the  scape-goat.  On  the  fifteenth 
of  the  same  month  Avas  to  begin  the  feast  of  tabernacles,  Avhich  was  to  last  eisfht 
days,  being  kept  as  a  memorial  that  the  Israelites  had  been  accustomed  to  live  in 
tents.  The  Avhole  time  was  to  be  spent  in  mirth,  and  each  day  the  people  Avere  tn 
walk  round  the  altar  with  boughs  in  their  hands. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


153 


154  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

With  respect  to  animal  food  they  were  to  be  very  careful  in  making  a  proper  dis- 
tinction between  beasts  that  were  clean,  and  those  that  were  otherwise,  it  being  law- 
ful for  them  to  eat  the  first,  but  not  the  last.  Two  qualifications  were  required  for 
reckoning  a  beast  clean,  which  were,  that  it  should  have  a  cloven  foot,  and  that  it 
should  chew  the  cud ;  so  that  it  was  unlawful  for  them  to  eat  swine's  flesh,  or  rabbits 
and  hares,  the  former  not  chewing  the  cud,  and  the  latter  not  having  cloven  feet.  All 
birds  of  prey  were  forbidden ;  and  it  was  unlawful  for  them  to  eat  blood,  or  the  flesh 
of  beasts  strangled. 

Among  the  laws  relative  to  uncleanness,  leprosy  was  to  be  reckoned  the  greatest, 
of  the  nature  and  quality  of  Avhich  the  priest  was  to  judge,  and  to  dispose  of  the  party 
as  he  should  think  proper.  Some  uncleannesses  were  to  be  removed  by  washing  theii 
garments  and  bodies,  and  others  by  off'ering  up  sacrifices. 

The  laws  relating  to  matrimony  were  principally  th  ese.  They  were  forbidden  to  marry 
strange  women.  One  inan  might  have  several  wives  ;  but  the  persons  with  whom  it 
was  not  allowed  to  contract  matrimony  were,  the  father,  mother,  mother-in-law,  sis- 
ter bv  the  father  or  mother's  side,  son's  or  daughter's  daughter,  father's  wife's  daugh- 
ter, father  or  mother's  sister,  micle,  daughter-in-law,  brother's  wife,  wife's  sister  or 
daughter,  or  grandson  or  granddaughter.  It  was,  however,  not  only  lawful,  but  a 
command  enjoined,  that  the  brother  should  marry  the  brother's  widow,  provided  he 
died  without  issue. 

Moses,  having  communicated  these,  and  some  other  ordinances,  to  the  people,  pro- 
ceeded next,  agreeably  to  the  divine  command,  to  constituie  his  brother  Aaron  high- 
priest,  and  to  tix  the  order  of  priesthood  in  his  son  and  tiieir  ])osterity.  In  the  exe- 
cution of  this  ceremony  Moses  robed  them,  anointed  their  heads  with  oil,  and  made 
them  oiTer  sacrifices  for  sin.  The  function  of  the  priests  in  general,  was,  to  off'er  sac- 
rifice to  the  Lord,  but  the  high-priest's  was  of  a  particular  nature.  He  was  to  go 
once  a  year,  on  the  day  of  expiation,  into  the  sanctuary,  clad  in  his  priestly  garments, 
there  to  burn  incense  before  the  ark,  and  sprinkle  the  blood  of  the  offering  seven  times 
with  his  finger.  All  the  tribe  of  Levi  were  appointed  to  assist  the  priests  in  the  ser- 
vijjes  of  the  tabernacle ;  and  to  the  whole  were  appointed  particular  allowances  for 
their  subsistence.  But  if  any,  either  of  the  priests  or  Levitcs,  had  any  bodily  imper- 
fection, they  were  to  be  excluded  from  the  function,  but,  at  the  same  time,  permitted 
to  enjoy  the  rights  and  privileges  of  their  birth.  The  obligations  they  lay  under  were 
these:  they  were  not  to  drink  any  wine,  or  any  other  intoxicating  liquors,  when  they 
were  to  officiate  in  the  tabernacle  :  they  were  not  to  marry  a  woman  who  had  been 
divorced  or  prostituted ;  and  lastly,  they  Avere  not  to  attend  funerals,  unless  those  of 
their  own  fathers,  mothers,  sons,  daughters,  brothers,  or  maiden  sisters. 

On  the  eighth  day  after  Aaron  had  been  appointed  to  the  office  of  high-priest,  he 
off'ered  his  first  burnt-offering  for  himself  and  the  people.  This  was  very  acceptable 
to  the  Almighty,  who  was  pleased  to  testify  his  approbation  by  sending  fire  upon  the 
altar,  which  consumed  the  off'ering  in  the  sight  of  the  people,  who,  with  loud  shouts 
and  acclamations,  expressed  their  joy  for  so"  singular  a  circumstance,  and  prostrated 
themselves  on  the  ground  in  humble  adoration  before  the  Divine  Majesty. 

The  fire  thus  miraculously  kindled  was,  by  the  divine  command,  to  be  kept  perpet- 
ually burning,  and  no  other  to  be  used  in  all  the  oblations  to  be  made  to  God.  But 
Nadab  and  Abihu,  two  of  Aaron's  sons,  forgetful  of  their  duty,  took  their  censers,  and 
putting  common  fire  in  them,  laid  incense  thereon,  and  off'ered  strange  fire  before  the 
Lord.  For  tliis  flagrant  violation  of  the  divine  command,  the  Almighty  was  so  of- 
fended, that,  as  a  just  punishment,  he  immediately  struck  them  dead  with  lightning. 
To  strike  a  terror  into  the  rest  of  the  priestly  order,  and  deter  them  from  disobedience 
to  the  commands  of  God,  Moses  ordered  the  people  to  take  their  dead  bodies  from  the 
sanctuary,  and  carry  them  out  of  the  camp  in  the  same  condition  they  found  them. 
He  likewise  charged  Aaron  and  the  rest  of  his  sons,  not  to  mourn  for  Nadab  and  Abi- 
hu, in  shaving  their  heads,  or  rending  their  clothes;  but  that  they  should  leave  those 
marks  of  mourning  to  the  rest  of  the  people,  from  whom  they  ought  to  distinguish 
themselves  in  this,  as  well  as  in  other  points,  in  reverence  to  that  holy  anointing, 
whereby  they  had  been  consecrated  to  the  Lord,  and  thereby  separated  from  their 
brethren. 

A  short  time  after  the  melancholy  circumstance  last  related,  another  awful  proof 
was  given  of  the  danger  of  incurring  the  displeasure  of  the  Almighty.  This  was 
exemplified  in  the  case  of  one,  whcse  mother's  name  was  Shelomith,  an  Israelilish 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


155 


156  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

woman  of  the  tribe  of  Dan,  but  whose  husband  was  an  Egyptian,  but  supposed  to 
have  become  a  proselyte  to  the  house  of  Israel.  This  young  man  quarreled  with 
another,  and  a  battle  ensuing,  Shelomith  was  worsted.  Fired  with  resentment  at 
being  conquered,  he  in  the  height  of  his  passion,  cursed  and  blasphemed  the  name  ot 
the  Lord  ;  upon  which  being  apprehended  and  brought  before  Moses,  he  ordered  him 
into  custody  till  he  should  know  from  the  Lord  what  punishment  to  inflict  on  him  for 
his  transgression.  Though  the  third  command  in  the  decalogue  forbade  the  taking 
of  God's  name  in  vain,  yet  this  blasphemous  cursing  being  an  oiTence  of  a  higher  na- 
ture, against  which  no  positive  law  was  yet  provided,  Moses  had  recourse  to  the 
Lord,  Avho  was  pleased  to  tell  him  thus  :  "  Bring  forth,"  says  he,  "  him  that  cursed 
without  the  camp,  and  let  all  that  heard  him  lay  their  hands  upon  his  head,*  and  let 
all  the  congregation  stone  him." 

In  obedience  to  the  divine  command,  Moses  ordered  the  sentence  to  be  immediately 
put  in  execution ;  and  a  law  was  thereon  made,  that  whosoever  should,  from  that 
time,  blaspheme  the  name  of  the  Lord,  whether  he  was  an  Israelite,  or  a  stranger, 
should  be  stoned  to  death. 


CHAPTER    X. 

While  the  Israelites  lay  encamped  in  the  wilderness  of  Sinai,  the  Almighty  or- 
dered Moses,  assisted  by  Aaron,  and  the  heads  of  the  respective  tribes,  to  make  a 
general  muster  of  the  people,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  number  of  those  who  were 
able  to  carry  arms.  This  was  accordingly  done,  when  the  number  of  true  born  Is- 
raelites appeared  to  be  603,550  men,t  exclusive  of  the  ii-ibe  of  Levi.  These  were, 
by  the  express  command  of  the  Almighty,  exempted,  being  designed  for  the  peculiar 
service  of  the  tabernacle,  not  only  to  take  charge  thereof,  and  of  all  the  vessels  be- 
longing to  it,  but  likewise  to  take  it  down  upon  every  remove,  to  guard  it  safe  on  the 
way,  and  to  put  it  up  again  at  such  places  as  should  be  appointed  for  encampment. 

The  Israelites  being  thus  mustered,  Moses  and  Aaron,  by  the  express  command  of 
God,  appointed  the  manner  of  their  encampment,  which  was  not  only  to  take  place 
now,  but  to  be  continued  ever  after,  as  follows : 

The  whole  body  was  divided  into  four  grand  camps,  each  consisting  of  three  tribes 
under  one  standard,  and  so  placed  as  entirely  to  enclose  the  tabernacle. 

The  standard  of  the  camp  of  Judah  was  first.  It  consisted  of  the  tribes  of  Judah, 
Issachar,  and  Zebulon,  (the  sons  of  Leah),  and  was  pitched  on  the  east  side  of  the 
tabernacle,  toward  the  rising  of  the  sun. 

On  the  south  side  was  the  standard  of  the  camp  of  Reuben,  under  which  were  the 
tribes  of  Reuben  and  Simeon  (the  sons  of  Leah  likewise),  and  of  Gad,  the  son  of  Zil- 
pah,  Leah's  maid. 

On  the  west  side  was  the  standard  of  the  camp  of  Ephraim,  under  which  were  the 
tribes  of  Ephraim,  Manasseh,  and  Benjamin. 

On  the  north  side  was  tlie  standard  of  the  camp  of  Dan,  under  which  were  the 
tribes  of  Dan  and  Naplitali  (the  sons  of  Bilhah,  Rachel's  maid),  and  of  Asher  (the 
son  of  Zilpah). 

Between  the  four  great  camps  and  the  tabernacle  were  four  lesser  camps,  consist- 
ing of  the  priests  and  Le\'ites,  under  whose  immediate  care  and  protection  the  tab- 
ernacle was  placed. 

On  the  east  side  were  encamped  Moses  and  Aaron,  with  Aaron's  sons,  who  had  the 
charge  of  the  sanctuary. 

'  This  way  of  laying  hands  on  the  heads  of  criminals  may  seem  to  arise  from  several  causes.  I.  Tliai 
they  were  witnesses  of  the  fact,  and  that  tlie  person  condemned  suffered  justly  ;  prolestinjr,  that  if  he  were 
innocent  they  desired  that  his  lilood  miglit  fall  on  tlieir  own  heads.  2.  Tiiev  put  their  hands  on  the  head  of 
the  criminal  in  token  of  an  expiatory  sacrifice  ;  for  idolatry,  blasphemy,  and  such  grievous  crimes,  if  they 
were  not  punished,  they  expected  would  attract  a  guilt,  not  only  on  the  witness,  hut  the  wliole  nation, 
which  by  the  death  of  the  criminal,  as  by  a  victim,  might  be  expiated.  3.  That  the  criminal-  was  the  just 
cause  of  his  own  death. 

t  The  ages  of  these  men  were,  from  twenty  years  old  to  fifty ;  and  the  exact  number  in  each  tribe  was 
as  follows  : 

In  the  tribe  of  Reuben,  46,.500 ;  Simeon,  59,300  ;  Gad,  45,650  ;  Judah,  74.600 ;  Issachar,  54,400  ;  Zebulon, 
67,400;  Ephraim,  40,500  ;  Manasseh,  32,200;  Benjamin,  35,400;  Dan,  62,700;  Asher,  41,500 ;  Naplitali  53 
400 ;  total  002,550. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


157 


1^8 


A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 


On  the  south  side  were  the  Kohathites,  a  part  of  the  Levites,  descended  from  Ko- 
hath,  the  second  son  of  Levi. 

On  the  west  side  were  the  Gershonites,  another  part  of  the  Levites,  descended  from 
Gershon,  Levi's  eldest  son. 

On  the  north  side  were  planted  the  Merarites,  the  remaining  part  of  the  Levites, 
who  descended  from  Merari,  Levi's  youngest  son. 

Such  was  the  manner  of  the  encampment  of  the  Israelites,  being  the  only  regular 
description  of  one  which  the  Bible  contains  ;  but,  from  incidental  allusions,  we  may 
gather  that  the  camps  which  the  Hebrews  in  after-times  formed  in  their  military  op- 
erations, differed  in  several  respects  from  the  present,  the  admirable  arrangement  of 
which  is  easily  perceived,  although  some  difference  of  opinion  exists  as  to  a  few  of 
the  details. 


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o 


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O 

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O 


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EAST.— FIRST  DIVISION— CAMP  OF  JUDAH:  186,400. 


JUDAH, 

74,600. 


ISSACHAR, 

54,400. 


ZEBULUN, 

57,400. 


IX) 


P-i  CO 
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8 


P50 

W  O 


MOSES,                  AARON, 

AKD  THE  PRIESTS. 

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CJl   P 


•OOl'SOT  :MIVHH(ia  iO  dMVO— MOISIAia   aHIHX— "vLSaA^. 


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The  diagram  above  will  exhibit  the  apparent  order  better  than  a  verbal  descrip- 
tion, however  minute.  It  is  thus  seen  that  the  camp  was  formed  in  a  quadrangle, 
having  on  each  side  three  tribes  under  one  general  standard.  How  these  tribes 
were  placed  with  regard  to  each  other  is  not  very  clear;  some  fix  the  leading  tribe  in 
the  centre,  and  the  two  others  on  each  side ;  but  the  description  seems  rather  to  indi- 
cate that  the  leading  tribe  extended  aloti£r  the  whole  exterior  line,  and  that  the  two 
cither  tribes  pitched  beside  each  other,  within.  The  only  other  alternative  seems  to 
be,  to  suppose  that  the  two  minor  tribes  also  extended  in  full  line,  the  last  tribe  men- 
tioned in  each  division,  being  the  innermost.     The  collective  encampment  enclosed  a 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


159 


160  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

large  open  square,  in  the  centre  of  which  stood  the  tabernacle.  The  position  whicn 
the  tabernacle  thus  occupied  still  remams  the  place  of  honor  in  grand  oriental  camps, 
and  is  usually  occupied  by  the  tent  of  the  king  or  general.  The  distance  between  it 
and  the  common  camp  was  indicative  of  respect ;  what  the  distance  was  we  are  not 
told,  except  by  the  Rabbins,  who  say  that  it  was  two  thousand  cubits,  and  apparently 
ground  this  statement  upon  Josh.  iii.  4.  The  interval  was  not  however  wholly  va- 
cant, being  occupied  by  the  small  camps  of  the  Levites,  who  had  the  charge  and  cus- 
tody of  the  tabernacle,  and  pitched  their  tents  aroimd  it ;  the  tents  of  Moses,  Aaron, 
and  the  priests,  occupying  the  most  honorable  place,  fronting  the  entrance  to  the  tab- 
ernacle, or  rather  to  the  court  which  contained  it.  The  Jewish  writers  say  that  the 
circumference  of  the  entire  encampment  was  about  twelve  miles  ;  a  statement  which 
would  seem  sutTiciently  moderate  when  we  recollect  the  hollow  square  in  the  centre, 
and  consider  the  vast  extent  of  ground  required  for  the  tents  of  two  millions  of  peo- 
ple. This  regular  and  admirable  arrangement  of  so  vast  a  host,  under  their  ensigns, 
around  the  tabernacle,  must  have  given  a  most  striking  and  impressive  appearance  to 
the  camp,  as  viewed  from  the  hills.  We  know  the  effect  which  the  view  of  it  pro- 
duced upon  one  person,  who  did  view  it  from  the  hills,  and  then  broke  forth  in  rap- 
ture, exclaiming,  "  Hoav  goodly  are  thy  tents,  O  Jacob  !  and  thy  tabernacles,  O  Israel ! 
As  the  valleys  are  they  spread  forth,  as  the  trees  of  lign-al^es  which  the  Lord  hath 
planted,  and  as  cedar  trees  beside  the  waters."     (Num.  xxiv.  5,  6.) 

The  encampment  being  thus  formed,  the  next  consideration  was,  to  regulate  the 
mode  of  marching,  which  was  accordingly  done  as  follows  : 

Whenever  they  were  to  decamp  (which  was  always  to  take  place  as  soon  as  the 
pillar  of  the  cloud  left  the  tabernacle)  the  trumpet  was  to  be  immediately  sounded, 
and,  upon  the  first  alarm,  the  standard  of  Judah  being  raised,  the  three  tribes  Avhich 
belonged  to  it  were  to  set  forward.  On  the  movement  of  these  the  tabernacle  was  to 
be  taken  down  with  all  convenient  expedition,  and  the  Gershonites  and  Merarites 
were  to  attend  the  wagons  with  the  boards  and  staves  belonging  to  it.  This  being 
done,  a  second  alarm  was  to  be  given  by  the  trumpet,  on  which  the  standard  of  Reu- 
ben's camp  was  to  advan,ce  with  the  three  tribes  belonging  to  it.  After  these  Avere  to 
follow  the  Kohathites,  bearing  the  sanctuary,  which,  because  it  was  more  holy,  and 
Q,ot  so  cumbersome,  as  the  pillars  and  boards  of  the  tabernacle,  was  not  to  be  put  into 
a  wagon,  but  carried  on  their  shoulders.  Next  was  to  follow  the  standard  of  Ephraim's 
camp,  with  the  tribes  belonging  to  it;  and,  last  of  all,  the  other  three  tribes,  under 
the  standard  of  Dan,  were  to  bring  up  the  rtar. 

A  short  time  after  these  matters  were  adjusted,  the  pillar  of  the  cloud  gave  the  Is- 
raelites a  signal  to  decamp.  On  their  beginning  to  move,  agreeably  to  the  order  pre- 
scribed, Moses  addressed  himself  to  God.  "  Rise,"  said  he,  "  Lord,  and  let  thine  en- 
emies be  scattered  ;  and  let  them  that  hate  thee  flee  before  thee.  And  when  the  ark 
of  the  covenant  (by  which  they  were  directed  when  to  stop)  rested,  he  added  "Re- 
turn, O  Lord,  unto  the  many  thousands  of  Israel." 

After  marching  for  three  days  in  the  wilderness  of  Sinai,  the  Israelites  began  to 
complain  of  the  fatigues  of  their  journey,  and  to  relate  their  grievances,  with  great 
asperity,  to  Moses.  This  so  offended  the  Almighty,  that  he  sent  down  fire  from 
heaven,  which  destroyed  all  those  who  were  sittiated  in  the  extreme  parts  of  the 
camp.  The  rest  were  so  terrified  at  this  circumstance,  that  they  immediately  applied 
to  Moses,  at  whose  intercession  the  fire  ceased,  but,  in  remembrance  of  the  incident, 
he  called  the  place  Taberah,  which,  in  the  Hebrew  language,  signifies  burning. 

But  this  instance  of  the  divine  power  had  little  effect  on  the  dissatisfied  Israelites. 
They  made  heavy  complaintafor  want  of  flesh  for  food ;  and  intimated  to  Moses  hoAv 
much  happier  they  were  when  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  where,  though  in  a  state  of 
bondage,  they  could  possess  a  variety  of  articles  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  life. 

Moses  had  often  heard  them  murmur,  and  patiently  borne  with  it,  but  now  that 
they  were  grown  so  numerous,  and  the  greatness  of  their  numbers  demanding  still 
more  care  and  vigilance  to  govern  them  than  what  came  from  the  assistance  of  the 
magistrates  appointed  by  the  advice  of  his  father-in-law  Jethro,  he  became  exceedinofly 
uneasy,  and,  in  an  address  to  G.od,  represented  the  great  and  heavy  burdens  under 
vhich  he  labored,  in  having  the  managemeait  of  so  numerous  and  dissatisfied  a  people. 

No  sooner  did  the  Almighty  hear  the  complaints  of  his  faithful  servant,  than  he 
mmediately  gave  him  relief,  by  ordering  him  to  choose  seventy  men  from  among  the 
elders  of  Israel,  and  to  bring  them,  with  him  to  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  161 

"There,"  said  he,  "I  will  come  down  and  talk  with  thee,  and  I  Avill  give  hem  a 
portion  of  the  same  spirit  with  which  I  have  inspired  thee ;  and  t  ley  shall  bear  the 
burden  of  the  people  with  thee." 

In  conformity  to  the  divine  command,  Moses  selected  seventy  of  the  elders,  sixty- 
eight  of  whom  he  conducted  to  the  tabernacle,  whither  they  had  no  sooner  arrived, 
than  the  Almighty  was  pleased  to  fulfil  his  promise,  by  inspiring  them  with  the  like 
kind  of  spirit  he  had  given  to  Moses,  and  by  which  they  were  enabled  to  prophesy. 
Nay,  so  extensive  was  this  inspiration,  that  though  the  other  two  came  not  out  with 
the  rest  to  the  tabernacle,  but  remained  in  the  camp,  yet  they  received  the  same  im- 
pression of  the  spirit  with  the  rest,  and,  in  like  manner,  prophesied.  This  circum- 
stance so  surprised  a  certain  young  man  in  the  camp,  that  he  immediately  hastened 
to  the  tabernacle,  to  acquaint  Moses  that  Edad  and  Medad  (which  were  the  names 
)f  the  two  elders  left  behind)  were  prophesying  in  the  camp.  Joshua  (who  was  to- 
tally unacquainted  with  the  operations  of  the  Lord  by  his  spirit)  was  likewise  greatly 
surprised,  and,  thinking  it  a  derogation  of  his  master,  likewise  ran  to  the  tabernacle, 
and  advised  Moses  to  restrain  them  from  that  power  which  only  belonged  to  himself. 
But  Moses  reproved  him  for  his  conduct  in  these  words :  "  Dost  thou,"  said  he,  "  en- 
vy them  on  my  account  ?  Would  to  God  that  all  the  Lord's  people  were  inspired, 
and  that  they  might  be  endued  with  the  spirit  of  prophecy !" 

The  murmurings  of  the  people  for  want  of  flesh  still  continued,  and  to  such  a 
height  did  their  fury  arise,  that  they  beset  Moses's  tent  on  all  sides,  and,  in  the  most 
tumultuous  manner,  demanded  of  him  to  relieve  their  necessities.  Thus  circumstanced 
Moses  applied  himself  to  God,  to  whom  he  intimated  the  little  probability  there  was 
of  supplying  so  numerous  a  body  of  people  with  the  article  requested.  The  Almighty 
was  pleased  to  promise  that  he  would  remove  this  evil ;  and  at  the  same  time  gently 
rebuked  Moses  in  these  words  :  "  Is  the  Lord's  hand,"  said  he,  "  waxed  short  ?  thou 
shalt  see  now  whether  my  word  shall  come  to  pass  unto  thee  or  not." 

It  was  not  long  before  this  divine  promise  was  fulfilled  ;  for  the  Almighty  causmg 
a  south  wind  to  arise,  it  drove  prodigious  quantities  of  quails  from  the  seacoast  to 
within  a  mile  of  the  camp,  which  being  taken  by  the  people,  they  feasted  on  them  in 
the  most  greedy  manner. 

But  God  sooii  called  them  to  a  dreadful  account  for  their  insolent  demand  of  flesh, 
and  their  distrust  of  his  providence :  for  while  they  were  regaling  themselves  with 
these  dainties,  he  visited  them  with  a  severe  plague,  of  which  great  numbers  died, 
and  were  buried  on  the  spot  where  they  fell.  In  consequence  of  this  circumstance 
the  place  was  called  Kibroth-Hattaavah,  which  signifies  the  graves  or  sepulchres  of 
lust  and  concupiscejice. 

From  this  place  the  Israelites  marched  to  Hazeroth,  where  they  had  not  been  long 
before  another  circumstance  occurred  of  a  very  disagreeable  nature.  Aaron  and  his 
sister  Miriam,  observing  the  great  power  their  brother  Moses  had  over  the  people,  and 
that  God  chiefly  made  use  of  him  in  the  delivery  of  his  sacred  oracles,  began  to  look 
upon  him  with  an  eye  of  envy.  To  give  some  color  to  their  conduct,  they  pretended 
to  fall  out  with  him",  on  account  of  his  having  married  a  foreign ejr,  Avhom  tliey  con- 
temptuously called  an  Ethiopian  ;  and,  to  lessen  his  importance,  and  at  the  same  time 
enlarge  their  own,  they  added,  "  What,  hath  the  Lord  spoken  only  to  Moses  ?  hath 
he  not  spoken  also  by  us  ?" 

Moses  saw  the  discontent  of  his  brother  and  sister ;  but  considering  it  only  as  a 
personal  pique,  took  no  notice  of  it.  The  Almighty,  however,  being  greatly  offended 
at  their  conduct,  thought  proper  to  interpose,  and  convince  them  that  such  behavior 
to  his  faithful  servant  was  of  the  most  heinous  nature,  and  should  not  pass  unnoticed. 
Ordering,  therefore,  Moses,  Aaron,  and  ]Miriam,  to  attend  at  the  door  of  the  tabernacle, 
he  sharply  rebuked  the  two  latter  for  their  insolence,  asking  them,  how  they  durst 
speak  against  his  servant  Moses?  "•  You,"  said  he  to  Miriam,  "  have  shared  in  the 
prophetic  office,  and  to  you  have  I  declared  my  will  in  dreams  and  visions ;  but  with 
Moses  I  have  conversed'  more  familiarly,  and  I  will  speak  face  to  face  with  him,  and 
shoAV  him  as  much  of  mv  glory  as  he  is  capable  of  seeing." 

Thus  Moses  had  the  secret  satisfaction  of  finding  himself  justified  by  his  divme 
protector  ;  but  Aaron,  to  his  great  confusion,  beheld  his  sister  Miriam  made  a  dreadful 
example  of  God's  anger.  She  was  suddenly  afflicted  with  a  most  dreadful  and  in- 
veterate leprosy  ;  upon  which  Aaron,  addressing  himself  to  Moses,  acknowledged  the 

11 


,fi2  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

sin  they  had  committed,  begged  pardon,  and  solicited  him  to  intercede  Avith  God  in 
behalf  of  his  sister,  that  the  leprosy  might  be  removed,  and  her  former  health  restored. 

Moses,  who  was  naturally  of  a  meek  disposition,  and  ever  ready  to  pardon  an  in- 
jury offered  to  himself,  made  no  hesitation  at  complying  with  Aaron's  request.  His 
intercession  had  the  desired  effect :  the  Almighty  was  pleased  to  promise  that  the  evil 
should  be  removed ;  but  as  the  offence  was  of  a  public  nature,  he  ordered  her  to  be 
turned  out  of  the  camp  for  seven  days,  in  the  manner  of  a  common  leper,  in  order  to 
deter  others  from  committing  the  like  seditious  practices. 

Soon  after  Miriam's  return  to  the  camp,  the  Israelites  removed  to  the  desert  of  Pa- 
ran  ;  whence,  after  several  encampments,  they  reached  Kadesh-Barnea,  situated  on 
the  frontiers  of  the  land  of  Canaan. 

On  their  arrival  at  this  place,  Moses,  by  the  divine  command,  selected  twelve  men, 
one  from  each  tribe,  whom  he  ordered  to  go  as  spies  into  the  promised  land,  to  lake 
a  view  of  the  country.  He  charged  them  to  make  a  diligent  examination  into  the 
strength  of  its  cities  and  inhabitants,  the  nature  and  fertility  of  its  soil,  and  the  priit- 
cipal  articles  it  produced,  some  of  the  latter  of  which  he  told  them  to  bring  with 
them  on  their  return. 

With  these  instructions  the  twelve  spies  set  forward  on  their  journey,  and  proceeded 
from  the  entrance  of  the  country  on  the  north,  to  its  extremity  on  the  south.  In  their 
way  back  they  passed  through  a  valley  remarkable  for  its  fertility  in  vines,  and  there- 
fore called  the  valley  of  Eschol,  Avhich  signifies  a  cluster  of  grapes.  Attracted  by  the 
beauty  of  the  fruit,  they  determined  to  presence  some  and  carry  it  to  the  camp.  They 
cut  down  a  branch,  on  "which  was  only  one  cluster  of  grapes,  but  of  such  an  immod- 
erate size,  that  they  were  obliged  to  lay  it  on  a  pole,  and  carry  it  between  two  of 
them.  Nor  was  this  the  only  product  of  this  happy  soil :  the  golden  fi;^  and  beauti- 
ful pomegranate  adorned  the  trees,  and  a  variety  of  other  fruits  (of  which  they  took 
samples  with  them)  loaded  the  luxuriant  branches. 

The  sj)ies  having,  in  the  compass  of  forty  days,  taken  a  view  of  the  whole  country 
of  Canaan,  returned  to  the  camp  of  the  Israelites;  and,  after  showing  them  the  fruits 
of  the  land,  gave  them  an  account  of  the  observations  they  had  made  in  the  course  of 
their  journev.  "  We  have  been,"  said  they,  "  in  the  country  to  which  you  sent  us. 
It  is  a  fertile  and  plentiful  land ;  but  the  inhabitants  of  it  are  powerful.  There  are 
great  cities  with  strong  walls.  We  have  seen  those  men  of  the  race  of  Anak,  war- 
like men,  and  of  a  gigantic  stature.  The  Amalekites  inhabit  the  south  part  of  the 
land ;  the  Hittites,  Jebusites,  and  Amorites,  the  mountains ;  and  the  Canaanites,  the 
banks  of  the  river  Jordan." 

The  people  were  highly  pleased  with  that  part  of  the  account  relative  to  the  fer- 
tility of  the  country  ;  butwhen  they  reflected  on  its  strength,  with  the  size  and  num- 
ber of  its  inhabitants,  they  were  greatly  alarmed,  and  expressed  their  fears  at  being 
brought  to  a  place  where  they  were  in  the  most  imminent  danger.  But  Caleb  and 
Joshua  (two  of  tlie  twelve  who  were  sent  to  view  the  country)  endeavored  to  remove 
their  fears,  by  saying,  "  Let  us  make  ourselves  masters  of  the  country,  for  we  are 
strong  enuugh  to  conquer  the  inhabitants." 

This  had  the  desired  effect,  and  might  have  produced  happy  consequences,  had  it 
not  been  for  the  cowardly  disposition  of  the  other  ten,  who,  perceiving  that  the  ac- 
count given  by  Caleb  and  Joshua  had  fired  tlie  people  with  a  design  of  becoming 
the  possessors  of  the  country  by  a  speedy  conquest,  began  to  retiact  from  their  former 
accounts,  to  paint  matters  in  the  worst  light,  and  to  represent  it  as  a  thing  impossi- 
ble, both  by  reason  of  the  strength  of  its  fortified  towns,  and  the  valor  and  gigantic 
stature  of  the  inhabitants. 

This  cowardly  representation  defeated  all  the  arguments  used  by  Caleb  and  Joshua 
in  favor  of  the  enterprise.  The  Israelites,  one  and  all,  cried  out  they  could  never 
hope  to  overcome  such  powerful  nations,  in  comparison  of  which  they  looked  on 
themselves  as  mere  grasshoppers  and  reptiles.  In  short,  their  murmurings  grew  to 
such  a  height  by  th^  next  morning,  that  a  return  to  Egypt  Avas  thought  more  advisa- 
ble than  to  face  such  an  enemy ;  and  they  went  so  far  as  to  deliberate  on  a  propei 
person  who  should  reconduct  them  into  the  land  of  their  former  thraldom. 

This  perverseness  of  the  people  greatly  afflicted  Moses,  who,  finding  them  bent  on 
their  own  ruin,  and  fearful  that  some  dreadful  consequence  would  follow,  prostrated 
himself  on  the  ground  (as  did  also  his  brother  Aaron)  in  the  presence  of  the  whole 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


164  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

assembly,  and  besought  of  God  that  he  would  be  merciful  in  his  judgments  on  the 
people  for  their  sin  and  ingratitude. 

Caleb  and  Joshua  expressed  their  grief  by  rending  their  clothes ;  and  endeavored, 
m  the  most  forcible  manner,  to  convince  the  people  that  their  fears  were  ill  foimded, 
and  that  they  might,  by  putting  their  trust  in  God,  overpower  their  enemies,  and 
make  themselves  masters  of  the  promised  land.  "  The  land"  (said  they)  "  that  we 
pass  through  is  indeed  a  rich  and  fertile  land,  aboundino-  with  all  things  necessary 
for  life.  If  we  please  the  Lord  he  will  bring  us  into  this  land,  emd  give  it  us.  Do 
not,  therefore,  by  rebelling  against  him,  forfeit  his  promise  and  protection.  Nor  be 
afraid  of  the  people  of  the  land,  whom  we  shall  as  surely  conquer  as  we  eat  our  food, 
and  with  as  much  ease.     The  Lord  is  with  us,  and  we  have  nothing  to  fear." 

But  so  far  was  this  speech  from  making  any  impression  on  the  perverse  and  obsti- 
nate Israelites,  that,  in  a  tumultuous  manner,  they  called  out  to  stone  Caleb  and 
Joshua;  and  which  they  would  certainly  have  done,  had  not  the  glory  of  God  at  that 
instant  visibly  appeared  before  all  the  people,  in  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation. 

As  soon  as  Moses  saw  this  he  prostrated  himself  before  the  Lord,  who,  being 
highly  incensed  against  the  Israelites  for  their  perverse  conduct,  threatened  to  send  a 
pestilence  that  should  totally  extirpate  them,  and  at  the  same  time  told  Moses  that 
he  would  make  him  a  prince  of  a  more  numerous  and  powerful  nation. 

The  pious  Moses  (as  he  had  several  times  done  before)  became  again  an  interces- 
sor for  the  people.  He  in  the  most  earnest  manner  solicited  the  Almighty  to  pardon 
their'  offences,  and  represented  the  consequences  that  might  follow  should  he  totally 
destroy  them :  the  substance  of  his  solicitations  and  observations  was  in  Avords  to  this 
effect :  "  0  thou  everlasting  Jehovah,  who  appearedst  to  Abraham,  to  Isaac,  and  Ja- 
cob, and  who  wast  graciously  pleased  to  promise  that  their  children  should  inherit 
the  land  of  Canaan,  look  in  mercy  on  this  people,  whom  neither  promises  will  en- 
courage, nor  threatenings  deter  from  disobeying  thee.  0  Lord,  turn  away  thy  fierce 
anger,  for  thou  art  a  God  of  mercy,  and  I  will  trust  in  thee  to  spare  this  wicked,  this 
rebellious  people." 

These  arguments  and  expostulations  in  some  measure  averted  the  divine  vengeance, 
the  Almighty  promising  Moses  not  to  put  his  first  design  into  execution.  But  as  the 
mgratitude  and  infidelity  of  the  people  had  become  mtolerable  (notwithstaiiding  God's 
constant  care  in  providing  against  their  wants,  screening  them  from  their  enemies, 
and  preserving  them  from  all  dangers),  he  declared  that  not  one  of  those  who  had 
murmured,  from  twenty  years  old  and  upward,  should  ever  enter  the  promised  land ; 
but  that  they  should  wander  with  their  children  about  the  wilderness  for  the  space 
of  forty  years,  in  which  time  they  should  all  pay  the  debt  of  nature,  and  that  their 
children  should  have  those  possessions  which,  had  they  not  been  so  disobedient,  they 
might  have  enjoyed  themselves. 

As  for  the  ten  false  spies,  who  were  the  immediate  authois  of  this  defection,  they 
were  all  destroyed  by  a  sudden  death,  and  became  the  first  instances  of  the  punish- 
ment denounced  against  the  body  of  the  people. 

Caleb  and  Joshua,  who  had  not  only  done  their  duty  in  giving  a  faithful  account 
of  their  observations,  but  also  endeavored  to  remove  the  ill-concerted  intentions  of 
the  people,  were  preserved.  For  this  their  conduct  they  received  the  divine  appro- 
bation, as  also  a  promise  that  they  should  live  to  enter  aiid  inherit  the  promised  land. 

When  Moses  related  these  particulars  to  the  people  their  tempers  were  greatly 
altered,  and  they  expressed  their  uneasiness  for  the  offence  they  had  committed  by 
putting  on  the  deepest  mourning.  Supposing  that  their  forwardness  now  would 
make  some  atonement  for  their  former  cowardice,  they  assembled  themselves  together 
the  next  morning,  and  offered  to  go  on  the  conquest.  "  We  are  ready,"  said  they, 
"  to  go  to  the  place  whereof  the  Lord  has  spoken  to  us." 

But  this  offer,  instead  of  arising  from  any  natural  courage,  took  place  only  from  a 
presumptuous  rashness.  This  Moses  well  knew,  and  therefore  endeavored  all  he 
could  to  dissuade  them  from  so  ill  judged  an  enterprise.  He  told  them  it  was  con- 
trary to  God's  express  command,  and  therefore  could  not  prosper;  that  by  their  late 
undutiful  behavior  they  had  forfeited  his  assistance  and  protection,  without  which  it 
was  impossible  for  them  to  succeed;  and  that,  as  the  Amalekites  and  Canaaniies 
had  gained  the  passes  of  the  mountains  before  them,  every  attempt  must  prove 
abortive. 

But  all  this  admonition  had  no  weight  with  the  obstmate  Israelites.     Notwith- 


fflSTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  165 

standing  the  ark  of  the  covenant  was  not  with  them;  notwithstanding  Moses,  their 
general,  was  not  at  the  head  of  them ;  yet  out  they  marched  to  the  top  of  the  moun- 
tains, where,  the  enemy  surprising  them,  they  were  immediately  thrown  into  the 
greatest  disorder,  prodigious  numbers  were  slain,  and  the  rest  obliged  to  save  them- 
selves by  flight ;  nor  did  they  stop  till  they  came  to  a  place  called  Hormah.  Though 
it  was  but  eleven  days'  journey  hence  to  Kadesh-barnea,  yet,  for  their  disobedience, 
thsy  were  so  interrupted  as  to  be  nearly  two  years  in  getting  to  the  place  whence  they 
came. 

Many  remarkable  circumstances  occurred  during  the  stay  of  the  Israelites  in  the 
wilderness.  The  first  recorded  by  the  sacred  historian  is  an  instance  of  the  divine 
severity  on  a  man  who,  by  a  post-fact  law,  was  adjudged  to  be  stoned  to  death  for 
violating  the  sabbath,  by  gathering  sticks  on  that  day.  Though  a  particular  injunc- 
tion had  been  laid  on  the  people  to  keep  this  commandment  in  the  strictest  manner, 
yet  no  penalty  had  been  annexed  to  the  violation  of  it.  The  people,  therefore,  who 
brought  the  offender  before  Moses,  were  ordered  to  keep  him  in  custody  till  he  should 
know  the  divine  pleasure  concerning  sabbath-breakers.  The  Almighty  Avas  pleased 
to  return  for  answer,  that  such  transgressors  should  be  stoned  to  death ;  upon  which 
the  offender  was  immediately  conducted  out  of  the  camp,  and  the  sentence  executed. 

The  next  material  circumstance  that  occurred  was  a  violent  rebellion  raised  by 
Korah,  great-grandson  of  Levi,  and  consequently  one  of  the  heads  of  that  tribe.  This 
ambitious  person,  having  long  envied  Aaron,  on  account  of  him  and  his  family  being 
raised  to  the  highest  office  in  the  priesthood,  and  to  which  he  thought  himself  had 
an  equal  title,  was  always  caballing  against  him,  till  at  length  he  had  brought  over 
two  hundred  and  fifty  eminent  persons  to  his  interest,  among  whom  were  Dathan 
and  Abiram,  two  of  the  chiefs  of  the  tribe  of  Reuben. 

As  soon  as  Korah  thought  matters  properly  ripe  for  an  open  rupture,  he  appeared 
at  the  head  of  the  faction,  and  publicly  upbraided  Moses  and  Aaron  with  an  unjust 
ambition,  in  usurping  that  power  to  themselves  of  which  he  thought  himself  entitled 
to  a  part ;  and  that  the  arbitrary  measures  they  pursued  were  injurious  to  the  people, 
by  depriving  them  of  their  just  and  natural  liberties. 

This  strange  and  unexpected  address  so  surprised  Moses,  that  he  immediately  pros- 
trated himself  on  the  ground,  in  which  situation  he  lay  for  some  time.*  At  lenarth 
he  arose,  and,  Avilh  great  steadiness  and  magnanimity,  informed  them  that  the  next 
day  the  Lord  would  decide  the  controversy,  and  would  make  it  appear  who  were  his 
servants,  who  were  holy,  and  who  the  proper  persons  to  be  admitted  into  his  divine 
presence.  He  then,  with  his  usual  calmness  and  serenity  of  mind,  argued  the  matter 
with  them,  and,  in  the  most  mild  manner,  rebuked  them  for  the  impropriety  of  theii 
conduct.  He  was  rather  more  severe  on  Korah  (who  was  the  author  of  the  defec- 
tion) than  the  rest;  and  concluded  with  addressing  them  conjunctively  in  words  to 
this  effect :  "  Hear  me"  (says  he),  "  ye  sons  of  Levi.  Is  it  a  matter  of' so  light  con- 
cern, that  the  God  of  Israel  hath  distinguished  you  from  the  rest  of  Israel,  to  admit 
you  to  the  more  immediate  service  of  the  tabernacle,  and  to  stand  before  the  congre- 
gation and  minister  to  them  ?  Is  not  this  an  honor  sufficient  to  satisfy  your  ambitious 
spirit,  but  that  ye  must  aim  at  the  priesthood  too  ?  This  is  the  cause  cf  your  clam- 
ors ;  and  for  this  ye  have  moved  the  people  to  sedition.  But,  be  assured,  whatever 
ye  may  pretend  against  Aaron,  this  insult  is  against  the  Lord,  as  it  is  against  his  dis- 
pensations that  ye  murmur  and  conspire." 

Dathan  and  Abiram  were  at  some  distance  when  Moses  thus  talked  with  the  rest 
of  the  conspirators;  and  therefore,  supposing  they  had  been  drawn  into  the  plot  at 
the  instigation  of  Korah,  he  sent  for  them  privately,  with  a  design  of  arguinsr  the 
matter  with  them  in  the  mildest  terms.  But  instead  of  a  civil  answer,  he  received 
■the  following  haughty  message:  "Is  it"  (said  they)  "a  matter  of  so  small  moment, 
that  thou  hast  brought  us  out  of  a  land  which  flowed  with  plenty,  to  kill  us  in  the 
desert  ?  Thou  affectest  dominion,  and  wouldst  make  thvself  prince  over  us  also. 
Notwithstanding  thy  fair  promises,  thou  hast  not  brought  us  into  a  land  that  flows 
with  milk  and  honey,  nor  given  us  any  inheritance  of  fields  and  vineyards  ;  but  when 

*  It  is  very  reasonable  to  imagine,  that  Moses  {who  was  well  acquainted  witli  the  gracious  and  ready 
assistance  of  God  in  time  of  need)  was,  during  the  time  of  his  being  on  the  ground,  applying  himself  to  the 
Lord  for  protection  against  this  mutinous  body  of  people.  And  it  is  likewise  reasonable  to  imagine,  that 
while  he  lay  in  this  humble  posture  God  appeared  to  him,  and  gave  him  comfortable  advice  in  whatmanuei 
he  should  conduct  himself;  as  he  soon  after  spoke  to  them  with  great  courage,  and  to  vindicate  himself 
put  the  matter  bel  iveen  liim  and  them  upon  trial  the  next  day. 


i66  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

we  were  ready  to  take  possession  of  the  promised  land,  thou  didst  turn  us  back  into 
this  barren  desert,  to  repeat  the  fatigues  and  hardships  we  had  before  undergone. 
We  will  not  come." 

These  unjust  reproaches  highly  provoked  Moses,  but,  instead  of  returning  any  ill 
language  to  them,  he  addressed  himself  to  God,  saying ;  "  Respect  not  thou  their 
offering :  I  have  not  taken  one  ass  from  them,  neither  have  I  hurt  one  of  them."  He 
then  summoned  Korah  and  all  his  companions  to  meet  him  and  Aaron  the  next  day 
at  the  tabernacle,  and  to  bring  with  them  their  censers  ready  prepared  with  incense 
lo  appear  before  the  Lord. 

Accordingly,  early  the  next  morning,  Moses  and  Aaron  went  to  the  tabernacle, 
whither  Korah  also  repaired  at  the  head  of  his  party,  with  each  man  a  censer  in  his 
hand,  and  attended  by  a  prodigious  multitude  of  people,  who,  in  all  probability,  went 
as  spectators  of  this  singular  contest. 

The  first  thing  that  attracted  their  attention  was  the  amazing  splendor  that  issued 
from  the  cloud  over  the  tabernacle,  from  which  God  called  to  Moses  and  Aaron, 
ordering  them  to  withdraw,  that  he  might  inflict  that  punishment  on  the  rebellious 
crew  they  justly  deserved. 

Moses  and  Aaron,  knowing  that  the  multitude  who  attended  on  this  occasion  did 
it  only  to  gratify  their  curiosity,  and  at  the  same  time  lamenting  that  they  should 
equally  suffer  with  the  wicked  Korah  and  his  party,  prostrated  themselves  before 
God,  and  interceded  for  their  protection.  "  0  God"  (said  they),  •'  thou  God  of  the 
spirit  of  all  flesh,  shall  one  man  sin,  and  wilt  thou  be  angry  with  all  ?"  Their  prayers 
were  no  sooner  offered  than  heard  ;  and  the  Almighty,  being  pleased  to  listen  to  their 
solicitation,  commanded  them  to  tell  the  people  to  withdraw.  Frightened  at  the 
amazing  splendor  that  issued  from  the  cloud,  they  readily  obeyed  this  order,  and 
retired  at  some  distance  from  the  tents  of  Korah  and  his  two  principal  associates, 
Dathan  and  Abiram,  who  stood  in  a  daring  manner  near  their  own  tents,  attended 
by  their  wives  and  families. 

As  soon  as  the  multitude  had  retired  to  a  proper  distance,  Moses  addressed  them 
m  words  to  this  effect:  " By  this"  (said  he)  "you  shall  know  that  the  Lord  has 
commissioned  me  to  do  what  I  have  done,  and  that  I  have  undertaken  nothing  of  ray 
own  head.  If  these  men"  (meaning  Korah  and  his  party)  "  die  the  common  way  of 
nature,  or  be  visited  as  other  men,  then  take  it  for  granted  the  Lord  hath  not  sent 
me ;  but  if  he  deal  with  them  after  a  strange  and  unusual  manner,  and  the  earth, 
opening  her  mouth,  swallow  them  up  alive,  then  shall  ye  understand  that  these 
men  have  provoked  the  Lord." 

No  sooner  had  Moses  spoken  these  words  than  the  earth  was  suddenly  convulsed, 
and  the  surface  of  it  opening,  Korah  and  his  two  adherents,  Dathan  and  Abiram,  to- 
gether with  their  families  and  substance,  were  all  swallowed  up  alive,  and,  the 
ground  closing  on  them,  they  perished.  When  the  people  who  stood  round  them 
saw  their  dismal  fate  they  were  greatly  frightened,  and  cried  out,  "  Let  us  fly,  lest 
the  earth  swallow  us  up  also." 

In  the  mean  time  God,  to  punish  the  rest  of  these  rebellious  people,  who  had  pro- 
fanely attempted  to  offer  incense  contrary  to  the  law,  sent  down  fire  from  heaven, 
and  destroyed  the  whole  two  hundred  and  fifty  men  that  had  joined  with  Korah. 

To  perpetuate  the  memory  of  this  judgment,  as  well  as  to  deter,  for  the  future, 
any  but  the  sons  of  Aaron  from  presuming  to  burn  incense  before  the  Lord,  Moses, 
by  the  divine  command,  ordered  Eleazar,  Aaron's  son,  to  gather  up  the  censers  of  the 
dead,  and  to  have  them  beat  into  broad  plates  as  a  covering  for  the  altar,  assigning 
this  as  a  reason :  "  That  it  might  be  for  a  memorial  to  the  children  of  Israel,  that  no 
stranger,  or  any  that  was  not  of  Aaron's  family,  should  presume  to  ofl'er  incense  be- 
fore the  Lord,  lest  he  died  the  death  of  Korah  and  his  company." 

It  might  have  been  supposed  that  so  dreadful  a  punishment  would,  at  least  for 
some  time,  have  kept  the  Israelites  within  the  bounds  of  their  obedience;  but  no 
sooner  were  tliey  recovered  from  their  fright  than  they  again  began  to  murmur,  and 
to  accuse  Moses  and  Aaron  with  having  (as  they  called  the  late  mutineers)  murdered 
"  the  people  of  the  Lord." 

Moses  and  Aaron,  well  knowing  the  turbulent  temper  of  the  people,  and  fearing 
they  might  proceed  to  some  violent  outrage,  took  sanctuary  in  the  tabernacle,  which 
they  had  no  sooner  entered  than  the  Almighty  commanded  them  to  withdraw  from 
the  rest  of  the  congregation,  for  that  in  a  short  time  he  would  destroy  them. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  157 

Inconsequence  of  this,  Moses  and  Aaron  immediately  prostrated  therospl\es  ou 
the  ground,  and  earnestly  implored  of  God  to  spare  the  people;  but,  early  a^  they 
were  in  their  supplication,  the  divine  vengeance  was  before  them,  for  the  Airiu^hty, 
provoked  by  the  repeated  rebellions  of  the  people,  had  already  sent  a  pe^t.lenct 

among  them.  ,       ,    .  ,  .  c  i 

As^oon  as  Moses  observed  this,  he  ordered  Aaron  to  take  a  censer,  put  hre  and 
incense  in  it  from  the  altar,  and  hasten  to  the  congregation  to  make  atonement  lor 
the  sins  of  the  people.  Aaron  did  as  Moses  commanded,  and  standmg  between  the 
dead  and  the  livm^,  he  prayed  for  some  time,  and  the  plague  ceased.  But  notwith- 
standint^  the  very  short  time  this  calamity  lasted,  yet  wuh  such  violence  did  it  rage, 
that  the  number  carried  off  by  it  amounted  to  fourteen  thousand  and  seven  himdred 

^^Thou'^h  God  had  thus  in  two  instances  punished  the  people  for  their  wickedness, 
vet  knowing  that  the  minds  of  many  of  them  were,  by  the  insinuations  of  Korah 
and  his  accomplices,  still  prejudiced  against  Aaron  and  his  family,  on  account  ol  then 
bein^  invested  with  the  priesihood,  he  was  pleased  to  put  an  end  to  all  controversy 
on  thi^  head  by  the  following  miracle.  He  commanded  Moses  to  take  a  rod  trom 
.each  tribe,  and  to  write  upon  it  the  name  of  the  prince  of  that  tribe  to  whom  it  be- 
loncred  and  to  write  Aaron's  name  on  that  of  the  tribe  of  Levi ;  that,  when  this  was 
done  he  should  lay  up  the  twelve  rods  in  the  tabernacle,  before  the  ark  ot  the  testi- 
mony, until  the  next  morning,  when  some  miraculous  change  should  be  seen  that 
would  determine  in  whose  family  the  priesthood  should  be  established. 

Moses  who  never  failed  paying  an  immediate  obedience  to  the  divine  command,  did 
as  he  was  ordered ;  and  going  next  morning  to  the  tabernacle,  brought  out  the  twelve 
rods  in  the  presence  of  all  the  people.  Eleven  of  the  rods  were  in  the  same  state  as 
when  he  put  them  into  the  tabernacle,  but  the  twelfth  (which  belonged  to  Aaron)  had 
a  very  different  appearance,  for  it  had  not  only  budded,  but  likewise  blossomed,  and 
bore  ripe  almonds.  A  convincing  proof  to  the  people  that  God  had  smgled  out  Aaron 
and  his  family  to  the  priestly  office.  ,      ,  -j 

In  memory  of  this  remarkable  decision,  God  ordered  Aaron's  rod  to  be  laid  up  in 
the  ark  of  the  covenant,  that,  by  the  people's  seeing  it,  they  might  not  agam  rebel, 
but  remam  satisfied  with  those' whom  he  had  been  pleased,  m  so  distmguished  a 
manner,  to  appoint  to  the  priestly  office.  _      .     .  i  ,  •    r      -i     .u     t 

After  the  establishment  of  the  high-priest's  office  m  Aaron  and  his  lamily,  the  Is- 
raelites moved  about,  from  one  place  to  another,  in  the  wilderness  but  chiefly  about 
the  mountains  of  Idumaea,  until  God,  by  shortening  the  period  of  human  hie,  had 
taken  away  almost  all  that  generation,  "  of  whom  he  had  sworn  in  his  wrath,  as  the 
Psalmist  expresses  it,  xcv.  2.,  "  that  they  should  not  enter  into  his  rest.  And,  m- 
deed,  ^reat  reason  had  he  to  be  angry  with  them,  since,  durmg  the  remainder  ot  their 
pere<^rmation,  thev  w?re  guilty  of  many  more  murmurings  than  Moses  has  thought 
proper  to  record,  which,  nevertheless,  are  nientioned,  with  no  small  severity,  by  other 
inspired  writers.     See  Amos  v.  26  ;  Acts  vii.  43. 

As  the  time  however,  of  their  entrance  into  the  land  of  Canaan  drew  near,  they 
advanced  into  the  wilderness  of  Sin,  and  pitched  their  camp  at  Kadesh,*  where  Mir- 
iam,! sister  to  Moses  and  Aaron,  died,  and  was  buried. 

The  Israelites  had  not  been  long  at  Kadesh,  before  they  were  greatly  distressed  tor 
water  upon  which  (as  they  had  before  done  on  similar  occasions)  they  exclaimed, 
with  great  vehemence,  against  Moses  and  Aaron,  saying,  "Why  have  ye  brought  the 
Lord's  people  into  the  wilderness  to  kill  them  and  their  cattle  ?  AVhy  did  you  per- 
suade us  to  leave  the  fertile  land  of  Ecrypt  to  bring  us  mto  this  barren  place,  which 
aff"ords  neither  water  to  quench  our  thirst,  nor  fruits  to  satisfy  our  hunger  i  Would 
to  God  we  had  perished  with  our  brethren  before  the  Lord."  ,        ,  ^^  , 

The  impatience  and  dissatisfaction  of  the  Tsraelites  greatly  perplexed  Moses  and 
Aaron  who,  as  was  their  usual  custom  on  such  occasions,  addressed  themselves  to 
God,  beseeching  him  to  remove  the  present  distresses  of  the  people.     The  Almighty 

*  This  was  not  Kadesh-Barnea,  the  station  or  encampment  of  the  Israelites  on  the  confines  of  the 
northern  part  of  Canaan  ;  but  another  Kadesh,  situated  on  the  confines  of  ldum»a,  and  not  far  from  the 

^  t^MWam  was  the  eldest  of  the  three,  and  was  nearly  a  hundred  and  thirty  years  old.  Eusebius  assures  us. 
that  in  his  time  her  tomb  was  found  at  Kadesh,  a  small  distance  from  Petrea,  the  capital  of  Arabia  Petre^ 
Several  of  the  ancients  are  of  opinion  thai  she  died  a  virgin,  and  that  she  was  the  le-islatnx  and  governess 
of  the  Israelittsh  women,  as  Moses  was  the  legislator  of  the  men. 


168  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

was  pleased  to  listen  to  their  request :  he  ordered  Moses  to  take  his  rod,  and,  with 
the  assistance  of  Aaron,  assemble  the  people  together ;  which  having  done,  he  should 
speak  to  the  rock  in  their  sight,  and  it  should  immediately  produce  abundance  of 
water. 

Agreeably  to  these  orders,  Moses  and  Aaron  assembled  the  people  before  the  rock, 
who,  no  doubt,  readily  attended  in  expectation  of  having  those  grievances  removed  of 
which  they  had  so  greatly  complained.  Hitherto  Moses  had  paid  an  exact  and  abso- 
lute obedience  to  all  the  commands  God  had  enjoined  him  ;  but  now  (however  it  hap- 
pened) he  made  some  deviation  from  his  instructions,  and  thereby  committed  the 
greatest  miscarriage  of  his  whole  life.  He  was  ordered  to  speak  to  the  rock  before 
the  people ;  but,  instead  of  so  doing,  he  spoke  to  the  people,  saying,  "  Hear  now,  ye 
rebels  ;  must  Ave  fetch  you  water  out  of  this  rock  1"  In  doing  this,  he  expressed  im- 
patience and  heat  of  spirit,  which  were  in  direct  opposition  to  that  humility  he  had 
hitherto  possessed. 

This  conduct  of  Moses  was  highly  offensive  to  God,  as  appeared  from  his  first 
striking  the  rock  without  its  having  the  least  effect.  However,  on  striking  it  a  second 
time,  the  water  issued  from  it  in  great  abundance,  and  not  only  the  people,  but  like- 
wise the  cattle,  were  plentifully  supplied  with  that  necessary  article  they  had  so 
much  wanted. 

Though  this  was  the  first  time  that  Moses  had  made  the  least  deviation  from  the 
divine  injunctions,  yet  it  pleased  the  Almighty  to  make  him  sensible  of  his  fault,  and 
to  inflict  a  punishment  on  him  for  his  disobedience.  Considering  Aaron  also  as  con- 
cerned with  him  in  the  transgression,  he  denounced  this  sentence  against  them  con- 
junctively. "  Because,"  said  he,  "  ye  believed  me  not,  to  sanctify  me  in  the  eyes  of 
the  children  of  Israel,  therefore  ye  shall  not  bring  this  congregation  into  the  land, 
which  I  have  given  them."  From  this  unhappy  accident,  the  place  was  called  Meri- 
bah,  which,  in  the  Hebrew  language,  signifies,  chiding  or  strife. 

Though  Moses  had  committed  this  offence,  and  received  the  divine  chastisement, 
yet  he  still  preserved  the  command  and  government  of  the  people.  Intending  to  de- 
camp from  Kadesh,  as  a  necessary  precaution  in  order  to  secure  the  safety  of  the  peo- 
ple, he  sent  messengers  to  the  king  of  Edom  (upon  whose  borders  they  then  were) 
requesting  permission  to  pass  through  his  territories,  assuring  him  that  they  would 
not  commit  any  hostilities,  nor  give  the  least  molestation  to  any  of  his  subjects.  But 
the  haughty  Edomite  was  so  far  from  granting  his  request,  that  he  came  out  with  a 
powerful  army  to  oppose  him  ;  upon  which  Moses,  after  decamping  from  Kadesh, 
took  another  way,  and  marched  to  Mount  Hor,  near  the  borders  of  Edom,  where  they 
pitched  their  tents,  and  for  some  time  encamped. 

The  time  now  drawing  near,  that  the  Israelites  were  to  penetrate  the  promised 
land  (into  which  the  Lord  had  told  Aaron  he  should  not  enter  because  of  his  trans- 
gression at  Meribah),  God  gave  Aaron  notice  that  his  dissolution  was  near  at  hand, 
that  he  might  the  more  properly  prepare  himself  for  so  awful  an  event.  As  a  neces- 
sary introduction,  the  Almighty  commanded  Moses  to  take  Aaron,  and  Eleazar  his 
son  (who  was  to  succeed  him  in  the  office  of  high-priest),  and  conduct  them  to  the 
lop  of  the  motmt,  where  he  should  strip  Aaron  of  his  priestly  garments,  and  put  them 
upon  Eleazar  his  son. 

Moses  having  obeyed  these  commands,  Aaron,  in  a  very  short  time  after,  gave  up 
the  ghost  ;*  and  when  the  people  heard  that  he  was  dead,  they  mourned  for  him  thirty 
days. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

While  the  Israelites  lay  encamped  near  Mount  Hor,t  Arad,  one  of  the  kings  of 
Canaan,  who  dwelt  in  the  south,  being  informed  of  their  situation,  and  that  they  in- 

*  He  was  buried  on  tlie  spot  where  he  died,  it  being  the  ancient  custom  to  bury  persons  of  eminence  in 
high  places.  See  Joshua  xxiv.  30  ;  Judges  ii.  9.  This  event  happened  in  the  fortieth  year  after  the  Israel- 
ites left  Egj'pt,  on  the  first  day  of  the  fifth  month,  which  answers  to  our  July,  at  whicli  time  Aaron  was  one 
hundred  and  twenty-three  years  of  age.     See  Numb,  xxxiii.  38,  39. 

t  This  name  seems  to  have  been  anciently  borne  by  the  whole  range  of  Mount  Seir,  and,  when  super- 
seded by  the  latter  denomination,  continued  to  be  preserved  in  the  name  of  the  particular  su..imil  on 
which  Aaron  died.    Topographical  probabilities  concur  with  local  traditions  in  identifying  tliis  Mount  Ilor 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


169 


170  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

tended  visiting  his  dominions,  went  out  with  a  considerable  army  to  interrupt  their 
progress.  Accordinglj',  coming  up  with  them,  an  engagement  took  place,  in  which 
the  Israelites  were  worsted,  and  some  of  them  made  prisoners. 

In  consequence  of  this  repulse,  the  Israelites  made  a  vow  to  God,  promising,  if  he 
would  deliver  these  people  into  their  hands,  they  would  utterly  destroy  their  cities. 
Their  divine  protector  was  pleased  to  listen  to  their  request ;  for,  upon  their  engaging 
the  Canaanites  a  second  time,  they  obtained  a  complete  victory,  took  possession  of 
their  cities,  and  put  all  the  inhabitants  to  the  sword. 

Elated  with  this  success  the  Israelites  decamped  from  Mount  Hor,  and  took  their 
route  by  the  Red  sea,  marching  round  Edom,  through  which  they  had  been  refused  a 
passage  by  the  king  of  the  country.  As  the  way  was  long,  the  passes  difficult,  and 
the  country  barren,  they,  forgetting  their  late  success,  and  reflecting  only  on  the  pres- 
ent inconveniences,  relapsed  into  their  old  humor  of  murmuring,  and  heavily  com- 
plained both  against  God  and  Moses.  "  Wherefore,"  said  they,  "  have  ye  brought  us 
up  out  of  Egypt  to  die  in  the  wilderness  ?  for  there  is  no  bread,  neither  is  there  any 
water,  and  our  soul  loatheth  this  light  bread." 

As  a  punishment  to  the  Israelites  for  this  fresh  instance  of  their  impiety  and  dis- 
trust, God  sent  among  them  prodigious  numbers  of  fiery  serpents,  whose  stings  were 
so  venomous,  that  those  who  were  bit  by  them  died ;  and  by  this  plague,  great  num- 
bers of  the  Israelites,  in  a  very  short  space  of  time,  were  carried  off. 

This  dreadful  calamity  so  alarmed  the  people,  that  they  flew  to  Moses  for  protec- 
tion, acknowledging  the  offence  they  had  committed,  and  beseeching  him  to  intercede 
with  God  in  their  behalf.  Moses,  pitying  their  distress,  readily  complied  with  their 
request ;  upon  which  the  Almighty  was  pleased  to  order  him  to  make  a  serpent  of 
brass  resembling  those  by  which  they  were  afflicted,  and  to  set  it  up  on  a  high  pole ; 
telling  him,  at  the  same  time,  that  such  as  were  bitten,  if  they  looked  up  to  this  ser- 
pent, should  be  healed. 

Moses  obeyed  the  divine  command,  and  though  the  serpents  did  not  cease  biting, 
that  the  people  might  be  more  sensible  8f  their  transgression,  yet,  on  looking  up  to 
the  brazen  serpent,  the  force  of  the  sting  lost  its  effect,  and  the  person  afflicted  soon 
recovered. 

The  Israelites,  after  making  various  marches  and  encampments,  between  the  coun- 
tries of  Moab  and  Ammon,  without  committing  the  least  hostility,  at  length  came  to 
the  borders  of  that  part  of  the  country  inhabited  by  the  Amorites.  Hence  Moses  sent 
ambassadors  to  Sihon  their  king,  requesting  permission  to  pass  through  his  country, 
and  promising,  at  the  same  time,  not  to  commit  any  depredation,  or  give  him  the  least 
disturbance. 

The  Amorite  prince,  fearful  of  admitting  so  formidable  a  body  into  the  heart  of  his 

with  the  high  mountain  which  rises  conspicuously  above  the  surrounding  rocks  in  the  vicinity  of  Petrea, 
the  ancient  capital  of  the  Edomites  or  Nabathaeans,  which  is  in  a  valley  (Wady-Mousa)  that  cuts  the 
range  of  Seir  about  halfway  between  the  Gulf  of  Akaba  and  the  Dead  sea,  but  ratlier  nearer  to  the  formei 
than  to  the  latter.  This  mountain,  whose  rugged  pinnacle  forms  a  very  striking  feature  in  one  of  the  most 
interesting  scenes  in  the  world,  is  of  very  difficult  and  steep  ascent,  which  is  partly  artificial,  rude  steps 
or  niches  being  in  some  places  formed  in  the  rock.  Dr.  Macmichael,  who  visited  the  spot  in  1818,  in  com- 
pany with  Mr.  Bankes  and  Captains  Irby  and  Mangles,  says  that  it  took  his  party  one  hour  and  a  half  to 
ascend  its  almost  perpendicular  sides.  If  this  were  reaUy  Mount  Hor,  as  there  seems  little  reason  to 
doubt,  the  high-priest,  before  he  lay  down  and  died  on  that  mountain,  must  have  been  able  to  mark 
out  with  his  eye  much  of  that  wild  region  in  which  the  Israehtes  had,  for  so  many  long  years,  wandered  to 
and  fro.  From  its  sunJmit,  Mount  Sinai  might  clearly  be  distinguished  in  the  south  ;  while  the  boundless 
desert,  marked  by  so  many  wonderful  transactions,  in  wliich  he  had  borne  a  conspicuous  part,  spread  its 
wide  expanse  before  him  on  the  west.  The  supposed  tomb  of  Aaron  is  enclosed  by  a  small  modern  build- 
ing, crowned  with  a  cupola,  such  as  usually  cover  the  remains  of  Moslem  saints.  At  the  time  of  the  above 
visit,  this  spot  formed  the  residence  of  an  old  Arab  hermit,  eighty  years  of  age,  the  one  half  of  which  he 
had  lived  upon  the  mountain,  from  which  he  seldom  descended,  and  where  he  chiefly  subsisted  through 
the  charity  of  the  native  shepherds.  He  conducted  the  travellers  into  the  building,  and  showed  tliem  the 
tomb,  which  lay  at  the  further  end  of  the  building,  behind  two  folding  leaves  of  an  iron  grating.  This 
monument,  which  is  about  three  feet  high,  is  patched  together  with  fragments  of  stone  and  marble,  and 
covered  with  a  ragged  pall.  On  the  walls  near  the  tomb  are  suspended  beads,  bits  of  cloth,  leather,  and 
yarn,  with  paras  and  similar  articles,  left  as  votive  offerings  by  the  Arabs.  The  old  Arab  lighted  a  lamp  of 
butter,  and  conducted  the  travellers  to  a  grotto  or  vault  underneath,  which  is  excavated  in  the  rock,  but 
contains  nothing  remarkable.  The  Arabs  are  in  the  habit  of  offering  sacrifices  to  Haroiin  (Aaron),  gener- 
ally of  a  goat.  When,  however,  they  make  a  vow  to  slaughter  a  victim  to  him,  they  do  not  go  to  the 
top  of  the  mountain,  but  think  it  sufficient  to  conlplete  their  sacrifice  at  a  spot  from  which  tlie  i  upola 
of  the  tomb  is  visible  in  the  distance  ;  where,  after  killing  the  animal,  they  throw  a  heap  of  stones  over 
the  blood  that  flows  to  the  ground,  and  then  feast  on  the  carcase.  The  services  thus  rendered  to  the  tomb 
of  Aaron  afford  s.  striking  picture  of  the  debasing  superstitions  into  which  the  Arabs  have  fallen.  Burck- 
hardt,  who,  in  his  Moslem  character,  sacrificed  a  goat,  says,  that  while  he  did  so  his  guide  gave  utterance 
to  such  exclamations  as  the  following :  "  O,  Haroun  ;  look  upon  us  !  it  is  for  you  we  slaughter  this  victim. 
O,  Haroun,  protect  us  and  forgive  us  !  O,  Haroun,  be  content  with  our  good  intentions,  for  it  is  but  a  lean 
goat !    O,  Haroun,  smooth  our  paths  :  and  praise  be  to  the  Lord  of  all  creatures  '" 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  171 

kingdom,  positively  denied  the  Israelites  a  passage ;  and  thinkiLg  it  better  policy  tc 
attack  than  be  attacked,  gathered  what  force  he  could,  and  marched  out  to  give  them 
battle.  'J'hey  met  near  a  place  called  Jahaz,  when  a  desperate  engagement  ensued, 
in  which  ihe  Amorites  were  totally  defeated,  and  the  whole  body  put  to  the  sword. 
The  Isr;ieliles  jjursuing  their  conquests  made  themselves  masters  of  the  most  consid- 
erable places  belonging  to  the  Amorites,  particularly  Heshbon,  which,  with  the  vil- 
lages about  it,  Sihon  had  before  taken  from  the  Moabites. 

From  Heshbon  the  Israelites  marched  toward  Bashan  (taking  several  other  places 
in  their  way  belonging  to  the  Amorites,  particularly  a  large  city  called  Jaazer)  where 
the  giant  Og,  another  king  of  the  Amorites,  resided,  and  who,  on  the  approach  of  the 
Israelites,  drew  out  his  gigantic  troops  in  order  to  give  them  battle.  Fearful  lest  the 
Israelites  should  be  discouraged  at  the  sight  of  this  formidable  army,  Moses,  by  the 
command  of  God,  bade  them  be  of  good  spirits,  and  not  entertain  the  least  apprehen- 
sions of  danger,  for  that  God  would  deliver  them  into  their  hands,  and  they  should 
make  as  easy  a  conquest  over  them  as  they  had  done  over  King  Sihon. 

Animated  at  this  intelligence,  the  Israelites  marched  with  all  expedition  against  the 
Amorites,  whom  they  attacked  with  such  success  as  to  obtain  a  complete  victory,  and 
not  only  tlie  whole  of  the  people,  but  likewise  King  Og  and  his  sons,  were  put  to  the 
sword.  Tiiey  then  seized  on  the  principal  parts  of  the  country,  and  utterly  destroyed 
the  inhal)itants,  reserving  only  the  cattle  and  spoil  of  the  cities,  as  they  had  done  be- 
fore in  the  case  of  Sihon. 

Encouraged  by  these  successes,  the  Israelites  marched  to  the  plains  of  Moab,  and 
encamped  on  the  bank  of  the  river  Jordan,  nearly  opposite  to  Jericho.  The  approach 
of  these  victorious  strangers  struck  a  terror  among  the  people  wherever  they  went, 
and  the  fame  of  their  late  success  against  the  Amorites  threw  Balak,  the  king  of  Mo- 
ab, and  all  his  people,  into  the  most  dreadful  consternation. 

Balak,  knowing  himself  too  weak  to  engage  the  mighty  force  of  Israel  himself, 
formed  a  strong  alliance  with  his  neighbors  the  Midianites,  and  a  consultation  was 
held  between  the  heads  of  each,  what  steps  should  be  taken  to  avoid  the  common 
danger,  and  to  secure  themselves  against  these  bold  invaders. 

The  result  uf  this  consultation  was,  that  messengers  should  be  sent  to  Balaam,  a 
noted  magician,  who  lived  at  Pethor,  a  city  of  Mesopotamia,  to  invite  him  by  bribes 
to  come  to  i\Ioab,  and,  by  cursing  the  Israelites,  prevent  their  proving  successful  in 
that  part  of  the  country.  In  consequence  of  this  determination,  a  select  number  of 
the  principal  people,  both  of  Moab  and  Midian,  were  despatched  to  Balaam  with 
many  valuable  presents,  and  with  orders  that  they  should,  if  possible,  bring  him  with 
them  10  Moab,  that,  by  his  enchantments  and  curses,  he  might  destroy  the  power  of 
the  Israelites,  and  thereby  secure  them  from  every  kind  of  danger. 

As  soon  as  these  deputies  arrived  at  Pethor  they  delivered  their  message  to  Ba- 
laam, who  desired  them  to  tarry  with  him  that  night,  for  that  he  could  not  give 
them  any  answer  till  he  had  consulted  the  Lord.  The  Almighty,  knowing  the  se- 
crets of  Balaam's  heart,  asked  what  men  they  were  that  were  with  him.  To  which 
he  replied,  "  They  are  some  whom  the  king  of  Moab  hath  sent  to  me,  to  let  me 
know  that  there  is  a  people  come  out  of  Egypt  which  cover  the  face  of  the  earth  ; 
and  to  desire  me  to  come  to  him  and  curse  them,  in  hopes  that  he  may  then  be  able 
to  overcome  them  and  drive  them  away."  To  this  God  made  answer,  "  Thou  shalt 
not  go  with  them  ;  thou  shalt  not  curse  the  people,  for  they  are  blessed." 

Not  daring  to  disobey  the  divine  command,  Balaam  arose  early  in  the  morning, 
and  going  to  the  deputies,  dismissed  them,  saying,  "  Be  gone  to  your  own  country, 
for  the  Lord  reluseth  to  give  me  leave  to  go  with  you." 

The  deputies,  on  their  return  to  Moab,  misrepresented  Balaam's  answer  to  the 
king  ;  for,  instead  of  telling  him  that  God  had  refused  to  let  him  come,  they  told  him 
that  Balaam  himself  had  refused  to  come.  In  consequence  of  this,  Balak,  suggesting 
that  either  the  number  and  quality  of  his  messengers  did  not  answer  Balaam's  ambi- 
tion, or  the  value  of  the  presents  his  covetousness,  resolved,  if  possible,  to  remove 
this  obstacle  by  gratifying  both.  He  accordingly  despatched  the  chiefs  of  his  nobility 
to  Balaam,  sending  by  them  much  more  considerable  presents  than  before,  and  at  the 
same  time  this  message :  "  Let  nothing,"  said  he,  "  hinder  thee  from  coming  to  me  ; 
for  I  will  promote  thee  to  very  great  honor,  and  give  thee  whatsoever  thou  shalt  ask, 
if  thou  wilt  but  come  and  curse  this  people." 

Balaam,  being  naturally  of  a  very  avaricious  disposition,  accepted  the  presents 


172  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

from  the  deputies,  but  evaded  complying  with  their  request,  by  assunng  them  that 
he  durst  not,  on  any  account  whatever,  counteract  the  divine  will.  However,  in  order 
to  amuse  and  flatter  them  with  expectations,  he  desired  them  to  tarry  a  little  while 
he  made  farther  inquiries  of  the  Lord,  and,  if  he  thought  proper  to  admit  his  going, 
he  would  readily  attend  them. 

The  Almighty  had  at  first  given  Balaam  a  positive  answer,  and  it  was  certainly 
the  highest  disobedience  and  presumption  to  attempt  the  reversing  it  by  a  farther 
application.  However,  blinded  by  covetousness  and  ambition,  he  again  addressed 
himself  to  God,  who  (provoked  at  his  obstinacy  and  presumption)  was  pleased  to  give 
him  this  answer:  "  If  the  men,"  said  he,  "  come  to  call  thee,  rise  up  and  go  with 
them  ;  but  yet  the  word  which  I  shall  say  unto  thee,  that  shalt  thou  do." 

With  this  permission  Balaam  arose  in  the  morning,  and,  saddling  his  ass,  set  for- 
ward with  the  messengers  on  their  journey  to  Moab.  On  the  road  he  was  met  by 
an  angel  with  a  drawn  sword  in  his  hand,  whom,  though  he  perceived  not,  his  ass 
plainly  saw,  and  being  startled,  turned  aside  in  order  to  avoid  him.  With  some  dif- 
ficulty Balaam  beat  his  ass  into  the  road  again,  soon  after  which  the  angel  placed 
himself  in  a  narroAv  passage  between  two  walls  which  enclosed  a  vineyard.  The 
ass,  who  was  equally  startled  as  before,  not  knowing  how  to  avoid  the  angel,  ran 
against  one  of  the  walls  and  crushed  Balaam's  foot,  upon  which  he  was  so  provoked 
that  he  beat  him  with  great  severity.  •  At  length  the  angel  removed,  and  fixed  him- 
self in  a  place  so  very  narrow  that  there  was  no  possibility  of  passing  him ;  upon 
which  the  ass  made  a  full  stop  and  fell  beneath  his  rider.  This  enraged  Balaam 
still  more ;  and  as  he  was  beating  the  poor  animal  in  the  most  unmerciful  mamier, 
God  was  pleased  to  gtve  the  ass  the  faculty  of  speech,  who  expostulated  with  his 
master  on  his  severe  treatment  in  words  to  this  effect :  "  What,"  said  he,  "  have  I 
done  to  thee,  that  thou  shouldst  beat  me  these  three  times  ?" — "  Because,"  said  Ba- 
laam, "thou  hast  deserved  it  in  mocking  me:  had  I  a  sword  in  my  hand  1  would 
kill  thee."  The  ass  replied,  "Am  I  not  thine  ass,  upon  which  thou  hast  been  ac- 
customed to  ride  ever  since  I  was  thine ;  did  I  ever  serve  thee  so  before  ?" 

While  Balaam  was  thus  conversing  with  his  ass,  God  was  pleased  to  open  his 
eyes,  and  let  him  see  the  angel  standing  in  the  way,  with  a  naked  sword  in  his  hand. 
Terrified  at  so  unexpected  a  sight,  Balaam  fell  on  his  face,  acknowledged  his  offence, 
asked  pardon  for  it,  and  offered,  if  his  journey  was  displeasuig  ,to  God,  immediately 
to  return. 

That  his  journey  was  displeasing  to  the  Almighty  he  certainly  could  not  be  igno- 
rant, because,  in  his  first  address,  God  had  expressly  interdicted  his  going.     He  was 
pleased,  however,  to  suffer  him  to  proceed,  that  some  kind  of  advantage  might  be 
■ised  out  of  this  man's  wickedness,  and  to  make  him,  who  was  hired  to  curse,  the 
astrument  of  pronouncing  a  blessing  on  his  people. 

When  Balak  heard  that  Balaam  was  on  the  road,  he  went  himself  to  receive  him 
on  the  confines  of  his  dominions.  As  soon  as  Balak  saw  him,  he  in  a  friendly  man- 
ner blamed  him  for  not  coming  at  his  first  sending,  which  Balaam  excused  on  ac- 
count of  the  restraint  that  had  been  laid  upon  him  by  the  Almighty.  Balak  then 
conducted  him  to  his  capital,  where  he  that  day  publicly  entertained  him  m  the  most 
sumptuous  manner ;  and  the  next  morning  conducted  him  to  the  high  places  conse- 
crated to  the  idol  Baal,  whence  he  might  take  an  advantageous  view  of  the  camp  of 
the  Israelites. 

After  being  here  some  short  time,  Balaam  ordered  seven  altars  to  be  erected,  and 
seven  oxen,  together  with  the  like  number  of  rams,  to  be  prepared  for  sacrifice.  Ba- 
laam, having  offered  an  ox  and  a  ram  on  each  altar,  left  Balak  to  stand  by  the  sacri- 
fices, while  himself  withdrew  at  some  distance  to  consult  the  Lord.  On  his  return 
he  addressed  the  king,  in  the  presence  of  the  whole  company,  in  words  to  this  eflect : 
"  Thou  hast  caused  me,  0  king,"  said  he,  "  to  come  from  out  of  the  mountains  of  the 
east  to  curse  the  family  of  Jacob,  and  bid  defiance  to  Israel.  But  how  shall  I  curse 
those  whom  God  hath  not  cursed  ?  and  how  shall  I  defy  those  whom  the  Lord  hath 
not  defied  ?  From  the  tops  of  the  rocks  I  see  their  protector,  and  from  the  hills  I 
behold  him.  Behold,  this  people  shall  be  separated  to  God,  and  distinguished  from 
all  other  people  in  religion,  laws,  and  course  of  life :  they  shall  not  be  reckoned 
among  the  nations."  He  then  set  forth  the  great  prosperity  and  increase  of  the  Isra 
elites,  and  concluded  by  Avishing  that  his  lot,  both  in  life  and  in  death,  might  be  like 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


173 


174  A   NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

unto  theirs.  "  Let  me  die,"  said  he,  "  the  death  of  the  righteous,  and  let  my  last 
end  be  like  his." 

Balak,  alarmed  as  well  as  incensed  at  these  words,  which  were  quite  contrary  to 
what  he  had  expected,  passionately  said  to  Balaam,  "What  hast  thou  done?  I  sent 
for  ihee  to  curse  mine  enemies;  but,  instead  thereof,  thou  hast  blessed  them."  Ba- 
laam excused  himself  by  urging  the  necessity  of  his  instructions,  from  which,  he  said, 
it  was  not  in  his  power  at  that  time  to  make  the  least  deviation. 

Not  discouraged  at  this  rebuff,  Balak,  thinking  that  a  change  of  place  might  pro- 
duce a  change  of  foriuue,  or  better  success,  conducted  Balaam  to  the  top  of  Mount 
pisgah,  in  order  to  try  whether  he  could  thence  fulfil  his  wishes  by  cursing  the 
Israelites. 

Balaam,  willing  to  please  the  king,  had  seven  other  altars  erected  here,  and  a  bul- 
lock and  ram  offered  on  each.  As  soon  as  the  sacrifices  were  ready  he  withdrew,  as 
before,  to  consult  the  Lord,  from  whom  he  received  fresh  instructions.  On  his  return 
to  Balak  and  his  attendants,  the  king,  big  with  expectation  of  the  result,  asked  Avhal 
the  Lord  had  spoken.  Balaam,  with  the  most  serious  coimtenance  and  solemn  tone 
of  voice,  answered  as  follows:  "  Consider,"  said  he,  "0  Balak,  thou  son  of  Zippor, 
consider  that  God,  who  hath  already  blessed  Israel,  and  forbidden  me  to  curse  them, 
is  not  like  a  man  tliat  he  should  renounce  his  promise,  or  repent  of  what  he  does. 
Hath  he  promised,  and  shall  he  not  perform  ?  or  hath  he  spoken,  and  shall  he  not 
make  it  good  ?  Behold,  I  have  received  commission  to  bless,  and  he  hath  blessed, 
and  I  can  not  reverse  it.  He  does  not  approve  of  afflictions  or  outrages  against  the 
posterity  of  Jacob,  nor  of  vexation  or  trouble  against  the  posterity  of  Israel.  The 
Lord  his  God  is  with  him,  and  the  shout  of  a  king  is  in  him.  God  hath  brought 
them  out  of  Egypt;  he  hath,  as  it  were,  the  strength  of  a  unicorn.  Surely  no  en- 
chantment can  prevail  against  Jacob,  nor  any  divination  against  Israel.  So  that, 
considering  Avhat  God  will  work  this  time  for  the  deliverance  of  his  people,  all  the 
world  shall  wonder  and  say.  What  hath  God  wrought,  who  hath  put  his  people  out 
of  the  reach  of  fraud  or  force,  and  turned  the  intended  curse  into  a  blessing  !  And  to 
sUow  their  future  strength  and  success,  the  people  shall  rise  up  as  a  great  lion,  and 
lift  themselves  up  as  a  young  lion.  They  shall  not  lie  down  until  they  eat  of  the 
prey,  and  drink  of  the  blood  of  the  slain." 

Balak  was  so  mortified  at  this  speech  that,  in  the  height  of  his  passion,  he  forbade 
Balaam  either  to  bless  or  curse  ;  but  after  his  indignation  was  somewhat  abated  he 
changed  his  mind,  and  desired  him  to  make  a  farther  trial  at  another  place.  Ac- 
cordingly, Balaam  Avas  conducted  to  the  top  of  Mount  Peor,  Avhere  fresh  altars  Avere 
raised  and  fresh  sacrifices  offered ;  but  all  to  no  purpose.  Balaam  well  knew  the 
positive  will  of  God  in  this  case  was  to  bless,  and  not  to  curse.  He  did  not  there- 
fore, as  before,  retire  for  farther  instructions,  but,  casting  his  eyes  on  the  tents  of  the 
Israelites,  thus  exclaimed :  "How  goodly  are  thy  tents,  O  Jacob,  and  thy  taberna- 
cles, 0  Israel !"  He  then,  in  proper  and  significant  metaphors,  foretold  their  extent, 
fertility,  and  strength,  and  that  "  those  that  blessed  them  should  be  blessed,  and 
those  that  cursed  them  should  be  cursed." 

Balak,  enraged  to  hear  Balaam,  whom  he  had  sent  for  to  curse  the  Israelites,  thus 
three  times  successively  bless  them,  could  no  longer  contain  himself,  bur,  clasping 
his  hands  together,  bade  hnn  haste  and  be  gone,  since,  by  his  folly,  he  had  both 
abused  God  and  defrauded  himself  "I  thought,"  said  he,  "  to  have  promoted  thee 
to  great  honor,  if  thou  hadst  answered  my  design  in  cursing  Israel ;  but  the  Lord 
hath  hindered  thy  preferment." 

Balaam,  in  excuse,  made  use  of  the  same  arguments  he  had  done  before,  namely, 
that  he  could  not  run  counter  to  the  divine  commands,  but  must  speak  what  tlie 
Lord  had  put  into  his  mouth.  He  then,  in  expectation  of  obtaining  some  reward 
from  the  kmg,  notwithstanding  he  had  not  answered  the  purposes  for  which  he  was 
sent,  offered  to  advertise  him  of  what  the  Israelites  would  do  to  his  people  in  subse- 
quent ages ;  which  being  accepted  by  Balak,  he  prophesied  as  follows :  "  That  a  star 
should  come  forth  from  Jacob,  and  a  rod  from  Israel ;  that  it  should  smite  the  chiefs 
of  Moab,  and  destroy  the  children  of  Seth ;  that  Edom  should  fall  under  its  power ; 
that  the  Amalekites  should  be  totally  destroyed,  and  the  Kenites  made  captives." 

Having  said  this  Balaam  left  the  king,  but  without  receiving  any  reward,  as  he 
had  expected,  for  his  predictions.  Vexed  at  this  disappointment,  and  considering  the 
Israelites  as  the  occasion  of  it,  he  determined  to  wreak  his  vengeance  on  them.     He 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  17c« 

knew  that  their  prosperity  depended  on  their  strict  observance  of  the  divme  laws 
and  that  there  was  no  way  to  bring  a  curse  on  them  but  by  seducing  them  from  then 
duty.  To  accomplish,  therefore,  his  wicked  design,  he  advised  both  the  Moabites 
and  Midianites  to  send  their  daughters  into  the  camp  of  the  Israelites,  that  they 
might  first  entice  the  people  into  lewdness,  and  then  into  idolatry  ;  by  doing  of  which 
they  would  infallibly  lie  deprived  of  that  divine  assistance  that  had  hitherto  protected 
them. 

This  wicked  stratagem,  being  highly  approved  of  by  the  Moabites  and  Midianites, 
was  immediately  put  into  execution,  and  in  some  measure  attended  with  the  wished- 
for  success.  Many  of  the  Israelites  were  deluded  by  these  strange  women,  not  only 
lO  commit  whoredom  with  them,  but  also  idolatry,  by  assisting  at  their  sacrifices, 
and  worshipping  their  gods,  even  their  god  Baal-peor. 

These  offences  were  highly  displeasing  to  God,  who,  as  a  punishment  on  the  peo- 
ple, commanded  Moses  to  take  the  chiefs  of  those  who  had  worshipped  Baal-peor, 
and  hang  them  up  in  the  sight  of  the  people,  without  paying  respect  either  to  friend- 
ship or  kindred.  This  was  accordmgly  done,  and  the  number  that  suffered  was 
about  one  thousand.  But  the  diraie  justice  did  not  stop  here,  for  those  who  had 
committed  whoredom  were  visited  with  a  dreadful  plague,  which  in  a  short  time 
carried  off  no  less  than  twenty-four  thousand  persons. 

These  severe  punishments  opened  the  eyes  of  the  sinful  Israelites,  who  assembled 
at  the  door  of  the  tabernacle,  and,  with  the  most  expressive  sense  of  affliction,  be- 
wailed their  folly  and  wickedness  in  suffering  themselves  to  have  been  deluded  by  a 
strange  people  who  were  their  mortal  enemies. 

While  the  whole  congregation  were  thus  situated  at  the  door  of  the  tabernacle, 
they  were  surprised  with  an  instance  of  the  most  unparalleled  boldness  and  depravity 
in  one  of  the  chiefs  of  the  tribe  of  Simeon,  named  Zimri,  who,  hi  the  sight  of  Moses 
and  all  the  people,  brought  with  him  a  young  Midianitish  princess,  named  Cozbi, 
mto  the  camp,  and,  with  all  the  actions  of  gallantry,  conducted  her  to  his  tent. 

This  impious  as  well  as  insolent  behavior  particularly  engaged  the  attention  of 
Phineas,  the  son  of  Eleazer  the  high-priest,  who,  fired  with  a  just  indignation,  sud- 
denly arose,  and  taking  a  javelin  in  liis  hand,  ran  to  Zimri's  tent,  and  put  a  period  to 
their  lives,  by  running  them  both  through  the  body  at  the  same  instant. 

After  this  zealous  act  of  Phineas,  the  plague,  which  God  had  sent  among  the  peo- 
ple for  their  lewdness  and  impiety,  ceased.  And  Phineas  not  only  received'the  high- 
est commendation  for  his  conduct  among  the  people,  but  also  from  God,  who  was 
pleased  to  appoint  a  perpetual  settlement  of  the  priesthood  on  him  and  his  posterity. 

The  disorders  among  the  Israelites  being  thoroughly  quelled,  and  the  offenders  pun- 
ished, Moses  by  the  direction  of  God,  proceeded  to  take  vengeance  on  the  Midianites, 
who,  by  their  conduct,  had  been  the  authors  of  the  late  calamities  among  the  people. 
He  ordered  a  detachment  to  be  made  out  of  12,000  choice  men,  a  thousaifdout  of  each 
tribe,  whom  he  seat  against  the  Midianites.  Among  them  was  the  zealous  Phineas, 
who  took  with  him  the  ark,  together  with  the  sacred  trumpets,  the  latter  of  which 
were  to  be  blown,  during  the  time  of  action,  to  animate  the  people. 

The  army  of  the  Israelites  was  but  small  compared  with  the  great  numbers  they 
had  to  oppose ;  but  God,  who  put  them  on  the  expedition,  was  pleased  to  crown  their 
attempts  with  such  success,  that  conquest  took  place  wherever  they  went.  They 
vanquished  five  kings,  whom,  with  their  men,  they  put  all  to  the  sword.  Among  the 
slain  was  the  wicked  prophet  Balaam,*  who,  though  he  had  before  escaped  the  sword 
of  the  angel,  could  not  now  avoid  the  common  danger,  but  fell  a  victim  to  his  ov/a 
baseness. 

In  every  city  where  the  Israelites  made  a  conquest,  they  destroyed  not  only  the  for- 
tified places  but  likewise  all  the  buildings,  took  all  the  women  and  children  prisoners, 
and  seized  on  their  cattle,  flocks,  and  goods. 

The  Israelites,  having  thus  vanquished  their  enemies,  and  loaded  themselves  with 
the  spoils  of  conquest,  return-id  in  triumph  to  the  camp,  where  they  were  met  by 
Moses,  Eleazer  the  high-priest,  and  all  the  elders  of  the  different  tribes,  who  con- 
gratulated them  on  the  occasion,  and  the  people  testified  their  joy  by  the  loudest  ac- 
clamations. 

*  It  is  evident,  from  this  circumstance,  that  if  Balaam  did  return  to  his  own  country  when  he  left  Babk 
he  did  not  continue  long  there  ;  but  it  is  much  more  probable  that  he  never  did  return,  but  dwelt  with  the 
princes  of  Midian,  in  order  to  give  them  counsel. 


176  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

But  when  Moses  saw  the  women  captives,  remembering  what  damage  they  had 
done  by  alluring  the  Israelites  into  idolatry,  he  thought  it  unsafe  that  their  lives  should 
be  spared.  He  therefore  ordered  that  all  those  who  had  ever  known  man,  together 
with  all  the  male  children,  should  be  put  to  the  sword,  and  none  but  virgins  be  saved 
alive.  These  orders  were  accordingly  executed,  and  (as  a  proof  of  the  importance  of 
the  victory)  the  number  of  virgin  captives  amoimted  to  two  and  thirty  thousand. 

After  this  Moses  gave  orders  that  the  conquerors  should  abide  seven  days  without 
tlie  camp,  and  that  both  the  soldiers  and  spoils  should  pass  through  the  ceremonies 
of  a  legal  purification. 

When  the  time  of  purification  was  expired,  Moses,  by  the  command  of  God,  look 
au  account  of  the  whole  booty  that  had  been  taken  from  the  Midianites.  This  he  di- 
vided into  two  equal  parts,  one  of  which  he  gave  to  the  soldiers  Avho  had  taken  it, 
and  the  other  half  to  the  rest  of  the  people  who  stayed  at  home.  Out  of  the  division 
given  to  the  soldiers  he  ordered  a  five  hundredth  part  to  be  paid  as  a  tribute  to  Elea- 
zer  the  high-priest,  as  a  heave-offering  to  the  Lord ;  and  out  of  the  other  part  allotted 
to  the  people,  a  fiftieth,  both  of  persons  and  beasts,  to  be  given  to  the  Levites. 

The  plunder  of  cattle  and  flocks  consisted  of  670,500  sheep,  72,000  oxen,  and  6]  ,000 
asses,  besides  a  great  quantity  of  rich  goods  and  ornaments.  And,  what  makes  the 
victory  still  more  miraculous  is,  that  not  one  man  among  the  Israelites  was  slain  in 
the  battle,  as  appeared  from  the  report  afterward  made  on  a  general  muster  of  the 
whole  that  Avent  out  to  war. 

The  officers  of  the  army  were  sensible  that,  in  saving  the  Midianitish  women,  they 
had  committed  a  great  transgression.  They  therefore  presented  a  prodigious  quantity 
of  jewels,  and  other  rich  spoils,  both  as  an  expiatory  offering  to  atone  for  their  off'ence, 
and  in  gratitude  to  God's  goodness  for  having  given  them  so  great  and  signal  a  victory. 
The  Israelites  were  now  in  possession  of  all  thai  part  of  the  country  which  lay  on 
the  east  side  of  the  river  Jordan.  It  was  a  very  fertile  spot,  and  stored  with  good 
pasturage,  in  consequence  of  which  the  tribes  of  Reuben  and  Gad,  together  with  the 
half-tribe  of  Manasseh,  requested  of  Moses  that  they  might  be  permitted  to  settle 
there,  it  being  particularly  commodious  for  the  feeding  of  their  flocks  and  cattle. 

Moses,  thinking  this  request  arose  from  their  pusillanimity,  and  that  they  were  de- 
sirous of  continuing  in  a  country  ready  gained,  and  thereby  avoid  giving  their  assist- 
ance in  farther  conquests,  was  exceeding  angry,  and  blamed  them  for  oflfering  a  pro- 
posal so  discouraging  to  the  rest  of  the  tribes.  They  told  him  they  had  no  other  rea- 
son for  wishing  to  continue  where  they  were  than  what  they  had  already  advanced, 
and  that  though  they  were  desirous  of  settling  there  with  their  families,  yet  they 
wished  not  to  decline  the  fatigues  of  war.  They  promised,  in  the  most  solemn  man- 
ner, that  a  quota  should  go  with  the  army  into  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  contribute  all 
the  assistance  they  were  able  in  reducing  that  country  which  had  been  so  long  prom- 
ised, and  that  when  these  matters  Avere  accomplished,  and  not  till  then,  would  the}' 
desire  to  return  to  their  families  in  the  plains  of  Moab.  On  this  reason,  and  on  these 
promises,  Moses  told  them  their  request  should  be  granted. 

As  the  Israelites  Avere  noAV  in  the  neighborhood  of  Canaan,  and  the  time  very  near 
of  their  entering  that  country  to  take  possession  of  it,  Moses  called  a  general  assem- 
bly of  the  people,  to  whom  he  enumerated  the  several  stations  and  removes  they  had 
made  frcm  the  time  of  their  leaving  the  land  of  Goshen  in  Egypt,  till  their  arrival  in 
the  plains  of  Moab.  He  then,  by  the  direction  of  God,  pouited  out  the  limits  of  what 
they  were  to  conquer,  and  appointed  the  distribution  of  the  whole  among  the  difi'erent 
tribes  to  be  by  lot,  assigning  the  chief  management  of  it  to  Eleazer  the  high-priest, 
and  Joshua,  the  general  of  his  army. 

In  the  division  of  the  country  Moses  assigned  forty-eight  cities,  together  with  their 
suburbs,  to  be  inhabited  by  the  Levites,  and  Avithal  ordered,  that  six  of  them  should 
be  made  cU'ies  of  refuge,  whither  the  innocent  manslayer,  who  had  killed  his  neigh- 
bor by  chance,  might  betake  himself,  and  Avhere  he  should  remain  in  safety  till  the 
death  of  the  high-priest,  when  he  was  at  full  liberty  to  go  Avhere  he  pleased  with 
equal  safety  as  Avhen  in  the  city  of  refuge.  At  the  same  time  Moses  made  all  proper 
provision  that  the  wilful  murderer  should  certainly  be  put  to  death.  But  in  this,  and 
all  other  capital  cases,  he  made  it  a  law  that  none  should  be  convicted  upon  the  evi 
dence  of  any  single  person.  A  law  Avas  likewise  made,  that  every  daughter  whc 
should  posse.  3 ^n  inheritance  in  any  tribe  of  the  children  of  Israel  should  be  marrieu 
to  one  of  the  tribes  of  his  father,  that  so  the  Israelites  might  every  one  enjoy  the  iu- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


7S  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

neritance  of  his  father ;  and  the  inheritance  not  to  be  transferred  to  another  tribe. 
This  was  grounded  on  a  law  made  before,  which  empowered  daughters  to  inlierit  land 
where  thelieirs  male  should  be  deficient  ;  and  was  the  case  of  the  daughters  of  Ze- 
lophehad  (a  descendant  of  Manasseh,  the  sou  of  Joseph),  who,  by  this  additional  law, 
were  required  to  marry  within  the  family  of  their  father's  tribe. 

The  forty  years'  travels  of  the  Israelites  being  now  nearly  expired,  Moses,  consider- 
ing that  the  then  generation  were  either  sprung  up  since  the  law  was  given  at  Mount 
Sinai,  or  too  young  to  remember  and  understand  it,  thought  proper  to  repeat  the  whole 
to  them,  that  they  might  not  be  deficient  in  performing  those  duties  so  religiously  en- 
joined. Accordingly,  on  the  first  day  of  the  eleventh  month,  and  in  the  fortieth  year 
from  their  departure  out  of  Egypt  (being  then  encamped  on  the  plains  of  Moab,  by 
the  banks  of  the  river  Jordan)  Moses  called  all  the  people  together,  to  whom  he  briefly 
related  all  that  had  befallen  their  lathers  since  ihe  time  of  their  leaving  Egypt  ;  the 
gracious  dealing's  of  God  with  them  ;  their  continual  murmurings  and  rebellions  against 
him;  and  the  many  severe  judgments  that  followed  thereupon,  even  to  his  own  ex- 
clusion from  the  promised  land.  He  then  gave  them  a  summary  of  all  the  laAvs  which 
the  divine  goodness  had  calculated  for  their  happiness;  and,  after  repeating  the  deca- 
loo'ue  almost  Avord  for  word,  he  reminded  them  of  the  solemn  and  dreadful  nianner  in 
which  it  was  delivered  from  Mount  Sinai,  and  of  the  manifold  obligations  they  lay 
under  to  a  strict  observance  of  it.  He  encouraged  them  to  be  faithful  to  God,  by  as- 
suring them,  that,  if  they  kept  his  commandments,  they  should  not  fail  of  having  in- 
numerable blessings  heaped  on  them;  but  at  the  same  time  he  threatened  them  with 
all  manner  of  calamities  if  they  departed  from  them.  He  then,  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord,  renewed  the  covenant  which  their  fathers  had  made  with  God  at  Mount  Horeb ; 
commanded  them  to  proclaim,  on  the  mountains  of  Gerizim  and  Ebal,*  beyond  Jot- 
dan,  blessings  on  such  as  observed  the  covenant,  and  curses  on  those  who  broke  it : 
and  to  erect  an  altar  there,  on  which  should  be  written,  in  legible  characters,  the  terms 
and  conditions  of  the  covenant.  _  ..—    ■•■• 

These,  and  several  other  directions  relative  to  their  future  conduct  in  the  land  of 
Canaan,  did  Moses  not  only  deliver  to  the  people  by  Avord  of  mouth,  but  Iil^e\\use  or; 
dered  them  to  be  written  in  a  book,  which  he  committed  to  the  care  and  custody  cff 
the  Levites,  who,  by  God's  appointment,  laid  it  up  on  the  side  of  the  ark,  .there  to 
remain  a  witness  against  the  people  should  they  afterward  rebel.  .  . 

Such  was  the  care  and  concern  of  Moses  for  the  future  welfare  of  the  people :  ^wJ 
that  they  might  never  want  a  proper  fund  of  devotion,  he  com.posed.&.  Song,  br  poem, 
which  he  not  only  repeated  to  them,  but  likeAvise  gave  order^'»that  they  shcfuld  all 
learn  by  heart.  In  this  song  he  expressed,  in  a  v^ry  elegajlt  manjier,  jhe  many  hen- 
efits  which  God  had  bestowed  on  his  people;  their  ingratitude  aind  forgelfulness'of 
him,  the  punishment  wherewith  he  had  afflic^d*  theni-j  and  the  threats  £if  greater. 
jud.gments,  if  they  persisted  in  provoking  him  hy  a  repetition  of- their  foU-ies.  'She 
whole  of  this  beautiful  song  runs  from  the  first  verse  oi'  the  thirty-^cond  chapter  of 
Deuteronomy  to  the  forty-third.  ■ .  .*'  !  •    ' • '       ' 

The  time  was  noAv  near  at  hand  when  a  perioa  was  to  .be  put  to  Moses''s  earthly 
peregrinations.  The  Almighty  had  before  told  him,  thtit  he  should' not  conduct  the 
people  into  the  promised  land  because  of  his.  error- 'at  the  wa'terS  of  Meribah  :  he 
therefore  now  commanded  him  to  go  up  to  the  mountains  of  Abarim,t  and  thOif^  take 
a  view  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  which  he  had  promisecj*  to  hisTorefathe'rs,  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob  ;  and  farther  told  him,  that  after  he*  had*  so  done,  he  sliquld  die'there, 
as  his  brother  Aaron  had  done  on  Mount  Hor.        '.'     '  ".*  !..■".■■    .  _    •' 

Moses  humbly  submitted  to  the  will  of  the  Almighty,  and,  as-a  n'etesfearf  prepara- 

*  These  two  mountains  (of  which  we  give  a  beautiful  and  correct  repyeseiitation^,-^.  177)jare  soi>eareact' 
other,tlia/t  they  are  only  separated  by  a  valley  of  about  two  hundred  paces  wide,  in  wU'.cJus  situated  tfie  tbv.n 
of  Shechcm.  They  are  much  alike  in  lengtli,  height,  and  form  :  their  figure  i4  Ser«ict(ci,ilar^andoiillieside  of 
Shechom  they  are  so  steep  that  there  is  not  the  least  shelving)  tlffey  are  at  most  aboulliall'a  league  in 
length.  But  notwithstanding  they  are  so  much  alike  in  the  particulars  uvontioned,  they  are  verv  different 
in  one  instance  ;  namely,  Ebal  is  desolate  and  barren,  whereas  Gerizjm  is;beautifui  and  fruitful. 

t  These  mountains  were  situated  in  the  country  of  the  Moabites,  between  the  two  rivers  Arnon.and  .Jor- 
dan, and  commanded  a  most  extensive  prospect  of  the  land  of  Canaan.  Qiie  p^it  of  these  mountains  was 
distinguished  by  the  name  of  Ncbo,  as  appears  from  Deut.  xxxil.  49,  •but  if  we  co!npare  this  with  Deljt. 
xxxiv.  1,  we  shall  find  that  Ncbo  and  Pisgah  were  one,  and  the  same  mountain.  If,  .tliercfore,  tliere  was 
any  distinction  between  the  names  it  was  probably  this,  that  the  top'of  tli^  mountain  was  more  pecuU4Ta-ly 
called  Pisgah,  which  signifies  to  elevate  or  raise  up,  and,  therefore,  may  very  properly  d'enote  t,he  tog  or  sum- 
mit, of  any  mountain.  Not  far  from  Nebo  was  Betli-peor,  wliich  was  prbbaBly  59  e^ed  from  some  deitv  of 
that  name  worsliipped  bv  the  Moabites  •  t  ,     ' 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


179 


180  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

tion  to  the  execution  of  this  last  command,  took  a  soleinii  farewell  of  the  people,  be- 
stowing a  prophetic  blessing  on  each  tribe,  in  like  manner  as  Jacob  had  done  a  short 
time  previous  to  his  death. 

The  Almighty  had  before  appointed  Joshua  to  succeed  Moses  in  his  commission ; 
and  to  prevent  any  disputes  after  his  death,  Moses  first  laid  his  own  hands  upon  Joshua, 
and  then  presented  him  to  Eleazer  the  high-priest,  who,  in  a  solemn  form  of  admis- 
sion, and  in  the  presence  of  all  the  people,  accepted  him  as  leader  and  general  of  the 
Israelites  ;  after  which  Moses  gave  Joshua  some  instructions  relative  to  his  office,  and 
one  more  especially  which  concerned  his  consulting  God,  by  way  of  Urim  and  Thum- 
mim,*  on  matters  of  emergency. 

Having  adjusted  these  matters,  Moses,  m  conformity  to  the  divine  command,  retired 
to  Pisgah,  the  most  elevated  situation  on  Mount  Nebo,  directly  opposite  to  Jericho, 
whence  he  might  take  a  full  view  of  the  country,  which  God  had  promised  to  Abra- 
ham's posterity.  At  this  time  he  was  a  hundred  and  twenty  years  of  age,  notwith- 
standing which,  his  natural  strength  and  vigor  were  not  abated,  nor  had  his  eyesight 
in  the  least  failed  him.  He  was,  therefore,  able  to  survey  the  beauteous  prospect 
which  the  delightful  plains  of  Jericho,  and  the  fair  cliffs  and  lofty  cedars  of  Lebanon, 
afforded  him ;  and  having  done  this  for  some  time,  he  at  length  resigned  his  soul  into 
the  hands  of  seraphim,  who  were  waiting  to  convey  it  to  a  more  happy  Canaan  than 
that  which  he  had  been  surveying. 

The  Almighty  was  pleased  to  pay  the  funeral  honors  to  the  remains  of  this  great 
prophet  himself,  by  burying  him  in  a  valley  in  the  land  of  Moab  opposite  to  Beth-Peor, 
and  that  in  so  secret  a  manner,  that  the  place  of  his  interment  was  never  yet  discovered. 

Thus  died  the  illustrious  and  pious  Moses,  the  most  eminent  servant  of  God,  and 
the  great  conductor  of  his  chosen  people,  who,  as  soon  as  they  knew  of  his  death,  la- 
mented the  loss  of  him  with  the  greatest  solemnity,  weeping  and  mourning  for  him 
in  the  plains  of  Moab  for  thirty  days. 


CHAPTER    XII. 
THE  CONQUEST. 

On  the  death  of  Moses,  Joshua,  being  appointed  to  succeed  him  in  the  government 
of  the  Israelites,  was  installed  into  the  kingly  office  by  Eleazer,  the  high-priest,  and 
with  the  universal  approbation  of  the  people.  To  encourage  him  in  the  great  worii 
he  had  to  undertake,  the  Almighty  expressly  commanded  him  (as  he  had  done  his 
servant  Moses)  to  lead  the  people  over  the  Jordan,  telling  him  that  every  place  on 
which  they  should  tread  should  be  their  own,  and  that  no  man  should  be  able  to 
stand  against  him:  that  in  like  manner  as  he  had  been  with  Moses,  so  he  would  be 
with  him,  and  that  he  might  be  assured  he  would  never  forsake  him. 

Encouraged  by  these  divine  assurances,  Joshua  ordered  the  officers  to  proclaim 
throughout  the  camp,  that  Avithin  a  few  days  they  should  pass  the  Jordan,  in  order 
to  possess  the  land  which  the  Almighty  had  promised  them,  and  that  therefore  they 
should  provide  themselves  with  proper  necessaries  on  the  occasion.  He  then  called 
together  the  leaders  of  the  tribes  of  Reuben  and  Gad,  and  the  half-tribe  of  Manasseh, 

*  Urim  and  Thummim,  signifying  lights  and  perfections,  formed  the  oracle  of  God  put  into  the  sacred 
breastplate  of  judgment  of  Aaron,  by  whicli  the  Divine  will  was  to  be  sought  on  solemn  occasions:  but 
while  learned  men  have  offered  many  and  various  conjectures,  it  is  not  agreed  what  they  were,  as  it  is  not 
fully  declared  by  Moses,  Exod.  xxviii.  30,  Lev.  viii.  8.  Josephus  supposes  that  they  were  the  twelve  pre- 
cious stones  of  the  breastplate,  on  which  were  engraven  the  names  of  several  tribes  of  Israel,  Exod.  xxviji. 
15-21  ;  and  that  God  gave  answers  to  the  high-priest  inquiring  before  the  most  holy  place,  by  an  extraordi- 
nary glory  illustrating  the  letters  :  but  others  are  of  opinion  that  they  were  given  by  an  audible  voice  from 
the  Shekinah,  in  the  cloud  of  glory  over  the  mercy-seat,  Psal.  Ixxx.  1,  xcix.  1.  This  oracle,  it  is  believed, 
was  not  used  during  the  life  of  Moses,  as  God  spake  to  him  directly,  Exod.  xxxiii.  11,  Num.  vii.  89;  and 
afterward  only  in  national  difficulties,  by  the  high-priest  only,  and  not  for  any  private  person.  Num.  xxvii. 
21,  Josh,  vii.  6-15.  This  sacred  instrument  is  supposed  to  have  been  destroyed  with  the  temple  of  Solomon, 
if  not  licfore  ;  as  the  Jews  acknowledge  that  it  did  not  exist  in  the  second  temple,  Ezra  ii.  13,  Neh.  vii.  65. 
The  rabbins  indeed  say,  that  it  continued  in  use  only  under  tlie  tabernacle,  1  Sam.  xxviii.  0:  they  have  a 
maxirn  that  the  Holy  Gliost  spoke  to  Israel  under  the  tabernacle  by  Urim  and  Thummim  ;  under  the  first 
temple  by  prophets  ;  and  after  the  captivity  of  Babylon,  by  the  Bath-kol,  or  Daughterof  the  voice  ;  meaning 
a  voice  from  heaven,  as  at  the  baptism,  and  transfiguration  of  Christ,  Matt.  iii.  17,  xvii.  5  ;  2  Pet.  i.  17. 

t  See  Engraving  (p.  179). — The  costume  is  Egypto-Syrian-that  is  Egyptian,  with  such  modifications  as  the 
Syrians  appear  to  have  given  it  in  adopting  *,  from  the  Egyptians.    It  has  been  very  carefully  studied. 


fflSTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  181 

A^hom  he  reminded  of  the  promises  they  had  made  to  Moses,  an^  entreated  them, 
act  only  for  his  sake,  but  also  their  own,  to  fulfil  their  engagements.  They  faithfully 
promised  to  comply  with  his  request,  and  that  they  would  be  equally  obedient  to 
him  as  they  had  been  to  his  predecessor. 

Opposite  to  Joshua's  camp  stood  the  city  of  Jericho,  which  of  course  must  be  the 
first  place  he  would  have  to  attack  after  passing  the  river  Jordan.  As  a  necessary 
precaution,  he  sent  two  spies  to  take  a  view  of  the  strength  and  situation  of  that 
city,  and  to  learn  the  disposition  of  the  inhabitants.  They  accordingly  entered 
Jericho,  and  being  considered  as  strangers  come  thither  to  gratify  their  curiosity, 
were  permitted  to  perambulate  the  stree^  without  the  least  molestation.  On  the 
close  of  the  day  they  took  up  their  residence  in  the  house  of  a  woman  named  Rahab, 
where,  after  refreshing  themselves,  they  retired  to  rest. 

In  the  meantime,  information  had  been  given  the  king  that  there  were  two  spies 
in  the  city,  and  that  they  had  concealed  themselves  m  the  house  of  Rahab.  On  this 
the  king  immediately  despatched  proper  officers  to  seize  them;  but  Rahab  (who  had 
been  previously  informed  of  it),  before  their  arrival,  had  secreted  the  two  spies  under 
some  stalks  of  flax  on  the  roof  of  the  house. 

When  the  messengers  arrived  and  related  their  business,  Rahab  told  them  there 
had  been  such  people  at  her  house,  but  she  knew  not  who  they  were,  nor 
whence  they  came ;  that  a  short  time  after  dark,  and  before  the'  gates  of  the  city 
were  shut,  ihey  departed  ;  and,  as  they  could  not  be  got  far,  it  would  be  no  difficult 
matter  to  overtake  them.  The  messengers,  believing  Rahab's  story,  left  her,  and 
immediately  set  out  in  pursuit  of  the  spies. 

As  soon  "as  they  were  gone,  Rahab  uncovered  her  guests,  told  them  what  had 
passed,  and  pointed  out  the  great  danger  to  which  she  had  exposed  herself  and 
family  for  their  protection.  In  return  for  this  kindness,  she  exacted  from  them  an 
oath,  that  when  the  city  should  be  invested  by  the  Hebrews,  they  should  preserve 
he-  and  her  relations  from  the  general  destruction.  To  effect  this,  they  told  her  that 
when  she  found  the  city  attacked,  to  shut  herself  up  with  her  family  in  her  house, 
and  that,  in  order  to  distinguish  it  from  the  rest,  she  must  hang  a  scarlet  thread 
to  the  door,  which  signal  should  be  communicated  to  the  general,  who  would,  no 
doubt,  give  such  such  directions  as  to  secure  her  from  all  danger.  This  being 
agreed  on,  Rahab,  for  the  better  security  of  her  guests,  let  them  down  into  the  street 
by  a  rope  fastened  to  the  window,  so  that  they  made  their  escape  miperceived.  She 
advised  them  immediately  to  fly  to  the  mountains,  and  there  conceal  themselves  for 
three  days,  in  Avhicli  time  the  messengers,  finding  their  endeavors  ineffectual,  would 
relinquish  the  pursuit. 

The  two  spies  took  Rahab's  advice,  and  the  consequences  turned  out  as  she  had 
predicted;  for,  after  two  days' search,  the  messengers,  despairing  of  success,  gave 
over  the  pursuit  and  returned  to  Jericho.  At  the  close  of  the  third  day  the  two 
spies  left  the  mountains,  crossed  the  Jordan,  and  arriving  safe  at  the  camp  of  Joshua, 
gave  him  a  faithful  account  of  their  expedition ;  adding,  that  for  certain  the  Lord 
had  delivered  the  country  mto  their  hands,  for  the  people  were  quite  dispirited  at 
the  name  of  the  Israelites. 

Pleased  with  this  intelligence,  Joshua,  early  the  next  morning,  left  Shittim,  and 
conducted  his  armv  within  a  small  distance  of  the  place  where  it  was  intended  they 
should  cross  the  river  Jordan.  Here  he  communicated  to  every  tribe  the  order  to  be 
observed  in  their  march.  He  told  them  that  when  they  saw  the  ark  of  the  Lord 
carried  by  the  priests,  the  whole  army  should  then  move  and  follow  it,  that  they 
migln  know  the  way  by  which  they  were  to  go ;  a;id  that  they  should  leave  a  space 
of  two  thousand  cubitsbetween  them  and  the  ark.  That  when  the  priests  were  got 
in*o  the  middle  of  the  channel,  they  should  there  stand  still  till  the  whole  multitude 
were  got  safe  on  the  opposite  shore ;  and,  to  prepare  themselves  properly  for  this 
remarkable  passage,  they  were  all  enjoined  to  sanctify  themselves,  by  washing  their 
clothes,  avoidhig  all  impurities,  and  abstaining  from  matrimonial  intercourse  the 
preceding  night.  He  also,  by  the  direction  of  the  Almighty,  appointed  twelve  men 
(one  out  of  each  tribe)  to  choose  twelve  stones  from  the  rniddle  of  the  river  where 
the  priests  were  to  stand  with  the  ark,  and  there  to  set  them  up  (that  they  might  be 
seen  from  each  side  of  the  river  when  the  waters  were  abated)  as  a  monument  of 
this  great  miracle;  and  to  take  twelve  others  with  them  to  be  erected  on  the  "land 
for  the  like  purpose. 


182  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

Having^  given. these  necessary  orders,  early  the  next  morning,  which  was  ihe  tenth 

day  of  the  first  rfloath,  the  whole  army  proceeded  on  their  march.  The  priests  wiih 
the  ark  went  first;  and  as  soun  as  they  luuched  the  river  with  their  feet,  the  rapidity 
of  the  stream  abated;  the  waters  above  went  back,  and  rose  on  heaps  for  a  consider- 
able distance,  while  those  below  continued  their  course  the  contrary  way,  so  that 
there  was  a  passage  opened  of  about  sixteen  miles  for  the  Israelites  to  pass.  The 
priests  stood  with  the  ark  in  the  middle  of  the  channel  till  the  whole  multitude  had 
got  on  the  other  side,  when,  having  raised  the  twelve  stones  as  Joshua  had  com- 
manded, they  left  the  bed  of  the  river,  on  which  the  waters  immediately  returned, 
and  resumed  their  natural  course. 

The  Israelites,  having  by  this  miraculous  passage  gained  the  plains  of  Jericho, 
encamped  in  a  place  afterAvard  called  Gilgal,*  where  Joshua  erected  the  twelve 
stones,  which  had  been  brought  from  the  Jordan,  as  a  monument  to  posterity  of  the 
Almighty's  interposition  in  assisting  them  to  pass  that  river. 

This  extraordinary  event  being  soon  circulated  through  the  adjacent  parts  of  the 
country,  the  people  were  filled  with  the  greatest  amazement ;  and  when  the  kinfjs 
of  the  Amorites  (who  were  on  the  west  side  of  the  Jordan)  and  the  kings  of  the 
Canaanites  (who  inhabited  those  parts  next  the  sea)  heard  of  it,  their  hearts  sunk 
for  fear,  and  their  courage  failed  them. 

Soon  after  Joshua  had  encamped  his  army,  God  commanded  the  rite  of  circum- 
cision (which  had  been  neglected  for  almost  forty  years)  to  be  renewed,  that  the 
people  miglit  be  properly  qualified  to  partake  of  the  ensuing  passover.f  This  order 
being  obeyed,  the  J^ord  said  unto  Joshua,  "  This  day  have  I  rolled  away  the  reproach 
of  Egypt  [i.  e.  uncircumcision]  from  off  you,  wherefore  the  name  of  the  place  is 
called' Gilgal  [i.  e.  rolling]  unto  this  day." 

As  the  Israelites  were  now  arrived  in  a  country  Avhere  there  was  a  sufficiency  ol 
corn  for  unleavened  bread,  God  insisted  upon  the  observance  of  his  ordinances,  and 
resolved  that  all  things  should  now  go  in  a  regular  way.  He  therefore  ceased  to  sup- 
ply them  any  longer  with  manna,  but  left  them  for  the  future  to  enjoy  the  products 
of  the  promised  inheritance. 

Joshua,  previous  to  his  marching  his  army  against  Jericho,  went  from  the  camp 
alone,  in  order  to  reconnoitre  the  city,  and  to  discover  which  would  be  the  most 
advantageous  way  of  approaching  it.  While  he  was  making  his  observations,  on  a 
sudden  there  appeared  before  him  a  person  resembling  a  man,  but  with  a  lustre  in 
his  face  that  indicated  he  was  more  than  mortal.  In  his  hand  he  held  a  fiaming 
sword,  and  his  whole  appearance  far  surpassed  anything  of  human  nature.  Un- 
daunted at  this  uimsual  sight,  Joshua  advanced  toAvard  him,  and  demanding  of  what 
party  he  was,  the  vision  replied,  of  the  host  of  the  Lord,^  of  which  he  was  captain 
and  guardian.  On  this  answer,  Joshua  immediately  threw  himself  prostrate  on  the 
ground,  when  the  vision,  after  ordering  him  to  loose  the  sandals  from  his  feet,  pro- 
ceeded to  instruct  him  in  what  manner  he  would  have  the  siege  carried  on,  that  the 
Canaanites  might  see  it  was  not  the  arm  of  flesh  alone  by  which  they  would  be  defeo  ted. 
The  instructions  Joshua  received  were  these:  that  for  six  successive  days  the  whole 
army  should  march  round  the  city,  with  seven  priests  before  the  ark,  having  in  their 
hands  trumpets  made  of  rams'  horns.  That  on  the  seventh  day,  after  the  army  had 
gone  round  the  city  seven  times,  upon  signal  given,  the  priests  were  to  blow  their 
trumpets  as  loud  as  possible,  and  the  people,  on  a  sudden,  to  set  up  a  great  sliout ;  at 
which  instant  the  walls  of  the  city  should  fall  to  the  ground,  and  they  might  walk 
into  it  without  ihe  least  obstruction. 

Having  received  these  orders^from  the  Divine  iriessenger,  Joshua  returned  to  the 
camp,  and  early  the  next  morning  marched  with  his  whole  army  against  Jericho.  || 

*  This  place  received  its  name  from  the  rite  of  circumcision,  which  had  been  long  disused,  being  here  re- 
newed. It  lay  about  two  miles  to  the  northeast  of  Jericho,  and  St.  Jerome  tells  us,  that  in  his  time  it  was 
greatly  venerated  liy  the  inhabitants. 

t  This  was  the  third  time  of  tlieir  celebrating  that  festival.  The  first  was  at  their  departure  out  of  Egypt ; 
and  the  second  at  their  erecting  tlie  tabernacle  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Sinai. 

t  ft  is  the  opinion  of  the  best  commentators,  botli  ancient  and  modern,  that  the  person  here  called  tlie 
captain  of  the  Lord's  host,  was  no  otlier  than  an  angel,  or  messenger  from  God,  wlio  was  pleased  in  this 
manner  to  appear  to  Joshua,  both  to  encourage  and  direct  him. 

II  Jkricho,  "the  city  of  palm  trees"  (Deut.  .xxxiv.  3),  derives  all  its  importance  from  history.  Though 
now  only  a  miserable  village,  containing  about  thirty  wretched  cottages,  wliich  are  inhabited  by  half-naked 
Arabs,  it  was  one  of  the  oldest  cities  in  Palestine,  and  was  the  first  place  reduced  by  tlie  Israelites  on  en- 
tering the  Holy  Land.  It  was  rased  to  the  giound  by  Joshua,  who  denounced  a  curse  on  the  person  who 
should  rebuild  it,  Josh.  vi.  20-26.    Five  hundred  and  thirty  years  afterward  tliis  malediction  was  literallj 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


183 


1S4  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

The  place  was  strong,  well  provided,  and  full  of  inhabitants,  who  had  retired  into  it, 
and  seemed  resolved  to  make  a  vigorous  defence. 

But  Joshua  had  an  irresistible  force  on  his  side.  He  strictly  obeyed  the  orders  he 
had  received,  and  the  promises  made  him  were  amply  fulfilled;  for,  on  the  seventh 
day,  as  soon  as  the  people  shouted,  after  going  round  the  city  seven  times,  the  walls 
suddenly  fel]  to  the  ground.  In  consequence  of  this,  the  Israelites  immediately 
entered  "the  place,  and  pui  every  living  creature  to  the  sword,  except  Rahab  and  her 
relations,  who,  being  preserved  as  had  been  directed  by  Joshua,  agreeably  to  the 
promise  made  by  the  spies,  were  placed  without  the  camp  of  the  army. 

In  ihe  city  were  found  great  quantities  of  gold,  silver,  and  brass,  the  whole  of 
which  was  of  immense  value,  ami  being  gathered  together  as  Joshua  had  ordered; 
lie  presented  it  to  the  priests,  to  be  deposited  in  the  sacred  treasury. 

Having  destroyed  all  the  mhabitants,  Joshua  ordered  the  city  to  be  set  on  fire, 
which  was  accordingly  done,  and  the  whole  reduced  to  a  heap  of  ashes.  He  like- 
wise denounced  a  heavy  curse  on  any  person  who  should  ever  after  attempt  to 
rebuild  it.  That  whoever  should  take  upon  him  to  lay  the  first  stone  might  be 
punished  by  the  loss  of  his  eldest  son;  and  whoever  should  finish  the  work,  his 
youngest. 

Noiwithstanding  Joshua  had  taken  the  greatest  precaution  to  prevent  private 
plunder  in  the  taking  of  Jericho,  yet  one  Achan,  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  committed  a 
violent  depredation,  by  taking  to  himself  the  rich  cloak  of  the  king  of  the  Canaan- 
ites,  two  hundred  shekels  of  silver,  and  a  wedge  of  gold  of  fifty  shekels.  He  secreted 
these  treasures  in  a  pit  he  had  dug  in  his  tent,  foolishly  supposing  the  fact  would  be 
no  more  noticed  by  God  than  it  was  known  by  his  companions.  But  in  this  he  soon 
found  himself  mistaken. 

About  twelve  miles  from  Jericho  (to  the  east  of  Bethel)  was  a  small  city  called  Ai, 
which  Joshua  knowing  to  be  neither  populous  nor  well  defended,  he  detached  a  small 
body  of  men  to  take  it.  Bnt  they  did  not  find  the  conquest  so  easy  as  they  had 
imagined  ;  for  no  sooner  did  they  approach  the  place  than  the  inhabitants  imme- 
diately sallied  out  upon  them,  and  having  slain  some,  the  rest  were  so  frightened 
that  they  betook  themselves  to  flight,  and  were  pursued  by  the  enemy  within  a  small 
distance  of  their  own  camp. 

This  defeat,  though  small,  struck  a  universal  damp  on  the  spirits  of  the  people : 
and  Joshua,  in  particular,  was  so  afflicted  that  he  had  recourse  to  the  Almighty,  who 
told  him  there  was  a  latent  cause  of  his  displeasure  among  the  people :  that  some  of 
them  had  taken  of  the  accursed  thing,  and  also  of  those  things  which  were  devoted 
to  the  Lord,  and,  instead  of  bringing  them  to  the  treasury  of  God,  had  concealed 

fulfilled  upon  Hiel  of  Bethel  1  Kings  xvi.  34,  who  rebuilt  the  oay,  which  soon  appears  to  have  attained  a 
considerable  degree  of  importance.  There  was  a  school  of  the  prophets  here  in  the  days  of  L;Ujah  and  Eli- 
slia,  both  of  whom  seemed  to  have  resided  much  here.  In  the  vicinity  of  Jericho  there  was  a  large  bnt  un- 
wholesome springf  which  rendered  the  soil  unfruitful,  until  it  was  cured  by  the  prophet  Elisha,  2  Kins;s,  ii. 
21.  In  Ezra  ii.  34;  and  Neh.  vii.  36,  we  read,  that  three  hundred  and  forty-five  ol  the  inhabitants  of  Juricho, 
who  had  been  carried  into  captivity,  returned  to  Judea  with  Zerubbabel,  and  in  Neh.  iii.  2,  we  find  thrin  at 
work  upon  the  walls  of  Jerusalem. 

Jerrcho  appears  to  have  contmued  in  a  flourishing  condition  during  several  centuries.  In  the  time  of  oui 
Saviour  it  was  inferior  only  to  Jerusalem  in  the  number  and  splendor  of  its  public  edifices,  and  was  one  of 
the  royal  residences  of  Herod  misnamed  the  Great,  who  died  there.  It  was  situated  in  the  hollow  or  bot- 
tom of  the  extensive  plain  called  the  "Great  Plain,"  (which  circumstance  marks  the  propriety  of  the  ex- 
pression "  going  down  to  Jerusalem,"  in  Luke  x.  30),  and  is  about  nineteen  miles  distant  from  the  capital 
of  Judca.  In  the  last  war  of  the  Romans  with  the  Jews,  Jericho  was  sacked  by  Vespasian,  and  its  inliab- 
itants  were  put  to  the  sword.  Subsequently  re-established  by  the  emperor  Hadrian,  A.  D.  13S,  it  was 
doomed  at  no  very  distant  period  to  experience  new  disasters  :  again  it  was  repaired  by  the  Cliristians,  who 
made  it  an  episcopal  see  ;  but  in  the  twelfth  century  it  was  captured  by  the  Mohammedans,  and  has  not 
smce  emerged  from  its  rums.  Of  all  its  magnificent  buildings  there  remains  part  of  only  one  tower,  the 
dwelling  of  the  governor  of  the  district,  which  is  seen  in  the  middle  of  our  engraving,  and  which  is  tradi- 
tionally said  to  have  been  the  dweUmg  of  Zaccheus  the  publican,  who  dwelt  at  Jericho  (Luke  xix.  1,  2). 

The  steep  mountainous  ridge  in  the  liackground  of  our  engraving  is  called  the  mountain  of  Quarantania, 
and  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  scene  of  our  Saviour's  temptation.  Matt.  iv.  1-10.  Here  Ml.  Shaw  is  of 
opinion  that  the  two  spies  of  Joshua  concealed  themselves,  Josh.  ii.  16.  This  mountain  cSfmands  a  dis- 
tinct and  delightful  view  of  the  mountains  of  Arabia,  and  of  the  Dead  sea,  and  of  the  extensu'e  and  fertile 
plain  of  Jericho.  According  to  Mr.  Maundrcll,  Quarantania  is  a  most  miserable,  dry,  and  barren  place,  con- 
sisting of  rocky  mountains  so  torn  and  disordered,  as  if  the  earth  had  here  suffered'somc  great  convulsion. 
On  the  left  hand,  looking  down  a  steep  valley,  as  he  passed  along,  he  saw  ruins  of  small  cells  and  cottages, 
thr  former  habitations  of  hermits  who  had  retired  thither  for  penance  and  mortification  ;  fur  which  purpose 
a  more  --omfortless  and  abandoned  place  could  not  be  found  in  the  whole  earth.  The  particular  mountain- 
ous precipice,  whence  "  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  and  the  glory  of  them"  were  shown  to  Jesus  Christ, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  185 

them  for  their  own  use.  He  likewise  told  Joshua  that  no  success  could  attend  the 
house  of  Israel  till  the  accursed  thing  was  removed ;  and  discovered  to  him  the 
means  whereby  the  offender  might  be  discovered  and  properly  punished. 

Agreeably  to  the  Divine  instructions,  Joshua,  early  the  next  morning,  set  about  the 
business  of  discovering  the  thief,  who  had  brought  so  great  an  evil  on  the  people. 
For  this  purpose,  he  ordered  all  the  tribes  to  assemble  before  the  altar,  where,  first 
castmg  lots  among  the  tribes,  it  appeared  the  thief  belonged  to  that  of  Judah.  They 
then  proceeded  from  tribe  to  family,  from  family  to  household,  and  from  household  to 
particular  persons ;  when  the  criminal  was  at  length  discovered  to  be  Achan,  who, 
on  Joshua's  admonition,  made  an  ample  confession  of  the  whole.  "  I  have,"  says  he, 
"  sinned  against  the  Lord  God  of  Israel ;  for  when  I  saw  among  the  spoil  a  royal  gar- 
ment and  two  hundred  shekels  of  silver,  with  a  wedge  of  gold  of  fifty  shekels  weight, 
my  covetousness  prompted  me  to  take  them ;  which  I  did,  and  hid  them  in  the  earih 
in  the  midst  of  my  tent." 

On  this  frank  confession,  Joshua  sent  messengers  to  examine  Achan's  tent,  who, 
finding  the  treasures,  brought  them  away,  and  laid  them  before  the  people.  The 
offender  being  thus  fully  convicted,  they  took  him,  together  with  his  family  (whom 
they  considered  as  accomplices  in  his  crime),  his  cattle,  tent,  and  all  his  moveables, 
and"  conducted  them  to  a  neighboring  valley  (called  from  that  time,  ua  allusion  to  this 
man's  name,  the  valley  of  Achor),  where  they  were  first  stoned  to  death,  and  their 
bodies  afterAvard  reduced  to  ashes.  They  likewise  burnt  all  their  goods  and  utensils, 
and  erected  over  the  whole  a  pile  of  stones,  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  crime, 
and  to  deter  others  from  committing  the  like  offence. 

The  Divine  vengeance  being  appeased  by  the  sentence  executed  upon  Achan,  God 
commanded  Joshua  to  make  another  attempt  on  the  city  of  Ai,  assuring  him  that  he 
should  De  no  less  successful  than  he  had  been  in  the  attack  on  Jericho.  As  an 
encouragement  to  the  soldiers,  he  allowed  them  the  plunder  of  the  city  and  cattle, 
and,  in  order  the  more  easily  to  facilitate  the  conquest,  particularly  enjoined  Joshua 
to  place  a  party  of  men  in  ambuscade  near  the  city. 

Agreeably  to  these  instructions,  Joshua  selected  thirty  thousand  men,  out  of  which 
he  sent  away  by  night  five  thousand  to  conceal  themselves  between  Bethel  and  Ai, 
who,  on  a  signal  given  by  him  (which  was  to  be  the  holding  up  of  a  spear  with  a 
banner  upon  it),  were  immediately  to  enter  the  city  and  set  it  on  fire.  Early  the 
next  morning,  Joshua  marched  with  his  army  before  the  north  part  of  the  city.  As 
soon  as  the  king  of  Ai  perceived  him,  he  immediately  sallied  out  of  the  to^vn  with 
his  troops,  followed  by  the  greater  part  of  the  inhabitants,  all  of  whom  had  been  so 
elated  with  their  former  success,  that  they  did  not  doubt  of  soon  making  an  easy  con- 
quest. They  accordingly  fell  on  the  Israelites  with  great  fury,  who  at  the  first  onset 
gave  way,  and  retreated  a  considerable  distance  from  the  city.  But  this  was  only  a 
femt  to  draw  the  enemy  into  the  plain ;  and  therefore,  as  soon  as  Joshua  saw  that  by 
this  stratagem  the  city  was  pretty  well  emptied,  he  gave  the  signal  to  the  ambuscade, 
who,  finding  it  defenceless,  immediately  entered  and  set  it  on  fire.  The  ascent  of  the 
smoke  convinced  Joshua  that  his  men  had  got  possession  of  the  place ;  upon  Avhich 
he  suddenly  turned  about  and  faced  the  enemy,  who,  little  expecting  the  Israelites 
would  rally,  were  so  surprised  that  they  began  to  think  of  retreating  to  the  city. 
But  when  they  saw  it  all  in  flames,  and  the  party  who  had  set  it  on  fire  just  going  to 
fall  upon  their  rear,  they  were  so  dispirited  that  they  could  neither  fight  nor  fly;  in 
consequence  of  which  they  were  all  cut  to  pieces  by  the  Israelites,  who,  immediately 
marching  to  the  city,  put  all  they  found  in  it  to  the  sword :  the  whole  number,  men, 
women,  and  children,  slain  that  day,  amounted  to  twelve  thousand.  The  king  of  Ai 
being  taken  prisoner,  was  ordered  to  be  hung  on  a  gibbet  till  sunset ;  after  which  his 
body  was  taken  down  and  buried  under  a  great  heap  of  stones  near  the  entrance  of 
the  city.  The  cattle  and  spoil  taken  from  the  enen^  were  (according  to  the  Divine 
appointment)  divided  among  the  soldiers,  who  so  effectually  destroyed  the  city  as  to 
leave  it  a  mere  heap  of  rubbish. 

As  Joshua  was  noAv  but  a  small  distance  from  the  mountains  of  Gerizim  and  Ebal, 
he  bethought  himself  of  the  command,  which  had  been  given  him  by  Moses,  relative 
to  the  readin;;  of  the  law  (with  the  blessings  and  curses  thereunto  annexed),  from 
those  two  mountains.  He  accordingly  went  to  Mount  Ebal,  where  he  erected  an  al- 
tar, on  which  he  offered  up  sacrifices  to  God  for  his  late  victories.  He  likewise  caused 
an  abridgment  of  the  law,  or  some  of  the  most  remarkable  parts  of  it,  to  be  engraven 


(86  A  x\EW  AND  COMPLETE 

on  stones ;  and  afterward  read  the  whole  of  it  to  the  people,  as  had  been  coniniandet' 
by  Moses. 

The  great  success  of  Joshua  against  the  cities  of  Jericho  and  Ai,  and  the  dreadfui 
shiughter  made  among  the  inhabitants,  had  so  alarmed  the  kings  of  the  respective 
provinces  on  that  side  the  river  Jordan,  that  they  confederated  together,  and  entered 
into  a  league  for  their  mutual  defence.  But  the  Gibeonites,  foreseeing  the  deslruciion 
that  awaited  them,  and  being  apprehensive  that  all  resistance  would  be  in  vain,  re- 
solved to  make  a  peace  wi'h  ihe  Israelites,  which  they  effected  by  the  following  stral- 
a2fera  :  They  selected  a  certain  number  of  artful  men,  Avho  were  instructed  to  feign 
themselves  ambassadors  come  from  a  very  distant  country,  m  order  to  obtain  a  league 
with  the  people  of  Israel.  To  make  this  story  appear  plausible,  they  were  dressed 
m  tattered  garments,  with  old  clouted  shoes  on  their  feet ;  and  their  provision  consisted 
of  dry  musty  bread,  which  they  carried  in  old  sacks,  with  some  wine  in  bottles,  all 
tarnished  and  torn.  In  this  woful-appearing  plight  they  arrived  at  Giigal,  the  place 
where  the  army  of  the  Israelites  was  at  this  time  encamped. 

Being  introduced  to  Joshua,  they  told  him,  that  from  the  many  miracles  which  God 
had  wrought  for  the  Israelites  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  the  Avonderful  successes 
wherewith  he  had  blessed  their  arms  against  every  power  that  had  opposed  them  in 
coming  to  that  place,  their  slates  and  rulers  had  sent  them,  from  a  very  remote  coun- 
try, to  form  a  league  of  friendship  with  them,  and  tiiai  on  such  conditions  as  were 
customary  with  their  forefathers.  They  then  pohiied  to  their  garments,  which  they 
solemnly  assured  Joshua  were  quite  new  when  they  sat  out  on  their  journey,  but  that 
the  length  of  it  had  reduced  them  to  the  state  in  which  they  then  appeared. 

This  stratagem  had  the  desired  effect :  The  plausible  story  of  these  feigned  ambas- 
sadors gained  such  credit  with  the  Israelites,  that  they  entered  into  an  amicable  alli- 
ance with  them ;  and  Eleazer,  the  high-priest,  with  the  princes  of  the  respective 
tribes,  solemnly  ratified  the  treaty,  the  whole  multitude  assenting  to  the  oaths  made 
by  their  leaders.  When  the  bitsmess  was  over,  the  Gibeoaites  took  their  leave,  and 
hasted  home  with  the  glad  tidings  of  their  successful  expedition. 

Three  days  after  the  departure  of  these  ambassadors,  the  whole  plot  was  discovered, 
when  it  appeared  that  the  Gibeonites  were  inhabitants  of  Canaan,  and  that  they  re- 
sided at  a  small  distance  from  Jerusalem.  This  discovery  greatly  alarmed  Joshua, 
who  immediately  sent  for  their  governors,  and  reproached  them  for  having  practised 
such  a  deception ;  to  which  they  replied,  that  they  were  compelled  to  do  it  in  their 
own  defence,  as  they  knew  they  should  otherwise  share  a  similar  fote  with  the  in- 
habitants of  Jericho  and  Ai.  Joshua  was  desirous  of  having  the  league  cancelled  ; 
but  as  it  was  confirmed  by  a  solemn  oath,  this  could  not  be  done,  without  incurring 
the  divine  displeasure.  It  was  therefore  resolved,  in  order  to  appease  the  people,  that, 
as  a  punishment  for  the  imposition,  the  Gibeonites  should  ever  after  be  kept  in  a  state 
of  bondage,  by  being  made  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water.  This  sentence 
they  received  without  the  least  murmur,  humbly  acquiescing  in  whatever  was  thought 
proper  to  be  imposed  upon  them  by  the  Israelites. 

When  the  confederate  princes  (who  were  five  in  nunaber,  the  principal  of  whom 
was  Adonizedek,  king  of  Jerusalem)  heard  of  the  separate  treaty  made  by  the  Gib- 
eonites, and  the  artful  manner  in  which  it  was  obtained,  they  resolved  to  be  revenged 
on  them  for  their  desertion  of  the  common  cause.  Accordingly  they  joined  all  their 
forces,  arid  marched  toward  the  city  of  Gibeon,  with  a  firm  resolution  of  totally  de- 
stroying it.  When  they  came  within  a  small  distance  of  the  place,  they  pitched  their 
tents,  intending  to  begin  the  attack  early  the  next  morning.  In  the  meantime  the 
Gibeonites  (not  daring  to  trust  to  their  own  strength)  despatched  a  messenger  to  Joshua, 
imploring  his  immediate  assistance,  as  they  must  otherwise  inevitably  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  Canaanites. 

Joshua  lost  no  time  in  complying  with  their  request.  He  immediately  set  out  with 
his  army,  and  after  marching  the  whole  night,  arrived,  the  next  morning,  at  the  spot 
where  the  enemy  were  encamped.  The  appearance  of  so  formidable  an  army,  and 
so  unexpected,  had  such  an  effect  on  the  Canaanites,  that  on  Joshua's  making  an  at- 
tack they  immediately  gave  way,  and  were  entirely  routed,  many  being  killed,  and 
the  rest  betaking  themselves  to  a  precipitate  flight.  God  had  all  along  encouraged 
Joshua  by  promising  him  success;  and  therefore,  as  the  confederate  forces  were  en- 
deavoring to  escape,  there  fell  a  most  violent  storm  of  hail,  the  stones  of  which  were 
so  large  that  more  people  were  destroyed  by  them  than  Avhat  fell  by  (he  sword. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  187 

Joshaa  was  so  desirous  of  totally  extirpating  the  Canaanites,  and  so  elevated  with  the 
manile.-;t  inlerposilion  of  the  Almighty,  that  while  he  was  in  chase  of  them,  he  begged, 
in  the  most  lervent  manner,  that  the  sun  and  moon  might  stand  still  till  he  had  ac- 
complished his  wishes.  Notwithstanding  the  singularity  of  this  request,  God  was 
pleased  to  grant  it ;  so  that  this  was  the  most  memorable  day  that  ever  happened,  the 
Almighty  condescending  to  alter  the  course  of  nature  to  answer  the  purposes  of  man. 

The  confederate  kings,  finding  themselves  closely  pursued,  and  likely  to  be  either 
slain,  or  made  captives,  concealed  themselves  in  a  cave,  near  Makkedah,  a  city  be- 
longing to  the  tribe  of  Judah  ;  intelligence  of  which  being  given  to  Joshua,  he  ordered 
the  mouth  of  the  cave  to  be  blocked  up,  and  a  guard  placed  over  it,  to  prevent  their 
escape.  In  this  situation  they  remained  till  Joshua  returned  from  pursuing  the  fugi- 
tives, when  he  ordered  the  cave  lo  be  opened,  and  the  kings  to  be  brought  forth,  and 
hung  upon  trees  till  the  evening.  This  v/as  accordingly  done,  when  their  bodies  were 
taken  down,  and  thrown  into  the  cave;  so  that  the  place  they  had  chosen  for  their 
sanctuary  became  their  sepulchre. 

After  this  signal  victory,  Joshua  proceeded  to  the  southern  parts  of  Canaan ;  in 
which,  having  soon  reduced  the  most  considerable  places,  and  put  the  hihabiianis  lo 
the  sword,  he  returned,  with  his  victorious  array,  to  the  camp  at  Gilgal. 

The  great  fame  of  Joshua  being  now  spread  throughout  Canaan,  several  princes  of 
the  northern  parts,  at  the  instigation  of  Jabiii,  king  of  Hazor,  confederated  together, 
and  raised  a  great  army  to  engage  the  Israelites,  Avhich  they  encamped  at  Berolha,  a 
city  of  the  Upper  Galilee,  not  far  from  the  waters  of  Merom.  Tiiis,  however,  did  not 
in  the  least  intimidate  Joshua,  Avho,  in  pursuance  of  the  instructions  w^hich  God  had 
given  him  (namely,  that  he  should  not  only  destroy  them,  but  also  their  horses  and 
chariots),  immediately  took  the  field,  marched  toward  the  enemy,  and  fell  so  suddenly 
on  them,  that  they  were  totally  routed,  and,  except  some  few  who  escaped  into  the 
country,  were  all  put  to  the  sword  ;  after  which  he  ham-strung  their  horses  and  burnt 
their  chariots.  Jabin,  king  of  Hazor,  who  had  been  at  the  head  of  the  confederacy, 
and  was  taken  prisoner,  he  put  to  death,  and  ordered  his  city  to  be  burnt  lo  the  ground ; 
but  the  other  cities  whose  inhabitants  were  slain  in  the  action,  he  left  standing,  and 
gave  the  cattle  and  plunder  to  the  soldiers. 

After  defeating  this  powerful  army,  Joshua  pursued  his  route  to  the  m»st  distant 
j^arts  of  Canaan ;  and,  by  degrees,  subdued  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  country.  He 
slew  all  their  kings,  who  were  thirty-one  in  number,  together  with  the  Anakims,  or 
giants,  of  whom  he  left  none  remaining,  except  in  Gaza,  Gath,  and  Ashdod. 

Joshua,  having  now  extended  his  conquests  as  far  as  he  thought  necessary  at  pres- 
ent, resolved  to  divide  the  country  he  had  taken  among  the  nine  tribes  and  a  half  who 
were  yet  unprovided  for,  and  to  dismiss  the  two  tribes  and  a  half  (namely,  those  of 
Reuben,  Gad,  and  the  half-tribe  of  Manasseh)  who  had  assisted  him  in  the  wars,  and 
whose  habitations  had  been  settled  by  Moses  on  the  east  side  of  the  river  Jordan. 

In  consequence  of  this  resolution,  Joshua  appointed  commissioners  to  take  a  survey 
of  the  captured  land,  and  ordered  them  to  report  the  state  of  it  with  all  expedition. 
These  messengers  having  executed  their  commission,  returned,  at  the  expiration  of 
seven  months,  to  Joshua,  to  whom,  having  delivered  their  report,  he,  assisted  by  Ele- 
azer  the  high-priest,  the  elders,  and  the  princes  of  the  respective  tribes,  divided  the 
whole  country  into  equal  portions,  for  which  (according  to  God's  direction)  each  tribe 
cast  lots  ;  but  as  some  of  the  tribes  were  larger,  and  some  territories  richer  than  others, 
he  took  care  to  adjust  the  proportion  of  land  to  the  largeness  of  the  tribe,  and  the 
number  of  families  in  each  ;  so  that,  notwithstanding  they  cast  lots,  the  divisions 
were  all  made  as  equal  as  possible. 

As  soon  as  Joshua  had  thus  divided  the  country  on  the  west  side  of  the  Jordan,  he 
took  up  his  residence  at  a  small  place  near  Shiloh,  where  after  the  wars  the  tabernacle 
was  set  up,  that  he  might  have  the  opportunity,  as  occasion  should  otTer,  of  consulting 
the  divine  oracle. 

After  being  here  a  few  days,  Joshua  assembled  together  the  auxiliaries  (namely, 
the  tribes  of  Reuben  and  Gad,  with  the  half-tribe  of  Manasseh),  and  gave  them  an 
honorable  dismission.  "  He  acknowledged  the  great  services  they  had  done  him  in 
his  wars  with  the  Canaanites,  and  highly  applauded  their  courage  and  fidelity.  He 
exhorted  them,  as  they  were  now  going  to  be  separated  from  the  tabernacle,  to  be 
diligent  in  their  duty  to  God,  and  to  bear  always  in  mind  those  laws  which  he  had 
given  them  by  his  servant  Moses.     He  advised  them  to  distribute  a  share  of  the  rich 


188  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

booty  they  had  got  among  their  brethren  on  the  other  side  the  Jordan  ;  because,  though 
they  did  not  partake  of  the  troubles  of  the  war,  they  had  nevertheless  been  of  infinite 
service  in  protecting  their  I'amilies  during  their  absence."  With  these  acknowledg- 
ments and  exhortations,  together  with  many  sincere  wishes  for  their  prosperity,  Joshua 
dismissed  them,  and  they  immediately  departed  for  their  own  country. 

As  soon  as  these  two  tribes  and  a  half  arrived  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  Jor- 
dan, they  erected  an  altar  near  the  place  where  they  and  their  brethren  had  miracu- 
lously passed  over,  not  for  any  religious  use,  but  as  a  memorial  to  succeediug-  genera- 
tions, that  though  they  were  parted  by  the  river,  they  were  of  the  same  descent  and 
religion,  and  held  an  equal  right  to  "the  tabernacle  at  Shiloh,  and  to  the  worship  of 
God  performed  there,  as  their  brethren  on  the  other  side  the  Jordan.  This  had  like 
to  have  proved  of  fatal  consequences,  for  the  latter,  either  from  being  misinformed, 
or  misapprehending  the  intent  of  the  altar  being  erected,  fell  into  a  violent  rage,  con- 
sidering them  as  apostates  from  the  true  religion  ;  and,  in  order  to  punish  them,  as- 
sembled their  forces  at  Shiloh,  with  a  resolution  of  immediately  declaring  war  against 
them.  But. before  they  proceeded  to  these  extremities,  their  rulers  advised  them  to 
suspend  the  execution  of  their  wrath  till  they  had  sent  a  deputation  in  order  to  know 
their  reason  for  building  such  an  altar.  This  being  agreed  to,  they  sent  Phineas,  the 
son  of  Eleazer,  Avith  ten  princes,  one  out  of  each  tribe,  to  expostulate  with  them  on 
their  conduct.  On  their  arrival  Phineas  accosted  them  in  very  severe  terms,  charging 
them  with  idolatry  and  rebellion  against  the  Lord. 

He  reminded  them  of  the  calamities  which  God  had  formerly  sent  upon  them  for 
their  worship  of  Baal-peor ;  and  that,  if  he  had  been  so  severe  upon  them  for  the  of- 
fence of  one  man  (namely,  Achan  only)  what  might  they  not  expect,  when  two  tribes 
and  a  half  were  going  to  make  a  general  revolt  ?  He  then  concluded  by  saying,  "If 
ye  have  done  this  from  any  apprehension  that  the  land  ye  possess  on  this'  side  the 
Jordan  is  unclean,  or  less  holy  than  ours,  because  the  tabernacle  is  on  our  side,  return 
and  settle  among  us  where  the  tabernacle  resteth  ;  but  by  no  means  rebel  against  the 
Lord,  nor  us,  in  building  you  an  altar,  besides  the  altar  of  the  Lord." 

The  Reubenites,  Gadites,  and  Manassites,  concerned  to  hear  the  ill  opinion  which 
their  brethren  had  conceived  of  them,  protested  their  innocence  of  any  idolatrous  in- 
tention, a^d  made  a  solemn  appeal  to  God,  that  so  far  were  they  from  setting  up  an 
altar  in  opposition  to  his,  that  the  only  design  of  the  structure  they  had  raised  Avas, 
to  perpetuate  their  right  to  the  service  of  the  tabernacle,  and  to  secure  it  to  their  latest 
posterity. 

From  this  answer  the  deputies  were  fully  convinced  that  the  accusation  laid  against 
their  brethren  Avas  totally  groundless,  and  instead  of  having  committed  a  crime,  that 

ey  had  only  given  an  instance  of  their  sincere  attachment  to  their  religious  duties, 
•.he  deputies,  therefore,  after  taking  a  friendly  leave,  returned  to  Shiloh,  and  having 
communicated  the  particulars  of  all  that  had  passed  to  the  people,  they  expressed  the 
greatest  satisfaction  at  the  result  of  the  embassy ;  and  the  angry  thoughts  of  war 
Tvere  immediately  changed  into  peace  and  brotherly  affection.  On  the  other  hand, 
jhe  Reubenites  and  their  brethren,  to  prevent  any  future  jealousy,  or  suspicion,  called 
jhe  altar  they  had  erected  Ed,  intending  it  as  a  standing  witness  (for  so  the  word  sig- 
nifies) that  though  they  lived  at  a  distance  from  the  rest  of  their  brethren,  yet  they 
jad  all  but  one  origin,  and  one  God,  who  was  the  common  God  and  father  of  all  Israel. 

This  matter  being  adjusted,  and  the  Israelites  quietly  settled  in  the  possession  of 
their  conquests  on  both  sides  the  river  Jordan,  Joshua  disbanded  his  forces,  and  retired 
to  Shechem. 

No  particular  occurrence  took  place  from  this  period  till  the  death  of  Joshua,  which 
happened  about  twenty  years  after.  He  was  at  this  time  far  advanced  in  years,  and 
finding  his  dissolution  near  at  hand,  he  convened  a  general  assembly  of  the  princes 
and  magistrates,  with  as  many  of  the  common  people  as  could  be  gathered  together. 
As  soon  as  they  were  met,  he  harangued  them  in  a  very  pertinent  discourse  on  the 
great  benefits  and  protection  they  had  received  from  tlie  hand  of  Providence.  He 
pointed  out  to  them  in  what  manner  he  had  preserved  them,  even  m  the  midst  of 
dangers;  and  that  he  hadnot  only  relieved  them  in  all  their  wants  and  distresses,  but 
had  removed  them  from  the  most  abject,  to  the  most  jirosperous  situation  in  life.  In 
gratitude  to  so  great  a  protector  and  benefactor,  he  exhorted  them  to  a  faithful  observ- 
ance of  his  laws,  and  invited  them  to  ri-neAV  their  covenant  Avith  God,  Avhich  their 
forefathers  had  made.     This  being  done  in  very  ample  and  significant  terms,  he  re- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  189 

corded  the  covenant  in  the  book  of  the  law,  and  set  up  a  great  stone  under  an  oak, 
near  a  place  of  religious  worship,  as  a  testimony  against  them,  should  they  ever  after 
deny  God's  service. 

A  short  time  after  this  Joshua  paid  the  debt  of  nature,  in  the  one  hundred  and  tenth 
year  of  his  age.  He  was  buried  at  Tinmathserah,  in  Mount  Ephraim,  which  city,  un 
the  division  of  the  land  among  the  tribes,  was  given  to  him  by  the  Israelites,  as  an 
acknowledgment  for  the  great  services  they  had  received  from  his  administration. 

Much  about  the  same  time  died  Eleazer,  the  high-priesf,  who  was  likewise  buried 
in  one  of  the  hills  of  Ephraim,  which  had  been  given  him  by  the  Israelites,  and  which 
afterward  descended  to  Pliineas,  his  son,  and  successor  in  the  priesthood. 

These  two  funerals,  so  near  the  same  time  and  place,  reminded  the  Israelites  of  the 
bones  of  Joseph,  which,  at  his  request,  had  been  brought  out  of  Egypt,  but  not  yet 
interred.  They  therefore  took  this  opportunity  of  performing  the  funeral  obsequies 
of  their  great  progenitor  in  Shechem,  where  Jacob  had  purchased  a  piece  of  ground 
of  the  sons  of  Hamor,  and  which  afterward  became  the  inheritance  of  Joseph's  pos- 
terity 


CHAPTER     XIII. 

From  Joshua  to  Samuel  (a  period  of  about  four  hundred  and  seveniy-ibur  years) 
the  condition  of  the  Israelites  varied  according  as  the  fundamental  law  of  the  state 
was  observed  or  transgressed,  exactly  as  Moses  had  predicted,  and  as  the  sanctions 
of  the  law  had  determined. 

The  last  admonitions  of  Joshua,  and  the  solemn  renewal  of  the  covenant  with  Je- 
hovah, failed  to  produce  all  the  etlect  intended.  That  generation,  indeed,  never  suf- 
fered idolatry  to  become  predominant,  but  still  they  were  very  negligent  with  res])ect 
to  the  expulsion  of  the  Canaanites.  Only  a  few  tribes  made  war  upon  them,  and 
even  they  were  soon  weary  of  the  contest.  They  spared  their  dangerous  and  cor- 
ruptmg  neighbors,  and,  contrary  to  express  statute,  were  satisfied  with  making  them 
tributary.  They  even  became  connected  with  them  by  unlawful  marriages,  and  then 
it  Avas  no  longer  easy  for  them  to  exterminate  or  banish  the  near  relatives  of  their 
own  families.  The  Hebrews  thus  rendered  the  execution  of  so  severe  a  law  in  a 
manner  impossible,  and  wove  for  themselves  the  web  in  which  thev  were  afterward 
entangled.  Their  Canaanitish  relatives  invited  them  to  their  festivals,  where  not 
only  lascivious  songs  were  sung  in  honor  of  the  gods,  but  fornication  and  uunalurai 
lusts  were  indulged  in  as  part  of  the  divine  service.  These  debaucheries,  then  con- 
secrated by  the  religious  customs  of  all  nations,  were  gratifying  to  the  sensual  appe- 
tites ;  and  the  subject  of  Jehovah  too  readily  submitted  himself  to  such  deities,  so 
highly  honored  by  his  connexions,  and  worshipped  in  all  the  neighboring  nations.  At 
first,  probably,  a  symbolical  representation  of  Jehovah  was  set  up,  but  this  was  soon 
transferred  to  an  idol,  or  was  invoked  as  an  idol  by  others.  Idolatrous  images  Avere 
afterward  set  up,  together  with  the  image  of  Jehovah,  and  the  Israelites  fondly 
imagined  that  they  should  be  the  more  prosperous  if  they  rendered  homage  to  the 
ancient  gods  of  the  land.  The  propensity  to  idolatry,  which  was  predominant  in  all 
the  rest  of  the  world,  thus  spread  itself  among  the  chosen  people  like  a  plague. 
From  time  to  time  idolatry  was  publicly  professed,  and  this  national  treachery  lo 
their  king,  Jehovah,  always  brought  with  it  national  misfortunes. 

However,  it  does  not  appear  that  any  form  of  idolatry  was  openly  tolerated  until 
that  generation  was  extinct,  which,  under  Joshua,  had  sworn  anew  to  the  covenant 
with  Jehovah.  After  that  the  rulers  were  unable  or  unwilling  any  longer  to  prevetii 
the  public  worship  of  pagan  deities.  But  the  Hebrews,  rendered  effeminate  by  this 
voluptuous  religion,  and  forsaken  by  their  king,  Jehovah,  were  no  longer  able  to  con- 
tend with  their  foes,  and  were  forced  to  bend  their  necks  under  a  foreign  yoke.  In 
this  humiliating  and  painful  subjection  to  a  conquering  people,  they  called  to  mind 
their  deliverance  from  Egypt,  the  ancient  kindnesses  of  Jehovah,  the  promises  and 
threatenings  of  the  law:  then  they  forsook  their  idols,  who  could  afford  them  no 
help, — they  returned  to  the  sacred  tabernacle,  and  then  found  a  deliverer  who  freed 
them  from  their  bondage.  The  reformation  was  generally  of  no  longer  duration  than 
the  life  of  the  deliverer.     As  soon  as  that  generation  was  extinct,  idolatry  again  crept 


190  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

in  by  the  same  way,  and  soon  became  predominant.  Then  followed  subjection  ancl 
oy)pression  under  tiie  yoke  of  some  neighboring  people,  until  a  second  rei'ormation 
prepared  them  for  a  new  deliverance.  Between  these  extremes  of  prosperity  and 
adversity,  the  consequences  of  their  fidelity  or  treachery  to  their  divine  king,  the  He- 
brew nation  was  continually  fluctuatmg  until  the  time  of  Samuel.  Such  were  the 
arrangements  of  Providence,  that  as  soon  as  idolatry  gained  the  ascendency,  some 
one  of  the  neighboring  nations  grew  powerful,  acquired  the  preponderance,  and  sub- 
jected the  Hebrews.  "  Jehovah^lways  permitted  their  oppressions  to  become  sutii- 
ciently  severe  to  arouse  them  from  their  slumbers,  to  remmd  them  of  the  sanctions 
of  the' law,  and  to  turn  them  again  to  their  God  and  king.  Tben  a  hero  arose,  who 
inspired  the  people  wiih  courage,  defeated  their  enemies,  abolished  idolatry,  and  re- 
esiablished  the  authority  of  Jehovah.  As  the  Hebrews,  in  the  course  of  time,  became 
more  obstinate  in  their  idolatry,  so  each  subsequent  oppression  of  the  nation  was  al- 
Avays  more  severe  than  the  preceding.  So  difficult  was  it,  as  mankind  were  then 
situated,  to  preserve  a  knowledge  of  the  true  God  in  the  world,  although  so  repeat- 
edly and  so  expressly  revealed,  and  in  so  high  a  degree  made  manifest  to  the  senses.* 

After  this  general  view  of  the  whole  period  above  referred  to,  we  may  proceed  to 
the  historical  details  from  which  that  view  is  collected. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  Joshua,  and  while  the  contemporary  elders  still  lived,  the 
Israelites  made  some  vigorous  and  successful  exertions  to  extend  their  territory.  The 
most  remarkable  of  these  exertions  was  that  made  by  the  tribe  of  Judah,  assisted  by 
that  d"  Simeon.  They  slew  ten  thousand  Canaanites  and  Perizzites  in  the  territory 
0/  Bezek,  the  king  of  which,  Adoni-bezek  (literally,  "  my  lord  of  Bezek"),  contrived 
Wjnake  his  escape ;  but  he  was  pursued  and  taken,  when  the  conquerors  cut  off  his 
thumbs  and  great  toes.  Now  this,  at  the  first  view,  was  a  barbarous  act.  It  was 
not  a  mode  in  which  the  Hebrews  were  wont  to  treat  their  captives ;  and  the  reason 
for  it — that  it  was  intended  as  an  act  of  just  retaliation,  or,  as  we  should  say,  of  po- 
etic justice — appears  from  the  bitter  remark  of  Adoni-bezek  himself: — "  Three  score 
and  ten  kings,  having  their  thumbs  and  great  toes  cut  off,  gathered  their  meat  under 
iny  table:  as  I  have  done,  so  God  hath  requited  me."  This  proves  that,  as  we  have 
already  on  more  than  one  occasion  intimated,  the  war  practices  of  the  Israelites — 
especially  in  the  treatment  of  their  captives — were  not  more  barbarous,  and,  in  many 
respectSjless  barbarous,  than  those  of  their  contemporaries;  and  that  even  their  pol- 
ished neighbors,  the  Egyptians,  were  not  in  this  respect  above  them.  Adoni-bezek 
died  scon  after  at  Jerusalem,  to  which  place  he  was  taken  by  the  conquerors.  They 
at  this  time  had  possession  of  the  lower  part  of  that  town,  and  soon  after  succeeded 
in  taking  the  upper  city,  upon  Mount  Zion,  which  the  Jebusites  had  hitherto  retained. 
They  sacked  it  and  burned  it  with  fire.  But  as  we  afterward  again  find  it  in  the 
occupation  of  the  Jebusites,  down  to  the  time  of  David,  it  seems  they  took  advantage 
of  some  one  of  the  subsequent  oppressions  of  Israel  to  recover  the  site  and  rebuild  the 
upper  city. 

Eleazer  the  high-jTiest,  as  we  have  seen,  did  not  long  survive  Joshua;  and  the 
remnant  of  the  seveiity  elders,  originally  appointed  by  Moses  to  assist  him  in  the 
government  of  the  n;i'ion,  soon  followed  them  to  the  tomb.  While  these  venerable 
persons  lived,  the  Israelites  remained  faiihful  to  their  divine  King  and  to  his  laws. 
But  soon  after  their  death  the  beginnings  of  corruption  appeared.  A  timely  attempt 
was  made  to  check  its  progress  by  the  remonstrances  and  threalenings  of  a  projjhet 
from  Gilgal.  But  alth(.ugh  they  quailed  under  the  rebuke  which  was  there  admin- 
istered, the  effect  was  lut  temporary.  The  downward  course  which  the  nation  had 
taken  was  speedily  resr,;ned;  and  it  is  strikingly  illustrated  by  some  circumstances 
which  the  author  of  the  book  of  Judges  has  given  in  an  appendix  contained  in  the 
last  five  chapters  of  that  book,  but  which  we  shall  find  it  more  convenient  to  intro- 
duce here  in  their  prope."  chroiujlogical  place. 

The  history  of  IMicah  furnishes  a  very  interesting  example  of  the  extent  to  which 
even  Israelites,  well  disposed  in  the  main,  had  becume  familiarized  with  superstitious 
and  idolatrous  practices,  and  the  curious  manner  in  which  they  managed  to  make  a 
monstrous  and  most  unseemly  alliance  between  the  true  doctrine  in  which  they  had 
been  brought  up,  and  the  erroneous  notions  which  they  had  imbibed. 

A  woman  of  Ephraim  had,  through  a  mistaken  zeal,  dedicated  a  large  quantity  of 

'  Jahri,  ti.  Hi.  ti-rt.  20. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  191 

silver  (about  five  hundred  and  fifty  ounces)  to  the  Lord,  intending  that  her  soh  should 
make  therewith  a  teraph,  m  the  hope  that  by  this  means  she  might  procure  to  her* 
house  the  blessings  of  One  who  had  absolutely  forbidden  all  wprshjp  by'imdges." 
Her  son  JMicah  knew  not  of  this  sacred  appropriation  of  the  money,  and  tc5ek  it  for 
the  usfe  of  the  house.  But  on  learning  its  desunation,  ajld  hearing  his  mother  lay 
her  curse  <jpon  the  sacrilegious  person  by  whom  she  supgosed  ij;  had^been  stolen,  he 
became  alarmed,  aAJ  ri^ored^her  the  silver;  and  received  it  again  Yrom  'her  with 
directio;is  to  give  effect  to  het  intention.  This  he  did.  .He  provided  a  teraph,  and 
all  thin2^  necessary -to  the  pet/brmance  af  religious  servioes  before  itj  includmg  vest- 
ments for  a  priest.   "Hfe  set  apart  one  oifihis  owii'sons  as  priest,  until,  he  should  be 

.  ai)le  to  procure  a  Leviie  to  take  that  thafacter.  He  had  not  long  to  wait.  It  would 
seem  that  the  dnes  of  the  Levites  were  not  properly  paid  at  this  time;  for  a  young 

.  Levite,  -who  had  lived  at  BethleJiem,'  felt  himself  obliged  to  leave  that  place  and 
seek  elscAvhere  a  subsistence.  Happening  to  call  at  Micah's  house,  .he  gladly  ac- 
cepted that  person's  offer  to  remain  and  act  as  priest  for  the  recompense  of  his 

•  victuals,-  with  two  suits  of  clothes  (one  probably  sacerdotal),  and  elev-en  shekels  of 
. '  silver.     Micah  was  delighted  at  this  Completion  of  his  establishment,  and,  with  most 

*  marvellous  infatuation,  criW,  "Now  I  know  Jehovah  Avill  bless  me,  seeing  I  have  a 
'.Levite  to  be. my  priest."  Things  went  on  tranquilly  for  a  time.  But  it  happened 
■that  the  tribe  of  Dan  could  not  get  possession  of  more  than  the  hilly  part  of  its  terri- 
.  tbry,  as  the  Amorites  retained  the  plain,  which  was  the  most  rich  and  valuable  part. 

They  therefore  sought  elsewhere  an  equivalent  territory  which«might  be  more  easily 
acquired.  Having  ascertained  that  this  might  be  found  in  the  remote  but  wealthy 
and  peaceable  town  and  district  of  Laish,  near  the  sources  of  the  Jordan,  a  body  of 
six  hundred  men  was  sent  to  get  possession  of  it.  From  the  persons  they  had  previ- 
ously sent  to  explore  the  country,  they  had  heard  of  Micah's  establishment;  and  so 
fax  from  manifesting  any  surprise  or  indignation,  they  viewed  the  matter  much  in  the 
same  light  as  Micah  did  himself.  They  envied  him  his  idol  and  his  priest,  and  re- 
solved to  deprive  him  of  both,  and  take  them  to  their  new  settlement.  They  did  so, 
notwithstanding  the  protests  and  outcries  of  the  owner :  and  as  for  the  Levite',  he  was 
easily  persuaded  to  prefer  the  priesthood  of  a  clan  to  that  of  a  single  family.  His 
descendants  continued  long  after  to  exercise  the  priestly  office,  in  connexion  with  this 
idol;  at  Dan,  which  was  the  name  the  conquerors  gave  to  the  town  of  Laish:  and  it 
is  lamentable  to  have  to  add,  that  there  is  good  reason  to  suspect  that  this  Levite 
was  no  other  than  a  grandson  of  Moses. 

It  Would  seem  that  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  had  much  the  start  of  the  other  tribes  in 
the  moral  corruption,  in  the  infamous  vices,  Avhich  resulted  from  the  looseness  of  their 
religious  notions,  and  from  the  contaminatmg  example  of  the  heathen,  with  whom 
they  were  surrounded  and  intermixed. 

A  Levite  of  Mount  Ephraim  was  on  his  way  home  with  his  wife,  whom  he  was 
bringing  back  from  her  father's  house  in  Bethlehem;  and,  on  the  approach  of  night, 
he  entered  the  town  of  Gibeah,  in  Benjamin,  to  tarry  till  the  next  morning.  As  the 
custom  of  the  travellers  was,  he  remained  in  the  street  till  some  one  should  invite 
them  to  his  house.  But  in  that  wicked  place  no  hospitable  notice  was  taken  of  them 
until  an  old  man,  himself  from  Mount  Ephraim,  but  living  there,  invited  them  to  his 
home.  In  the  night  that  house  was  besieged  by  the  men  of  the  place,  after  the  same 
fashion  and  for  the  same  purpose  as  that  of  Lot  had  been,  when  he  entertained  the 
angels  in  Sodom.  The  efforts  of  the  aged  host  to  turn  them  from  their  purpose  were 
unavailing;  and,  as  a  last  resource,  the  Levite,  in  the  hope  of  diverting  them  from 
tlieir  abominable  purpose,  put  forth  his  wife  into  the  street.  She  was  grievously 
maltreated  by  these  vile  people  until  the  morning,  when  they  left  her.  She  then 
went  and  lay  down  at  the  door  of  the  house  in  which  her  lord  lay;  and  when  he 
afterward  opened  it— she  was  dead.  The  Levite  laid  the  corpse  upon  his  beast  and 
hastened  to  his  home. 

Tliere  was  a  rather  mysterious  custom,  in  calling  an  assembly,  by  sending  to  the 
different  bodies  or  persons  which  were  to  compose  it  a  poriiun  of  a  divided  beast 
(see  1  Sam.  xi.  7) ;  and  it  then  became  awfully  imperative  upon  the  party  which  re- 
ceived the  bloody  missive  to  obey  the  call  which  it  intimated.  To  give  a  horrible 
mtensity  to  the  custom  in  this  case,  the  Levite — a  man  of  obviously  peculiar  charac- 
ter— divided  his  wife's  body  into  twelve  parts,  and  sent  one  portion  to  each  of  the 
tribes  of  Israel.     The  horror-struck  tribes,  on  receiving  their  portion  of  the  body,  and 


192  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

hearing  the  statement  which  the  messengers  delivered,  agreed  that  such  a  thing 
had  not  before  been  heard  of  in  Israel,  and  hastened  to  the  place  of  meeting,  which 
was  Mizpeh. 

In  the  great  audience  there  assembled,  the  Levite  declared  his  wrongs ;  which 
when  they  had  heard,  the  thousands  of  Israel  vowed  not  to  return  to  their  homes 
until  they  had  brought  the  offenders  to  condign  punishment.  And  to  express  the 
earnestness  of  their  purpose,  they  appointed  one  tenth  of  their  whole  number  to  bring 
in  provisions  for  the  rest,  that  the  Avant  of  victuals  might  not,  as  often  happens  in 
Oriental  warfare,  oblige  them  to  disperse  before  their  object  was  accomplished.  Bui, 
in  the  first  instance,  they  sent  messengers  throughout  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  explain- 
ing the  occasion  of  their  assembling,  and  demanding  that  the  offenders  should  be 
delivered  up  to  justice.  This  th  e  Benjamites  were  so  far  from  granting  that  the 
whole  tribe  made  common  cause  with  the  people  of  Gibeah,  and  all  its  force  was 
called  out  to  repel  any  attempt  which  the  other  tribes  might  make  against  them. 
Considering  that  the  force  of  the  eleven  tribes  amounted  to  four  hundred  thousand 
able  men,  whereas  the  Benjamites  could  bring  together  no  more  than  twenty-six 
thousand,  the  hardihood  of  this  resistance  is  well  worthy  of  remark,  if  it  does  not 
make  out  the  claim  of  the  Benjamites  to  that  character  for  indomitable  courage  which 
they  appear  to  have  acquired.  Probably  the  influence  of  that  acknowledged  charac- 
ter upon  their  opponents,  together  with  their  own  peculiar  skill  in  the  use  of  the 
sling,  formed  their  main  reliance.  Among  them  Avere  seven  hundred  left-handed 
men  who  could  sling  stones  to  a  hair's  breadth  and  not  miss. 

The  Israelites  committed  one  fatal  oversight  in  this  undertaking.  Although  the 
affair  was  of  such  grave  imporlance,  they  neglected  to  consult  their  divine  King, 
without  whose  permission  they  ought  not  to  have  supposed  themselves  authorized 
to  act  as  they  did.  They  first  decided  on  war,  and  then  only  consulted  him  as  tc 
the  manner  it  should  be  conducted.  The  consequence  was  that  they  Avere  twice 
defeated  by  the  Benjamites,  Avho  sallied  from  the  tOAvn  of  Gibeah  aganist  them. 
Corrected  by  this  experience,  they  applied  in  a  proper  manner  to  learn  the  Avill  of 
their  King;  and  then  the  victory  Avas  promised  to  them. 

In  their  next  attempt  the  Israelites  resorted  to  the  same  familiar  stratagem  of  am- 
Duscade  and  of  pretended  flight,  Avhen  the  besieged  sallied  forth  against  them,  as 
that  Avhereby  the  tOAvn  of  Ai  had  been  taken  by  Joshua,  and  Avith  precisely  the  same 
result.  Eighteen  thousand  Benjamites,  "  men  of  valor,"  Avere  "  trodden  doAvn  with 
ease"  by  the  vast  host  Avhich  noAv  enclosed  them.  The  rest  endeavored  to  escape  tc 
the  vi'ilderness,  but  Avere  all  overtaken  and  destroyed,  Avith  the  exception  of  six  hun- 
dred Avho  found  shelter  among  the  rocks  of  Rimraon.  The  conquerors  then  went 
through  the  land,  subjecting  it  to  military  execution.  They  set  on  fire  all  the  tOAvns 
to  Avhich  they  came,  and  put  to  the  SAVord  the  men,  the  cattle,  and  all  that  came 
to  hand. 

But  Avhen  the  heat  of  the  conflict  and  execution  had  subsided,  the  national  and 
clannish  feelings  of  the  Israelites  Avcre  shocked  at  the  reflection  that  they  had  extin- 
guished a  tribe  in  Israel.  It  Avas  true  that  six  hundred  men  remained  alive  among 
the  rocks  of  Rimmon ;  but  it  was  not  clear  hoAV  the  race  of  Benjamin  could  be  con- 
tinued through  them,  as,  at  the  very  commencement  of  the  undertaking,  the  Israel- 
ites had  solemnly  SAVorn  that  they  Avould  not  give  their  daughters  in  marriage  to  the 
Benjamites.  They  had  noAv  leisure  to  repent  of  this.voAv;  although,  Avith  reference 
to  the  A'ile  propensities  exhibited  by  the  people  of  Gibeah,  it  Avas  quite  natural  that 
in  the  first  excitement  such  a  voav  should  have  been  taken. 

But  noAV  they  Avere  sincerely  anxious  to  find  means  of  repairing  their  error,  and  to 
provide  the  survivors  Avith  Avivcs,  that  the  house  of  Benjamin  might  not  be  Avholly 
lost.  It  Avas  found  that  the  summons  Avhereby  the  tribes  had  been  assembled  hatl 
been  unheeded  by  the  men  of  Jabesh-Gilead,  Avhereby  they  had  exposed  themselves 
to  the  terrible  doom  Avhich  the  very  act  of  summons'denoiinced  against  the  disobe- 
dient. That  doom  Avas  inflicted,  save  that  all  the  virgins  Avere  spared  to  be  Avives  for 
the  Benjamites.  But  as  these  Avere  still  insufficient,  the  unprovided  Benjamites  Avere 
secretly  advised  to  lie  in  Avait  in  the  vineyards  near  Shiloh,  Avhen  they  attended  the 
next  annual  festival  at  the  tabernacle ;  and  Avhen  the  young  Avomen  of  the  place 
came  out  in  dances,  as  at  such  times  they  Avere  Avont,  they  might  seize  and  carry  off 
the  number  they  required.  The  men  folloAved  this  advice.  And  Avhen  the  fathers 
and  brothers  of  the  stolen  maidens  began  to  raise  an  outcry,  the  elders,  by  Avhom  the 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  193 

measure  had  been  counselled,  interposed  to  pacify  them,  and  persuaded  them  to  over- 
look the  matter,  in  consideration  of  the  difficulties  by  which  the  case  was  surrounded. 

The  Benjamites  then  returned  to  their  desolated  cities,  and  rebuilt  and  re-occupied 
them  as  they  were  able.  But  from  this  time  Benjamin  was  the  least,  although  not 
the  least  distinguished,  of  all  the  tribes. 

At  length  (B.  C.  1572)  the  idolatries  and  demoralization  of  the  Israelites  had 
oecome  so  rank,  that  a  fiery  trial  was  judged  necessary  for  their  correction.  A  kino- 
named  Cushan-rishthaim,  reigning  in  Mesopotamia,  had  extended  his  power  far  on 
this  side  the  Euphrates.  He  now  advanced  into  Canaan,  and,  either  by  victorj'  or 
menace,  rendered  the  Hebrews  tributary.  They  remained  under  severe  bondage  for 
eight  years.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  Othniel — that  relative  of  Caleb  who  has 
already  been  mentioned — was  incited  to  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  people  and 
attempt  their  deliverance.  The  garrisons  which  the  Mesopotamians  had  left  in  the 
country  were  suddenly  surprised  and  slain ;  the  armies  of  Israel  again  appeared  in 
the  field,  and,  although  at  first  few  in  number,  they  fought  at  every  poini  the  troops 
opposed  to  them ;  and  when  their  numbers  were  increased  by  the  reinforcements 
which  poured  in  from  all  quarters  on  the  first  news  of  probable  success,  they  hazarded 
a  general  action,  in  which  they  obtained  a  complete  victory  over  the  Mesopotamians, 
and  drove  them  beyond  the  Euphrates.* 

Othniel  remained  the  acknowledged  judge,  or  regent,  of  the  divine  king  for  forty 
years.  During  his  administration,  the  people  remained  faithful  to  their  God  and 
king,  and  consequently  prospered.  But  when  the  beneficial  control  which  Othniel 
exercised  was  withdrawn  by  his  death,  they  fell  again  into  idolatry  and  crime,  and 
new  afflictions  became  needful  to  them. 

The  instruments  of  their  punishment,  this  time,  were  the  Moabites.  By  a  long 
peace,  this  nation  had  recovered  from  the  defeats  Avhich  they  had  suffered  from  the 
Amorites  before  the  time  of  Moses;  and,  perceiving  that  the  Israelites  were  not  invin- 
cible, Eglon,  the  king  of  Moab,  formed  a  confederacy  with  the  Ammonites  and 
Amalekites,  and,  with  this  help,  made  an  attack  upon  them — probably  under  the 
same  pretences  which  we  shall  find  to  have  been  employed  on  a  subsequent  occasion. 
He  defeated  the  idolatrous  Hebrews  in  battle,  subdued  the  tribes  beyond  Jordan,  and 
the  southern  tribes  on  this  side  the  river,  and  established  himself  in  Jericho,  which 
he  must  have  found  a  convenient  post  for  intercepting,  or  at  least  checking,  the  com- 
munications betAveen  the  eastern  and  western  tribes.  At  that  place  the  conquered 
tribes  were  obliged  to  bring  him  presents,  or,  in  other  words,  to  pay  a  periodical 
tribute.  This  subjection  to  a  king  who  resided  among  them  was  still  more  oppres- 
sive than  that  from  which  they  had  been  delivered  by  Othniel ;  and  it  continued  more 
than  twice  as  long — that  is,  for  eighteen  years.  This  oppression  must  have  been  par- 
ticularly heavy  upon  the  tribe  of  Benjamm,  as  it  was  their  territory  to  which  Jericho 
belonged,  and  which  was  therefore  encumbered  by  the  presence  of  the  court  of  the 
conqueror.  It  was  natural  that  those  Avhose  necks  were  the  most  galled  by  the  yoke, 
should  make  the  first  effort  to  shake  it  off.  Accordingly,  the  next  deliverer  was  of 
the  tribe  of  Benjamin.  His  name  was  Ehud,  one  of  those  left-handed  men — or 
rather,  perhaps,  men  who  could  usl'  the  left  hand  with  as  much  ease  and  power  as 
the  right — for  which  this  tribe  seems  to  have  been  remarkable.  He  conducted  a 
deputation  which  bore  from  the  Israelites  the  customary  tributes  to  the  king.  It 
seemed  that  men  with  weapons  were  not  admitted  to  the  king's  presence:  but  Ehud 
had  a  two-edged  dagger  under  his  garment;  but  as  he  wore  it  on  the  right  side, 
where  it  is  worn  by  no  right-handed  man,  its  presence  was  not  suspected.  When  he 
had  left  the  presence  and  dismissed  his  people,  Ehud  went  on  as  far  as  the  carved 
images  which  had  been  placed  at  Gilgal.  The  sight  of  these  images,  which  the 
Moabites  had  probably  set  up  by  the  sacred  monument  of  stones  which  the  Israelites 
had  there  set  up,  seems  to  have  revived  the  perhaps  faltering  zeal  of  the  Benjamite, 
.and  he  returned  to  Jericho  and  to  the  presence  of  the  king,  and  intimated  that  he  had 
a  secret  message  to  deliver.  The  kmg  then  withdrew  with  him  to  his  "  summer- 
parlor,"  which  seems  to  have  been  sucli  a  detached  or  otherwise  pleasantly-situated 
apartment  as  are  still  usually  found  in  tlie  mansions  and  gardens  of  the  East,  and  to 
which  the  master  retires  to  enjoy  a  fr^er  air,  and  more  open  prospects,  than  any 
other  part  of  his  dwelling  commands,  and  where  also  he  usually  withdraws  to  enjoy 

*  Tliis  paraprapli  is  partly  from  Josephus,  whose  account  is  here  in  agreement  with,  while  it  fills  .ip,  the 
brief  notice  which  the  Book  of  Judges  offers. 

13 


1U4  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

his  siesta  during  the  heat  of  the  day.  It  is  strictly  a  private  apartment,  which  no 
one  enters  without  being  specially  invited ;  and  accordingly  it  is  said  of  this,  that  it 
was  an  apartment  "  which  he  had  for  himself  alone."  As  the  king  sat  in  this  parlor, 
Ehud  approached  him,  saying,  "I  have  a  message  from  God  to  thee."  On  hearing 
that  sacred  name,  the  king  rose  from  his  seat,  and  Ehud  availed  himself  of  the  oppor- 
tunity of  burying  his  dagger  in  his  bowels.  The  Benjamite  then  withdrew  quietly, 
bolting  after 'him  the  door  of  the  summer-parlor;  and  as  such  parlors  usually  com- 
municate by  a  private  stair  with  the  porch,  without  the  necessity  of  passing  into  or 
through  the  interior  parts  of  the  mansion,  there  was  nothing  to  impede  his  egress, 
unless  the  porters  at  the  outer  gate  had  seen  cause  for  suspicion. 

The  scripture,  as  is  frequently  the  case,  mentions  this  as  an  historical  fact,  without 
commendatory  or  reprehensive  remark ;  and  we  have  no  right  to  infer  the  approba- 
tion which  is'  not  expressed.  No  doubt  Ehud's  deed  was  a  murder ;  and  the  only 
excuse  for  it  is  to  be  found  in  its  public  object,  and  in  ihe  fact  that  the  notions  of  the 
East  have  always  been,  and  are  now  far  more  lax  on  this  point  than  those  which 
Christian  civilization  has  produced  in  Europe.  There  all  means  of  getting  rid  of  a 
public  enemy,  Avhom  the  arm  of  the  law  can  not  reach,  are  considered  just  and  proper. 
No  one  can  read  a  few  pages  of  any  oriental  history  without  being  fully  aware  of  this; 
and  it  is  by  oriental  notions,  rather  than  by  our  own,  that  the  act  of  Ehud  must,  to  a 
certain  extent,  be  judged. 

The  servants  of  Eglon  supposed  that  their  lord  was  taking  his  afternoon  sleep_  m 
his  summer-parlor,  and  hence  a  considerable  time  elapsed  before  his  assassination 
was  discovered. 

In  the  meantime,  Ehud  was  able  to  make  known  the  death  of  the. king,  and  to 
collect  a  bodv  of  men,  with  whom  he  went  down  to  seize  the  fords  of  the  Jordan, 
that  the  Moabites  in  Canaan  might  neither  receive  reinforcements  from  their  own 
country  nor  escape  to  it.  Confounded  by  the  death  of  their  king,  they  were  easily 
overcome.  All  who  were  on  this  side  the  Jordan,  ten  thousand  in  number,  were 
destroved — not  one  escaped.  This  deliverance  secured  for  Israel  a  repose  of  eighty 
years, 'terminating  in  the  year  B.  C.  1426,  being  182  years  after  the  passage  of  the 
Jordan. 

At  or  toward  the  end  of  this  period  of  eighty  years,  a  first  attempt  Avas  made  by 
the  Philistines  to  bring  the  southern  tribes  under  their  yoke.  But  they  were  unable 
to  accomplish  their  design,  having  been  repulsed  on  their  first  advance,  with  the  loss 
of  six  hundred  men,  by  Shamgar  and  other  husbandmen, -who  fought  with  ox-goads,* 
being  then  employed  in  the  cultivation  of  the  fields. 


It  is  about  this  time  that  the  story  of  Ruth,  Avhich  occupies  a  separate  book  m  the 
Hebrew  scriptures,  is  placed  by  Usher  and  other  chronologers.  Being  episodical,  and 
only  slightly  connected  with  the  historical  narrative,  we  can  not  follow  the  details  of 
this  beautiful  story;  but  the  intimations  of  the  state  of  society,  and  of  the  manners 
and  ideas  of  the  times,  which  it  contains,  are,  even  historically,  of  too  much  import- 
ance to  be  overlooked. 

The  scene  of  the  principal  part  of  the  story  is  in  Bethlehem  of  Judah. 

A  famine  in  the  land  drives  an  inhabitant  of  this  town,  with  his  wife  and  two  sons, 
to  the  land  of  Moab,  which,  in  consequence  of  the  victories  imder  Ehud,  seems  to 
have  been  at  this  time  in  some  sort  of  subjection  to  the  Israelites.  The  man's  name 
was  Elimelech,  his  Avife's  Naomi,  and  the  sons  Avere  called  Mahlon  and  Chilion. 
The  woman  lost  her  husband  and  two  sons  in  the  land  of  Moab,  but  the  childless 
wives  of  her  sons,  who  had  married  in  that  land,  remained  with  her.     One  Avas  called 

*  "  At  Khan  Leban  the  country  people  were  now  everywhere  at  plough  in  the  fields  in  order  to  sow  cotton 
"Twas  observable  that  in  ploughing  they  used  goads  of  an  extraordinary  size  ;  upon  measuring  of  several, 
I  found  them  to  be  about  eight  feet  long,  and,  at  the  bigger  end,  six  inches  in  circumference.  They  are 
armed  at  the  lesser  end  with  a  sharp  prickle  for  driving  tlie  oxen  ;  and  at  the  other  end  with  a  small  spade 
or  paddle  of  iron,  strong  and  massy,  to  clear  the  plough  from  the  clay  that  encumbers  it  in  working.  May 
we  not  hence  conjecture  that  it  was  with  si}ch  a  goad  as  one  of  these  that  Shamgar  made  that  pro- 
digious slaughter?  I  am  confident  that  whoever  should  see  one  of  these  implements  will  judge  it  to  be  a 
weapon  not  less  fit,  perhaps  fitter,  than  a  sword  for  such  an  execution.  Goads  of  this  sort  1  always  sa 
used  hereabouts,  and  also  in  Syria :  and  the  leaSon  is  because  the  same  single  person  both  drives  the  oxen 
and  also  holds  and  manages  the  plough,  n  liich  makes  it  necessary  to  use  such  a  goad  as  is  described  above 
•  to  avoid  the  incumbrance  of  two  instruments."— Maundrell,  110. 


HrSTOKY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


19' 


F-" 


xim  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

Orpah,  and  the  other  Ruth.  At  the  end  of  ten  years,  Naomi  determined  to  return 
home,  but,  with  beautiful  disinterestedness,  exhorted  the  Avidows  of  her  two  sons  to 
remain  in  their  own  land  with  their  well-provided  friends,  and  not  go  to  be  partakers 
of  her  destitution.  Orpah  accordingly  remained  :  but  nothing  could  overcome  the  de- 
voted attachment  of  Ruth  to  the  mother  of  her  lost  husband.  To  the  really  touching 
representations  of  Naomi,  her  still  more  touching  reply  was,  "  Entreat  me  not  to  leave 
thee,  or  to  return  from  following  thee :  for  whither  thou  goest,  I  will  go  ;  and  where 
thou  lodgest,  I  will  lodge;  thy  people  shall  be  my  people,  and  thy  God  my  God; 
where  thou  diest,  will  I  die,  and  there  will  I  be  buried ;  the  Lord  do  so  to  me,  and 
more  also,  if  aught  but  death  part  thee  and  me."  This  strong  and  unmistakable  ex- 
pression of  most  beautiful  and  true  affections,  could  not  be  repelled  by  Naomi.  They 
took  their  homeward  way  together. 

It  was  barley  hai-vest  wben  Naomi  and  Ruth  arrived  at  Bethlehem.  Ruth,  anxious 
to  provide  in  any  little  way  for  their  joint  subsistence,  soon  bethought  herself  of  going 
forth  to  seek  permission  to  glean  in  some  harvest  field.  It  happened  that  the  field 
where  she  asked  and  obtained  this  permission,  from  the  overseer  of  the  reapers,  be- 
longed to  Boaz,  a  person  of  large  possessions  in  these  parts.  Boaz  himself  came  in 
the  course  of  the  day,  to  view  the  progress  of  the  harvest.  He  greeted  his  reapers, 
"Jehovah  be  with  you  ;"  and  they  answered  him,  "Jehovah  bless  thee."  His  attention 
was  attracted  toward  Ruth,  and  he  inquired  concerning  her  of  his  overseer,  who  told 
him  that  this  was  "  The  Moabitish  damsel  that  came  back  with  Naomi  out  of  the  land 
of  Moab,"  and  related  how  she  had  applied  for  leave  to  glean  after  the  reapers.  Boaz 
then  himself  accosted  her,  and  kindly  charged  her  not  to  go  elsewhere,  but  to  remain 
m  his  fields,  and  keep  company  with  his  maidens  till  the  harvest  was  over.  He  had 
enjoined  his  young  men  not  to  molest  her.  If  she  were  athirst  she  might  go  and  drink 
aeely  from  the  vessels  of  water  provided  for  the  use  of  the  reapers.  Ruth  was  aston- 
ished at  all  this  kindness,  and  fell  at  his  feet,  expressing  her  thanks  and  her  surprise 
that  he  should  take  such  kind  notice  of  a  stranger.  But  he  said,  "  It  has  been  fully 
shown  me,  all  that  thou  hast  done  to  thy  mother-in-law,  since  the  death  of  thy  hus- 
band; and  how  thou  hast  left  thy  father  and  thy  mother,  and  the  land  of  thy  nativity, 
and  art  come  unto  a  people  which  thou  knowest  not  heretofore.  Jehovah  recompense 
thy  deed :  and  a  full  recompense  be  given  to  thee  from  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel, 
under  whose  wings  thou  art  come  to  trust."  She  answered,  "  Let  me  find  favor  m 
thy  sight,  my  lord,  for  that  thou  hast  comforted  me,  and  for  that  thou  hast  spoken 
friendly  unto  thine  handmaid,  though  I  be  not  like  one  of  thine  handmaidens." 

When  the  meal-time  of  the  harvest  people  came  roimd,  Boaz  invited  her  to  draw 
near  and  eat  of  the  bread,  and  dip  her  morsel  in  the  vinegar  with  them.  He  also 
handed  her  some  new  corn  parched,  which  was  considered  rather  a  luxury,  and  there- 
fore Ruth  reserved  part  of  it  for  Naomi. 

All  these  little  incidents,  beautifully  descriptive  of  the  innocent  old  customs  of  har- 
vest time,  bring  strongly  before  the  mind  of  one  who  has  studied  the  antiquities  of 
Egypt,  the  agricultural  scenes  depicted  in  the  grottoes  of  Eleithuias,  in  which  so  many 
of  the  usages  of  Egyptian  agriculture  are  represented.  There  Ave  see  the  ditferent 
processes  of  cutting  Avith  the  reaping  hook,  and  of  plucking  up  the  stalks ;  gleaners : 
water  refrigerating  in  porous  jars  (placed  on  stands)  for  the  refreshment  of  the  reapers ; 
the  reapers  quenching  their  thirst ;  and  Avomen  bearing  aAvay  the  vessels  in  which 
drink  has  been  brought  to  them  at  their  labor. 

When  Ruth  returned  home  in  the  evening  with  the  result  of  her  day's  gleaning — 
an  ephah  of  barley — Naomi  Avas  anxious  to  know  how  it  happened  that  her  labors 
had  been  so  prosperous:  and  when  she  heard  the  name  of  Boaz,  she  remarked  thai 
he  Avas  a  near  kinsman  of  the  family  ;  and  advised  that,  according  to  his  wish,  Ruth 
should  confine  her  gleaning  to  his  fields.  So  Ruth  gleaned  in  the  fields  of  Boaz,  until 
the  end  not  only  of  the  barley,  but  of  the  Avheat  harvest. 

When  the  harvest  Avas  over,  Naomi,  Avho  was  anxious  for  the  rest  and  welfare  of 
the  good  and  devoted  creature  Avho  had  been  more  than  a  daughter  to  her,  acquainted 
her  with  what  had  lately  engaged  her  thoughts.  She  said  that  Boaz  was  so  near  of 
kin  that  he  came  under  the  operation  of  the  levirate  laAV,  which  required  that  when 
a  man  died  childless,  his  next  of  kin  should  marry  the  widow,  in  order  that  the  first 
child  born  from  this  union  should  be  counted  as  the  son  of  the  deceased,  and  inherit 
as  his  heir.  It  Avas,  therefore,  no  less  her  duly  than  a  circumstance  highly  calculated 
to  promote  her  welfare,  that  Boaz  should  be  reminded  of  the  obligation  which  devolved 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


19-; 


1 98  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

upon  him.  But  as  it  was  not  wished  to  press  the  maiter  upon  him,  if  he  were  averse 
to  It,  it  was  necessary  thai  the  claim  should,  in  the  first  instance,  be  privately  made. 
In  such  a  case,  E.ufh,  a  stranger  very  imperfectly  acquainted  with  the  laws  and  habits 
of  the  Israelites,  could  only  submit  herself  to  Naomi's  guidance.  She  told  Ruth  that 
Boaz  was  engaged  in  winnowing  his  barley  in  the  thrashing-floor ;  which,  of  course, 
was  nothing  more  than  a  properly  levelled  place  in  the  open  air.  Naomi  conjectured 
he  would  rest  there  at  night,  and  told  Ruth  to  mark  the  spot  to  which  he  withdreAV, 
and  advance  to  claim  the  protection  he  was  bound  to  render.  All  happened  as  Naomi 
had  foreseen.  Boa/,  after  he  had  supped,  withdrew  to  sleep  at  the  end  of  the  heap 
of  corn;  and  after  he  had  lain  down,  Ruth  advanced  and  placed  herself  at  his  feet: 
and  when  he  awoke  at  midniirht,  and  with  much  astonishment,  asked  who  she  was, 
she  answered,  "I  am  Ruth,  thy  handmaid:  lake  therefore  thy  handmaid  under  ihy 
protection,  for  thou  art  a  near  kinsman."  Those  who,  measuring  all  things  by  their 
own  small  and  current  standards,  regard  as  improper  or  indelicate  this  procedure  of 
one 

"  Who  feared  no  evil,  for  she  knew  no  sin," 

need  only  hear  the  answer  of  Boaz  to  be  satisfied.  "  Blessed  be  thou,  of  Jehovah,  my 
daughter  ....  And  now,  my  daughter,  fear  not:  for  all  my  fellow-citizens  do  know 
that  thou  art  a  virtuous  woman."  He  added,  however,  that  there  was  a  person  in  the 
town  more  nearly  related  to  her  deceased  husband ;  and  on  him  properly  the  levirate 
duty  devolved  :  but  if  he  declined  it,  then  it  I'ell  to  himself,  and  he  would  certainly 
undertake  it.  It  being  too  late  for  Ruth  to  return  home,  Boaz  desired  her  to  remain 
in  the  thrashing-floor  for  the  night.  Early  in  the  morning  he  dismissed  her,  after 
having  filled  her  veil  with  corn  to  take  to  Naomi. 

In  those  times,  and  long  after,  it  was  customary  to  transact  all  business  of  a  public 
nature  and  to  administer  justice  in  the  gates.  When  there  was  little  use  of  written 
documents,  this  gave  to  every  transaction  the  binding  obligation  which  the  presence 
of  many  witnesses  involved  ;  and  thus  also  justice  was  easily  and  speedily  adminis- 
tered among  the  people,  at  the  hours  when  they  passed  to  and  fro  between  the  fields 
and  the  city.  And  such  hours  were,  for  this  reason,  those  at  which  the  judges  and 
elders  gave  their  attendance  in  the  gates. — (See  engraving,  p.  IW.) 

Boaz  therefore  went  up  to  the  gate  ;  and  requested  ten  of  the  elders,  there  present, 
to  sit  down  with  him  as  witnesses  of  what  was  to  t-ake  place.  When  the  "  near  kins- 
man" passed  by,  he  called  him  to  sit  down  Avith  them.  He  then  questioned  him  as 
to  his  willingness  "  to  raise  up  the  name  of  the  dead  upon  his  inheritance."  This  he 
was  not  willing  to  do,  "  lest  he  should  mar  his  own  inheritance  ;"  and  therefore  he 
was  glad  to  relinquish  his  prior  claim  to  Boaz,  which  he  did  by  the  significant  action 
of  drawing  off  his  own  shoe  and  giving  it  to  him.  This  action  was  usual  in  all  trans- 
actions of  this  nature,  and  it  may  well  be  interpreted  by  the  familiar  idiom  which 
would  express  Boaz  as  being  made,  by  this  act  and  with  reference  to  this  particulat 
question,  to  sland  in  the  shoes  of  the  person  who  had  transferred  to  him  his  rights  and 
duties.  Boaz  then  declared  all  the  people  there  present  at  the  gate  to  be  witnesse? 
of  this  transfer,  and  they  responded,  "  We  are  witnesses."  After  this  Boaz  took  Ruth 
to  be  his  wife  ;  and  the  fruit  of  this  union  was  Obed,  the  grandfather  of  David,  of 
whom,  according  to  the  flesh,  came  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 

From  the  repose  which  this  narrative  offers,  one  turns  reluctantly  to  renewed  scene-' 
of  war,  oppression,  and  wrong. 

It  may  be  doubted  that  the  authority — such  as  it  Avas — of  any  of  the  judges  ex- 
tended overall  the  tribes.  Hardly  any  of  the  oppressions  to  which  the  Israelites  were 
subject  appear  to  have  been  general,  and  in  most  cases  the  authority  of  the  judge  ap- 
pears to  have  been  confined  to  the  tribes  he  had  been  instrumental  in  delivering  from 
their  oppressors.  There  is,  for  instance,  not  the  least  reason  to  suppose  that  the  au- 
thority of  Ehud  extended  over  the  northern  tribes,  which  had  not  been  effected  by 
the  oppression  of  the  Moabites,  from  wiiich  he  delivered  the  south  and  east.  The 
eighty  years  of  good  conduct  which  followed  this  deliverance,  is  therefore  only  to  be 
understood  as  exhibited  by  the  tribes  which  were  then  delivered.  The  northern  tribes, 
and  in  some  degree  those  of  the  centre  and  the  west,  were  meanwhile  falling  into 
those  evil  practices,  from  which  it  was  necessary  that  distress  and  sorrow  should  bring 
them  back.     And  therefore  they  were  distressed. 

The  northern  Canaanites  had,  in  the  course  of  time,  recovered  from  the  effects  of 
that  great  overthrow  which  thev  sustained  in  the  time  of  .Toshua.     A  new  Jabin 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  199 

reigning  like  his  predecessor  in  Hazor,  by  the  lake  Merom,  rose  into  great  power. 
His  general,  Sisera,  was  an  able  and  successful  warrior;  and  his  powerful  military- 
force  contained  not  fewer  than  nine  hundred  of  those  iron-armed  chariots  of  war 
which  the  Israelites  regarded  with  so  much  dread.  With  such  a  force  he  was  ena- 
bled, for  the  punishment  of  their  sins,  to  reduce  the  northern  tribes  to  subjection,  and 
hold  them  tributary.  Considering  the  character  of  the  power  which  now  prevailed 
over  them,  there  is  reason  to  conclude  that  this  was  the  severest  of  all  the  oppressions 
to  which  Israel  had  hitherto  been  subject.  The  song  of  Deborah  conveys  some  inti- 
mations of  their  miseiable  condition.  The  villages  and  open  homesteads,  which  were 
continually  liable  to  be  pillaged,  and  the  inhabitants  insulted  and  wronged  by  the  Ca- 
naanites,  were  deserted  throughout  the  land,  and  the  people  found  it  necessary  to  con- 
gregate in  the  walled  towns.  Travelling  was  unsafe  ;  in  consequence  of  which  the 
high-ways  were  deserted,  and  those  who  were  obliged  to  go  from  one  place  to  another, 
found  it  necessary  to  journey  in  bye-roads  and  unfrequented  paths.  At  the  places  to 
vAvhich  it  was  necessary  to  resort  for  water,  they  were  waylaid  and  robbed,  wounded, 
or  slain :  and,  to  crown  all,  they  Avere  disarmed ;  among  forty  thousand  in  Israel,  a 
■shield  or  spear  was  not  to  be  found.  The  details  of  this  picture  are  exactly  such  as 
are  offered  by  the  condition  of  any  oppressed  or  subjugated  population,  at  this  day,  in 
the  east.  The  government  itself  may  be  content  with  its  tribute ;  but  it  will  be  obliged 
to  wink  at,  because  unable  to  prevent,  the  far  greater  grievances,  the  exactions,  rob- 
beries, insults,  woundings,  deaths,  to  which  the  people  are  subjected  by  the  inferior 
officers  of  government,  by  bands  of  licentious  soldiers,  and  by  an  adverse  and  trium- 
phant populace, — all  of  whom  look  upon  them  as  their  prey  and  spoil,  as  things  made 
only  to  be  trampled  on.  Such  oppression  the  Israelites  endured  for  twenty  years. 
They  then  remembered  that,  to  them,  trouble  was  the  punishment  of  sin ;  and  thai 
there  was  one  able  and  willing  to  deliver  them,  if  they  would  but  turn  themselves 
unto  him.     They  did  turn,  and  their  deliverance  was  certain  from  that  hour. 

In  those  days  a  pious  and  able  woman,  well  acquainted  with  the  divine  law,  became 
an  important  person  in  Israel.  Her  name  was  Deborah,  and  she  abode  under  a  palm- 
tree  in  the  southern  part  of  Ephraim.  Her  high  character  for  piety  and  wisdom  oc- 
casioned the  Israelites  to  resort  to  her  for  counsel  and  for  justice ;  and  it  is  not  unlikely 
that  her  salutary  influence  contributed  to  move  the  people  to  that  repentance  Avhich 
prepared  the  way  for  their  deliverance.  When  their  punishment  had  thus  wrought 
its  intended  object,  the  divine  king  made  known  to  the  prophetess  his  intention  to  de- 
liver the  house  of  Israel  from  its  bondage ;  but  seeing  that  she,  as  a  woman,  could 
not  personally  lead  the  Israelites  to  battle,  she  sent' to  a  person  of  the  tribe  of  Naph- 
tali,  named  Barak,  and  communicated  to  him  the  instructions  she  had  received.  These 
were,  that  he  should  bring  together,  at  Mount  Tabor,  ten  thousand  men  of  the  tribes 
of  Naphtali  and  Zebulun,  and  with  them  give  battle  to  the  forces  of  King  Jabin. 
Barak,  being  fully  awr.re  of  the  difficulty  of  assembling  and  arming  a  respectable  force, 
and  recollecting  the  gieatness  of  that  power  he  was  to  oppose,  rather  shrunk  from  the 
enterprise.  He,  however,  offered  to  undertake  it,  if  Deborah  would  afford  him  the 
benefit  of  her  influential  presence,  but  not  else.  She  consented ;  but,  to  rebuke  the 
Aveakness  of  his  faith,  she  prophesied  that  Sisera — the  redoubted  captain  of  King  Ja- 
bin's  host — should  not  be  slain  in  fight  with  him,  or  be  taken  captive  by  him,  but 
should  fall  by  a  woman's  hand. 

They  Aveut  into  the  north  together,  and  the  required  number  of  men  from  Naphtali 
and  Zebulun  readily  obeyed  their  call  and  marched  to  Mount  Tabor.  These  two 
tribes  had  probably  been  selected  on  the  ground  that  they  were  likely  to  engage 
more  readily  in  this  service,  in  consequence  of  their  vicinity  to  the  metropolitan  seat 
of  the  oppressmg  poAver  having  rendered  the  yoke  of  servitude  more  galling  and  irri- 
tating to  them  than  to  the  other  tribes. 

As  soon  as  labin's  general,  Sisera,  heard  of  the  HebreAV  force  assembled  on  Mount 
Tabor,  he  brought  forth  his  nine  hundred  chariots,  and  assembled  his  Avhole  army, 
not  doubting  to  surround  and  cut  in  pieces  a  body  of  men  so  comparatively  small. 
The  Hebrews  were  in  general  much  afraid  of  Avar-chariots,  to  draAvn  battles  in  open 
plains  they  were  unaccustomed,  and  the  disparity  of  numbers  Avas  in  this  instance 
very  great.  Yet,  encouraged  by  the  assurances  of  victory  Avhich  Deborah  conveyed, 
Barak  did  not  aAvait  the  assault  of  Sisera,  but  marched  his  men  doAvn  from  the  moun- 
tain into  the  open  plain,  and  fell  impetuously  upon  the  adverse  host.  In  Oriental 
warfare  the  result  of  the  first  shock  usually  decides  the  battle,  and  the  army  is  lost 


300  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

which  then  gives  way  or  has  its  ranks  broken.  So  it  was  now.  At  the  first  shock 
the  vast  array  of  Sisera  was  seized  with  a  panic  terror.  The  soldiers  threw  away 
their  arms,  and  sought  only  how  they  might  escape;  while  the  chariots,  drawn  by 
terrified  horses,  impeded  the  retreat  of  the  fugitives,  and  added  to  the  confusion  and 
the  loss.  The  carnage  among  the  Canaanites  was  horrible;  and,  besides  those  who 
perished  by  the  sword,  vast  numbers  of  them  were  swept  away  by  the  sudden  over- 
flow of  the  river  Kishon.  Sisera  himself  fled  in  his  chariot  across  the  plain  of  Esdra- 
elon ;  but,  fearing  that  his  chariot  rendered  him  too  conspicuous,  he  dismounted  and 
continued  his  flight  on  foot.  At  last  he  came  to  a  nomade  encampment,  belonging 
to  Heber  the  Kenite,  one  of  the  descendants  of  those  of  the  family  and  clan  of  Jethro, 
who,  with  the  brother-in-law  of  Moses,  entered  the  land  of  Canaan  with  the  Israel- 
ites, and  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  pasturing  their  flocks  in  its  plains,  Heber  was 
from  home,  but  his  wife  knew  the  illustrious  fugitive,  and  off'ered  him  the  protection 
of  her  tent.  This,  as  the  Kenites  had  been  neutral  in  the  war,  Sisera  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  accept.  He  knew  that  the  tent  of  a  Bedouin,  and  especially  the  woman's 
portion  of  it,  was  a  sanctuary,  which  the  owner  would  sooner  perish  than  allow  to 
be  violated,  and  that  infamy  worse  than  death  awaited  him  who  allowed  injury  to 
befall  the  guest  or  fugitive  who  was  admitted  to  its  shelter.  Being  athirst,  Sisera 
asked  for  watw;  bur  instead  of  this  she  gave  him  sour  milk — the  best  beverage  an 
Arab  tent  contains,  and  the  refreshing  qualities  of  which  are  well  known  to  those 
who  have  travelled  in  the  East.  This,  with  his  fatigue,  disposed  Sisera  to  sleep. 
As  he  slept,  the  thought  occurred  to  Jael  (that  was  the  woman's  name)  that  the 
greatest  enemy  of  the  now  victorious  Israelites  lay  helpless  before  her ;  and  that  it 
was  in  her  power  to  win  great  favor  from  the  victors,  by  anticipating  the  almost  cer- 
tain death  which  awaited  the  chief  captain  of  Jabin's  host.  Having  no  weapon,  she 
took  a  mallet  and  one  of  the  long  nails  by  which  the  tent  cords  are  fastened  to  the 
ground,  and  stealing  softly  to  the  place  where  he  lay,  she  smote  the  nail  into  his 
temple,  pinning  his  head  to  the  ground.  Barak,  passing  that  way  soon  after,  in  pur- 
suit, was  called  in  by  Jael,  and  he  beheld  the  redoubted  Sisera  dead  at  his  feet — 
slain  ignominiously  by  a  woman's  hand.  He  might  then  have  pondered  whether, 
had  Sisera  been  the  victor  and  himself  the  fugitive,  the  same  fate  might  not  have 
been  his  own.  When  we  reflect  that  "  there  was  peace  between  Jabin,  king  of  Ha- 
zor,  and  the  house  of  Heber  the  Kenite,"  and  that  it  was  in  the  knowledge  that  he 
deserved  no  wrong  at  their  hands,  that  Sisera  accepted  the  shelter  which  Jael  ofl'ered ; 
and  when,  moreover,  we  consider  that  the  emir,  Jael's  husband,  had  no  interest  in 
the  result,  save  that  of  standing  well  with  the  victorious  party,  it  will  be  difficult  to 
find  any  other  motive  than  that  which  we  have  assigned — the  desire  to  win  the  favor 
of  the  victors — for  an  act  so  grossly  opposed  to  all  those  notions  of  honor  among  tent- 
dwellers  on  which  Sisera  had  relied  for  his  safety.  It  was  a  most  treacherous  and 
cruel  murder,  wanting  all  those  extenuations  which  were  applicable  to  the  assassina 
tion  of  King  Eglon  by  Ehud, 

The  time  is  gone  by  when  commentators  or  historians  might  venture  to  justify 
this  deed.  Our  extended  acquaintance  with  the  East  enables  us  to  know  that  those 
Orientals  whose  principles  would  allow  them  to  applaud  the  act  of  Ehud,  would  re- 
gard with  horror  the  murder,  in  his  sleep,  of  a  confiding  and  friendly  guest,  to  whom 
the  sacred  shelter  of  the  tent  had  been  offered.  That  Deborah,  as  a  prophetess,  was 
enabled  to  foretell  the  fall  of  Sisera  by  a  woman's  hand,  does  not  convey  the  divine 
sanction  of  this  deed,  but  only  manifests  the  divine  foreknowledge;  and  that  the 
same  Deborah,  in  her  triumphant  song,  blesses  Jael  for  this  act,  only  indicates  the 
feeling,  in  the  first  excitement  of  victory,  of  one  who  had  far  more  cause  to  rejoice  at 
the  death  of  Sisera  than  Jael  had  to  inflict  it. 

The  triumphant  song  of  Deborah  has  attracted  great  and  deserved  attention  as  a 
noble  "  specimen  of  the  perfectly  sublime  ode,"  The  design  of  this  ode  seems  to  be 
twofold,  religious  and  political:  first,  to  thank  God  for  the  recent  deliverance  of  Is- 
rael from  Canaanitish  bondage  and  oppression ;  and,  next,  to  celebrate  the  zeal  and 
alacrity  with  which  some  of  the  tribes  volunteered  their  services  against  the  common 
enemy;  and  to  censure  the  lukewarmness  and  apathy  of  others  who  stayed  at  home, 
and  thus  betrayed  the  public  cause ;  and,  by  this  contrast  and  exposure,  to  heal  those 
fatal  divisions  among  ihe  tribes  which  were  so  injurious  to  the  public  weal.  It  con- 
sists of  three  parts : — first,  the  exordium,  containing  an  appeal  to  past  times,  where 
Israel  was  under  the  special  protection  of  Jehovah,  as  compared  with  their  late  dis- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  201 

astrous  condition;  next,  a  recital  of  the  circumstances  which  preceded  and  those  that 
accompanied  the  victory;  lastly,  a  fuller  description  of  the  concluding  event,  the  death 
of  Sisera,  and  the  disappointed  hopes  of  his  mother  for  his  triumphant  return.  The 
admired  conclusion  is  thus : — 

"  The  mother  of  Sisera  gazed  through  the  ■window, 
Througli  the  lattice  she,  lamenting,  cried, 
'  Wliy  is  his  chariot  so  long  in  coming  ?* 
Wherefore  linger  the  steps  of  his  steeds  V 
Her  wise  ladies  answered  their  mistress. 
Yea,  she  returned  answer  to  herself, — 
'Have  they  not  sped,  and  are  dividing  the  spoil? 
To  every  chief  man  a  damsel  or  two  ? 
To  Sisera  a  spoil  of  various  colors, 
A  spoil  of  various-colored  embroidery, 
A  spoil  of  various-colored  embroideries  for  the  neck.' — 

So  let  thine  enemies  perisli,  O  Jehovah  ! 
But  let  they  who  love  tliee  become 
As  the  sun  going  forth  in  his  strength."t 

From  the  animadversions  which  this  ode  contains,  it  is  easy  to  collect  that  only 
those  tribes  which  were  actually  subject  to  the  oppression,  and  even  only  those  on 
which  the  oppression  the  most  heavily  fell,  were  willing  to  disturb  themselves  by 
engaging  in  warlike  operations  against  the  oppressor.  It  does  not  appear  that  the 
southern  tribes  and  the  tribes  beyond  Jordan  were  directly  affected  by  the  subjugation 
of  the  northern  tribes ;  and  even  of  those  under  tribute,  the  tribes  more  remote  from 
the  seat  of  King  Jabin  seem  to  have  been  more  at  ease  than  the  others.  All  these 
were  loath  to  come  forward  on  this  occasion ;  and,  in  general,  we  find  that,  among 
the  Hebrews  of  this  early  period,  there  was  little  if  any  of  that  high-spirited  and  hon- 
orable abhorrence  of  a  foreign  yoke,  which  is,  under  God,  the  surest  safeguard  of  a 
nation's  independence.  It  was  not  the  yoke  itself  they  hated,  but  its  physical  weight 
upon  their  shoulders;  and  that  weight  must  be  very  heavy  before  they  could  be 
roused  to  any  great  effort  to  shake  it  from  them.  The  iron  which  entered  their  souls 
in  Egypt  still  rusted  there. 

These  sectional  divisions — or  rather  this  want  of  a  general  and  sympathizing  union 
among  the  several  members  of  the  house  of  Israel — were  the  obvious  secondary 
cause  of  the  miseries  and  oppressions  under  which  different  portions  of  that  great 
body  did  from  time  to  time  fall ;  and  this  disunion  itself  was  the  natural  and  inevita- 
ble result  of  the  neglect  of  the  law,  as  a  whole,  and  especially  of  those  provisions  which 
were,  in  their  proper  operation,  admirably  calculated  to  keep  the  tribes  united  together 
as  one  nation.  It  would  be  ridiculous  to  say  that  the  theocratic  policy  was  a  failure. 
That  which  was  not  fairly  and  fully  tried  can  not  be  said  to  fail.  Ruin  to  the  people 
did  not  come  from  the  system  itself:  and  that  ruin  did  come  from  the  neglect  of  its 
conditions,  rather  shows  how  well  that  system  was  calculated  to  form  a  happy  and 
united  people. 

The  victory  of  Deborah  and  Barak  over  Sisera  gave  to  Israel  a  long  repose  from 
the  aggressions  of  the  nations  west  of  the  Jordan ;  for  although  their  peace  began 
again  to  be  disturbed  after  forty  years  (in  1336  B.  C.),  the  invasion  was  then  from 
the  east. 

At  the  latter  end  of  the  forty  years  which  followed  the  victory  over  Sisera,  the 

*  The  original  is  highly  figurative  ;  "  Why  is  his  chariot  ashamed  to  come  7" 

t  "  The  first  sentences  exhibit  a  striking  picture  of  maternal  solicitude,  and  of  a  mind  suspended  and  agi- 
tated between  hope  and  fear.  Immediately,  impatient  of  delay,  she  anticipates  the  consolations  of  her 
friends  ;  and,  her  mind  being  somewhat  elevated,  she  boasts  with  all  the  levity  of  a  fond  female, — 

'  Vast  in  her  hopes  and  giddy  with  success.' 
Let  us  here  observe  how  well  adapted  every  sentiment,  every  word,  is  to  the  character  of  the  speaker.  Sh^ 
makes  no  account  of  the  slaughter  of  the  enemj',  of  the  valor  and  conduct  of  the  conqueror,  of  the  multitude 
of  the  captives,  but 

'  Burns  with  a  female  thirst  of  prey  and  spoils.' 
Nothing  is  omitted  which  is  calculated  to  attract  and  engage  the  passions  of  a  vain  and  trifling  woman  ; 
slaves,  gold,  and  rich  apparel.  Nor  is  she  satisfied  with  the  bare  enumeration  of  them,  she  repeats,  she 
amplifies,  she  heightens  every  circumstance  ;  she  seems  to  have  the  very  plunder  in  her  immediate  pos- 
session ;  she  pauses  and  contemplates  every  particular.  To  add  to  the  beauty  of  this  passage,  there  is  also 
an  uncommon  neatness  in  the  versification ;  great  force,  accuracy,  and  perspicuity  in  the  diction  ;  and  the 
utmost  elegance  in  the  repetitions,  wliich,  notwithstanding  their  apparent  redundancy,  are  conducted  with 
the  most  perfect  brevity.  In  the  end,  the  fatal  disappointment  of  female  hope  and  credulity,  tacitly  insin- 
uated by  the  unexpected  apostrophe, — 

'  So  let  thine  enemies  perish,  0  Jehovah  I' 
is  expressed  more  forcibly  by  tliis  very  silence  of  the  person  who  was  just  speakiiig,  that  it  could  possibly 
have  been  by  all  the  powers  of  language." — Lowth. 


202  A  NEW  AND  COMl'LETE 

Israelites  had  again  relapsed  into  their  evil  and  idolatrous  habits.  This  was  par- 
ticularly the  case  of  the  tribes  beyond  Jordan,  whose  repose  had  been  of  longer  dura- 
tion than  that  of  the  western  tribes,  for  it  does  not  appear  that  the  oppressions  of  King 
Jabin  had  extended  to  them. 

Their  punishment  was  this  time  particularly  heavy,  and  came  from  an  unexpected 
quarter.  The  pastoral  tribes  dwelling  on  the  borders  of  the  land  and  in  the  eastern 
deserts — the  Midianites,  Amalekites,  with  other  tribes  of  Arabia — came  swarming 
into  the  land  "like  locusts,"  with  countless  flocks  and  herds,  and  pitching  their  tents 
in  the  plains  and  valleys.  Arriving  by  the  time  the  products  of  the  soil  began  to  be 
gathered  in,  they  remained  tmtil  the  final  ingatherings  of  the  year,  when  the  advance 
of  winter  warned  them  to  withdraw  into  their  deserts.  Thus  their  cattle  grew  fat 
upon  the  rich  pastures  of  the  land,  while  those  of  Israel  were  starved;  and  the  men 
themselves  lived  merrily  upon  the  gram  whi(;h  the  Hebrews  had  sowed,  and  upon 
the  fruiis  which  they  had  cultivated:  and  as,  besides  this  deprivation  of  the  suste- 
nance for  which  they  had  labored,  such  lawless  crews  are  always  ready  for  any  kind 
of  great  or  small  robbery  and  exaction,  the  Israelites  were  obliged  to  abandon  the 
open  country,  and  to  resort  to  the  walled  towns,  to  intrench  themselves  in  strongholds, 
and  even  to  seek  the  shelter  of  the  caves  among  the  moimtains.  Even  those  who 
ventured  to  remain  in  occupation  of  their  own  allotments,  were  afraid  to  have  it  known 
that  they  had  in  their  possession  any  of  the  produce  of  their  own  fields.  All  this 
while  it  does  not  appear  that  there  Avas  any  open  war,  or  any  military  operations. 
The  invaders  bore  all  before  them,  and  had  entirely  their  own  way,  by  the  mere 
force  of  the  intimidating  impressions  which  their  numbers  created.  Countries  or  dis- 
tricts bordering  on  the  desert  are  still  subject  to  similar  visitations,  where  the  local 
government  is  not  strong  enough  to  prevent  them,  or  where  the  preoccupation  of  the 
border  soil  by  Arabs  in  the  state  of  semi-cultivators,  does  not  form  an  obstacle  (as  it 
does  not  so  always)  to  the  incursions  of  pure  Bedouins.  Down  to  a  very  recent  date 
the  very  country  east  of  the  Jordan,  which  suffered  the  most  on  the  present  occasion, 
suffered  much  from  the  periodical  sojourn  and  severe  exactions  of  the  Bedouin  tribes, 

These  incursions  of  the  Midianites  were  repeated  for  seven  years.  By  this  time 
the  oppression  had  become  so  heavy  that  the  Israelites,  findmg  by  bitter  experience 
the  insufficiency  of  all  other  help,  cried  to  Him  who  had  delivered  them  of  old :  their 
cry  was  heard.  A  prophet  was  commissioned  to  point  out  to  them  that  their  diso- 
bedience had  been  the  cause  of  their  sufferings,  and  to  give  to  them  the  promise  of  a 
new  deliverance. 

The  hero  this  time  appointed  to  act  for  the  deliverance  of  Israel,  was  Gideon  of 
Mauasseh.  His  family  was  exposed  to  the  general  suffering  occasioned  by  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Bedouin  tribes, — so  much  so,  that  having  retained  possession  of  some 
corn,  they  dared  not  thrash  it  out  for  use  in  the  ordinary  thrashing-floor,  but,  to  con- 
ceal it  from  the  knowledge  or  suspicion  of  the  invaders,  were  obliged  to  perform  this 
operation  silently  and  secretly,  in  so  unusual  a  place  as  the  vineyard,  near  the  wine- 
press. The  thrashing-floors  were  watched  by  the  Midianites  at  this  time,  when  the 
harvests  had  been  gathered  in ;  but  no  regard  was  paid  to  the  vineyards,  as  the  sea- 
son of  ripe  grapes  was  far  off.  Gideon  was  engaged  in  this  service  when  "  the  angel 
of  Jehovah"  appeared  to  him  standing  under  an  oak  which  grew  there.  When  ap- 
prized of  his  vocation  to  deliver  Israel,  the  modest  husbandman  would  have  excused 
himself  on  the  ground  of  his  wanting  that  eminence  of  station  which  so  important  a 
service  appeared  to  demand ;  and  when  silenced  by  the  emphatic  "  I  Avill  be  with 
thee"  from  his  heavenly  visitant,  he  still  sought  to  have  some  certain  tokens  whereby 
he  might  feel  assured,  and  be  enabled  to  convey  the  assurance  to  others,  that  his  call 
was  indeed  from  God.  Accordingly,  a  succession  of  signal  miracles  were  wrought  to 
satisfy  his  mind  and  to  confirm  his  faith.  The  refection  of  kid's-flesh  and  bread, 
which  the  hospitable  Gideon  quickly  got  ready  for  the  stranger,  was,  as  he  directed, 
laid  upon  a  rock  before  him,  and  when  he  touched  it  with  the  end  of  his  staff,  a 
spontaneous  fire  arose  by  which  it  was  consumed,  as  a  sacrifice,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  stranger  disappeared.  After  this,  at  the  special  desire  of  Gideon,  "  a  sign"  of  his 
own  choosing  was  granted  to  him.  A  fleece  which  he  laid  upon  the  thrashing-floor 
(in  the  open  air)  was  saturated  with  dew,  while  the  soil  around  was  all  dry ;  and 
again,  condescending  to  his  prayer,  the  Lord  was  pleased  to  reverse  this  miracle,  by 
exempting  the  fleece  alone  from  the  dewy  moisture  which  bespread  the  ground : 
Gideon  was  satisfied. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  203 

Yet  the  family  from  which  the  deliverer  was  chosen  was  not  less  tamted  by  the 
sms  than  visited"  by  the  punishments  of  Israel ;  for  Joash,  the  father  of  Gideon,  had 
erected  an  altar  to  Baal,  at  Ophrah,  the  town  of  his  residence,  at  which  the  people 
of  tliat  place  rendered  their  idolatrous  services  to  that  idol.  This  altar  Gideon  was 
directed  to  destroy,  and  in  its  place  to  erect,  over  the  rock  on  which  his  offering  had 
been  consumed,  an  altar  to  Jehovah.  It  would  seem  that  Joash  himself  was  brought 
back  to  his  fealty  to  Jehovah  by  the  first  of  the  miracles  we  have  related,  of  which, 
probably,  Gideoii  was  not  the  sole  witness:  for  when  the  men  of  Ophrah,  early  in 
the  following  morning,  arose  to  render  their  worship  to  Baal,  and,  finding  his  altar 
overthrown,  demanded  the  death  of  Gideon,  his  father  stood  forward  to  vindicate  his 
conduct.  He  undauntedly  retorted  the  sentence  of  death  against  the  idolaters  them- 
selves, for  their  apostacy  from  Jehovah.  By  demanding  the  punishment  of  Gideon 
for  his  act  against  Baal,  they  recognised  in  fact  the  fairness  of  the  punishments  de- 
nounced by  the  law  against  those  individuals  or  cities  which  turned  away  from  Jeho- 
vah to  serve  other  gods ;  and  this,  coupled  with  the  derision  of  Joash  at  the  impotency 
of  Baal  to  vindicate  or  avenge  his  own  cause,  so  wrought  upon  the  people  of  that 
place,  that  they  were  among  the  foremost  to  gather  to  him  when  he  sounded  the 
trumpet  of  war.  He  then  sent  messengers  throughout  his  own  tribe  of  Manasseh  (on 
both  sides  the  Jordan),  as  well  as  through  those  of  Asher,  Naphtali,  and  Zebulon. 
And  so  cheerfully  was  the  call  obeyed,  that  Gideon  soon  found  himself  at  the  head 
of  thirty-two  thousand  men.  With  this  force  Gideon  marched  to  the  mountains  of 
Gilboa,  where  he  found  vast  multitudes  of  the  enemy  encamped  before  him  in  the 
plain  of  Esdraelon.  This  fine  plain  had  probably  been  before  their  favorite  resort ; 
but  they  seem  to  have  congregated  there  in  unusual  numbers  as  soon  as  they  heard 
of  Gideon's  preparations.  And  now  that  the  people  might  have  no  cause  to  attribute 
their  deliverance  to  their  own  numbers  and  prowess,  it  pleased  the  divine  King  of 
Israel  to  reduce  this  important  army  to  a  mere  handful  of  spirited  men.  In  the  first 
place,  Gideon  was  directed  to  proclaim  liberty  for  all  who  now,  in  sight  of  the  enemy, 
were  fearful  and  faint-hearted,  to  return  to  their  own  homes.  This  proclamation, 
according  to  the  law  (Deut.  xx.  8),  ought  in  all  cases  to  have  been  made ;  but  it  seems 
that  from  some  reason  or  other  (perhaps  either  from  ignorance  of  the  law,  or  from 
supposing  that  it  was  not  intended  to  apply  to  such  a  case  as  the  present),  it  would 
not  have  been  made  by  Gideon  without  the  special  command  which  he  received. 
Such  a  law,  or  practice,  however  inapplicable,  or  even  ruinous,  it  might  prove  under 
the  military  systems  and  tactics  of  modem  Europe,  was  well  calculated  to  act  bene- 
ficially in  the  warfare  of  those  early  times;  for  as  everything  then  depended  on  the 
individual  courage  and  prowess  of  those  engaged,  "  the  faint-hearted"  were  more 
likely  to  damage  than  assist  those  on  whose  side  they  appeared ;  as  their  conduct 
was  tolerably  certain  to  bring  about  results  fatal  to  themselves,  and  discouraging  to 
their  more  valorous  companions.  In  the  present  instance  the  result  was,  that  al- 
though the  men  composing  the  army  of  Gideon  had  come  forward  voluntarily,  above 
two  thirds  of  them  were  so  intimidated  in  the  actual  presence  of  danger,  that  they 
took  advantage  of  this  permission  to  depart  to  their  own  homes.  Of  the  thirty-two 
thousand,  only  ten  thousand  remained  with  Gideon.  Yet  as  these  were  meri  of 
valor,  as  evinced  by  their  determination  to  remain,  room  for  vain-glorious  boastings 
was  still  left,  and  therefore  Gideon  was  informed  that  the  number  v/as  still  too  large, 
and  that  a  further  reduction  m-ust  be  made.  The  process  of  this  second  selection 
was  very  curious.  All  those  were  dismissed  who,  in  drinking  at  the  watering-place, 
stooped  down  to  drink  in  large  draughts  of  water  at  the  surface;  but  those  who 
merely  "  lapped"  the  water,  or  took  it  up  in  the  hollow  of  their  hands  to  drink,  were 
retained.  The  different  methods  of  drinking  have  been  supposed  to  have  distin- 
guished the  self-indulgent  from  the  more  manly  and  active  men.  The  latter — those 
who  took  up  the  water  in  their  hollowed  hands — were  but  three  hundred  out  of  the 
ten  thousand ;  and  these  were  declared  sufficient  for  the  enterprise. 

The  night  after  this,  Gideon,  with  his  faithful  follower  Phurah,  went  down  to  the 
camp  of  the  enemy,  in  consequence  of  an  intimation  that  he  would  there  hear  matter 
for  his  encouragement.  What  he  heard  was  one  soldier,  just  awakened,  telling  a 
dream  to  his  companions.  He  had  dreamed  that  he  saw  a  barley-cake  roll  down 
from  the  hills  to  the  Midianitish  camp,  where  it  overthrew  the  first  tent  to  which  it 
came.     The  interpretation  which  the  other  gave  was — "  This  is  none  other  than  the 


204  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

sword  of  Gideon,  the  son  of  Joash,  a  man  of  Israel,  into  whose  hand  God  delivereth 
Midian  and  the  whole  camp." 

Several  facts  are  indicated  by  this  incident ;  such  as  the  stress  generally  laid  upon 
dreams  in  that  age,  as  indicative  of  contingent  results, — the  honor  attached  to  the 
office  of  spy,  as  one  of  danger,  and  which  was  therefore,  as  in  the  Mosaic  age,  as- 
signed to,  or  undertaken  by,  the  very  chief  persons  in  the  army, — and  the  truly  Ori- 
ental want  of  sentinels  and  pickets,  even  in  the  face  of  the  enemy.  This  indeed  may 
have  been  noticed  on  many  former  occasions ;  and  to  this  astonishing  neglect  of  a 
precaution  which  seems  to  us  so  obvious  and  so  simple,  may  be  attributed  the  facility 
and  success  of  those  sudden  surprises  of  which  we  so  often  read  in  the  military  his- 
tory of  those  early  ages. 

Gideon  no  sooner  heard  the  dream  and  its  interpretation  than  he  understood  and 
accepted  the  sign.  He  relumed  to  his  own  small  band,  and  proceeded  to  carry  into 
immediate  execution  a  remarkable  stratagem  which  had  already  been  suggested  to 
him.  He  divided  his  three  hundred  men  into  three  companies.  Every  man  was  pro- 
vided with  a  trumpet  in  one  hand,  and  in  the  other  a  pitcher  containing  a  lighted 
lamp.  They  were  then  stationed  in  silence  and  darkness  at  different  points  on  the 
outside  of  the  enemy's  camp.  Then,  on  a  signal  given  by  Gideon,  all  the  three  com- 
panies, at  the  same  instant,  blew  their  trumpets,  exposed  their  lamps,  broke  the 
pitchers  which  had  concealed  them,  and  then  continued  shouting,  "  The  sword  of 
Jehovah  and  of  Gideon  !"*  The  terrible  din  and  crash  which  thus  suddenly  broke  in 
upon  the  stillness  of  midnight,  with  the  equally  sudden  blaze  of  light  from  three  him- 
dred  lamps,  which  illumined  its  darkness,  struck  an  instant  panic  into  the  vast  host 
of  Midian,  suggesting  to  them  that  the  lamp-bearing  trumpeters  (whose  numbers 
must  have  been  greatly  magnified  in  the  confused  apprehension  of  men  just  awaken- 
ed) were  but  the  advanced  guard  of  the  Hebrew  host  whom  they  were  lighting  to 
the  attack  on  the  camp.  They  therefore  fled  in  all  directions,  through  the  openmgs 
between  the  three  companies.  In  their  midnight  flight,  not  doubting  that  the  He- 
brews had  fallen  upon  them,  they  mistook  friends  for  foes,  and  vast  multitudes  of 
them  perished  by  each  other's  swords.  The  survivers,  in  their  further  flight,  came 
up  with  the  several  parties  which  had  been  dismissed  by  Gideon  to  their  homes,  and 
these  committed  a  terrible  slaughter  among  the  fugitives.  Gideon  also  sent  messen- 
gers desiring  the  Ephraimites  to  seize  the  various  fords  of  the  Jordan,  between  the 
two  lakes,  and  thereby  prevent  the  escape  of  any  of  the  fugitives  eastward,  which 
was  the  direction  they  would  naturally  take.  In  this  terrible  overthrow  no  less  than 
one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  of  the  various  tribes  of  "  the  children  of  the  east" 
perished ;  and  so  completely  were  the  Midianites  subdued,  that  from  that  time  they 
"Were  never  able  "  to  lift  up  their  heads  any  more." 

A  remnant  of  fifteen  thousand,  headed  by  their  emirs,  Zebah  and  Zalmunna,  man- 
aged to  escape  across  the  river  (probably  before  the  Ephraimites  had  seized  the  fords), 
and  having  reached  a  distance  where  they  deemed  themselves  safe  from  further  pur- 
suit, they  ventured  to  encamp.  But  Gideon  himself,  with  his  faithful  three  hundred, 
continued  the  pursuit  even  *'^  'hat  disiance — even  into  the  land  of  the  tent-dwellers 
— and  falling  suddenly  upon  the  camp,  which  lay  carelessly  secure,  tlie  already  scared 
Midianites  were  completely  overthrown.  The  two  emirs  themselves  were  taken 
alive  and  brought  before  Gideon.  He  had  formed,  for  those  times,  the  singularly 
generous  intention  to  spare  their  lives;  but  when  her  gathered,  from  their  own  lips, 
that  they  had  created  a  case  of  blood-revenge  between  himself  and  them,  by  putting 
to  death,  near  Mount  Tabor,  his  brethren,  "  the  sons  of  his  own  mother,"t  lie,  as  the 
legal  avenger  of  their  blood,  slew  these  emirs  with  his  own  hand. 

Gideon  seems  to  have  been  a  man  eminently  qualified  for  the  high  and  difficult 
station  tc^  which  he  was  called.  Firm  even  to  sternness,  where  the  exhibition  of  the 
stronger  qualities  seemed  necessary,  and  in  war  "  a  mighty  man  of  valor,"  we  are 
called  upon  in  his  case,  more  frequently  than  in  any  other  which  has  occurred,  to 
admire  his  truly  courteous  and  self-retreating  character,  and  that  nice  and  difficult 
tact — difficult,  because  spontaneously  nahiral — in  the  management  of  men,  which  is 
a  rarer  and  finer  species  of  judgment,  and  by  which  he  was  intuitively  taught  to  say 

*  The  liint  of  this  watchword  was  taken  from  tlie  inturprotatioii  of  the  Midianitish  soldier's  dream,  "the 
sword  of  Gideon,"  to  which  Gideon,  with  equal  piety  and  modesty,  prefixed,  "  the  sword  of  Jehovah." 

t  The  emphasis  lies  in  the  probability  that  his  father  had  children  by  other  wives  than  Gideon's  mother. 
To  be  her  children,  therefore,  constituted  a  far  dearer  tie  than  to  be  his  father's  children  in  Uie  general 
sense. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  201 

i\e  properest  word,  and  do  the  properest  deed  at  the  most  proper  time.  This  is  the 
true  secret  of  his  ultimate  popularity  and  influence,  which  much  exceeded  that 
enjoyed  by  any  judge  before  him.  Some  instances  of  the  qualities  which  we  have 
indicated  have  already  appeared,  and  others  will  presently  occur. 

The  Ephraimites  who  had  guarded  the  Jordan,  having  performed  all  that  their 
difty  required,  hastened  to  join  Gideon  in  the  pursuit  of  the  Midianites.  They  me' 
hini  on  hi'^  return,  and  laid  before  him  the  heads  of  Oreb  and  Zeeb,*  two  emirs  of 
Midian,  whom  they  had  taken  and  slain.  This  tribe  of  Ephraim,  which  was,  after 
that  of  Judah,  the  most  important  in  Israel,  was  exceedingly  jealous  of  its  superiority ; 
and  was,  tlierefore,  not  a  little  annoyed  that  an  obscure  Abiezrile  should  have  under- 
taken so  great  an  enterprise  as  that  now  happily  completed,  without  consulting  them. 
They  noAv  took  occasion  to  reftionstrate  with  him  sharply  on  the  subject,  but  were 
soon  pacified  by  his  modest  and  good-tempered  answer.  "  How  little  have  I  done  now 
in  comparison  with  you,"  he  said.  "  Is  not  the  gleaning  of  the  grapes  of  Ephraim 
better  than  the  vintage  of  Abiezer  ?  God  hath  delivered  up  the  princes  of  Midian, 
Oreb  and  Zeeb  ;  and  "what  have  I  been  able  to  do  in  comparison  with  you  ?"  Gideon 
knew  what  Solomon  taught  long  after,  "A  soft  answer  turneth  away  wrath." 

When  he  had  crossed  the  Jordan  in  pursuit  of  the  fugitives,  he  was  anxious  to 
obtain  for  his  small  band — "  faint,  yet  pursuing" — refreshments  from  the  town  of 
Succoth,  which  he  passed,  and  afterward  from  that  of  Peniel ;  but  he  was  in  both 
cases  refused.  The  inhabitants  seem  to  have  been  fearful  of  bringing  upon  them- 
selves the  vengeance  of  the  Midianites,  to  whom  they  had  for  seven  years  been  sub- 
ject, and  against  whom  they  held  it  to  be  very  unlikely  that  he  Avould  succeed  with 
so  small  a  force.  They  not  only  refused,  but  added  insult  to  injury.  Instead  of 
chastising  them  on  the  spot,  he  coolly  told  both  that  he  would  do  so  on  his  return; 
and  he  now  kept  his  promise.  Coming  upon  Succoth  by  surprise,  before  the  sun  was 
up,  he  took  the  chief  persons  of  Succoth,  and,  as  he  had  threatened,  scourged  them 
to  death  with  thorns  and  briars.  Of  Peniel  he  made  a  still  severer  example,  for  he 
beat  down  the  fortress-tower  of  that  city,  and  put  to  death  the  men  belonging  to  it. 

The  Israelites,  in  the  warmth  of  their  gratitude,  offered  to  make  Gideon  their  king, 
and  to  continue  the  crown  to  his  descendants.  This  proposal,  which  clearly  shows 
how  unmmdful  the  Israelites  had  become  of  the  great  political  principle  of  the  the- 
ocracy with  which  they  were  so  unwarrantably  ready  to  dispense,  was  nobly  rejected 
by  Gideon,  who  replied  to  it  in  the  true  spirit  of  the  theocracy:  "I  will  not  reign 
over  you,  neither  shall  my  son  rei^n  over  you  ;'  Jehovah,  he  shall  reign  over  you." 
But  while  thus  alive  to  the  true  political  character  of  the  Mosaic  institutions,  he  was 
not  equally  cognizant  of  the  religious  obligations  of  that  system.  When  he  was 
called  to  liis  great  work  at  Ophrah,  he  had  been  instructed  to  build  an  altar  on  the 
rock  on  which  his  offering  had  been  accepted,  and  himself  "to  offer  sacrifices  there. 
This  probably  led  him  to  conclude  that  it  would  be  right  to  form  a  religious  estab- 
ment  at  that  spot,  for  the  worship  of  God  by  sacrifice.  A  more  perfect  acquaintance 
with  the  principles  of  the  law  would  have  taught  him  otherwise.  However,  to  this 
object  he  applied  the  produce  of  the  golden  ear-rings  of  the  Midianites,  which,  at 
his  special  request  (not  unlike  that  of  Aaron,  Exod.  xxxii.  2),  were  cheerfully  granted 
to  him  by  the  army  as  his  share  of  the  spoil.  The  weight  being  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  shekels,  the  gold  thus  obtained  must  have  been  worth  upward  of  fifteen 
thousand  dollars  of  our  money ;  and  the  "  ephod"  Avhich  he  is  described  as  having 
made  with  it,  probably  included  not  only  "  the  priests'  dress,"  as  the  word  signifies, 
but  a  regular  sacerdotal  establishment  in  his  own  town,  where  sacrifices  might  be 
constantly  offered.  For  this  purpose  such  a  sum  as  he  applied  to  it  must  have  been 
fully  requisite.  It  has  been  disputed  whether  Gideon  himself  officiated  as  priest,  or, 
like  Micah,  engaged  a  Levite  for  that  purpose.  The  latter  seems  the  more  likely 
supposition,  unless  from  having  been  once  directed  to  oflfer  sacrifice,  Gideon  concluded 
he  had  a  superior  claim  to  discharge  that  ofl[ice. 

However  well  intended  this  establishment  may  have  heen  in  the  first  instance,  this 
was  a  most  mistaken  and  dangerous  step,  resembling,  in  its  principle,  the  establish- 
ment which  the  Danites  had  formed  in  the  north.  It  infringed  upon  the  peculiar 
claims  of  Shiloh,  the  seat  of  the  Divine  Presence ;  and  the  result  of  these  and  all 
attempts  to  form  separate  establishments  affords  ample  illustration  of  the  design  with 

»  The  names  mean  crow  and  wolf.  It  would  seem  tnat  the  chiefs  of  the  Midianites  (like  the  North 
Amei\can  Indians)  took  the  names  of  animals,  as  significant  of  qualities  to  wliich  they  aspired 


206  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

which  the  formal  Avorship  of  God  by  sacrifice  was  confined  to  one  particular  locality 
It  proved  "  a  snare  to  Gideon  and  his  family,"  in  worshipping  the  true  God  in  an 
improper  manner.  It  became  popular  to  "  all  Israel,"  who  resorted  to  Ophrah  to 
render  that  worship  and  service  which  was  due  only  at  the  sacred  tabernacle  ;  and, 
with  the  predisposition  to  idolatry,  it  is  not  wonderful  that,  free  at  this  place  from 
the  restraint  and  supervision  which  the  worship  at  Shiloh  imposed,  the  service  at 
this  place  soon  became  associated  with  idolatrous  ideas  and  objects,  until  at  last  it 
descenerated  into  rank  idolatry  after  the  death  of  Gideon.  He  survived  and  ruled 
Israel  forty  years  afier  his  victory  over  the  Midianites,  aud  during  all  this  time  the 
tranquillity  of  Israel  appears  to  have  been  undisturbed. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

Gideon  left  no  less  than  seventy  sons  by  his  numerous  wives,  besides  one  spurious 
son  called  Abimelech,  by  a  concubine  (whom  Josephus  calls  Drumah)  who  belonged 
to  Shechem.  A  bastard  among  seventy  legitimate  sons  was  not  likely  to  be  pleasantly 
circumstanced  when  his  father  was  dead,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  he  soon  with- 
drew from  among  them  to  his  mother's  relations  at  Shechem. .  They  seem  to  have 
been  persons  of  some  consideration  in  that  place. 

After  the  death  of  Gideon,  the  history,  without  stating  the  fact,  seems  to  require 
us  to  suppose  that  his  sons  had  been  invited  to  take  the  government,  or  to  share  it 
among  them;  and  that  they,  actuated  by  the  same  noble,  because  disinterested 
regard  for  the  principles  of  the  theocracy  which  had  influenced  their  father,  had 
declined  the  offer.  But  Abimelech,  "  a  bold,  bad  man,"  was  of  a  different  spirit. 
He  soon  saw  th^  advantage  which  he  might  take  of  the  existing  posture  of  affairs. 
Prompted  by  him,  his  uncles  and  other  maternal  connexions  suggested  to  the  chief 
people  of  Shechem  his  willingness  to  undertake  the  charge  which  the  people  gener- 
ally were  anxious  to  see  in  the  hands  of  a  son,  or  some  of  the  sons,  of  Gideon. 
They  suggested  whether  it  were  not  much  better  that  one  man  should  reign  over 
them,  than  that  they  should  be  subject  to  all  the  sons  of  Gideon,  seventy  persons  in 
number;  and  if  the  government  of  one  man  was  to  be  desired,  who  had  so  strong  a 
claim  to  their  preference  and  attachment  as  one  so  closely  connected  with  them  as 
Abimelech?  These  suggestions  had  their  weight  upon  the  leading  men  of  Shechem, 
particularly  the  consideration  that  he  was  "  their  brother."  They  supplied  him  with 
money  out  of  the  treasury  of  Baal-berith,  whose  worship  seems  to  have  been  that  to 
which  the  Israelites  were  at  this  time  the  most  inclined.  The  sura  was  not  large,* 
but  it  served  him  to  hire  a  set  of  unprincipled  men,  prepared  for  any  undertaking  he 
might  propose.  And,  with  the  usual  short-sightedness  of  wicked  men,  thinking  to 
concentrate  in  his  own  person  the  attachment  of  the  Israelites  to  the  house  of  Gideon, 
as  well  as  to  extinguish  that  which  was  likely  to  be  the  most  active  opposition  he 
would  have  to  oncoun'er,  Abimelech  marched  his  troop  to  Ophrah,  where  he  put  to 
death  all  his  brethren,  the  sons  of  Gideon,  with  ihe  exception  of  the  youngest,  named 
Jothain,  who  managed  to  escape.  This  is  the  first  example  of  a  stroke  of  barbarous 
policy  which  has  since  been  very  common  in  the  history  of  the  East.  In  the  first 
instance  it  had  the  effect  he  intended ;  for  on  his  return  to  Shechem,  the  people  of 
that  place  assembled  aid  anointed  Abimelech  king,  close  to  a  pillar  of  stone  that 
Stood  near  that  town — perhaps  the  same  which  Joshua  had  set  up  there  as  a  memo- 
rial of  the  covenant  with  God. 

When  Jotham  was  made  acquainted  with  this,  he  repaired  secretly  to  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Shechem ;  and,  taking  advantage  of  some  festival  which  brought  the 
inhabitants  together  outside  the  town,  he  appeared  suddeiily  on  a  cliff  overlooking 

*  Seventy  shekels  of  silver,  about  equal  to  forty  dollars  of  our  money.  But  proper  aUowance  must  be 
made  for  a  great  difference  in  the  real  value  of  money,  although  the  precise  amount  of  that  difference  can 
not  be  stated.  • 

■t  Gaza,  a  principal  city  of  the  Philistines,  given  to  Judah  by  Joshua,  Josh.  xv.  47,  Judg.  i.  18 :  it  lay  about 
sixty  miles  southwest  of  Jerusalem,  three  miles  from  the  Mediterranean  sea,  and  near  to  the  confines  of 
Egypt,  Gen.  x.  10.  Gaza  is  famous  lor  some  of  the  exploits  and  the  death  of  Samson,  vvhilein  possession  of 
the  Philistines,  Judg.  xvi.  1-21.  Being  a  border  town,  its  changes  were  u\any  in  the  course  of  ages.  Alex- 
•inder  the  Great  made  it  desolate,  as  predicted  ;  but  it  was  rebuilt  nearer  to  the  sea ;  and  in  its  vicinity,  the 
lithiopian  noblemen  was  baptized  by  Philip,  Acts  viii.  20.  Gaza  as  a  sea-port,  has  been  called  the  "  Key 
>f  Syria  :"  it  is  now  called  Rissa. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


207 


^08  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

the  valley  in  which  they  were  assembled,  and,  in  a  loud  voice,  called  their  attention 
to  his  words.  He  then  delivered  that  earliest  and  very  fine  parable  which  represents 
the  trees  as  making  choice  of  a  king :  The  olive  refused  to  leave  its  oil,  the  fig-tree 
its  sweetness,  and  the  vine-tree  its  wine,  to  reign  over  the  trees  (thus  intimating  the 
refusal  of  Gideon's  sons) ;  but  the  upstart  bramble  (represeating  Abimelech)  accepts, 
with  great  dignity,  the  offered  honor,  and  even  proposes  the  conditions  of  its  accept- 
ance. These  are  exquisitely  satirical,  both  in  their  terms  and  in  their  application ; — 
"  If  ye  truly  intend  to  anoint  me  king  over  you,  come,  take  shelter  under  my  shadow; 
and  if  not,  let  fire  come  out  of  the  bramble  and  devour  the  cedars  of  Lebanon." 
That  ihey  might  be  at  no  loss  to  understand  his  meaning,  Jotham  gave  the  obvious 
"  moral,"  in  which  he  included  a  bitter  rebuke  of  the  ingratitude  of  the  people  to 
their  deliverer,  all  whose  sons,  save  himself,  they  had  slain;  together  with  an  inti- 
mation, which  proved  prophetic,  of  the  probable  result.  He  then  fled  with  all  haste, 
in  fear  of  Abimelech;  and  ultimately  settled  beyond  his  reach,  at  Beer,  in  ihe  tribe  of 
Benjamin. 

Abimelech  reigned  three  years  in  Shechem,  during  which  he  so  disgusted  the  men 
by  whom  he  had  been  raised  to  that  bad  eminence  on  which  he  stood,  that  they  ex- 
pelled him  from  their  city.  In  return,  he,  with  the  aid  of  the  desperate  fellows  who 
remained  with  him,  did  his  utmost  to  distress  the  inhabitants,  so  that  at  the  season 
of  vintage  they  were  afraid  to  go  out  into  their  vineyards  to  collect  their  fruits. 
Hearing  of  these  transactions,  one  Gaal  went  over  to  Shechem  with  his  armed  fol- 
lowers and  kinsmen,  to  see  how  they  might  be  turned  to  his  advantage.  We  know 
not  precisely  who  this  person  was,  or  whence  he  came  ;  but  there  are  circumstances 
in  the  original  narrative  which  would  suggest  that  he  was  a  Canaanite,  descended 
from  the  former  rulers  of  Shechem,  and  that  his  people  also  were  a  remnant  of  the 
original  Shechemites.  He  came  so  opportunely,  that  the  people  very  gladly  accepted 
his  protection  during  the  vintage.  In  the  feats  which  followed  the  joyful  labors  of 
that  season,  Gaal,  who  seems  to  have  been  a  cowardly,  boasting  fellow,  spoke  con- 
temptuously of  Abimelech,  and  talked  largely  of  what  he  could  and  would  do,  if 
authority  were  vested  in  him.  This  was  heard  with  much  indignation  by  Zebul,  one 
of  the  principal  magistrates  of  the  city,  who  lost  no  time  in  secretly  sending  to 
apprize  Abimelech  how  matters  stood,  and  advised  him  to  show  himself  suddenly 
before  the  city,  when  he  would  undertake  to  induce  Gaal  to  march  out  against  him. 
Accordingly,  one  morning,  when  Zebul  and  other  principal  persons  were  with  Gaal  at 
the  gate  of  the  city,  armed  men  were  seen  descending  the  hills.  Zebul  amused  Gaal 
till  they  came  nearer,  and  -then,  by  reminding  him  of  his  recent  boastings,  compelled 
him  to  draw  out  his  men  to  repel  the  advance  of  Abimelech.  They  met,  and  no 
sooner  did  Gaal  see  a  few  of  his  men  fall,  than,  with  the  rest,  he  fled  hastily  into  the 
city.  Zebul  availed  himself  of  this  palpable  exhibition  of  impotence,  if  not  cow- 
ardice, to  induce  the  people  of  Shechem  to  expel  Gaal  and  his  troop  from  the  town. 
Abimelech,  who  was  staying  at  Arumah,  a  place  not  far  off,  was  informed  of  this  the 
next  morning,  as  well  as  that  the  inhabitants,  although  no  longer  guarded  by  Gaal, 
went  out  daily  to  the  labors  of  the  field.  He  therefore  laid  ambushes  in  the  neigh- 
borhood ;  and  when  the  men  were  come  forth  to  their  work  in  the  vineyards,  two  of 
the  ambushed  parties  rose  to  destroy  them,  while  a  third  hastened  to  the  gates  to 
prevent  their  return  to  the  town.  The  city  itself  was  then  taken,  and  Abimelech 
caused  all  the  buildings  to  be  destroyed,  and'  the  ground  to  be  strewn  with  salt,  as  a 
symbol  of  the  desolation  to  which  his  intention  consigned  it.  The  fortress,  however, 
still  remained,  and  a  thousand  men  were  in  it.  But  they,  fancying  that  it  was  not 
tenable,  withdrew  to  "  the  strong-hold  of  the  temple  of  Baal-berith,"  which  had  the 
advantage  of  standing  in  a  more  elevated  and  commanding  position.  This,  it  will  be 
noted,  is  the  first  ternple  which  we  read  of  in  scripture.  On  perceivmg  this,  Abime- 
lech cut  down  the  bough  of  a  tree  with  his  battle-axe,  and  bore  it  upon  his  shoulder, 
directing  all  his  men  to  do  the  same.  The  wood  was  deposited  against  the  entrance 
and  wafls  of  the  strong-hold,  and,  when  kindled,  made  a  tremendous  fire,  in  which 
the  building  and  the  thousand  men  it  contained  were  destroyed. 

To  follow  up  this  victory,  Abimelech  marched  against  Thebez,  another  revolted 
town.  As  before,  he  took  the  town  itself  with  little  difficulty,  but  all  the  people  had 
shut  themselves  up  in  the  tower  or  fortress,  which  offered  a  more  serious  obstacle. 
However,  Abimelech  advanced  to  the  door  with  the  intention  of  burning  it  down, 
when  a  woman  threw  a  large  stone  from  the  battlements  above.     It  fell  upon  him, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  209 

and  broke  his  scull ;  and  mindful,  even  in  that  bitter  moment,  of  that  principle  of 
military  honor  which  counts  death  from  a  woman's  hands  disgraceful,  he  hastily 
called  to  his  armor-bearer  to  thrust  him  through  with  his  sword,  that  it  might  not 
be  said  a  woman  slew  him.  But  the  disgrace  which  he  desired  to  avoid  attached 
for  ever  to  his  name  ;  for  it  was  always  remembered  to  his  dishonor  that  a  woman 
slew  him. 

After  Abimelech,  Tola,  of  the  tribe  of  Issachar,  but  dwelling  in  Mount  Ephrami, 
governed  the  people  for  twenty-three  years. 

He  was  succeeded  by  Jair,  a  Gileadite  (of  eastern  Manasseh),  who  judged  Israel 
twenty-two  years.  His  opulence  is  indicated  by  his  being  the  owner  of  thirty  vil- 
lages, which  collectively  bore  the  name  of  Havoth-Jair  (Jair's  villages),  and  that  he 
hall  thirty  sons,  all  of  whom  he  could  afford  to  mount  on  young  asses.  In  those  days 
horses  and  mules  were  not  in  use  among  the  Hebrews.  Their  place  was  not 
unworthily  substituted  by  the  fine  breed  of  asses  which  the  country  afforded ;  and  to 
possess  as  many  as  thirty  of  these,  young  and  vigorous,  and  fit  for  the  saddle  (iniplying 
the  possession  of  many  more,  older  and  of  inferior  condition),  was  no  questionable 
sign  of  wealth. 

As  the  administration  of  these  two  judges  was  peaceable,  the  notice  of  them  is 
confined  to  a  few  lines  ;  the  chief  design  of  the  sacred  historian  being  to  record  the 
calamities  which  the  Israelites  drew  upon  themselves  by  their  apostacies  to  the 
idolatries  of  the  surrounding  nations,  and  their  providential  deliverances  upon  their 
repentance  and  return  to  their  God  and  king.  After  the  calm  of  these  administrations, 
they  multiplied  their  idolatries ;  and  in  punishment  for  this,  they  were  brought  under  a 
servitude  to  the  Ammonites,  which  continued  for  eighteen  years,  and  was  particularly 
severe  upon  the  tribes  beyond  Jordan,  although  the  southern  and  central  tribes  on  this 
side  the  river — Judah,  Benjamin,  and  Ephraim — were  also  subdued. 

Corrected  by  calamity,  tlie  Israelites  put  away  their  idols,  and  cried  to  God  for 
pardon  and  deliverance.  In  reply  to  their  suit,  they  were  reminded  of  the  deliver- 
ances which  they  had  already  experienced,  notwithstanding  which  they  had  repeatedly 
turned  to  serve  other  gods.  Their  prayer  was  therefore  refused,  and  they  were  told, 
"  Go  and  cry  to  the  gods  that  ye  have  chosen  ;  let  them  deliver  you  in  the  time  of 
your  tribulation."  Their  reply  to  this  was  very  proper  :  "  We  have  sinned :  do  thou 
to  us  whatever  seemeth  good"  mito  thee;  only  deliver  us,  we  pray  thee,  this  time." 
And  fortliwith  they  rooted  out  the  remains  of  idolatry  from  among  them,  and  wor- 
shipped Jehovah  with  such  singleness  and  zeal  that  "  his  soul  was  grieved  for  the 
misery  of  Israel." 

There  was  a  man  called  Jephthah,  who  was,  like  Abimelech,  the  spurious  son  of 
a  m<in  who  had  a  large  family  of  legitimate  children.  When  the  father  died,  the 
other  sons  expelled  Jephthah  from  among  them,  saying,  "  Thou  shalt  not  inherit  in 
our  father's  house,  for  thou  art  the  son  of  a  strange  woman."  As  this  last  phrase 
generally  denotes  a  foreigner,  or  one  not  of  Israel,  this  treatment,  although  very 
harsh,  was  less  unjust,  under  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the  Hebrew  constitution, 
than  might  at  the  first  vieAV  appear ;  for  it  was  a  strong  point  of  the  Mosaic  policy 
to  discourage  all  connexion  with  foreigners  (necessarily  idolaters) ;  and  nothing  was 
better  calculated  to  this  end,  for  a  people  like  the  Hebrews,  than  the  disqualification 
of  the  progeny  of  such  connexions  from  receiving  a  share  in  the  inheritance. 

On  this  Jephthah  Avithdrew  into  "  the  land  of  Tob,"  toward  the  borders  of  the  des- 
ert :  and  as  he  had  before  this  found  opportunities  of  establishing  a  character  for  spirit 
and  courage,  he  was  soon  joined  by  a  number  of  destitute  and  idle  young  men,  who 
were  led  by  inclination,  or  more  imperative  inducements,  to  prefer  the  free  life  he  led 
to  the  sober  habits  which  a  settling  community  requires.  Besides,  from  pastoral  so- 
cieties, such  as  those  beyond  Jordan,  the  step  into  the  free  life  of  the  desert  is  much 
shorter  than  it  Avould  be  among  a  more  agricultural  people.  It  is  really  useless  to  at- 
tempt to  consider  Jephthah's  troop  otherwise  than  as  a  set  of  daring,  careless  fellows, 
acting  as  men  do  at  the  present  day  act  in  the  east  under  similar  circumstances,  and 
similarly  brought  together.  Being  without  any  other  means  of  subsistence,  they  un- 
questionably lived  by  a  sort  of  robbery,  as  we  should  call  it  now,  examples  of  which 
are  found  in  all  rude  states  of  society,  and  to  which,  in  such  states  of  society,  no  one 
dreams  of  attaching  disgrace.  They  lived  doubtless  by  raids,  or  plmidering  excur- 
sions, into  the  neighboring  small  states,  driving  off  the  cattle,  and  taking  whatever 
came  to  their  hands ;  and  we  may  from  analogy  conclude  that  they  waylaid  and  levied 

14 


210  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

black-mail  upon  caravans,  when  composed  of  parties  which  .hey  had  no  reason  to 
treat  with  favor.  Their  point  of  honor  probably  was,  to  abstain  from  any  acts  against 
their  own  countrymen ;  and  this  exception  existing,  the  body  of  the  Israelites  must 
have  regarded  the  performances  of  Jephthah  and  his  troop  with  favor,  especially  if, 
as  is  likely,  they  were  thorns  in  the  sides  of  the  Ammonites,  and  took  pleasure  to  an- 
noy, in  their  own  quarters,  the  enemies  of  Israel.  However  this  may  be,  the  courage 
and  conduct  of  Jephthah  became  so  well  known  by  his  successful  enterprises,  that 
when,  after  their  repentance,  the  tribes  beyond  Jordan  determined  to  make  a  stand 
against  the  Ammonites,  but  felt  the  want  of  a  leader,  they  agreed  that  there  was  no 
known  person  so  fit  as  Jephthah  to  lead  them  to  battle.  The  chiefs  of  Gilead,  his 
native  district,  therefore  went  in  person  to  the  land  of  Tob,  to  solicit  this  already  cel- 
ebrated person  to  undertake  the  conduct  of  the  expedition.  They  were  rather  harshly 
received.  "  Did  ye  not  hate  me,"  said  the  hero,  "  and  expel  me  from  my  father's 
house  ?  and  why  do  ye  come  to  me  now,  when  ye  are  in  distress  ?"  They,  however, 
continued  to  press  him,  and  intimated  that,  as  had  been  usual  in  such  cases,  the  gov- 
ernment of,  at  least,  the  land  of  Gilead,  would  be  the  reward  of  his  success.  This 
was  very  agreeable  to  Jephthah,  who  forthwith  accompanied  them  toMizpeh,  where 
this  agreement  was  solemnly  ratified,  and  all  things  necessary  for  conducting  the  war 
were  regulated. 

By  the  time  Jephthah  had  organized  his  forces  in  Mizpeh,  the  Ammonites,  taking 
alarm,  had  assembled  a  numerous  army  in  Gilead.  Although,  from  his  previous  hab- 
its of  life,  we  should  hardly  have  expected  it  from  him,  we  find  the  Hebrew  general 
commencing  the  war  with  much  more  than  usual  attention  to  those  formalities  which 
are  judged  necessary  to  render  the  grounds  of  quarrel  manifest.  He  sent  ambassa- 
dors to" the  kmg  of  the  Ammonites,  requiring  to  know  why  he  had  come  to  fight 
against  the  Hebrews  in  their  own  land.  The  king,  in  reply,  alleged  that  he  came  to 
recover  the  land  taken  from  his  ancestors  by  the  Israelites,  on  their  way  from  Egypt, 
and  of  which  he,  therefore,  required  peaceable  restitution.  Jephthah  in  his  reply 
wave  a  fair  and  clear  recital  of  the  whole  transaction  which  had  put  these  lands  into 
the  possession  of  the  Hebrews,  and  he  refused  to  surrender  them  on  the  following 
grounds :  1.  He  denied  that  the  Ammonites  had  any  existing  title  to  the  lands,  for 
they  had  been  driven  out  of  these  lands  by  the  Amorites  before  the  Hebrews  appeared ; 
and  that  they  (the  Hebrews)  in  overcoming  and  driving  out  the  Amorites,  without 
any  assistance  from,  or  friendly  understanding  Avith,  the  Ammonites,  became  entitled 
to  the  territory  which  the  conquered  people  occupied ;  2,  that  the  title  of  the  Is- 
raelites was  confirmed  by  a  prescription  of  above  three  hundred  years,  during  which 
none  of  Ammon  or  of  Moab  had  ever  reclaimed  these  lands  ;  and,— 3,  as  an  argu- 
mentum  ad  hominem,  he  alleged  that  the  God  of  Israel  was  as  well  entitled  to  grant 
his  people  the  lands  which  they  held  as  was  their  own  god  Chemosli,  accordmg  to 
their  opinion,  to  grant  to  the  Ammonites  the  lands  which  they  now  occupied.  This 
admirable  and  well-reasoned  statement  concluded  with  an  appeal  to  Heaven  to  decide 
the  justice  of  the  cause  by  the  event  of  the  battle  which  was  now  inevitable. 

The  result  was  such  as  might  be  expected.  Jephthah  defeated  the  Ammonites 
with  great  slaughter,  and  reduced  the  nation  to  subjection. 

But  not  joy  to  exalt  and  gladden  his  heart,  but  a  bitter  grief  to  rend  it  deeply, 
awaited  the  victor  on  his  return  to  Mizpeh.  Feeling,  perhaps,  that  he  had  not,  like 
former  deliverers,  been  expressly  and  publicly  called  and  appointed  by  God  to  the 
work  he  had  undertaken,  he  had  sought  to  propitiate  Heaven  by  a  vow,  that  if  al- 
lowed to  return  to  his  home  in  peace,  whatsoever  first  came  forth  to  meet  him  should 
be  offered  as  a  burnt-offering  to  Jehovah. 

Jephthah  had  no  child,  save  one  daughter,  a  virgin,  beautiful  and  young.  And  she, 
when  the  news  came  of  his  great  victory,  and  of  his  return  in  triumph  and  peace, 
went  forth  at  the  head  of  her  fair  companions  to  meet  her  glorious  father,  dancing 
ioyously  to  their  timbrels  as  he  drew  nigh.  Here,  then,  was  the  object  of  his  vow— 
his  cherished  daughter— the  only  object  in  the  world  which  could  call  forth  those 
kindly  sympathies  and  tendernesses  which  lurk  deep  within  even  those  natures  which 
have  been  the  most  scarred  and  roughened  in  the  storms  of  life.  The  desolated  father 
rent  his  clothes,  crying,  "  Alas !  my  daughter,  thou  hast  brought  me  low  indeed  !  .  .  . 
for  I  have  opened  my  mouth  to  Jehovah  and  I  can  not  reverse  it."  Then,  understand- 
ing  the  nature  of  his  vow,  that  noble  maiden,  mindful  only  that  Israel  was  delivered, 
and  impressed  with  the  solemn  obligation  which  that  vow  imposed,  sought  not  to 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


'r'^*^   1     \\    .X 


■4'''?*^< 


A  \  r- 


ih! 


'^'^■'^f^ 


■jTLl''- 


n-A 


turn  her  father  from  his  purpose,  or  en- 
couraged him  to  seek  those  evasions  which 
others  have  since  discovered  for  him. 
With  unexampled  magnanimity  she  cried, 
"  My  father,  if  thou  hast  opened  thy  mouth 
to  Jehovah,  do  with  me  according  to  that 
which  thou  hast  spoken ;  for  as  much  as 
Jehovah  hath  taken  vengeance  for  thee 
upon  thine  enemies,  upon  the  Ammonites." 
All  she  desired  was  that  she  might  be  al- 
lowed for  two  months  to  wander  among 
the  mountains,  with  her  companions,  to 
bewail  that  it  was  not  her  lot  to  be  a  bride 
and  mother  in  Israel.  At  the  end  of  that 
time  Jephthah  "  did  with  her  according 
to  his  vow." 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the  re- 
luctance of  the  sacred  writer  to  express  in 
plain  terms  the  dreadful  immolation  which 
we  believe  to  be  thus  indicated,  has  left 
the  whole  matter  open  as  a  subject  of  dis- 
pute. The  early  Jewish  and  Christian 
writers  (including  Josephus)  made  no 
question  that  Jephthah,  under  a  most  mis- 
taken notion  of  duty,  did,  after  the  maimer 
of  the  heathen,  really  offer  his  daughter 
in  sacrifice ;  but  the  mgenuity  of  modern 
criticism  has  discovered  the  alternative 
that  she  was  not  immolated  on  the  altar, 
but  was  devoted  to  perpetual  virginity  in 
the  service  of  the  tabernacle.  It  must  be 
confessed  that  the  subject  is  one  of  such 
difficulty,  as  to  render  it  hard  to  reach  a 
positive  conclusion.  But  on  anxiously  con- 
sidering the  question,  we  are  sorry  to  feel 
constrained  lo  adhere  to  the  harsher  al- 
ternative. 


^y\\,,i 


% 


m 


212  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

There  was  no  institution  among  the  Jews  under  which  practical  eflfect  could  be 
given  to  the  alternative  which  modern  interpretation  has  provided  ;  and  even  had  not 
this  been  the  case,  there  was,  at  the  time  that  this  devotement  to  the  tabernacle  must 
have  taken  place,  no  access  to  the  tabernacle  from  the  east ;  for  Jephlha^i  was  about 
that  time  waging  a  bitter  war  with  the  tribe  of  Ephraim,  in  whose  territory,  at  Shi- 
loh,  the  ark  was  situated.  This  posture  of  affairs  would  preclude  him  from  receiving 
from  tbe  priests  those  instructions  and  remonstrances  which  would  have  prevented 
that  piteous  immolation  which  he  deemed  his  vow  to  require.  We  are  persuaded 
that  the  more  thoroughly  any  one  makes  himself  acquainted  with  the  spirit  of  the 
time,  the  state  of  religion,  the  nature  of  the  ideas  which  then  prevailed,  the  peculi- 
arities of  the  ecclesiastical  polity  among  the  Hebrews,  and  the  character  of  Jephthah 
himself, — the  more  strong  will  be  his  conviction  that  the  infatuated  hero  really  did 
offer  his  daughter  in  sacrifice,  and  the  greater  will  the  difficulty  seem  of  providing 
any  other  alternative.  The  opinion  of  the  Jews  themselves  is  also  entitled  to  some 
weight ;  and  at  a  time  when  they  abhorred  the  idea  of  human  sacrifices,  they  not 
onlv  Slate  it  as  an  unquestionable  iact  that  this  sacrifice  did  take  place,  but  ascribe 
the  deposition  of  the  line  of  Eleazer  from  the  high-priesthood,  and  the  substitution 
of  that  of  Ithamar,  to  the  circumstance  that  the  existing  pontiff  did  not  take  meas- 
ures to  prevent  this  stain  upon  the  annals  of  Israel. 

We  must  consider  how  long  the  minds  of  the  Israelites  had  been  saturated  with 
notions  imbibed  from  the  surrounding  heathen,  which  implies  the  neglect,  and  conse- 
quent ignorance,  of  the  divine  law ;  and  that  among  those  ideas  and  practices  that  of 
the  superior  efficacy  of  human  sacrifices  occupied  a  prominent  place.  We  may  also 
reflect  that  a  rough  military  adventurer,  like  Jephthah,  had  been  even  more  than 
usually  exposed  to  contaminating  influences :  such  persons  are  also  usually  found  to 
be  superstitious,  and  are  seldom  capable  of  apprehending  more  than  certain  broad  and 
hard  features  of  such  higher  matters  as  are  presented  to  their  notice.  Jephthah  knew 
that  human  victims  were  generally  regarded  as  in  a  peculiar  degree  acceptable  to  the 
gods ;  and  as  historical  facts  are  in  general  more  familiarly  known  than  dogmas,  it 
was  probably  unknown  to  him  that  human  sacrifices  were  abhorrent  to  Jehovah,  while 
he  was  certain  to  know  that  Abraham  had  been  expressly  commanded  by  God  him- 
self to  offer  his  beloved  Isaac  upon  the  altar ;  and  although  the  completion  of  this 
act  was  prevented,  it  would  be  remembered  that  the  patriarch  obtained  high  praise 
because  he  had  not  withheld  even  his  only  and  well-loved  son  from  God.  That  Jeph- 
thah made  such  a  vow  at  all,  corroborates  the  view  we  take  of  his  character.  It  was 
superstitious ;  and  it  implies  his  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  law,  which  would  have 
apprized  him  of  various  alternatives  which  would  render  the  fulfilment  of  his  vow 
incompatible  with  obedience  to  the  law.  But  to  such  a  mind  the  literal  accomplish- 
ment of  a  vow — whatever  its  purport — will  appear  the  first  of  duties;  and  in  the  ful- 
filment of  such  a  vow  as  this,  it  would  seem  that  the  greater  his  own  anguish,  the 
more  deeply  the  iron  entered  into  his  own  soul,  the  more  meritorious,  and  the  more 
acceptable  to  God,  the  act  of  the  oflTerer  was  deemed. 

The  virgins  of  Israel  instituted  an  anniversary  commemoration  of  four  days,  which 
they  spent  in  celebrating  the  praises  and  bewailing  the  fate  of  Jephthah's  daughter. 

The  misunderstanding  with  Ephraim,  to  which  we  have  incidentally  alluded,  was 
similar  to  that  which  the  tact  of  Gideon  had  averted  on  a  former  occasion.  That 
haughty  and  (3verbearing  tribe  had  been  called  to  the  war  in  the  first  instance,  but  re- 
fused to  take  part  in  the  enterprise :  but  when  that  enterprise  proved  successful,  they 
were  astonished  and  mortified  that  Israel  had  been  delivered  by  the  Gileadites  with- 
out their  assistance.  They  then  assembled  tumultuously,  and  with  many  contempt- 
uous and  abusive  expressions  toward  the  Gileadites  in  general,  and  toward  Jephthah 
in  particular,  they  threatened  to  burn  his  house  over  his  head,  because  he  had  not 
called  them  to  the  last  decisive  action.  The  conqueror  stated  the  matter  as  it  actu- 
ally happened ;  for  his  rough  nature  would  not  permit  him  to  smooth  down  their 
ruffled  plumes,  as  Gideon  had  done  on  a  similar  occasion.  And  then,  finding  that  they 
were  still  bent  on  mischief,  he  called  out  the  Gileadites,  who  were  highly  exasperated 
at  the  reflections  which  had  been  cast  upon  them  as  "  fugitives  of  Ephraim," — "  a 
base  breed  between  Ephraim  and  Manasseh."  A  battle  took  place,  in  which  the 
Ephraimites  were  signally  defeated.  They  had  crossed  over  to  the  eastern  side  of  the 
Jordan,  and,  after  the  victory,  the  Gileadites  hastened  to  seize  the  fords  of  that  river, 
to  intercept  ^hose  of  the  fugitives  who  attempted  to  return  to  their  homes.     But  a.s 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  213 

Israelites  of  all  the  tribes  were  constantly  passing  the  river,  a  test  was  necessary  to 
distinguish  the  Ephraimites  from  the  others.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  test  chosen 
was  that  of  pronunciation.  When  any  man  approached  to  cross  the  nver  he  was 
asked,  "Art  thou  an  Ephraimite?"  If  he  answered  " No,"  they  said,  "Then,  say 
SAibboleth"  (water-brooks) ;  but  if  he  were  really  an  Ephraimite,  he  could  not  pro- 
nounce the  sh,  but  gave  the  word  as  "  Sibboleth  ;"  and  Avas  slain  on  the  spot,  ihis 
incident  is  curious,  as  showing  that  lingual  differences  had  already  arisen  by  which 
particular  tribes  could  be  distinguished.  In  like  manner  a  Galilean  was,  m  the  time 
of  Christ,  known  at  Jerusalem  by  his  speech.  i.  j 

'  In  this  disastrous  aflfair  the  loss  of  the  Ephraimites  amounted  to  forty -two  thousand 
men.  Such  a  success  could  be  no  matter  of  triumph  to  the  unhappy  Jephthah.  His 
troubled  life  was  not  long  protracted.     He  died  after  he  had  judged  Israel  six  years. 

"After  Jephthah  follow  the  names  of  three  judges,  the  silence  of  the  record  concem- 
in<r  whose  actions  may  be  understood  to  indicate  a  period  of  tranquillity  and  ease. 
The«e  were  Ibzan,  of  Bethlehem  in  Ephraim,  for  seven  years ;  Elon,  a  Zebulonite, 
for  ten  years ;  and  Abdon,  an  Ephraimite,  for  eight  years.  Under  the  repose  of  these 
administrations,  however,  the  Hebrews  again  insensibly  relapsed  into  idolatry.  J:  or 
this  they  were  brought  under  a  rigorous  servitude  to  their  western  toes,  the  i'hihs- 
tines,  which  in  its  full  rigor)  lasted  for  forty  years.  This  people  had  so  recruited 
their  streao-th  since  the  days  of  Shamgar,  that  they  now  take  a  very  conspicuous  place 
in  the  Hebrew  history,  forming  by  far  the  most  powerful  and  inveterate  enemies  the 
Israelites  had  yet  encountered.  They  continued  much  longer  than  any  other  power 
had  done  to  wield  the  weapon  by  which  the  iniquities  of  Israel  were  chastised;  tor 
it  was  not  until  the  time  of  David  that  the  deliverance  was  completed. 

When  we  read  of  the  corrupt  state  of  the  nation  at  large,  it  would  be  a  grievous 
error  to  infer  that  all  had  departed  from  God.  There  are  various  mtimations  that, 
in  the  worst  times,  not  a  few  families  were  to  be  found  rehgious  and  well  regulated, 
and  which  maintained  among  themselves  the  faith  of  the  one  only  God,  and  lollowed 
with  exactitude  all  the  requirements  of  the  law.  Thus,  at  a  later  day,  when  the 
prophet  deemed  that  he  was  himself  the  only  one  by  whom  Jehovah  was  acknowl- 
edo-ed,  God  himself  knew  that  there  were  in  Israel  seven  thousand  persons  whose 
knees  had  not  been  bowed  to  Baal.  (1  Kings,  xix.  IS.)  But  although  these  were  the 
salt  of  Israel,  they  could  not  preserve  the  mass  from  such  putrefaction  as  required 
that  it  should  be  cast  forth  and  trodden  under  foot.  ^     u       v,         jj 

And  now,  about  the  same  time  that  the  Israelites  were  cast  forth  to  be  trodden 
under  foot  by  the  Philistines,  it  pleased  their  offended  Kmg,  while  with  the  one  hand 
he  punished  his  revolted  subjects,  to  provide  with  the  other  for  the  beginnings  ot 
their  deliverance  at  a  future  day.  For  about  that  time  the  angel  of  Jehovah  appeared 
to  the  wife  of  Manoah,  a  Danite,  who  had  been  barren,  and  promised  her  a  son,  who 
was  to  be  a  Nazarite  (a  person  consecrated  to  God)  from  the  womb,  and  that  in  time 
he  should  begin  to  deliver  Israel  from  the  yoke  of  the  Philistines. 

Accordino-fy  the  woman  gave  birth  in  due  season  to  a  son,  on  whom  the  name  ot 
Samson  wafs  bestoAved.  As  the  child  grew,  it  became  manifest  that  the  most  extra- 
ordinary bodily  powers  had  been  given  to  him:  while,  to  prevent  undue  exaltation 
of  spirit  from  the  consciousness  of  superior  powers,  it  was  knoAvn  to  him  that  his 
gifts  had  no  necessary  dependance  on  the  physical  complication  of  his  the-vvs  and 
sinews,  but  on  his  condition  as  a  Nazarite,  and  on  the  unshorn  hair  Avhich  formed 
the  sign  and  symbol  of  that  condition.  .•  »i,     r  .i 

It  is  from  the  twentieth  year  of  his  age,  which  was  also  the  twentieth  ot  the 
bondage  to  the  Philistines,  that  we  are  to  date  the  commencement  of  Samson  s  vin- 
dictive admhiistration.  He  proved  to  be  a  man  of  ungovernable  passions;  but, 
throucrh  the  influence  of  his  destiny  to  begin  the  deliverance  of  Israel,  it  was  so 
ordered  that  even  his  worst  passions,  and  even  the  sorrows  and  calamities  which 
these  passions  wrought  upon  himself,  were  made  the  mslruments  of  distress  and  rum 
to  the  Philistines.  „_  ,  •  ,  o  u  i         a 

The  fact  that  the  territory  occupied  by  the  tribe  of  Dan,  to  which  Samson  belonged, 
immediately  adjoined  the  country  of  the  Philistines,  in  consequence  ot  which  he  be- 
came well  acquainted  with  that  people,  ministered  occasion  for  most  ot  his  opera- 
tions against  them.  And  first— in  the  Philistine  town  of  Timnath  Samson  had  seen 
a  voun<^  woman  with  whom  he  was  so  well  pleased  that  he  resolved  to  obtam  her 


214  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

for  his  wife.  But  as  such  matters  were  always  adjusted  between  the  parents  of  the 
respective  parties,  he  went  lioine  and  desired  his  father  and  mother  to  secure  this 
woman  for  him.  His  parents  would  much  have  preferred  that  his  choice  had  fallen 
on  one  of  the  daughters  of  his  own  people;  but,  seeing  his  determination  was  fixed, 
they  yielded,  and  went  back  with  him  to  Timuath.  It  was  on  this  journey  thai 
Sar'ns'on  gave  the  first  recorded  indication  of  the  prodigious  strength  wilh  Avhich  he 
was  endowed,  by  slaying,  without  any  Aveapon  in  his  hands,  a  young  and  fierce  lion 
by  which  he  was  assailed. 

At  Timnath  the  proposals  of  his  parents  were  favorably  received  by  the  parents 
of  the  damsel  Samson  sought  in  marriage.  It  was  necessary,  by  the  customs  of  the 
lime  and  country,  that  at  least  a  month  should  pass  between  such  a  proposal  and  the 
celebration  of  the  marriage.  At  the  expiration  of  this  time,  Samson,  again  accom- 
panied by  his  parents,  went  down  to  Timnath  to  claim  his  bride.  On  the  way  he 
turned  aside  to  see  what  had  become  of  the  carcass  of  the  lion  he  had  slain  on  the 
former  journey.  In  that  climate  the  carcasses  of  animals  left  dead  upon  the  ground 
ire  speedily  devoured  by  jackals  and  vultures,  and  other  beasts  and  birds  Avhich  feed 
on  carrion."  Even  insects  contribute  largely  to  this  service.  Accordingly,  Samson 
found  only  the  clean  skeleton  of  the  lion,  partially  covered  with  the  midevoured  hide. 
In  the  cavity  thus  formed  a  swarm  of  bees  had  lodged  and  deposited  their  honey.  At 
wedding-feasts  it  was  at  that  time  usual  for  the  young  men  then  assembled  together 
to  amuse  themselves  by  proposing  riddles — those  who  were  unable  to  solve  the  rid- 
dle incurring  a  forfeiture  to  him  by  whom  it  was  proposed,  who  himself  was  liable 
to  a  similar  forfeiture  if  his  riddle  were  found  out.  The  adventure  with  the  lion 
suggested  to  Samson  the  riddle  which  he  proposed — "  Out  of  the  eater  came  forth 
food,  and  out  of  the  fierce  came  forth  sweetness."  For  three  days  they  vainly  tried 
to  discover  the  meaning  of  this  riddle ;  and  at  last,  rather  than  incur  the  heavy  for- 
feiture of  "  thirty  shirts  and  thirty  suits  of  raiment,"  they  applied  to  the  bride,  and 
threatened  destruction  to  her  family  if  she  did  not  extract  from  her  husband  the  re- 
quired solution,  and  make  it  known  to  them.  He  Avas  very  unwilling  to  tell  her, 
declaring  that  even  his  father  and  mother  were  ignorant  of  it.  But  she  put  in  prac- 
tice all  the  little  arts  by  which  women  have  ever  carried  their  points  with  men  usu- 
ally weak — as  vSamson  was,  with  all  his  corporal  strength — and  by  her  tears,  and 
reproaches  of  his  want  of  love  and  confidence,  she  so  wearied  him  that  he  at  length 
gave  her  the  information  she  desired.  The  guests  were  consequently  enabled,  within 
the  given  time,  to  answer — "  What  is  sweeter  than  honey  ?  What  is  fiercer  than  a 
lion?"  But  Samson  was  well  convinced  that  the  wit  of  man  could  never  have  dis- 
covered the  true  solution  without  a  knowledge  of  the  circumstances,  which  they  could 
only  have  obtained  by  tampering  with  his  wife.  He  exclaimed  indignantly — "If  ye 
had  not  ploughed  with  my  heifer,  ye  had  not  found  out  my  riddle !"  He  did  not, 
however,  as  he  might  have  done,  refuse  the  payment  of  the  forfeiture  he  had  thus 
unexpectedly  incurred;  but  to  obtain  it  he  went  and  slew  thirty  of  the  Philistines 
near  Ascalon,  and  gave  their  raiment  to  the  persons  who  had  expounded  his  riddle. 
He  then  returned  to  his  own  home,  without  again  seeing  his  wife,  with  whose  con- 
duct he  was  deeply  disgusted. 

Bui  after  some  lime  his  resentment  subsided,  and  he  went  down  to  Timnath  to 
revisit  his  wife,  with  a  present  of  a  kid.  But  he  found  that  in  the  mean  time  she 
had  been  given  in  marriage  to  a  man  among  the  Philistines,  who  in  former  times  had 
been  his  most  dear  and  familiar  friend,  and  whom,  in  that  character,  he  had  chosen 
to  act  as  his  paranymph,  or  brideman,  at  the  wedding.  The  ijicensed  hero  rejected 
with  indignation  the  offer  of  the  father  to  give  him  his  youngest  daughter  in  lieu  of 
the  woman  he  had  married ;  and  regarding,  probably,  the  treatment  he  had  received 
as  in  some  degree  resulting  from  the  insolence  of  superiority,  and  from  the  contempt 
in  which  the  Philistines  held  the  people  they  had  so  long  held  in  subjection,  he  con- 
sidered himself  justified  in  avenging  his  own  injuries  upon  the  Philistine  nation,  as 
part  and  parcel  of  the  wrongs  his  nation  suifered.  This  mode  of  taking  his  revenge 
was  no  less  remarkable  than  etfective.  He  obtained  three  hundred  jackals,  and  tying 
them  together,  with  a  firebrand  between  their  tails,  let- them  loose.  The  atfrighted 
animals,  being  so  bound  as  to  be  obliged  to  run  sid-e  by  side,  hastened  for  shelter  to 
the  fields  of  standing  and  ripened  corn,  which,  at  that  dry  season,  when  the  corn  was 
ripe,  was  easily  kindled  into  a  blaze.  As  the  tortured  jackals  took  different  directions, 
I  he  conflagration  was  very  extensive;  nor  was  it  confmed  to  the  standing  corn,  but 


'*<» 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  21^ 

wrouo-ht  much  damage  among  the  olive-grounds  and  vineyards,  and  consumed  the 
com  which  had  been  cut  down  and  heaped  for  the  thrashing-floor. 

When  the  Phihstines  understood  the  immediate  cause  of  tins  act  of  hostility  on  the 
part  of  Samson,  they  went  and  burned  his  wife  and  her  father's  house  Avith  fire ;  thus 
punishino-  them  for  that  breach  of  faith  to  which  they  were  first  led  by  the  fear  of 
this  verv^punishment.     If  this  act  was  intended  to  appease  Samson,  it  had  not  that 
effect  •  for  it  did  not  prevent  him  from  taking  an  opportunity  Avhich  offered  of  dis- 
comfiting-, with  much  slaughter,  a  considerable  number  of  men  belonging  to  tlmt 
nation    "ke  then  withdrew  to  a  strong  rock  called  Etam,  in  the  tribe  of  Judah.     To 
that  piace  he  was  pursued  by  a  large  body  of  Philistines,  whose  presence  occasioned 
o-reat  alarm  to  the  Judaites.     But  when  they  understood  that  Samson  mdividually 
was  the  sole  object  of  this  incursion,  they  most  shamefully  undertook  of  themselves 
to'  deliver  him  up  to  his  enemies.     Accordingly,  three  thousand  of  them  went  up  to 
him  feeling  assured  that  he  would  not  act  against  his  own  people.     They  told  him 
thev  were  come  to  bind  him,  and  to  put  him  into  the  hands  of  the  Philistines.     It 
strikino-ly  illustrates  the  opinion  Samson  had  of  his  own  countrymen— an  opinion 
which'the  circumstances  justified— that  before  he  consented  to  be  bound,  he  obliged 
them  to  swear  that  they  would  not  kill  him  themselves.    He  then  allowed  them  to  bind 
him  securely  with  two  new  ropes,  and  to  take  him  down  to  the  Philistines.     When 
he  was  led  to  their  camp  thev  raised  a  triumphant  shout  against  him.     As  he  heard 
that  shout,  "  the  Spirit  of  Jehovah  came  mightily  upon  him ;"  he  burst  his  strong 
bands  asunder  as  easily  as  if  they  had  been  tow  burnt  with  fire,  and  seizing  the  jaw- 
bone of  an  ass  which  lay  at  hand,  he  flew  upon  the  Philistines,  and,  with  no  other 
weapon,  routed  the  whole  thousands  which  had  come  against  him,  slaying  many  ot 
their  number.     They  only  lived  who  fled.     As  Milton  makes  the  hero  observe— 

"  Had  Judah  that  day  join'd,  or  one  whole  tribe. 
They  had  by  this  possess'd  the  towers  of  Gath,  < 

And  lorded  over  them  whom  now  they  serve  ; 
But  what  more  oft,  in  nations  grown  corrupt, 
And  by  their  vices  brought  to  servitude, 
Than  to  love  bondage  more  than  liberty, 
Bondage  with  ease  than  strenuous  liberty ; 
And  to  despise,  or  envy,  or  suspect. 
Whom  God  hath  of  his  special  favor  raised 
As  their  deliverer  ?    If  he  aught  begin, 
How  frequent  to  desert  him,  and  at  last 
To  heap  ingratitude  on  worthiest  deeds."— Samson  Agonistes. 

Proudly  confident  in  his  strength,  Samson  was  not  deterred  from  going  again  among 
the  Philistines,  as  soon  as  a  motive  occurred  in  the  indulgence  of  that  blind  passion 
which  had  already  brought  him  into  much  trouble,  and  which  was  destined  to  be  his 
ruin  He  went  to  Gaza,  to  visit  a  harlot  of  that  place.  His  arrival  was  soon  known ; 
and  althouo-h  this  was  a  different  state  from  that  which  had  been  the  scene  of  his 
former  exp^^iits,  the  autliorities  of  the  place  were  too  sensible  of  the  importance  of 
destroymo-  this  implacable  enemy  of  their  nation,  to  neglect  the  advantage  which  his 
folly  hadVaced  in  their  hands.  The  city  gates  were  closed  to  prevent  his  escape; 
and  a  strono-  o-uard  was  placed  there  to  surprise  and  kill  him  in  the  morning.  Sam- 
son, however^ anticipated  their  plan;  and,  rising  at  midnight,  he  went  boldly  to  the 
gate  forced  it  from  its  place,  and,  by  Avay  of  bravado,  carried  it  off  entire,  posts,  bars, 
and  'all,  to  the  top  of  a  hill  on  the  way  to  Hebron.  The  guards  were  too  much 
astonished  and  terrified  to  molest  or  pursue  him.  ^   ,_    t,,.-,-    •        u 

After  this  Samson  did  not  again  venture  mto  the  territory  of  the  Philistines,  but 
sought  at  home  the  indulgence  of  those  blmding  passions  which  make  the  strongest 
weak.  "  He  loved  a  woman  in  the  vale  of  Serek,"  so  celebrated  for  its  vines.  Her 
name"  was  Delilah,  and  she  was  probably  of  Israel,  although  Josephus,  to  save  the 
credit  of  his  countrj-women,  makes  her  a  Philistine.  The  Philistines  themselves  took 
an  anxious  interest  in  all  the  movements  of  Samson,  and  were  soon  acquainted  with 
this  new  besotment,  of  which  they  prepared  to  take  advantage.  A  deputation,  con- 
sistino-  of  a  principal  person  from  each  of  the  five  Philistine  states,  went  up  the  valley 
to  the  place  where  he  was..  And  now,  we  observe,  it  was  not  their  object  to  get 
posse«=:ion  of  his  person  while  he  retained  all  his  strength,  but  to  ascertain  how  that 
streno-th  mio-ht  be  taken  from  him.  They  were  well  persuaded  that  a  strength  so 
greatly  exceeding  all  thev  knew  or  had  ever  heard  of.  and  to  which  that  possessed 
by  the  few  descendants  of  Anak  who  lived  among  them  could  not  for  an  instant  bp 


216  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

compared,  must  be  supernatural — the  result  of  some  condition  which  might  be  neu- 
tralized, or  of  some  charm  which  might  be  broken.  They  therefore  offered  Delilah 
the  heavy  bribe  of  eleven  hundred  shekels  of  silver  from  each  of  their  number 
(amountmg  altogether  to  687/.)  to  discover  the  secret  of  his  great  strength,  and  to 
betray  him  into  their  hands,  that  they  might  bind  and  afflict  him.  Samson  amused 
her  by  telling  her  of  certain  processes  whereby  the  weakness  of  other  men  would  be 
brought  upon  him;  but  each  time  the  imposition  was  detected,  by  her  putting  the 
process  to  the  proof.  Then  she  continued  to  worry  him  by  sucl;i  trite  but  always 
effective  reproaches  as,  "  How  canst  thou  say  '  I  love  thee,'  when  thy  heart  is  not 
with  me  ?  for  thou  hast  deceived  me  these  three  times,  and  hast  not  told  me  wherein 
thy  great  strength  lieth."  Thus  day  by  day  she  pressed  him  and  urged  him,  until 
'his  soul  was  vexed  unto  death,"  and  at  last  he  told  the  whole  truth  to  her — that 
He  was  a  Nazarite  from  his  birth,  and  that  if  he  left  that  state  by  cutting  off  his  hair, 
which  had  never  yet  been  shorn  or  shaven,  his  extraordinary  strength  would  depart 
from  him.  Delilah  saw  by  his  earnestness  that  he  had  this  time  told  her  the  truth. 
Accordingly,  she  sent  for  a  man,  who,  while  the  hero  slept  with  his  head  upon  her 
■ap,  shaved  off  the  luxuriant  tresses  of  his  hair.  His  strength  departed  from  him :  but 
tie  knew  it  not ;  and  when  aroused  from  his  sleep  by  the  approach  of  the  Philistines 
to  seize  him,  he  thought  to  put  forth  his  wonted  power  and  destroy  them  all ;  but  his 
listless  arms  refused  to  render  him  their  wonted  service,  and  he  Imew,  too  late,  that 
"Jehovah  had  departed  from  him." 

The  Philistines  took  and  hound  him;  and,  to  complete  his  disablement,  put  out 
both  his  eyes — a  mode  of  rendering  a  public  enemy  or  offender  incapable  of  further 
offence,  of  which  this  is  the  first  historical  instance,  but  which  has  ever  since  been 
much  resorted  to  in  the  kingdoms  of  the  East.*  They  then  took  him  down  to  Gath, 
and  binding  him  with  fetters  of  brass,  employed  him  to  grind  in  the  prison-house. 

Nothing  could  more  clearly  than  this  deprivation  evince  the  miraculous  nature  of 
the  superhuman  strength  with  which  Samson  had  been  for  special  purposes  invested. 
Samson  himself  had  known  this  before;  but  now,  weak,  blind,  bound,  "  disgloritied," 
and  degraded  to  a  woman's  service,!  he  had  occasion  and  leisure  to  feel  it ;  and  in  his 
"prison-house"  he  probably  learned  more  of  himself  than  he  had  known  in  all  his 
previous  life.  Nor  was  this  knowledge  unprofitable.  He  felt  that  although  he  had 
begun  to  deliver  Israel,  this  employment  of  the  gifts  confided  to  him  had  rather  been 
the  incidental  effect  of  his  own  insensate  passions,  than  the  result  of  those  stern  and 
steady  purposes  which  became  one  who  had  so  solemnly  been  set  apart,  even  before 
his  birth,  to  the  salvation  of  his  country.  Such  thoughts  as  these  brought  repentance 
to  his  soul;  and  as  by  this  repentance  his  condition  of  Nazariteship  was  in  some  sort 
renewed,  it  pleased  God  that,  along  with  the  growth  of  his  hair,  his  strength  should 
gradually  return  to  him. 

Fatally  for  the  Philistmes,  they  took  the  view  that,  since  the  strength  of  Samson 
had  been  the  gift  of  the  God  of  Israel,  their  triumph  over  him  evinced  that  their  own 
god,  Dagon,  was  more  powerful  than  Jehovah.  This  raised  the  matter  from  being  a 
case  between  Samson  and  the  Philistines,  to  one  between  Jehovah  and  Dagon;  and  it 
thus  became  necessary  that  the  divine  honor  should  be  vindicated.  An  occasion  for 
this  was  soon  offered  under  aggravated  circumstances. 

The  Philistines  held  a  feast  to  Dagon,  iheir  god,  who,  as  they  supposed,  had  de- 
livered their  enemy  into  their  hands.  In  the  height  of  their  festivity  they  thought 
of  ordering  Samson  himself  to  be  produced,  that  the  people  might  feed  their  eyes 
with  the  sight  of  the  degraded  condition  of  one  who  had  not  long  since  been  their 
dread.  The  assembled  multitude  greeted  his  appearance  with  shouts  of  triumph, 
and  praised  their  god  who  had  reduced  "  the  destroyer  of  their  country"  to  be  their 
bond-slave.  After  having  been  for  some  time  exposed  to  their  mockeries  and  insults, 
the  blind  hero  desired  the  lad  who  led  and  held  him  by  the  hand,  to  let  him  rest 
himself  against  the  pillars  which  sustained  the  chief  weight  of  the  roof  of  the  tem- 
ple, upon  which  no  less  than  three  thousand  persons  had  assembled  to  view  the  spec- 
tacle, and  celebrate  Dagon's  sacrifices.     Thus  placed,  Samson  breathed  the  prayer — 

*  This  barbarous  infliction  is,  however,  now— under  the  operation  of  those  humanizing  influences  whicl' 
are  insensibly  pervading  the  East — in  the  course  of  being  discontinued.  It  was  formerly  more  common  in 
Persia  than  in  any  other  country  ;  but  it  became  comparatively  rare  under  the  late  king  ;  and  we  believe 
that  no  instance  has  yet  occurred  in  wliich  tlie  present  monarch  has  resorted  to  it. 

t  Grinding  Is  almost  invariably  performed  by  women  in  the  East. 


•a^ 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


217 


218  •  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

"  O  Lord  Jehovah,  remember  me,  I  pray  thee,  and  strengthen  me,  I  pray  thee,  only 
this  once,  O  God,  that  I  may  at  once  be  avenged  of  the  Philistines  for  my  two  eyes !" 
Saying  this,  he  grasped  the  pillars  with  his  mighty  arms,  and  crying,  "Let  me  die 
with  the  Philistines  !"  he  bowed  himself  with  such  prodigious  force  that  the  pillars 
gave  way,  and  then  the  roof  fell  in,  destroying  with  one  tremendous  crash  all  who 
Avere  above  it  and  below  it.  Thus  those  whom  Samson  slew  at  his  death  were  more 
in  number  than  those  he  slew  in  his  life. 

"  It  is  remarkable  that  the  exploits  of  Samson  against  the  Philistines  were  per- 
formed singly,  and  without  any  co-operation  from  his  countrymen  to  vindicate  their 
liberties :  Avhether  it  was  that  the  arm  of  the  Lord  might  be  the  more  visibly  revealed 
in  him,  or  that  his  countrymen  were  too  much  depressed  by  the  severity  of  their  ser- 
vitude to  be  animated  by  his  example.  They  seem  also  to  have  feared  him  almost 
as  much  as  they  did  the  Philistines.  Else  why  should  three  thousand  armed  men 
of  Judah  have  gone  to  persuade  him  to  surrender  himself  to  the  Philistines,  when, 
with  such  a  leader,  they  might  naturally  expect  to  have  been  invincible  ?  or  why, 
when  he  destroyed  [routed  ?]  a  thousand  Philistines  with  so  simple  a  weapon,  did  he 
not  join  in  pursuit  of  the  rest  ?  So  true  was  the  prediction  of  the  angel  to  his  mother, 
that  he  should  only  bes;in  to  deliver  Israel."* 

It  scarcely  appears  tnat  Samson  exercised  any  authority  in  the  tribes ;  but  to  carry 
on  the  historical  time,  he  is  counted  as  one  of  the  judges,  and  his  administration  is 
computed  at  forty  years,  ending  by  his  death,  in  the  year  1222  B.  C. 


CHAPTER    XV 

Samson  was  the  last  of  the  military  heroes  stirred  up  to  deliver  Israel  from  its 
oppressors.  The  two  that  followed,  Eli  and  Samuel,  were  men  of  peace — the  one  a 
priest,  and  the  other  a  Levite. 

In  the  absence  of  a  person  specially  called  and  appointed  to  deliver  and  judge  the 
people,  the  civil  government,  by  the  prmciples  of  the  theocracy,  devolved  on  the 
high-priest,  as  the  vizier  of  the  great  king,  having  access  to  his  presence,  and  being 
the  interpreter  of  his  will.  It  is  not  easy  to  see  that  Samson  exercised  the  civil 
government  over  any  of  the  tribes.  And  although,  therefore,  in  order  to  carry  on 
the  succession  of  times,  it  is  convenient  to  say  that  at  his  death  the  government 
devolved  on  the  high-priest,  yet,  in  fact,  there  is  little  reason  to  question  that  the 
high-priest  exercised  as  much  authority  before  as  after.  But,  in  such  times  as  these, 
that  authority  was  but  small,  and  chiefly,  as  it  would  appear,  judicial,  particularly  in 
adjusting  disputes  between  persons  of  difi'erent  tribes.  The  heads  of  the  several 
tribes  seem  to  have  considered  themselves  fully  competent  to  manage  their  internal 
aflairs ;  and  their  divided  allegiance  to  Jehovah  involved  the  political  evil,  that  the 
authority  of  the  general  government  was  proportionably  weakened,  and  the  cohesion 
of  the  tribes  in  the  same  degree  relaxed.  Subject  to  this  preliminary  observation, 
the  high-priest  may,  for  historical  convenience,  be  considered  the  successor  of  Samson. 

It  is  remarkable  that  functionaries  so  important,  in  the  theory  of  the  Hebrew  con- 
stitution, as  the  high-priests,  are  scarcely  noticed  in  the  history  of  the  Judges.  From 
Phineas,  the  grandson  of  Aaron,  to  Eli,  a  high-priest  is  not  mentioned  on  any  occa- 
sion, nor  would  even  their  names  be  known  but  for  the  list  in  Chronicles  (1  Chron. 
vi.  4-16,  50-52),  where  the  order  is  thus  given: — Abishua,  Bukki,  Uzzi,  Zerahiah, 
Meraioth. 

In  the  person  of  Eli,  a  change  in  the  line  of  succession  to  this  high  office  took 
place,  as  he  was  the  first  of  the  race  of  Ithamar,  the  second  son  of  Aaron.  But  as 
the  line  of  his  elder  son  Eleazer  was  not  extinct,  and  as  the  cause  of  the  change  is 
not  assigned,  some  difficulty  has  been  experienced  in  accounting  for  it.  The  Jews, 
as  we  have  seen,  suppose  that  it  was  because  the  existing  pontiff  had  not  taken 
measures  sufficiently  active  to  prevent  Jephthah  from  sacrificing  his  daughter.  But 
if,  in  the  absence  of  all  positive  information,  a  conjecture  might  be  hazarded,  we 
would  suggest  the  probability  that  the  last  pontiff  of  Eleazer's  line  died  leaving  no 
son  old  enough  to  take  the  office,  and  that  it  then  (as  afterward  in  the  succession  to 

*  Hales,  ii.  108. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  219 

the  kin-dom)  devolved  on  his  adult  uncle  or  cousin  of  the  line  of  Ithamar.  Such  a 
couri  reso  ed  lo  in  temporal  successions,  to  avoid  the  evils  of  a  nimo"ty  and 
re^encv  Tust  have  been  much  more  necessary  in  the  case  of  the  high-pnesthood.   Iha 

Schii^e  took  place  in  some  such  natural  and  quiet  way,  seems  to  afford  the  most 
lafisfac  orv  explanation  of  the  silence  of  the  record  of  a  matter  of  such  importance. 
Eli  wa?a^Sod  and  pious  man,  estimable  in  private  life  for  his  many  virtues  and 

u         11       .""f  v.i«  pK^rartpr-  but  he  was  great  v  wanting  m  those  sterner  virtues 

which  became  hi    pub^s^adona^^  nL"^^^  '°^]'^  '7''^ 

rf  wkl  ednei  a.  d^he  punishment  of  the  wrong  doer.     As  he  grew  o  d  he  devolved 

muXof  hi'pub  ic  duty  upon  his  sons  Hophui  and  Phineas,  two  evil-disposed  men 

who  no-e  'ed  t  le  energv  their  father  lacked,  without  any  of  his  virtues      Even  in 

Sk  ^'c^ed  mi,  J^^ranons  ai  the  tabernacle,  their  conduct  was  so  shamefully  signal- 

seTbTrapac      and  licentiousness,  that  the  people,  tiiruugh  their  misconduc,  were 

ed  to  aZ?  thl  offering  of  Jehovah.     All  this  became  known  to  Eh ;  but,  instead  of 

akin/the  in  meSiate  a^id  decisive  measures  which  became  his  station,  he  contented 

hinSf  wi  h  a  mild  and  ineffective  remonstrance.     This  weakness  of  Eh  was  justly 

counted  r.hii™  hat  venerable  person;  and  a  prophet  was  commissioned  to  warn 

him  of  thelvil  consequences,  which  were  no  less  than  the  exclusion  of  his  race  froin 

fhe  pontmcate  to  which  he  had  been  advanced.     But  even  this  could  not  rouse  the 

old  man  to  the  exertion  which  became  his  station ;  but  he  seems  rather  to  have 

nrnniesced  in  this  iud"-ment  as  a  thing  not  to  be  averted. 

The  next  repSof  which  this  remils  judge  received  was  through  an  unexpected 

""^Auhe  tabernacle,  in  personal  attendance  upon  the  high-priest  was  a  boy,  a  Levite, 
who  havn'Teen  the  child  signallv  granted  in  answer  to  the  many  prayers  of 
Harinah  his  previously  barren  mother,  was  by  her  consecrated  from  the  womb  as  a 
Nazarite  to  Jehovah.  In  consequence  of  this,  combined  vvith  his  Lev, tical  char ac- 
S  he  had  been  left  at  the  tabernacle  as  early  as  he  could  be  separated  from  his 
mother's  care  to  render  such  services  there  as  his  tender  years  allowed.  His  name 
was  Samuel  and  as  his  pious  mother  came  to  Shiloh  yearly  with  her  husband  to 
Telebra  e  the  pa  sover  (blinking  with  her  a  dress  for  her  son)  she  had  the  delight  of 
Terce  ;  n-  tla  he,  growing  up  under  the  shadow  of  the  a  tar  conducted  himself 
wTth  S  propriety  and  disxrelion,  that  he  stood  very  high  in  the  favor  of  God  and 
man  That  he  was  thus,  from  his  very  infancy,  constantly  before  the  eyes  of  the 
Tople  when  Vhe^ attended  at  the  tabernacle,  doubtless  went  far  to  prepare  tne  way 
for  that  influence  and  station  which  he  ultimately  attained. 

It  was  the  thirtv-first  vear  of  Eli's  administration,  when  Saniuel,  then  twelve  years 
of  agllav  on  his  bed  at'night,  that  he  heard  a  voice  calling  him  by  his  name  He 
supposed  that  it  was  EU  who  had  called ;  he  hastened  to  hira,  but  found  that  it  was 
not  so  This  was  repeated  three  times;  and  at  the  third  time,  Eh  concluding  that  i 
was  °he  Lord  who  had  called  the  lad,  instructed  him  to  answer,  "  Speak  Lord,  for 
dry  servant  helreth."     Samuel  obeyed  ;  and  the  Voice  then  dehvered  to  him,  as  an 

revoclbre  doom,  the  former  denunciations  against  Eli's  house,  'because  his  sons 
had  made  themselves  yWe,  and  he  restrained  them  not  ^  declaring  that  he  would 
"do  TthiiK.  hiTsrael  at  which  both  the  ears  of  every  one  that  heareth  it  shall  tingle  '' 
In  the  mornin-  the  lad,  being  pressed  by  Eli,  delivered  to  him  the  message  he  had 

ecdved  Bmeven  this  only  gave  occasion  for  the  further  manifestation  of  the 
passive  virtues  of  his  character.     "  It  is  Jehovah,"  he  said ;  "  let  him  do  what  seem- 

''Vfte?\his^'mai'ters  went  on  for  some  time  much  as  they  had  done  Eli'^^o"^  P"// 
sued  their  od  courses,  making  themselves  still  more  vile ;  and  their  father,  though 
now  well  aware  of  th^  doom  which  hung  over  himself  and  them,  took  no  measures 
hiThe  hope  to  avert  it.  But  as  Samuel  grew,  the  word  of  the  Lord  agam  came  to 
him  fror^  time  to  time,  and  all  Israel  knew  that  he  was  established  to  be  a  prophet 

"""hirptssed  ten  years,  at  the  end  of  which  the  threatened  judgments  began  to  be 
inflicted  upon  the  house  of  Eli.  At  that  time  the  Israelites  rashly,  and  without  con- 
Sng  their  Divine  King,  embarked  in  a  war  with  the  Philistmes.  In  the  forty 
yea  slince  the  death  of  Samson,  this  people  had  recrmted  their  strength,  and  recov- 
ered  the  courage  of  which  they  appear  to  have  been  for  a  season  deprived  by  the 
astounding  calamity  which  swept  away  so  many  of  their  chiefs  and  nobles.     In  the 


220  ^  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

first  engagement  the  Israelites  were  defeated,  with  the  loss  of  four  thousand  men. 
On  this  they  sent  to  Shiloh  for  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  not  doubting  of  victory  under 
its  protection.  The  two  sons  of  Eli,  Hophni  and  Phineas,  attended  it  to  the  camp. 
On  its  arrival  there,  "  all  Israel  shouted  with  a  great  shout,  so  that  the  earth  rang 
again."  On  hearing  this,  and  being  apprized  of  its  cause,  the  Philistines  were  filled 
with  consternation;  and  the  manner  in  which  their  alarm  was  expressed  affords  a 
very  clear  intimation  of  the  effect  which  had  been  produced  on  their  minds,  by  the 
wonders  which  Jehovah  had  wrought  for  the  deliverance  and  protection  of  Israel. 
"  Wo  mito  us  !"  they  cried  ;  "  who  shall  deliver  us  out  of  the  hand  of  these  mighty 
gods  ?  These  are  the  gods  that  smote  the  Egyptians  with  all  the  plagues  of  the 
wilderness."  The  procedure  itself  did  not  strike  them  as  strange,  for  it  was  not 
unusual  among  ancient  nations  to  take  their  gods  to  their  wars ;  and  the  ark,  with 
its  cherubim,  the  Philistines  supposed  to  be  the  god  of  the  Hebrews.  They  did  not 
question  the  existence  of  that  God,  or  his  special  care  for  his  people ;  neither  did  they 
deny  his  power,  of  which,  indeed,  they  were  afraid.  They  allowed  Jehovah  to  be 
the  god  of  the  Hebrews,  in  the  same  sense  in  which  they  regarded  Dagon  to  be  their 
own  god.  It  was  his  universal  and  exclusive  power  that  they  denied,  or  rather  did 
not  recognise. 

Notwithstanding  their  alarm,  the  Philistines  did  not  give  way  to  despaii ,  but  like 
a  brave  people,  which  they  were  always,  the  imminence  of  the  danger  only  stimu- 
lated them  to  the  more  strenuous  exertions  for  victory.  They  cried  to  one  another: 
"  Be  strong,  and  quit  yourselves  like  men,  0  ye  Philistines,  that  ye  become  not  ser- 
vants unto  the  Hebrews,  as  they  have  been  to  you  !  Quit  yourselves  like  men,  and 
fight!" 

They  fought :  and  the  victory  was  given  to  them,  to  punish  the  Hebrews  for  their 
misdoings,  and  for  having  engaged  in  this  war  without  consulting  their  King,  as  well 
as  to  teach  them  that  undue  confidence  in  the  ark  itself  was  a  superstition,  if  not  an 
idolatry,  apart  from  a  due  reliance  on  God  himself,  whose  footstool  only  the  ark  was. 
Thirty  thousand  men  of  Israel  fell  in  the  battle  and  pursuit;  the  guilty  sons  of  Eli 
were  among  the  slain,  and  the  ark  itself  was  taken. 

Eli,  blind  and  old,  remained  at  Shiloh,  anxiously  expecting  news  from  the  camp ; 
"  for  his  heart  trembled  for  the  ark  of  God ;"  and  that  he  might  be  in  the  way  of  receiving 
the  earliest  rumors  from  the  war,  he  sat  watching  by  the  wayside.  One  day  he  heard 
an  outcry  in  the  town,  which  had  been  occasioned  by  the  news  brought  by  one  of  the 
fugitives  from  the  battle.  This  man,  with  his  clothes  rent  and  dust  upon  his  head, 
soon  came  before  the  high-priest  and  gave  to  him  the  tidings,  that  Israel  fled  before  the 
Philistines — that  there  had  been  a  great  slaughter — that  his  two  sons,  Hophni  and 
Phineas,  were  slain — and  that  the  ark  of  God  was  taken  !  No  sooner  had  the  last 
words  passed  the  lips  of  the  messenger,  than  the  high-priest  fell  backward  from  off 
his  seat ;  and  being  old  and  heavy,  his  neck  was  broken  in  the  fall.  Soon  after  the 
news  of  all  these  calamities  was  carried  to  the  wife  of  Phineas  ;  on  hearing  which 
she  was  taken  with  the  pains  of  labor,  and  died,  after  she  had  looked  upon  the  son 
to  whom  she  gave  birth,  and  given  him  the  sad  name  of  Ichabod  {Inglorious) ;  for 
she  said,  "  The  glory  is  departed  from  Israel ;  for  the  ark  of  Jehovah,  the  God  of 
Israel,  is  taken."  These  incidents  serve  to  evince  the  depth  of  that  astonishment 
and  grief  with  which  the  loss  of  the  ark  was  regarded. 

The  Philistines  soon  found  that  they  had  small  cause  to  rejoice  in  the  glorious  trophy 
they  had  Avon ;  and  most  convincingly  was  it  made  known  to  them  that  the  Israelites 
had  been  defeated  for  the  punishment  of  their  sins,  which  rendered  them  unworthy 
of  their  God's  protection,  and  not  through  his  want  of  power  to  save.  The 
Philistines  certainly  considered  that  they  had  taken  captive  the  god  of  the  Hebrews, 
and  could,  on  the  principles  of  pagan  idolatry,  hardly  fail  to  attribute  it  to  the  supe- 
rior power  of  Dagon,  their  own  god.  Yet  they  still  must  have  had  a  very  salutary 
dread  of  the  God  of  Israel ;  and  while  they  could  not  but  regard  the  ark  as  the 
proudest  of  their  trophies,  it  was  probably  more  with  the  view  of  propitiating  him, 
by  associating  him  with  their  own  god,  than  by  way  of  insult,  that  they  deposited 
the  conquered  ark  in  the  temple  of  their  Dagon  "at  Azotus.  But  ©od  disdained  this 
dishonoring  alliance;  and  twice  tlie  Philistines  found  their  idol  overthrown,  and  the 
second  time  broken  to  pieces,  before  the  ark  of  God.  And  further  to  demonstrate 
his  power  in  such  a  way  as  might  include  a  punishment  for  their  idolatry  and  for  the 
abominations  connected  with  it,  the  Lord  smote  the  people  of  the  place  with 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


221 


Ethiopian  Car  drawn  by  Oxen. 


.-Sfe--^ 


Indian  Car  drawn  by  Oxen. 


222  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

hemorrhoids,  or  the  piles,  with  a  mortal  destruction.  The  land  also  swarmed  with 
jerboas,  whereby  the  products  of  the  fields  were  consumed.  Attributing  these 
calamities  to  the  presence  of  the  ark,  they  sent  it  to  Gath,  where  it  remained  until 
the  pressure  of  the  same  inflictions  compelled  them  to  send  it  from  them.  It  was 
taken  to  Ekron,  another  of  the  five  metropolitan  cities  of  Philistia.  The  Ekronites 
received  it  with  terror,  crying,  "  They  have  brought  round  to  us  the  ark  of  the  God 
of  Israel  to  slay  us  and  our  people."  They  therefore,  in  an  assembly  of  "  the  lords 
of  the  Philistines,"  proposed  that  the  ark  should  be  sent  back  to  its  own  place  in  the 
land  of  Israel.  This  was  determined;  nor  was  the  determination  too  soon,  for 
already  the  hand  of  God  was  so  heavy  upon  Ekron,  that  "  the  cry  of  the  city  went 
up  to  the  heavens."  And  that  it  might  be  sent  away  with  all  honor,  the  diviners, 
who  were  consulted  as  to  the  best  means  of  giving  effect  to  the  intention  which  had 
been  formed,  counselled  that  five  golden  hemorrhoids,  and  five  golden  mice,  one  from 
each  of  the  Philistine  states,  should  be  deposited  in  a  coffer  beside  the  ark,  as  a  tres- 
pass-offering :  for  even  thus  early  the  custom  had  come  into  use  of  making  votive 
offerings  representing  the  instruments  of  affliction,  or  of  the  parts  afflicted,  to  the 
god  to  whom  the  infliction  or  the  cure  was  attributed.  That  they  might  give  the 
glory  to  the  God  of  Israel,  and  not  harden  their  hearts  as  did  the  Egyptians,  and 
thereby  bring  upon  themselves  the  punishments  of  that  people,  were  the  reasons  by 
which  this  course  of  conduct  was  enforced.  And  they  are  remarkable  as  showing 
the  effect,  even  at  this  remote  date,  upon  the  neighboring  nations,  of  the  wonders  of 
judgment  and  deliverance  which  had  been  wrought  in  the  land  of  Egypt. 

To  testify  all  possible  respect,  the  ark  was  placed  in  a  new  car,*  to  which  were  yoked 
two  kine,  whose  necks  had  never  before  been  subjected  to  the  yoke.  Their  calves  were 
tied  up  at  home ;  and,  by  the  advice  of  the  priests,  it  was  concluded  to  leave  the  cows 
free  to  lake  their  own  course :  if  the  animals  went  away  from  their  calves  to  the  land 
of  Israel,  it  was  to  be  inferred  that  a  right  judgment  had  been  formed  of  the  cause 
from  which  their  calamities  proceeded ;  but  if  not,  they  might  conclude  that  it  had 
been  the  result  of  natural  causes.  From  such  incidents  the  heathen  were  even  thus 
early  accustomed  to  conjecture  the  will  of  their  gods.  In  this  case,  no  sooner  were 
the  kine  set  free  than  they  turned  their  backs  upon  their  young,  and  took  the  road 
toward  the  town  of  Bethshemesh  in  Judah,  being  the  nearest  city  of  the  Levites 
toward  the  Philistine  frontier.  It  was  the  time  of  the  wheat-harvest,  when  the 
people  of  the  town  were  abroad  in  the  valley  reaping  the  fruits  of  their  fields.  They 
beheld  the  ark  advancing  with  great  gladness  ;  and  when  the  kine  stopped  of  their 
own  accord,  near  a  great  stone,  in  a  field  belonging  to  one  Joshua,  the  Levites  who 
were  present  detached  them  from  the  car,  and  offered  them  up  in  sacrifice  upon  that 
stone  before  the  ark.  And  the  stone  being  thus  consecrated  by  sacrifice,  the  ark  was 
removed  from  the  car  and  deposited  thereon.     The  five  lords  of  the  Philistines,  who 

*  Cars  drawn  bt  Oxen.— That  the  PhiHstines  thought  of  placing  the  ark  on  a  ear,  to  be  drawn  by  oxen, 
shows  that  vehicles  drawn  by  such  animals  were  in  use  among  them,  at  least  in  their  sacred  processions. 
There  is  nothing  of  the  kind  among  the  Egyptians.  Their  religious  processions  were  walking  processions, 
and  by  water  :  that  is  to  s.'iv,  as  all  their  towns  were  along  the  Nile,  their  religioiis  progresses  from  one 
plane  to  another  were  by  that  river,  the  short  distances  to  and  from  which  they  walked,  bearing  their  arks, 
their  idols,  and  their  implements  of  religious  service.  The  Jews  had  no  religious  processions  after  they 
became  a  settled  people— unless  it  were  in  the  removals  of  the  ark  ;  which  removals  resulted  from  cir- 
cuhistances,  for  it  was  intended  to  be  stationary.  It  was  indeed  not  unlawful  to  take  the  ark  to  the  wars  ; 
but  the  only  instance  in  which  this  is  recorded  to  have  been  done,  was  when  it  was  taken  by  the  Philistines! 
In  the  wilderness  tlie  ark  was  carried  on  the  shoulders  of  the  Levites,  as  were  the  other  more  sacred  uten- 
sils of  the  tabernacle  ;  but  the  fabric  itself,  and  its  heavier  furniture,  were  placed  on  cars  or  wagons  drawn  by 
oxen.  The  ark  itself  was  never  thus  conveyed,  except  on  the  various  stages  of  its  return  from  tlie  Philistines. 
For  the  Israelites,  observing  that  those  people  had  in  this  manner  transported  it  safelv,  continued  its 
removal  in  the  same  manner,  until  the  consequences  that  ultimately  ensueu,  reminded  them  of  the  mors 
proper  method. 

Among  the  Egyptians,  liorses  appear  to  have  been  invariably  employed  for  d.'aught,  whether  in  chariots 
of  war  or  peace.  But,  althou;U  they  had  not  themselves  the  custom,  their  sculptures  coincide  with  the 
scriptures  in  manifesting  the  use  of  oxen  or  kine  for  draught  by  other  nations.  All  our  examples  adduced 
to  illustrate  the  subjects  of  carts,  apply  lo  the  present,  smce  all  the  carts  there  represented,  from  ancient 
and  modern  sources,  are  drawn  by  oren,  equally  with  the  more  elegant  class  of  vehicles  represented  in  the 
present  instance  ;  and,  taken  together,  they  demonstrate  the  extensive  uso  of  oxen  for  dranght  in  both  the 
ancient  and  modem  East.  After  Solomon,  the  Hebrews  learned  from  the  Egyptians  and  their  nearer 
neichbors  to  have  chariots  of  war  drawn  by  horses  ;  and  kings  and  high  military  commanders  appear  to 
have  had  their  private  chariots  also  drawn  by  horses.  To  these  and  agricultural  pui-poses,  wheel- carriages 
seem  to  have  been  very  much  confined  ;  but,  as  far  as  they  were  used,  they  appear,  except  in  the  cases 
specified,  lo  have  been  drawn  by  oxen.  The  use  of  war-chariots  has  now  nearly  disappeared  in  the  East, 
and  with  it  the  employment  of  horses  for  draught.  Oxen  are  employed  everywhere,  from  the  Yellow  sea 
lo  the  Mediterranean.  And  in  our  present  engravings,  the  elegance  of  the  vehicles,  and  the  cost  and 
finish  of  the  equipments,  show  that  to  ride  in  a  car  drawn  by  oxen  is  not,  nor  was.  considered  a  mode  of 
conveyance  by  any  means  so  nide  or  ignoble  as  the  illustrations  at  first  sight  might  have  suggested 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


223 


224  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

had  followed  the  car  to  the  borders  of  Bethshemesh  (which  was  twelve  miles  dis- 
tant from  Ekron),  and  who  had  stood  witnessing  these  proceedings,  now  retumea 
home,  well  convinced  that  it  was  the  hand  of  the  God  of  Israel  by  which  they  hav. 
been  smitten.     The  ark  had  been  in  their  hands  seven  months. 

The  adventures  of  the  ark,  and  its  constant  exposure  to  their  sight,  begat  in  the 
Bethshemites  a  familiarity  toward  it,  inconsistent  with  the  respect  due  to  Jehovah 
and  which  it  was  highly  necessary  to  repress.  When  therefore  their  familiarity  weni 
so  far  that  they  ventured  to  raise  the  cover  of  the  ark,  to  gratify  their  curiosity  with 
a  view  of  its  contents,  sixty  of  their  number — principal  persons  of  the  place — were 
smitten  with  death.  On  this  the  people  cried,  with  great  consternation,  "  Who  is 
able  to  stand  before  this  holy  God,  Jehovah?  and  to  whom  shall  he  go  from  us?" 
They  decided  to  invite  the  people  of  Kirjath-jearim  to  take  the  ark  away.  They  did 
so,  and  deposited  it  in  the  house  of  Aminadab  "  upon  the  hill."  This  person  set  apart 
his  son  Eleazer  to  take  the  charge  of  it — to  preserve  it  from  pollution,  and  to  keep  all 
things  clean  and  orderly  about  it.  Thus  it  remained  about  eighty-two  years.  Why 
it  was  not  returned  to  Shiloh  does  not  very  clearly  appear.  Probably  no  command 
on  the  subject  was  given  ;  and  from  the  experience  which  the  Israelites  now  had  of 
the  jealousy  with  which  its  sanctity  was  guarded,  they  were  afraid  to  remove  it  with- 
out express  orders.  Besides,  at  this  time  the  people  were  again  far  gone  into  idola- 
trous practices,  which  made  them  comparatively  indifferent  about  the  ark  ;  and  it  is 
not  unlikely  that  the  reaction  of  the  sentiment  of  astonishment  and  grief  with  which 
its  loss  had  been  regarded,  did  much  to  impair  that  veneration  of  which  it  had  been 
the  object.  Add  to  this  that  they  had  been  without  the  ark  for  seven  months,  in  the 
course  of  which  they  had  accustomed  their  minds  to  the  want  of  it,  and  had  learned 
to  regard  it  as  less  essential  to  them  than  it  had  before  seemed.  The  tabernacle  still 
remained  at  Shiloh,  which  continued  to  be  the  seat  of  the  appointed  ministrations, 
until  it  was  removed,  in  the  reign  of  Saul,  to  Nob,  probably  in  consequence  of  the 
destruction  of  Shiloh  in  the  Philistine  war  (1  Sam.  xiv.  3  ;  Jer.  vii.  12-14,  xxvi.  6-9). 

For  their  idolatries  and  alienation,  the  Hebrews  were  punished  by  twenty  years 
continuance  (including  the  seven  months  of  the  ark's  absence)  of  their  subjection  to 
the  Philistines. 

It  is  usually  stated  that  Samuel  succeeded  Eli.  He  was  then  little  more  than  twenty 
years  of  age ;  and  although,  as  his  years  advanced,  he  doubtless  acquired  much  au- 
thority among  the  people  from  the  influence  of  his  character  and  position,  there  is  no 
evidence  that  it  was  any  other  than  that  which  prophets  usually  exercised.  It  rather 
appears  from  the  text  that  it  was  after  the  twenty  years  of  further  servitude  to  the 
Philistines,  that  Samuel  was  publicly  called  to  assume  the  civil  government. 

At  the  end  of  these  twenty  years  the  people  "  lamented  after  the  Lord,"  or  repented 
of  the  sins  by  which  they  had  alienated  themselves  from  him,  and  were  disposed  to 
return  to  their  allegiance.  Samuel  then  came  forward  in  his  prophetic  character,  and 
promised  them  deliverance  from  the  Philistmes,  if  they  would  put  away  the  strange 
gods — the  Baals  and  Ashtaroths  (representing  the  sun  and  moon),  and  devote  them- 
selves to  the  exclusive  service  of  Jehovah.  His  directions  were  followed ;  and  he 
then  convened  an  assembly  of  all  Israel  at  Mizpeh,  where  they  held  a  solemn  fast  and 
humiliation  fur  their  sins,  and  poured  out  water  before  Jehovah,  as  expressive  of  their 
despondency  or  grief  And  to  testify  their  good  intentions  for  the  future,  the  prophet 
himself  was  there  invested  by  them  with  the  authority  of  a  "judge." 

The  Philistines  took  umbrage  at  this  great  assembly  in  Mizpeh,  which,  they  rightly 
judged,  boded  no  good  to  the  continuance  of  their  dominion.  They  assembled  their 
forces  and  marched  to  that  place,  to  disperse  the  congregation.  The  people,  not  being 
prepared  for  war,  were  filled  with  alarm  on  the  approach  of  their  enemies,  and  be- 
sought Samuel  to  cry  to  Jehovah  for  them,  that  he  might  save  them  from  the  hand  of 
the  Philistines.  Samuel  did  so  with  great  earnestness  ;  and  he  was  in  the  act  of  of- 
fering up  a  lamb  as  a  burnt-ofi'ering,  when  the  Philistines  drew  near  to  battle.  The 
prayers  of  the  prophet  were  then  answered  by  a  terrible  storm  of  thunder  and  light- 
ning, by  which  the  enemy  were  alarmed  and  confounded,  while  the  Israelites,  recog- 
nising the  sign,  were  inspired  with  sudden  and  indomitable  courage.  They  fell  im- 
petuously upon  the  force  they  had  so  lately  dreaded,  and  slew  vast  numbers  of  them, 
chasing  the  remainder  as  far  as  Betchcar.  In  memory  of  this  great  victory,  Samuel 
set  up  a  memorial-stone,  and  gave  it  the  name  of  Ebenezer  {the  help-stone),  saying, 
"  Hitherto  Jehovah  hath  helped  us." 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  225 

This  very  brilliant  victory  broke  the  spirit  of  the  Philistins  for  many  years.  They 
were  obliged  to  restore  all  their  conquests  from  the  Israelits;  and,  for  many  years  to 
come,  they  kept  carefully  within  their  own  territories,  and  .bstained  from  any  hostile 
acts  against  the  Hebrews.  Their  example  was  follower' by  the  other  neighbors  ol 
Israel,  which  hence  enjoyed  the  felicity  of  a  profound  pe^^e  during  the  entire  period 
of  Samuel's  sole  administration. 

This  excellent  judge  admmistered  justice  regularly  tcfhe  tribes  in  his  annual  cir- 
cuit, which  he  took  to  the  places  of  sacred  stones  at  B  thel,  Gilgal,  and  Mizpeh,  and 
constantly  at  his  own  place  of  abode  at  Ramah,  wher  he  built  an  altar  to  Jehovah. 
This  was  probably  by  the  divine  permission  or  direr-ion,  at  least  for  the  present,  as 
God  had  not  yet  given  any  declaration  where  the  arZ  wa^  to  be  fixed. 

The  sole  administration  of  Samuel  lasted  twelve  years,  dating  it,  as  we  do,  from 
the  end  of  the  Philistine  servitude,  and  not  from  the  death  of  Eli.  Near  the  close  of 
this  period,  when  the  prophet  was  "growing  old  and  gray-headed,"  being  sixty-four 
years  of  age,  he  appointed  his  sons,  Joel  and  Abiah,  to  act  for  him  at  Bethel  and  Beer- 
sheba.  But  they  walked  not  in  the  sieps  of  their  fether.  "  They  turned  aside  after 
lucre,  and  took  bribes,  and  perverted  judgment." 

This  misconduct  of  his  sons,  with  his  own  advancing  age,  and  the  seeming*  un- 
settled state  in  which  the  government  would  be  left  at  his  death,  were  among  the 
causes  which  at  this  time  induced  the  elders  of  Israel  to  resort  to  Samuel  at  Ramah, 
and  to  demand  of  him  that  a  king  should  be  appointed  to  reign  over  them,  as  in  other 
nations. 

The  causes  which  we  have  just  stated,  together  with  the  regular  administration  of 
justice  to  which  Samuel  had  accustomed  them,  occasioned  the  demand,  it  would  seem, 
at  this  particular  time ;  but  there  were  deeper  causes  which  would  unquestionably 
have  brought  them  to  this  point  ere  long,  if  it  had  not  now.  These  causes  have  been 
well  discriminated  by  Jahn. 

This  able  writer  justly  refers  the  frequent  interruptions  to  the  welfare  of  the  He- 
brew state  imder  the  judges  to — "  1.  The  effeminacy  and  cowardice  of  the  people  ; 
and,  2,  to  the  disunion  and  jealousy  of  the  tribes,  who  never  assisted  each  other  with 
the  requisite  zeal  and  alacrity.  But  as  this  effeminacy  arose  from  the  vices  of  idola- 
try, and  their  cowardice  from  a  want  of  confidence  in  Jehovah ;  so  the  disunion  and 
jealousy  of  the  tribes,  though  selfishness  Avas  the  immediate  cause,  arose  from  a  dis- 
position to  neglect  their  divine  king,  and  not  to  consider  themselves  as  the  united  and 
only  people  of  Jehovah.  This  disposition,  if  it  did  not  originate  from,  was  at  least 
very  much  heightened  by  the  multiplication  of  deities.  Thus  both  these  causes  of 
their  misfortunes  owed  their  origin  to  idolatry,  that  great  cause  of  all  their  calami- 
ties, so  often  mentioned  in  the  sanctions  of  the  law.  Thus  the  people,  by  increasing 
their  gods,  enervated  themselves,  and  prepared  for  themselves  those  suiferings  and 
chastisements  by  which  they  were  again  to  be  brought  bad'  to  their  King,  Jehovah." 

He  proceeds  to  observe  that  "  These  causes  of  national  misfortune  were  all  in  op- 
eration at  the  time  of  Samuel,  and  threatened  to  produce  f.fter  his  death  still  greater 
calamities.  The  tribes  beyond  the  Jordan  had  formidable  enemies  in  the  Ammonites 
and  the  southern  tribes  in  the  Philistines,  while  the  northern  tribes  stood  aloof  from 
the  dangers  of  their  more  exposed  countrymen.  The  latter  seems  to  have  been  the 
principal  reason  why  the  rulers  in  general  assembly  requested  a  king.  The  tribes  in 
southern  Palestine  and  beyond  the  Jordan  were  the  most  earnest  for  this  change  in  the 
government ;  they  feared  that  the  death  of  Samuel  would  leave  them  without  a  su- 
preme magistrate,  and  that  the  nation  being  again  disunited,  they  should  be  left  to 
their  fate.  The  degeneracy  of  Samuel's  sons,  who  had  5een  appointed  subordinate 
judges,  or  deputies,  increased  their  apprehensions.  TheA',  therefore,  strenuously  in- 
sisted on  their  demand,  "  Nay,  but  Ave  will  have  a  king  ever  us,  that  Ave  also  may  be 
like  all  the  nations."  They  had  reason  to  hope  that  s  king  invested  with  supreme 
authority  might  be  able  to  unite  the  power  of  the  whole  nation  and  protect  each  tribe 
Avith  the  collected  strength  of  all ;  that  imder  him  the  affairs  of  government  would 
be  more  promptly  administered  and  necessary  aid  more  readily  afforded  ;  that  if  he 
were  a  man  devoted  to  Jehovah,  he  could  more  effectually  repress  or  prevent  idolatry, 
and  thus  place  the  welfare  of  the  state  on  a  more  solid  foundation.  They  might  im- 
agine themselves  justified  in  this  request  as  Moses  had  taken  it  for  granted  that  the 
nation  would  eventually  have  a  king,  and  the  same  thing  had  been  promised  to  their 
great  progenitor  Abraham.     It  conduces  greatly  to  the  honor  of  the  Hebrews  that 

15 


226  \    A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

they  attempted  this  chan4  in  their  constitution,  not  by  their  own  power,  but  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  principle  of  the  theocracy ;  they  requested  it  of  their  king,  Jeho- 
vah, by  the  intervention  o\a  prophet,  and  they  effected  it  without  bloodshed, — a 
manifest  proof  that  the  tiniVof  the  judges  was  neither  what  is  usually  understood  by 
a  '  barbarous'  nor  an  '  heroicWe.'  " 

But  as  all  the  objects  whid  they  desired  to  realise  were  attainable  under  the  the- 
ocracy, were  they  but  faithful\p  its  principles  and  engagements ;  and  as  the  unseen 
king,  Jehovah,  would  necessarW  be  obscured  by  a  subordinate,  visible  monarch,  he, 
by  means  of  Samuel,  gave  the  risers  to  understand  his  disapprobation  of  their  request ; 
and  at  the  same  time  represents  to  them  the  burdens  they  would  have  to  bear  under 
a  king,  especially  how  easily  he  Vight  bt  led  to  imitate  other  oriental  monarchs,  and 
to  disregard  the  law  of  Jehovah. 

The  picture  which  was  then  irawn  by  Samuel  exhibits  in  a  lively  manner  the 
character  of  the  monarchies  whicii  at  that  time  existed  in  the  east,  and  enables  us  to 
ascertain  that,  whatever  changes  nay  have  taVen  place  in  particular  states,  the  mo- 
narchical principle  as  it  then  existed  has  been  preserved  to  this  day  in  its  full  vigor  in 
the  east.     This  is  so  true,  that  there  is  no  royal  usage  mentioned  by  Samuel  which 
may  not  be  illustrated  and  explaiaed  from  the  modern  sovereignties  of  that  part  of 
the' world.     The  statement  must  have  seemed  the  more  effective  from  the  implied 
contrast  to  the  mild  and  gentle  character  of  that  service  which  the  Lord,  as  king  of 
Israel,  had  required.     Samuel  reminded  them  that  their  kings  would  soon  fall  into  the 
state  ol  other  monarchs,  to  support  which  the  heaviest  exactions  upon  their  persons 
and  estates  would  become  necessary.     He  would  take  their  young  men  and  employ 
them  as  charioteers  and  horsemen,  and  even  (according  to  the  Egyptian  custom)  as 
runners  before  and  about  his  chariot.*     A  standing  army  would  deprive  them  of  the 
valuable  services  of  their  young  men ;  and  if  this  Avere  not  enough,  the  king  of  a  fu- 
ture day  would  "  take  them  to  till  his  ground  and  to  make  his  instruments  of  war  and 
the  furniture  of  his  chariots.     In  like  mamier  tlie  daughters  of  Israel,  who  should 
marry  and  bring  up  children,  would  be  largely  taken  to  minister  to  the  luxury  of  the 
court  as  "  confectioners  and  bakers."     Nor  Avould  he  much  scruple  to  take  the  chosen 
and  best  of  their  male  and  female  slaves,  as  Avell  as  their  laboring  cattle,  and  "put 
them  to  his  own  work."    And  then  to  support  his  expenses,  the  heaviest  exactions 
would  be  necessary  ;  and  although  the  kingly  tenth  were  already  appropriated  to  Je- 
hovah, the  divine  king,  not  the  less  would  their  human  king  exact  his  kingly  dues ; 
thus,  in  fact,  rendering  their  burdens  greater  than  those  of  any  other  nation.     A  clear 
intimation  was  also  given  them  of  the  danger  to  which  their  landed  possessions  would 
be  ultimately  exposed  under  the  form  of  government  which  they  so  much  desired. 
For  the  expression,  "  He  will  take  the  best  of  your  fields,  and  of  your  vineyards,  and 
of  your  olive-yards,  and  give  them  to  his  servants,"  manifestly  refers  to  the  fact  that, 
inasmuch  as  their  true  king,  Jehovah,  was  the  sovereign  proprietor  of  the  soil,  and 
as  such  had  long  before  distributed  the  whole  in  inalienable  estates  among  the  people, 
whatever  human  king  theymight  have,  would  necessarily  stand  in  the,  then  and  there, 
peculiar  position,  being  onlr  a  civil  governor,  and  not,  like  the  neighboring  king,  also 
the  territorial  sovereign  ;  anJ  that  hence,  wanting  the  means  of  providing  for  his  family 
and  servants  which  other  kings  possessed,  he  would  be  tempted  to  avail  himself  of 
all  kinds  of  pretences  to  dispossess  them  of  the  lands  which  they  held  from  their  di- 
vme  king.     "  His  servants  ye  will  become,"  concludes  the  prophet.     "  And  ye  shall 
cry  out  in  that  day  because  of  the  king  that  ye  have  chosen :  but  Jehovah  will  not 
hear  you  in  that  day." 

The  purpose  of  the  people  was,  however,  too  firmly  fixed  to  be  shaken  even  by  this 
discouraging  representation.  An  acquiescence  in  their  demand  was  therefore  reluc- 
tantly conceded,  probably,  as  Jahn  conjectures,  "  because  the  desired  change  was 
requested  of  the  invisible  Kuij  in  a  lawful  manner,  through  the  niediation  of  his 
prophet,  and  because,  in  the  present  disposition  of  the  nation,  it  might  be  effected 
without  bloodshed.  If  the  remark  of  Polybius  be  in  all  cases  true,  that  '  all  aristoc- 
racies and  democracies  terminate  at  last  in  monarchy,'!  this  change  must  have  taken 
place  in  some  future  time,  ard  perhaps  might  have  been  attended  with  civil  war. 

"  By  this  alteration  of  the  constitution  the  theocracy  was  indeed  thrown  somewhat 
into  the  shade,  as  it  was  no  longer  so  manifest  that  God  was  the  king  of  the  He- 
brews.    Still,  however,  as  the  principles  of  the  theocracy  were  interwoven  with  tlie 

'  See  engraving,  page  227.  t  Hist.  lib.  v.  6,  7 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


227 


228  A.  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

fundamental  and  unchangeable  laws  of  the  state,  their  iniuence  did  not  entirely 
cease,  but  the  elected  king  was  to  act  as  the  viceroy  and  vassal  of  Jehovah.  On  this 
account  Moses  had  already  established  the  following  regulations  (Deut.  xvii.  14-20) : 
"  1.  That  the  Hebrews,  whenever  they  adopted  the  monarchical  form  of  govern- 
ment, should  raise  only  those  to  the  throne  who  were  chosen  by  Jehovah  himself. 
As  monarchs  (called  kings  of- kings)  were  accustomed  to  appoint  sub-kings,  or  vice- 
roys, in  the  several  provinces  of  their  dominions,  so  was  the  king  of  the  Hebrews  to 
be  called  to  the  throne  by  Jehovah,  to  receive  the  kingdom  from  him,  and  in  all  re- 
spects to  consider  himself  as  his  representative,  viceroy,  and  vassal.  On  this  occa- 
sion the  will  of  Jehovah  was  to  be  made  known  by  a  prophet,  or  by  means  of  Urim 
and  Thummim,  and  the  viceroy  elect  was  to  prove  himself  an  instrument  of  God  by 
protecting  the  commonwealth  against  its  foes.  The  succession  of  the  royal  house 
was  to  depend  on  the  will  of  God,  to  be  made  known  by  his  prophets. 

"  2.  Moses  had  likewise  ordained  that  the  neAV  king  should  be  a  native  Israelite. 
Thus  foreigners  were  excluded  from  the  throne,  even  though  they  should  be  proposed 
by  false  prophets;  for,  being  heathens,  they  might  transgress  the  fundamental  law 
of  tiie  state  by  the  iniroduction  of  idolatry;  or,  at  least,  it  might  be  difficult  for  thein 
to  rule  in  all  respects  as  the  vassals  of  Jehovah.  This  regulation  had  reference 
merely  to  free  elections,  and  was  by  no  means  to  be  understood,  as  it  was  explained 
by  Judas  of  Galilee  (Acts  v.  37)  and  the  Zealots  during  the  last  war  with  the  Ro- 
mans, that  the  Hebrews  were  not  to  submit  to  these  foreign  powers,  under  whose 
dominion  they  were  brought  by  an  all-directing  Providence.  On  the  contrary,  Moses 
himself  had  predicted  such  events,  and  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel  earnestly  exhorted 
their  countrymen  to  surrender  quietly  to  the  Chaldeans." 

Upon  such  conditions  the  choice  of  a  king  was  permitted,  according  to  law  ;  and  in 
the  year  1110  B.  C,  53S  years  after  the  exode,  the  first  election  took  place. 

Saul,  the  son  of  Kish,  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  went  forth  about  this  lime  with  a 
servant  to  seek  some  strayed  asses  belonging  to  his  father.  For  three  days  the 
search  was  fruitless ;  and  then  finding  himself  near  Ramah,  the  stated  residence  of 
Samuel,  he  resolved  to  go  and  consult  him ;  for  it  was  known  to  all  Israel  that  noth- 
ing was  hidden  from  the  man  of  God.  According  to  the  still  subsisting  custom  of  the 
East,  no  one  could,  with  the  least  propriety,  present  himself  before  a  man  in  author- 
ity, and  still  less  before  a  person  of  so  sacred  a  character  as  Samuel  bore,  without 
some  present,  however  small,  in  token  of  his  respect  and  homage.  But  although  the 
toil  and  travel-stained  st:ranger  who  appeared  before  the  prophet  could  only  lay  before 
him  the  worth  of  seven-pence  halfpenny  in  silver,  he  was  received  with  particular 
notice  and  honor;  for  it  had  been  specially  revealed  to  Samuel  that  on  that  day  and 
at  that  hour  the  destined  king  of  Israel  would  present  himself  before  him.  The 
prophet  assured  Saul  that  his  father  had  found  the  asses,  and  began  now  to  be  anx- 
ious about  his  son.  Nevertheless,  he  urged  him  to  stay  with  him  over  the  ni^ht, 
and  partake  of  a  feast  wiiich  he  had  provided ;  at  the  same  time  conveying  to  him  a 
slight  intimation  of  the  splendid  fortunes  which  were  in  store  for  him ;  to  which, 
with  modest  self-withdrawment,  Saul  replied,  "  Am  not  I  a  Benjamite,  of  the  small- 
est of  the  tribes  of  Israel  ?  and  my  family  the  least  of  all  the  families  of  the  tribe  of 
Benjamin?  Wherefore  then  speakest  thou  so  to  me?"  Part  of  this  must  be  attril)- 
uted  to  the  Oriental  forms  of  self-detraction ;  for  although  Benjamin  was  certainly 
the  smallest  of  the  tribes — as  it  had  not  recovered  the  serious  blow  inflicted  by  all 
the  other  tribes — it  appears  from  the  history  that  the  family  of  Kish  was  of  some 
consideration  in  Benjamin. 

In  consequence  of  the  intimation  he  had  previously  received,  Samuel  had  against 
this  time  prepared  an  entertainment,  to  which  thirty  principal  persons  of  the  place 
had  been  invited.  Samuel  conducted  the  stranger  to  the  room  in  which  these  guests 
were  assembled,  and  led  liim  to  the  corner-seat  of  honor;  and  when  the  meat  was 
served,  directed  the  most  honorable  jomt — the  shoulder — to  be  set  before  him. 

Being  summer,  the  bed  for  Saul  was  made  on  the  house-top;  and  before  he  lay 
down,  Samuel  communed  with  him  there,  probably  to  ascertain  his  sentiments  and 
character,  and  to  acquaint  him  with  the  true  nature  of  that  form  of  kingly  govern- 
ment which  he  was  destined  to  establish.  Early  in  the  morning  the  prophet  called 
Saul  to  depart,  and  walked  forth  with  him.  After  a  time  Samuel  directed  the  ser- 
vant to  pass  on  bclbre ;  and  then  the  prophet,  desiring  Saul  to  stand  still,  that  he 
might  show  him  the  purposes  of  God,  produced  a  vial  of  oil,  and  poured  it  upon  ais 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


229 


230  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

head,  thus  anointiug  him  "  captain  over  the  Lord's  inheritance."  He  then  kissed  him. 
and  to  confirm  his  faith,  proceeded  to  tell  him  all  the  incidents  that  would  occur  to 
hiin  during  his  journey  home,  and  to  encourafje  him,  under  the  sense  he  entertained 
o^"  his  own  inferior  claims  to  such  a  distinction,  assured  him  that  on  the  way,  and 
throusfh  the  divine  influence,  the  needful  qualifications  should  grow  upon  him,  so  that 
he  should  seem  to  receive  another*  heart  and  to  become  another  man. 

On  his  way  home  all  happened  to  Saul  which  the  prophet  had  foreshown ;  and 
some  of  the  incidents  are  too  illustrative  of  the  manners  of  the  time  to  pass  unnoticed. 
Li  the  plahi  of  Tabor  he  was  mei  by  three  men  who  were  proceeding  to  the  place  of 
sacied  stones  in  Bethel,  to  worship  God  there.  One  of  them  carried  three  kids,  in- 
tended as  a  sacrifice  for  each  of  their  number ;  another  had  three  loaves  of  bread  ; 
and  the  third  a  leather  bottle  of  wine,  all  evidently  intended  to  be  used  with  the 
flesh  of  the  kids  in  an  offering-feast.  They  gave  Saul  the  salutation  of  peace — such 
as  travellers  give  each  other  by  the  way — probably  the  usual  "Peace  be  unto  thee  I" 
which  is  no  other  than  the  common  Salam  aleikoom  of  the  modern  East;  and  they 
gave  him  two  of  the  three  loaves  of  bread  which  they  had  with  them. 

As  Saul  went  on  to  Gibeah  in  Benjamin,  which  seems  to  have  been  called  "the 
hill  of  God,"  either  because  there  was  here  a  "high-place"  consecrated  to  the  wor- 
ship of  God,  or  because  it  was  the  seat  of  a  "  school  of  the  prophets,"  or  a  kind  of 
college  where  young  men  were  instructed  in  the  duties  of  religion,  in  the  knowledge 
of  the  law,  in  psalmody,  and  other  religious  exercises.  Or  it  may  have  been  so  called 
for  both  tiiese  reasons,  for  both  existed.  As  Saul  drew  nigh  he  perceived  a  company 
of  these  prophets  returning  from  the  high-place  where  they  had  been  to  worship ; 
and  as  they  went  they  sang  the  praises  of  God  to  the  sound  of  the  psaltery,  the  tabret, 
the  pipe,  and  the  harp.  As  they  drew  nigh  the  Spirit  of  God  came  upon  him,  as 
Samuel  had  predicted,  and  he  became  as  another  man.  He  joined  the  prophets,  and 
sang  the  praises  of  God  with  them.  And  when  those  to  whom  he  was  known  (for 
this  was  in  his  own  tribe  and  neighborhood)  witnessed  this  sudden  endowment  of  the 
untaught  husbandman  they  were  much  astonished,  and  said  one  to  another,  "  What 
is  this  that  is  come  unto  the  son  of  Kish  ?  Is  Saul  also  among  the  prophets  ?"  Whence 
this  last  expression  passed  into  a  proverb,  applied  to  one  found  in  society  with  which 
his  previous  habits  had  not  prepared  him  to  mingle.  It  may  be  seen,  however,  that 
this  incident  would  serve  in  a  very  conspicuous  manner  to  direct  attention  to  the  per- 
son and  character  of  Saul. 

Samuel,  in  parting  from  Saul,  had  appointed  a  future  meeting  at  Gilgal,  to  which 
place  of  sacred  stones  he  convoked  all  Israel  for  the  election  of  a  king.  As  on  other 
occasions,  the  choice  of  God  was  to  be  manifested  by  lot,  which  would  also  tend  to 
prevent  jealousies  and  the  suspicion  of  partiality  on  the  part  of  Samuel.  In  the  usual 
manner  of  successive  indications,  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  was  taken  by  the  lot  from  the 
several  tribes ;  then  the  family  of  Matri  from  the  families  of  that  tribe ;  then  the 
house  of  Kish  from  the  family  of  Matri ;  and,  lastly,  Saul  from  the  household  of 
Kish.  But  Saul  was  not  to  be  found.  Well  assured  of  the  result,  he  had  not  formed 
one  in  the  assembly,  but  had,  from  modesty,  ITepl  himself  apart  among  the  baggage. 
When  his  retreat  was  discovered,  he  was  led  forward  into  the  midst  of  the  congrega- 
tion ;  and  the  mass  of  the  people  observed  Avith  complacency  that  the  elected  king 
was  of  most  noble  presence,  in  the  full  prime  of  life,  comely  and  tall,  being  higher  by 
the  head  and  shoulders  than  any  of  those  among  whom  he  stood.  On  such  a  man,  in 
a  rude  age,  when  personal  qualities  are  the  most  valued,  the  suffrages  of  all  men 
would  have  centred,  regarding  him  as  pointed  out  by  nature  for  rule  and  dominion. 
And  so  far  did  this  feeling  operaie  even  on  Samuel,  that  with  evident  pride  that, 
since  there  must  be  a  king,  the  divine  choice  had  fallen  on  one  who  must  seem  in 
the  eyes  of  all  men  so  well  qualified  to  dignify  his  high  office,  he  thus  proclaimed 
him  to  the  people:  "  See  ye  him  whom  Jehovah  hath  chosen,  that  there  is  none  like 
him  aniouij;  all  the  people."  And  the  people,  responding  to  that  feeling,  raised  at  once 
the  shout  of  recognition,  "  Long  live  the  king!" 

In  concluding  the  present  chapter,  we  are  reluctant  to  withhold  from  the  readei 
the  very  interesting  survey  which  Jahn  has  taken  of  the  office  of  the  judges,  and  of 

*  Another,  not  new ;  a  distinction  which,  from  the  Scriptural  acceptation  of  the  word  new,  together  with 
the  alter  conduct  of  Saul,  it  may  be  important  to  note. 

t  In  this  engraving  (page  231)  ancj>n/"musical  instruments  have  been  introduced  (from  Egyptian  sources) 
for  the  sake  of  more  effective  illustration. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


231 


232  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

the  condiion  of  Israel  under  their  administration.  This  survey  is  imbodied  in  the 
ensuing  aragraphs,  but  having  modified  several  passages  to  suit  them  to  the  views 
which  Ae  have  ourselves  developed,  we  abstain  from  giving  them  the  form  of  a  direct 
quotati'i- 

Fror  what  has  been  already  said  respecting  the  judges  and  their  achievements, 
we  ca'  ascertain,  with  a  tolerable  degree  of  certainty,  the  nature  of  their  office.    Most 
of  th<n,  indeed,  had  been  at  the  head  of  armies,  and  delivered  their  country  from 
foreiji  oppression  :  Eli  and  Samuel,  liowever,  were  not  military  men.     Deborah  was 
judg  before  she  planned  the  war  against  Jabin ;  and  of  Jair,  Ibzan,  Elon,  and  Abdon, 
it  isit  least  uncertain  Avhether  they  ever  held  any  military  command.     Judges  are 
merioned  in  the  Mosaic  law,  in  connexion  with  the  high-priest,  as  arbiters  of  civil 
conToversies,  Avithout  any  allusion  to  war.    (Deut.  xvii.  9.)     In  like  manner,  the 
juges  who  were  appointed  over  Tyre  after  King  Baal  were  certainly  not  military 
ofters,  for  the  city  was  at  that  time  tributary  to  Babylon.     The  command  of  the 
amy  can  therefore  be  scarcely  considered  as  the  peculiar  distinction  of  these  magis- 
tates.     But  as  in  ancient  times  the  duties  of  a  judge  were  reckoned  among  the  first 
jad  most  important  duties  of  a  ruler,  so  the  Hebrew  judges  appear  to  have  been  ap- 
iointed  for  the  general  administration  of  public  affairs,  and  the  command  of  the  army 
i'ell  to  them  as  the  supreme  executive  officers.     In  many  cases,  it  is  true,  military 
achievements  Avere  the  means  whereby  men  elevated  themselves  to  the  rank  of 
judges ;  but  our  inquiry  is,  not  how  the  office  was  obtained,  but  for  Avhat  purposes 
it  Avas  instituted.     It  may,  however,  be  proper  to  recollect  that  Jephthah  and  Sam- 
uel, and,  for  aught  that  appears,  Jair,  Elon,  Ibzan,  and  Abdon,  were  raised  to  thi' 
office  by  the  free,  unsolicited  voice  of  the  people. 

The  office  of  these  judges  or  regents  Avas  held  during  life,  but  it  Avas  not  hereditary, 
neither  could  they  appoint  their  successors.  This  arrangement  might  seem  to  be  at- 
tended with  the  disadvantage  that  at  the  death  of  a  judge  the  supreme  executive 
authority  ceased ;  but  on  consideration  it  will  appear  that  these  civil  functions  de- 
volved on  the  high-priest,  or  rather  Avere  inherent  to  his  high  office,  and  were  called 
into  operation  in  the  absence  of  any  person  more  especially  appointed  to  exercise 
them.  And,  without  this,  the  apparent  disadvantage  would  be  more  than  counter- 
balanced by  its  preventing  a  degenerate  heir  or  successor  from  giving  to  idolatry  the 
support  of  his  influence.  This  authority  was  limited  by  the  law  alone ;  and  in  doubt- 
ful cases  they  were  directed  by  the  sacred  Oracle.  (Num.  xxvii.  21.)  They  were  not 
obliged  in  common  cases  to  ask  advice  of  the  ordinary  rulers ;  it  Avas  sufficient  that 
they  did  not  remonstrate  against  the  measures  of  the  Judge.  In  important  emergen- 
cies, however,  they  convoked  a  general  assembly  of  the  rulers,  over  which  they  pre- 
sided and  exerted  a  powerful  influence.  They  could  issue  orders,  but  not  enact  laAvs ; 
they  could  neither  levy  taxes  nor  appoint  officers,  except  perhaps  in  the  army.  Their 
authority  extended  only  over  those  tribes  by  whom  they  had  been  elected  or  acknoAvl- 
edged;  for,  as  has  been  before  remarked,  several  of  the  judges  presided  over  separate 
tribes.  There  was  no  salary  attached  to  their  office,  nor  Avas  there  any  income  appro- 
priated to  them,  unless  it  might  be  a  larger  share  of  the  spoils,  and  those  presents 
which  were  made  to  them  as  testimonials  of  respect.  (Judges  viii.  24.)  They  had 
no  external  marks  of  dignity,  and  maintained  no  retinue  of  courtiers,  though  some  of 
them  were  very  opulent.  They  were  not  only  simple  in  their  manners,  moderate  in 
their  desires,  and  free  from  avarice  and  ambition,  but  noble  and  magnanimous  men, 
Avho  felt  that  whatever  they  did  for  their  country  was  above  all  reward,  and  could 
not  be  recompensed ;  who  desired  merely  to  promote  the  public  good,  and  chose 
rather  to  deserve  well  of  their  country  than  to  be  enriched  by  its  wealth.  This  ex- 
alted patriotism,  like  everything  else  connected  with  politics  in  the  theocratical  state 
of  the  Hebrews,  was  partly  of  a  religious  character ;  and  those  regents  always  con- 
ducted themselves  as  the  officers  of  God ;  in  all  their  enterprises  they  relied  upon 
him,  and  their  only  care  was  that  their  countrymen  should  acknoAvledge  the  authority 
of  Jehovah,  their  invisible  King.  (Judg.  viii.  22,  et  seq. ;  comp.  Heb.  xi.)  Still  they 
were  not  without  faults,  neither  are  they  so  represented  by  their  historians ;  they  re- 
late, on  the  contrary,  with  the  utmost  frankness,  the  great  sins  of  Avhich  some  of 
them  were  guilty.  They  were  not  merely  deliverers  of  the  state  from  a  foreign  yoke, 
but  destroyers  of  idolatry,  foes  of  pagan  vices,  promoters  of  the  knowledge  of  God,  of 
religion,  and  of  morality ;  restorers  of  theocracy  in  the  minds  of  the  Hebrews,  and 
powerful  instruments  of  divine  Providence  in  the  promotion  of  the  great  design  of 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  233 

preserving  the  Hebrew  constitution,  and  by  that  means  of  rescuing  the  true  religion 
from  destruction. 

By  comparing  the  periods  during  which  the  Hebrews  were  oppressed  by  their  ene- 
mies with  those  in  which  they  were  independent  and  governed  by  their  own  consti- 
tution, it  is  apparent  that  the  nation  in  general  experienced  much  more  prosperity 
than  adversity  in  the  time  of  the  judges :  their  dominion  contmued  four  hundred  and 
seventy-two  years ;  but  the  whole  period  of  foreign  oppression  amounts  only  to  one 
hundred  and  thirty-one  years,  scarcely  a  fourth  part  of  that  period.  Even  during 
these  years  of  bondage  the  whole  nation  was  seldom  under  the  yoke  at  the  same  time, 
but,  for  the  most  part,  separate  tribes  only  were  held  in  servitude ;.  nor  were  their 
oppressions  always  very  severe ;  and  all  the  calamities  terminated  in  the  advantage 
and  glory  of  the  people,  as  soon  as  they  abolished  idolatry  and  returned  to  their  king, 
Jehovah.  Neither  was  the  nation  in  such  a  state  of  anarchy  at  this  time  as  has  gen- 
erally been  supposed.  There  were  regular  judicial  tribunals  at  which  justice  could 
be  obtained;  and  when  there  was  no  supreme  regent,  the  public  welfare  was  pro- 
vided for  by  the  high-priest  and  the  ordinary  rulers  of  the  tribes.  (Ruth  iv.  1-11 ; 
Judg.  viii.  22,  xi.  1-1 1 ;  1  Sam.  iv.  1,  vii.  1,  2.)  These  rulers,  it  is  true,  were  jealous 
of  each  other,  and  their  jealousies  not  unfrequently  broke  out  into  civil  war;  but  the 
union  of  the  state  was  never  entirely  destroyed.  They  were  not  always  provided 
with  arms  (2  Judg.  v.  8;  1  Sam.  xiii.  19);  but  yet,  when  united  under  their  kmg, 
Jehovah,  they  gained  splendid  victories.  They  were  not  sufficiently  careful  to  re- 
press idolatry,  but  they  never  suffered  it  to  become  universally  predominant.  The 
sacred  tabernacle  was  never  entirely  deserted  and  shut  up,  nor  was  it  ever  polluted 
by  the  rites  of  heathen  superstition. 

These  times  would  certainly  not  be  considered  so  turbulent  as  barbarous,  much 
less  would  they  be  taken,  contrary  to  the  clearest  evidence  and  to  the  analogy  of  all 
history,  for  an  "heroic  age,"*  if  they  were  viewed  without  the  prejudices  of  precon- 
ceived hypothesis.  It  must  never  be  forgotten  that  the  book  of  Judges  is  by  no  means 
a  complete  history.  It  is,  in  a  manner,  a  mere  register  of  diseases,  irom  which,  how- 
ever, we  have  no  right  to  conclude  that  there  were  no  healthy  men,  much  less  that 
there  were  no  healthy  seasons ;  when  the  book  itself,  for  the  most  part,  mentions 
only  a  few  tribes  in  which  the  epidemic  prevailed,  and  notices  long  periods  during 
which  it  had  entiiely  ceased.  Whatever  may  be  the  result  of  more  accurate  investi- 
gation, it  remains  undeniable  that  the  history  of  the  Hebrews  during  this  period  per- 
fectly corresponds  throughout  to  the  sanctions  of  the  law ;  and  they  were  always 
prosperous  when  they  complied  with  the  conditions  on  which  prosperity  was  prom- 
ised to  them ;  it  remains  undeniable  that  the  government  of  God  was  clearly  mani- 
fested, not  only  to  the  Hebrews,  but  to  their  heathen  neighbors,  that  the  fulfilling  of 
the  promises  and  threatenings  of  the  law  were  so  many  sensible  proofs  of  the  uni- 
versal dominion  of  the  divine  King  of  the  Hebrews;  and,  consequently,  that  all  the 
various  fortunes  of  that  nation  were  so  many  means  of  preserving  the  knowledge  of 
God  on  the  earth.  The  Hebrews  had  no  sufficient  reason  to  desire  a  change  in  their 
constitution,  since  all  that  was  necessary  was  that  they  should  observe  the  conditions 
on  which  national  prosperity  had  been  promised  to  them. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

The  election  of  Saul,  though  generally  approved,  did  not  meet  with  universal  ac- 
ceptance. In  one  point  of  view,  the  choice  of  a  person  belonging  to  a  neutral  and 
powerless  tribe  was  calculated  to  obviate  the  rivalries  of  the  two  great  tribes  of 
Ephraim  and  Judah,  who  probably  both  thought  that  they  had  the  better  ri^^ht  to  the 
distinction,  but  neither  of  whom  were  likely  to  agree  that  the  other  should  have  had 
it.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  Saul  himself  was  not  likely  to  derive  the  more  respect 
from  this  neutral  and  politically  insignificant  position  which  prevented  the  mutual 
jealousies  of  these  great  rivals.  But  seeing  that  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  was,  from  its 
geographical  position,  closely  connected  with,  and  in  some  degree  dependant  on  that 
of  Judah,  it  is  more  probable  that  the  dissentients,  "  the  children  of  JBelial,"who  de- 
spised Saul,  and  said,  "  How  shall  this  man  save  us  ?"  were  of  the  haughty  and  tur- 
*  It  is  thus  characterized  by  Heeren  and  other  w-iters. 


234  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

bulent  tribe  of  Ephraim.  Samuel  left  it  to  the  people  themselves  to  settle  the  money- 
price  they  were  lo  pay  for  their  new  luxury;  and,  although  he  had  foreshown  the  ex- 
actions whibh  the  regal  state  would  in  the  end  render  necessary,  it  was  not  his  object 
to  give  his  sanction  to  that  which  he  had  announced  as  a  contingent  evil.  Besides, 
the  external  organization  of  the  new  government  was  left  to  be  developed  by  circum- 
stances, the  prophet  having  only  cared  to  secure  the  principles.  Saul  was  left  to  grtnv 
into  his  position  and  its  privileges,  while  Samuel  continued  to  administer  the  civil 
government :  for  it  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  Samuel  continued  to  judge  Israel  all 
the  days  of  his  life,  which  did  not  terminate  until  thirty-eight  years  after  the  election 
of  Saul,  who  himself  outlived  the  prophet  but  two  years.  The  position  of  Saul  was, 
therefore,  for  the  greater  part  of  his  reign,  chiefly  that  of  a  military  leader,  while 
Samuel  continued  to  discharge  the  civil  part  of  the  regal  office,  to  which  it  was  prob- 
ably obvious  that  Saul  was  not  competent.  The  kingdom,  properly  speaking,  was 
not  established,  not  developed  under  Saul,  but  only  hegun  with  him.  And  this  it  is 
necessary  to  understand,  if  we  would  clearly  apprehend  the  growth  oi  that  monarchi- 
cal principle  which  was  only  planted  with  Saul. 

After  his  election  at  Gilgal,  the  king  returned  to  his  own  home  at  Gibeah,  where 
such  "  presents"  were  brought  him  by  the  people  as  oriental  kings  usually  receive, 
and  which  form  no  inconsiderable  portion  of  their  ordinary  revenue.  As  the  product 
of  these  offerings  was  probably  more  than  adequate  to  the  present  wants  and  expecta- 
tions of  the  king,  who  as  yet  assumed  no  regal  state,  the  question  as  to  the  permanent 
support  of  the  kingly  government  was  not  yet  pressed  upon  the  attention  of  either  the 
people  or  the  king.  The  discontented  parties,  however,  "  brought  him  no  presents." 
Saul  took  no  notice  of  their  insults,  but  wisely  "  held  his  peace." 

Very  soon  after  Saul's  election,  the  Ammonites,  under  their  king  Nahash,  marched 
into  the  old  disputed  territory  beyond  Jordan,  and  laid  siege  to  the  important  city  of 
Jabesh  Gilead.  The  inhabitants,  avowing  their  impotence,  offered  to  submit  to  the 
condition  of  paying  tribute  to  the  Ammonites  ;  but  the  insulting  and  barbarous  king 
refused  to  receive  their  submission  on  any  other  terms  than  that  the  right  eye  of  every 
one  of  them  should  be  extinguished,  that  they  might  remain  as  so  many  living  mon- 
uments of  his  victory.  Here  again  was  a  barbarity  of  which  the  Israelites  were  never 
guilty,  even  in  thought.  The  people  of  Jabesh  Gilead  were  so  distressed  that  they 
dared  not  absolutely  refuse  even  these  merciless  conditions,  but  besought  a  grace  of 
seven  days  for  deliberation.  This  they  did  with  the  hope  that  the  tribes  on  the  other 
side  the  river  might,  in  the  interval,  be  roused  by  the  news  to  appear  for  their  deliv- 
erance. Nor  was  their  hope  in  vain.  Saul  no  sooner  received  the  intelligence  than 
he  at  once  and  decidedly  stood  up  in  his  position  of  a  hero  and  a  king,  claiming  the 
obedience  of  the  people,  whom  he  summoned  to  follow  him  to  the  deliverance  of  Ja- 
besh Gilead.  This  call  was  readily  obeyed ;  for  it  ran  in  the  names  of  Saul  and 
Samuel,  and  was  conveyed  in  that  imperative  and  compulsory  form,  which  it  was  not, 
under  any  circumstances,  judged  safe  to  disobey.  For  he  hewed  a  yoke  of  oxen  in 
pieces,  and  sent  the  pieces  by  the  hands  of  swift  messengers  to  all  Israel,  calling  them, 
by  all  the  penalties  of  that  well-known  and  dreaded  sign,  to  follow  him.  All  Israel 
obeyed  with  one  consent.  All  the  men,  of  age  to  bear  arms,  quitted  their  several  la- 
bors, and  hastened  from  all  parts  to  the  plain  of  Bezek,  where  Saul  numbering  his 
army,  found  it  to  consist  of  three  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  men,  of  whom  thirty 
thousand  were  of  Judah,  which  seems  rather  an  inadequate  proportion  for  so  large  a 
tribe.  It  being  already  the  sixth  day,  Saul  sent  to  apprize  the  citizens  of  Jabesh  Gil- 
ead of  the  help  which  was  preparing  for  them,  and  which  they  might  expect  to  re- 
ceive on  the  morrow,  being  the  very  day  they  were  to  surrender  their  eyes  to  the 
Ammonites. 

Accordingly,  in  the  morning,  the  king,  having  marched  all  night,  appeared  before 
Jabesh,  at  the  head  of  his  army,  invested  the  camp  of  the  Ammonites,  and  falling 
upon  them  on  three  different  sides,  overthrew  them  with  a  great  slaughter.  So  com- 
plete was  the  rout,  that  those  who  escaped  were  so  broken  and  dispersed,  that  no  two 
could  be  found  together. 

Sai;l  in  this  action  displayed  a  large  measure  of  those  heroic  qualities  which  the 
ancieat  nations  most  desired  their  monarchs  to  possess.  Considering  all  the  circum- 
stances, the  promptitude  and  energy  of  his  decision,  the  speed  with  which  he  collected 
an  imm«>nse  army  and  brought  it  into  action,  and  the  skill  and  good  military  conduct 
of  the  whole  transaction,  there  are  probably  few  operations  of  the  Hebrew  history 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  235 

which  more  recommend  themselves  to  the  respect  and  admiration  of  a  modern  sol- 
dier. Its  etFect  was  not  lost  upon  the  people,  who  joyfully  recognised  in  their  king 
the  qualities  which  have  generally  been  held  most  worthy  of  rule  ;  and  so  much  was 
their  enthusiasm  excited,  that  they  began  to  talk  of  putting  to  death  the  small  mi- 
nority who  had  refused  to  recognise  his  sovereignty.  But  Samuel  interposed  to  pre- 
vent an  act  unbecoming  a  day  in  which  "  God  had  wrought  salvation  in  Israel."  So 
harsh  a  proceeding  would  also  have  beeoj^her  likely  to  provoke  than  allay  the  dis- 
affection of  the  leading  tribes.  "^K^ 

Samuel  then  invited  the  army,  which  comprehended  in  fact  the  effective  body  of 
the  Hebrew  people,  to  proceed  to  Gilgal,  there  solemnly  to  confirm  the  kingdom  to 
Saul,  seeing  that  now  his  claims  were  undisputed  by  any  portion  of  the  people.  This 
was  done  with  great  solemnity,  and  with  abundant  sacrifices  of  peace  and  joy. 

But  lest  this  solemnity,  which  was  obviously  designed  to  remind  the  people  of  their 
continued  dependance  on  Jehovah,  should  be  construed  into  an  approbation  and  sanc- 
tion of  all  their  proceedings,  the  prophet  took  this  public  occasion  of  reminding  them 
that  their  proceeding  had  been  most  unpleasing  to  their  Divine  King ;  although,  if 
they  maintained  their  fidelity  to  him  and  to  the  principles  of  the  theocracy,  some  of 
the  evil  consequences  might  be  averted.  He  also  neglected  not  the  opportunity  of 
justifying  his  own  conduct  and  the  purity  of  his  administration.  He  challenged  as- 
sembled Israel  to  produce  one  instance  of  oppression,  fraud,  or  corruptioii,  on  his  part, 
while  he  had  been  their  sole  judge;  and  in  that  vast  multitude  not  one  voice  was 
raised  to  impugn  his  integrity  and  uprightness.  He  then  proceeded  to  remind  them 
of  their  past  transgressions,  in  forgetting  or  turning  astray  from  their  God,  with  the 
punishments  which  had  invariably  followed,  and  the  deliverances  which  their  repent- 
ance had  procured  ;  showing  them,  by  these  instances,  the  sufficiency  of  their  Divine 
Sovereign  to  rule  them,  and  to  save  them  from  their  enemies,  without  the  intervention 
of  an  earthly  king,  whom  they  had  persisted  in  demanding.  And  he  assured  them 
that,  under  their  regal  government,  public  sins  would  not  come  to  be  visited  with  pub- 
lic calamities.  To  add  the  greater  weight  to  his  words,  and  to  evince  the  divine  dis- 
pleasure, the  commissioned  prophet  called  down  thunder  and  rain  from  heaven,  then 
at  the  usual  season  of  wheat  harvest,  when  the  air  is  usually,  in  that  country,  serene 
and  cloudless.  On  this  the  people  were  greatly  alarmed  at  the  possible  consequences 
of  the  displeasure  they  had  provoked,  and  besought  Samuel  to  intercede  for  them. 
The  prophet  kindly  encouraged  them  to  hope  that  if  they  continued  to  trust  faithfully 
in  God,  all  would  yet  be  well ;  and  he  assured  them  of  continued  intercession  on  iheir 
behalf,  and  of  his  services  as  a  civil  judge  or  teacher, — for  that  the  omission  would 
be  a  sin  on  his  own  part. 

Saul,  now  fully  established  as  king,  dismissed  his  numerous  army ;  but  he  retained 
three  thousand  of  their  number,  two  thousand  of  which  he  stationed  at  Michmash 
and  Bethel,  under  his  own  immediate  orders,  while  the  other  thousand  were  at  Gib- 
eah  of  Benjamin,  under  his  eldest  son  Jonathan.  Josephus  says  that  these  formed  the 
body-guard  of  himself  and  his  son.  If  so,  he  began  very  soon  to  act  "  like  the  kings 
of  the  nations,"  and  to  fulfil  one  part  of  the  predictions  of  Samuel  as  to  the  course 
which  the  kingdom  was  likely  to  take.  Even  supposing  (as  we  rather  do)  that  he  re- 
tained this  force  to  be  in  readiness  for  the  smaller  military  operations  which  he  had  in 
view,  it  is  evident  that  he  had  already  taken  the  idea  of  a  standing  army,  the  nucleus 
of  which  this  body  of  three  thousand  men  may  be  deemed  to  have  formed.  At  all 
events,  it  may  seem  as  an  early  indication  of  Saul's  subsequently  besetting  public  sin, 
of  forgetting  his  properly  vice-regal  character,  and  his  subordination  to  the  Divine 
King.  It  was  assuredly  a  new  thing  in  Israel,  and  does  savor  somewhat  of  a  distrust 
of  God's  providence,  by  which  the  peculiar  people  had  hitherto  been  protected  and 
delivered  in  every  time  of  need  ;  as  well  as  of  an  affectation  of  that  independent  au- 
thority which  "  the  kings  of  the  nations"  took  to  themselves.  However,  as  the  char- 
acter of  Saul  seems  to  be  held  generally  in  more  disesteem  than  the  writers  of  his 
history  intended,  we  shall  not  impute  blame  to  him  where  the  Scripture  does  not ;  but 
are  ready  to  allow  that,  under  all  the  circumstances,  the  measure  was  prudent  and 
proper  ;  for  it  appears  that  an  enemy  was  then  actually  present  in  the  country,  whose 
expulsion  the  king  had  then  in  view.  There  were  garrisons  of  the  Philistines  in  the 
land.  How  this  came  to  pass  is  not  very  clear.  It  would  seem,  however,  that  in  re- 
signing their  conquests  after  their  last  defeat,  they  had  retained  some  hill  fortresses, 
from  which  they  knew  the  Hebrews  would  find  it  difficult  to  dislodge  them  ;  and  that 


236  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

when  they  recovered  from  the  blow  which  was  then  inflicted  upon  their  power,  they 
contrived,  by  the  help  of  this  hold  which  they  had  in  the  country,  to  bring  the  south- 
ern tribes  (at  least  those  of  Judah  and  Benjamin)  under  a  sort  of  subjection.  Thus 
when  Saul  was  returning  home  after  having  been  privately  anointed  by  Samuel  at 
Ramah,  and  met  the  sons  of  the  prophets  at  Gibeah,  we  learn  that  at  that  place  was 
"  a  garrison  of  the  Philistines."  And  now  we  further  learn  that  the  Hebrews  had  in 
fact  been  disarmed  by  that  people.  According  to  that  jealous  policy  of  which  other 
examples  will  ultimately  be  offered,  they  had  even  removed  all  the  smiths  of  Israel, 
lest  they  should  make  weapons  of  war ;  in  consequence  of  which  the  Hebrews  were 
obliged  to  resort  to  the  Philistines  whenever  their  agricultural  implemeuts  needed  any 
other  sharpening  than  that  which  a  grindstone  could  give ;  and  as  this  was  an  un- 
pleasant alternative,  even  these  important  instruments  had  been  suffered  to  become 
blunt  at  the  time  to  which  we  are  now  come  ;  and  so  strict  had  been  the  deprivation 
of  arms  that,  in  the  military  operations  which  soon  after  followed,  no  one  of  the  Is- 
raelites, save  Saul  and  his  eldest  son,  was  possessed  of  a  spear  or  sword. 

This  was  the  state  of  southern  Palestine,  where  Jonathan,  acting  doubtless  by  the 
orders  of  his  father,  attacked  and  overcame  with  his  thousand  men  the  Philistine 
garrison  in  Gibeah.  Encouraged  by  this  success,  Saul  caused  open  war  to  be  pro- 
claimed, by  sound  of  trumpet,  against  the  Philistines,  and  to  assert  his  authority  over 
the  tribes  beyond  Jordan,  who  were  but  too  apt  to  regard  their  interests  as  separate 
from  those  of  the  other  tribes,  and  who  might  think  themselves  exempt  from  taking 
part  in  a  war  against  a  people  whose  oppressions  had  not  extended  to  themselves, — 
Saul  directed  the  proclamation  to  be  made  not  only  "  throughout  all  the  land,"  but  in 
a  special  manner  it  included  "those  beyond  Jordan."  They  did  not  disobey;  but 
jarae  -with  other  Israelites,  from  all  quarters,  to  the  standard  of  the  king  at  Gilgal. 
The  people  generally,  though  destitute  of  proper  military  weapons,  were  much  in- 
spirited by  the  success  of  Jonathan,  and  by  their  confidence  in  the  now  tried  valor  and 
military  conduct  of  the  king. 

Meanwhile  the  Philistines  were  not  heedless  of  this  movement  among  the  Israelites. 
No  sooner  did  they  hear  of  the  defeat  of  their  garrison  in  Gibeah  than  they  assembled 
a  formidable  force,  which  seemed  sufficient  to  overwhelm  all  opposition.  It  was  com- 
posed of  three  thousand  chariots  of  war,  six  thousand  horsemen,  and  "  people  as  the 
sand  upon  the  seashore  for  multitude."  The  enthusiasm  of  the  disarmed  Israelites 
evaporated  in  the  presence  of  this  powerful  force ;  and  the  army  of  Saul  diminished 
every  day,  as  great  numbers  of  the  men  stole  away  to  seek  refuge  in  caves,  in  woods, 
in  rocks,  in  towers,  and  in  pits. 

Saul  had  exhibited  his  inability  of  understanding  his  true  position,  or  his  disposition 
to  regard  himself  as  an  independent  sovereign,  by  entering  upon  or  provoking  this 
war  without  consulting,  through  Samuel  or  the  priest,  the  divine  will.  Although  not 
formally  so  declared,  it  was  the  well-understood  practice  of  the  Hebrew  constitution, 
that  no  war  against  any  other  than  the  doomed  nations  of  Canaan  would  be  undertaken 
without  the  previous  consent  and  promised  assistance  of  the  Great  King.  Yet  Saul, 
without  any  such  authority,  had  taken  measures  which  were  certain  to  produce  a  war 
with  the  Philistines.  He  probably  thought  that  the  aggressions  of  the  Philistines,  and 
their  existing  position  as  the  oppressors  of  Israel,  and  their  intrusion  into  the  Hebrew 
territory,  made  his  undertaking  so  obviously  just  and  patriotic  as  to  render  ;)  direct 
authorization  superfluous,  as  its  refusal  could  not  be  supposed :  nor  are  we  quite  sure 
that  in  this  he  was  mistaken.  Be  this  as  it  may,  Samuel  was  not  willing  that  such 
a  precedent  should  be  established  ;  and  therefore  he  had  appointed  to  meet  Saul  on  a 
particular  day  at  Gilgal,  "  to  offer  burnt-offerings  and  peace-ofterings,  and  to  show  him 
what  he  should  do,"  that  is,  both  to  propitiate  the  Lord,  as  on  other  occasions,  and  to 
advise  Saul  how  to  act  in  carrying  on  the  war.  On  the  appointed  day  Samuel  did  not 
arrive  as  soon  as  the  king  expected.  The  prophet  probably  delayed  his  coming  on 
purpose  to  test  his  fidelity  and  obedience.  Saul  failed  in  this  test.  Seeing  his  force 
hourly  diminishing  by  desertions ;  and  in  the  pride  of  his  fancied  independence,  con- 
sidering that  he  had  as  much  right  as  the  Egyptian  and  other  kings  to  perform  the 
priestly  functions,  he  ordered  the  victims  to  be  brought,  and  offered  them  himself  upon 
the  altar.  This  usurpation  of  the  priestly  office  by  one  who  had  no  natural  authority 
as  an  Aaronite,  nor  any  special  authorization  as  a  prophet,  was  decisive  of  the  char- 
acter and  the  fate  of  Saul.  If  the  principles  of  the  theocracy  were  to  be  preserved, 
and  if  the  political  supremacy  of  Jehovah  was  at  all  to  be  maintained,  it  was  indis- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


237 


238  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

pensably  necessary  that  the  first  manifestation  by  the  kings  of  autocratic  dispusitions 
and  of  self-willed  assumption  of  superiority  to  the  law,  should  be  visited  by  severe 
examples  of  punishment ;  for  if  not  checked  in  the  beginnings,  the  growth  would 
have  been  fatal  to  the  constitution.  It  will  hence  appear  that  the  punishments  which 
Saul  incurred  for  this  and  other  acts  manifesting  the  same  class  of  dispositions,  Avere 
not  so  disproportioned  to  his  offences,  or  so  uncalled  for  by  the  occasions  of  the  stale, 
as  some  persons  have  been  led  to  imagine. 

Saul  had  scarcely  made  an  end  of  offering  his  sacrifices  before  he  was  apprized  of 
the  approach  of  Samuel,  and  went  forth  to  meet  him.  The  apology  he  made  to  the 
prophet  for  what  he  had  done, — that  his  force  was  diminishing,  and  that  he  was  afiaid 
that  if  he  delayed  any  longer  the  Philistines  would  fall  upon  him  before  sacrifices  had 
been  offered  to  Jehovah — showed  little  of  that  reliance  upon  the  Divine  King,  which 
every  Hebrew  general  was  expected  to  manifest ;  and  but  little  anxiety  to  receive 
these  prophetic  counsels  which  Samuel  had  promised  to  deliver.  Under  nearly  simi- 
lar circumstances,  how  different  was  the  conduct  of  Gideon,  who  gained  immorutl 
honor  by  these  theocratic  sentiments  which  enabled  him  to  leave  to  his  successors  a 
memorable  example  of  confidence  in  God!  Samuel  saw  through  the  hollowness  of 
Saul's  apology,  and  warned  him  that  by  such  sentiments  as  he  entertained,  and  such 
conduct  as  he  manifested,  he  was  rendering  himself  unworthy  to  be  the  foimder  of  a 
royal  house,  inasmuch  as  he  could  not  become  a  pattern  to  his  successors ;  and  that 
by  persevering  in  such  a  course  he  would  compel  the  appointment  of  one  more  worthy 
than  himself  to  reign  over  Israel,  and  to  be  the  father  of  a  kingly  race.  Samuel  then 
retired  from  Gilgal,  leaving  Siaul  to  carry  on,  as  he  saw  best,  the  war  he  had  tmder- 
taken. 

On  numbering  his  remaining  force,  Saul  found  that  but  six  hundred  men  remained 
with  him.  With  a  less  force  than  this,  enemies  as  formidable  as  the  Philistines  had 
ill  former  times  been  defeated.  But  Saul,  entirely  overlooking,  or  distrusting,  that 
divine  assistance  which  every  Hebrew  leader  in  a  just  war  was  entitled  to  expect, 
and  regarding  only  the  disparity  of  his  force,  felt  that  it  would  be  imprudent  to  engage 
or  oppose  so  vast  an  army  with  a  mere  handful  of  disheartened  men.  He  therefore 
retired  from  the  field,  and  threw  himself  into  the  reconquered  fortress  of  Gibeah. 
On  discovering  his  retreat,  the  Philistines  sent  three  powerful  detachments  hi  different 
directions  to  ravage  the  country,  while  the  mam  body  of  their  army  still  remained 
encamped  near  Michmash. 

In  this  extremity,  an  entire  change  was  wrought  in  the  aspect  of  affairs  through 
the  daring  valor  of  Jonathan.  Accompanied  only  by  his  armor-bearer,  he  withdrew 
secretly  Irom  the  camp,  anJ,  by  climbing,  opened  himself  a  passage  to  one  of  the 
outposts  of  the  Philistines,  upon  the  summit  of  a  cliff,  deemed  inaccessible,  and 
therefore  not  very  strongly  guarded ;  and  penetrating  to  the  enemy  by  so  new  and 
unexpected  a  path,  he  killed  the  advanced  piquets,  and,  supported  by  his  follower, 
slew  all  whom  his  h:md  encountered,  and  bore  disorder  and  alarm  into  the  camp  of 
the  Philistines,  then  iiiuch  weakened  by  the  detachments  we  have  mentioned.  The 
cries  which  arose  from  this  part  of  the  camp  confounded  and  terrified  the  more  dis- 
tant parts;  so  that,  av.are  of  the  presence  of  an  enemy,  which  yet  did  not  appear  to 
them,  they  turned  their  arms  against  one  another,  and  destroyed  themselves  with  the 
blind  fury  of  despairing-  men.  The  clamor  which  arose  in  the  Philistine  camp  was 
heard  by  the  Israelites.  Saul  at  first  was  willing  to  go  through  the  form  of  consult- 
ing the  Lord  by  urim;  but  the  confusion  increasing  in  the  Philistine  camp,  he  deemed 
it  a  time  for  action  railier  than  counsel;  and  directing  the  priest  to  forbear,  he 
hastened  to  join  his  vali:'nt  son,  whose  absence  was  now  known,  and  to  whom  this 
disorder  was  rightly  attriimted.  The  enemy  were  already  flying  in  all  directions,  and 
Saul,  with  his  small  band,  committed  terrible  havoc  upon  the  fugitives.  While  thus 
engaged,  his  force  increased  with  still  greater  rapidity  than  it  had  previously  dimin- 
ished: for  not  only  did  the  Hebrew  captives  take  the  opportunity  of  making  their 
escape  and  joining  their  king,  but  great  numbers  came  forth  from  their  lurking  places 
to  join  in  the  pursuit;  so  that  Saul  soon  found  himself  at  the  head  of  six  thousand 
men.  The  rash  and  inconsiderate  king,  in  his  detennination  to  make  the  most  of  his 
advantage,  laid  an  interdiclive  curse  upon  any  o  his  people  who  should  taste  food 
..until  the  evening.  Not  only  were  the  pursuers  weakened  and  exhausted  by  the 
strict  abstinence  thus  enjoined,  but  Jonathan,  unaware  of  this  interdict,  unwillingly 
transgressed  it  by  tasting  a  little  wild  honey  which  he  met  with  in  his  way  through 
a  forest. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  239 

In  the  evening,  the  famished  people,  being  then  released  from  the  interdict,  flew 
ravenously  upoa  the  prey  of  cattle,  and,  in  their  impatience,  began  to  devour  the  raw 
and  living  flesh.  This  being  a  transgression  of  the  law  which  forbade  meat  not 
properly  exsanguinated  to  be  eaten,  Saul,  who  was  really  ralher  zealous  to  observe 
the  law  when  it  did  not  interfere  with  his  own  objects,  interposed,  and  ordered  the 
meat  to  be  properly  and  legally  slaughtered  and  prepared  for  food. 

'I'he  people  being  now  refreshed,  Saul  proposed  to  continue  the  pursuit  during  llle 
night,  but  deemed  it  prudent  first  to  consult  the  Lord  through  the  priest.  No  answer 
was  given.  This  Saul  interpreted  to  intimate  that  iiis  solemn  interdict  had  been 
transgressed ;  and,  again  unreasoning  and  rash,  he  swore  that  even  were  the  trans- 
gressor his  own  son  Jonathan,  he  should  surely  be  put  to  death.  It  was  Jonathan: 
tlie  lot  determined  this.  His  father  told  hini  he  must  die ;  but  the  people,  full  of 
admiration  of  the  young  prince,  protested  that  not  a  hair  of  his  head  should  suffer 
damage,  and  thus  saved  his  life. 

This  campaign,  although  concluded  Avithout  a  battle,  was  not  the  less  productive 
of  durable  advantage.  The  glory  which  Saul  acquired  by  it  strengthened  his  au- 
thority among  his  own  people,  and  henceforth  no  enemy  to  which  he  could  be  opposed 
seemed  invincible  to  him.  We  see  him,  indeed,  Avaging  war,  in  turn,  against  IMoab, 
Ammon,  and  Edom,  and  against  the  Amalekites  and  the  Philistines  ;  and  in  wiiatever 
direction  he  turned  his  arms,  he  obtained  the  victory  and  honor.  Valiant  himself,  he 
esteemed  valor  in  others;  and  whenever  he  discovered  a  man  of  ability  and  courage, 
he  endeavored  to  draw  him  near  to  himself,  and  to  attach  him  to  his  person.  The 
qualities  most  prized  by  Saul  were  eminenily  possessed  by  his  own  cousin  Abner, 
and  he  became  "  captain  of  the  host,"  or  generalissimo  of  the  army  of  Israel. 

The  several  expeditions  of  Saul  against  the  enemies  of  Israel  took  up,  at  inter- 
vals, the  space  of  five  or  six  years.  During  these  years,  Samuel,  without  further 
interference  in  political  affairs,  continued  to  watch  the  civil  interests  of  the  people, 
and  to  administer  justice  between  them.  The  authority  which  he  still  preserved  in 
Israel  was  very  great,  and  probably  not  considerably  less  than  it  had  been  at  any 
former  time. 

About  the  tenth  or  eleventh  year  of  Saul's  reign,  God  made  known  to  the  prophet 
that  the  iniquity  of  the  Amalekites  had  not  reached  its  height,  and  that  the  time  was 
fully  come  when  the  old  sentence  of  utter  extermination  should  be  executed.  Saul 
was  charged  Avith  its  execution ;  and  his  commission,  as  delivered  to  him  by  Samuel, 
was  expressed  in  the  most  absolute  terms,  and  left  the  king  no  option  to  spare  aught 
that  breathed.  Under  this  supreme  order,  the  king  made  a  general  call  upon  all  the 
tribes,  which  brought  together  an  army  of  tAvo  hundred  thousand  rnen,  among  Avhom 
there  Avere  but  ten  thousand  men  of  Judah.  The  deficiency  of  that  tribe  in  supplying 
its  due  proportion  is  probably  not  noticed  by  the  historian  on  this  and  on  a  former  oc- 
casion, without  some  object ;  and  that  object  probably  Avas  to  convey  the  intirsation 
that  since  the  sceptre  had  been  of  old  promised  to  that  tribe,  it  Avas  discontented  at 
the  government  of  Saul,  and  less  hearty  than  the  other  tribes  in  its  obedience. 

The  king  led  his  army  into  the  territory  of  Amalek.  There  he  made  the  most  able 
disposition  of  his  forces,  seized  the  most  favorable  positions,  and  then  turned  his  ad- 
vantages against  the  enemy.  A  general  action  folloAved,  in  Avhich  the  Israelites  were 
victorious,  and  they  pursued  the  Amalekites  to  their  most  distant  and  last  retreats. 
Agag,  the  Iring,  Avas  taken  alive  with  all  his  riches.  Blinded  by  his  ambition  and  his 
avarice  to  the  danger  of  acting  in  defiance  of  a  most  positive  and  public  command 
from  God  himself,  Saul  determined  to  spare  the  life  of  Agag,  and  to  preserve  the  more 
valuable  parts  of  all  the  booty  from  destruction  ;  but  Avith  a  most  insulting  or  Avea^ 
mockery  of  obedience,  "  all  that  Avas  vile  and  refuse  they  utterly  destroyed."  He  then 
led  home  his  triumphant  army,  and  paused  in  the  land  of  Eastern  Carmel,*  Avhere  he 
erected  a  monument  of  the  most  important  and  distant  expedition  in  Avhich  he  had 
hitherto  been  engaged.  He  then  passed  on  to  Gilgal.  Samuel  came  to  him  there 
soon  after  his  arrival,  and  at  once  charged  him  Avith  his  disobedience.  Saul  behaA^ed 
with  a  degree  of  confusion  and  meanness  which  we  should  scarcely  have  expected 
from  him,  and  Avhich  the  consciousness  of  Avrong-doing  only  can  explaui.  He  aflirmed 
and  persisted  that  he  had  obeyed  the  Divine  command,  Avhen  everythmg  before  and 
around  him  evinced  that  he  had  not.     In  the  end  he  confessed  that  he  had  acted 

*  On  the  soutliwestern  borders  of  the  Dead  sea,  and  which  we  call  "  Eastern  Carmel"  to  distinguish  it 
from  "  Mount  Carmel,"  wliicii  lies  westward,  on  the  Mediterranean. 


240  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

wrong  ;  but  then  excused  himself  by  laying  one  part  of  it  on  the  zeal  of  the  people 
to  sacrifice  the  best  of  the  cattle  to  Jehovah,  and  part  to  his  own  fear  of  restraining 
them  from  it.  It  was  a  great  grief  to  Samuel  to  hear  the  king  of  Israel  betray  such 
meanness  of  soul,  in  palliating  an  unjustifiable  action;  and,  conceding  the  truth  of  the 
latter  statement,  he  asked  with  severity,  "  Hath  Jehovah  -as  much  delight  in  bumt- 
olfe/ings  and  in  sacrifices  as  in  obedience  to  his  voice  ?  Behold,  to  obey  is  better  than 
sacrifice;  and  to  hearken  than  thefat  of  rams."  He  then  continued  authoritatively, 
as  a  prophet,  to  announce  his  rejection  from  being  the  founder  of  a  royal  house,  as 
the  fixed  purpose  of  the  Divine  King  whose  imperative  commands  he  had  publicly 
disobeyed,  or  assumed  a  power  of  dispensing  with,  to  such  an  extent  as  suited  his 
convenience.  It  would  be  wrong  to  consider  this  as  the  sole  act  or  omission  for  which 
this  rejection  was  incurred.  It  was  but  one  of  many  acts  by  which  he  indicated  an 
utter  incapability  of  apprehending  his  true  position,  and  in  consequence  manifested 
dispositions  and  conduct  utterly  at  variance  with  the  principles  of  government  which 
the  welfare  of  the  state,  and,  indeed,  the  very  objects  of  its  foundation,  made  it  most 
essential  to  maintain.  Unless  the  attempts  at  absolute  independence  made  by  Saul 
were  checked,  or  visited  with  some  signal  mark  of  the  divine  displeasure,  the  prece- 
dents established  by  the  first  king  were  likely  to  become  the  rule  to  future  sovereigns. 
And  hence  the  necessity,  now  at  the  beginning,  of  peculiar  strictness,  or  even  of  se- 
verity, for  preventing  the  establishment  of  bad  rules  and  precedents  for  future  reigns. 

Saul  at  first  betrayed  more  anxiety  about  present  appearances  than  ultimate  results; 
and  he  entreated  Samuel  to  remain,  and  honor  him  in  the  sight  of  the  people,  by 
joining  with  him  in  an  act  of  worship  to  Jehovah.  Samuel  refused ;  and  as  he  turned 
to  go  away,  the  king  caught  hold  of  the  skirt  of  his  robe  to  detain  liim,  with  such 
force,  that  the  skirt  was  rent  off".  "  So  hath  God,"  said  the  prophet,  "  rent  from  thee, 
this  day,  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  and  given  it  to  thy  neighbor  who  is  better  than  thee. 
Nor  will  he  ivho  gives  victory  to  Israel  lie  or  repent ;  for  he  is  not  a  man,  that  he 
should  repent!"  The  expression  which  we  have  here  particularly  indicated  was  prob- 
ably intended  and  understood  as  a  further  rebuke  for  the  triumphal  monument  which 
Saul  had  erected  in  Carmel,  and  whereby  he  seemed  to  claim  to  himself  that  honor 
for  the  recent  victory  which,  under  the  principles  of  the  theocracy,  was  due  to  God 
only.  Samuel,  however,  complied  with  the  earnest  wish  of  the  king,  and  returned 
with  him  to  the  camp.  There  acting  on  the  stern  injunction  which  Saul  had  neglected, 
the  prophet  commanded  the  king  of  the  Amalekites,  by  whose  sword  many  mothers 
in  Israel  had  been  made  childless,  to  be  put  to  death.  When  the  prophet  and  the 
king  separated,  the  former  proceeded  to  his  usual  residence  at  Ramah,  and  went  no 
more  to  see  Saiil  to  the  day  of  his  death.  Yet  as  he  had  a  great  regard  for  a  man 
who,  with  all  his  faults,  had  many  good  natural  qualities  which  would  Avell  have  fit- 
ted him  for  rule  in  a  simple  human  monarchy,  and  who,  moreover,  was  faithful  and 
even  zealous  for  Jehovah,  as  his  God,  however  deficient  in  obedience  to  him  as  his 
king,  the  prophet  continued  long  to  mourn  greatly  for  him,  and  to  bewail  the  doom 
which  it  had  been  his  painful  duty  to  declare. 

After  fifteen  years,  the  Lord  rebuked  Samuel  for  this  useless  repining,  and  com- 
manded him  to  proceed  to  Bethlehem,  there  to  anoint  the  man  worthier  than  Saul, 
whom  he  had  chosen  to  fill  his  forfeited  place,  and  to  become  the  founder  of  a  royal 
house.  This  was  a  delicate  mission  ;  for  Samuel  knew  enough  of  Saul  to  fear  that 
he  would  not  scruple  to  put  even  himself  to  death  if  the  fact  came  to  his- knowledge. 
He  therefore  veiled  his  real  object  under  the  form  of  a  public  sacrifice,  which,  in  his 
prophetic  character,  he  had  a  right  to  enjoin.  That  he  still  retained  his  authority  as 
civil  judge  is  evinced  by  the  alarm  which  his  unexpected  visit  occasioned  to  the  elders 
of  Bethlehem,  who  "  trembled"  at  his  coming,  for  fear  it  should  be  not  "  peaceably," 
but  in  judgment. 

The  family  to  which  Samuel  was  sent  was  that  of  Jesse,  the  grandson  of  Boaz  and 
Ruth,  and,  as  such,  a  person  of  consideration  in  that  place.  Jesse  was  the  father  of 
eight  sons,  all  of  whom  were  present  in  Bethlehem,  save  the  youngest,  David  by 
name,  who  was  abroad  with  his  father's  flock.  The  whole  family  was  invited  by  the 
prophet  to  be  present  at  his  sacrifice.  Samuel  knew  that  the  destined  king  was  to  be 
found  among  Jesse's  sons,  but  knew  not  as  yet  for  which  of  them  that  distinction  was 
intended.  Still  influenced  by  those  general  prepossessions  in  favor  of  such  personal 
qualities  as  he  had  formerly  beheld  in  Saul  with  complacency  and  admiration,  Samuel 
no  sooner  beheld  the  commanding  and  stately  figiare  of  Jesse's  eldest  son,  Eliab,  than 


i* 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  241 

He  concluded  that  "  the  Lord's  anointed  was  before  him."  For  this  he  receive!  the 
striking  rebuke,  "  Look  not  on  his  countenance,  or  on  the  height  of  his  stature ;  be- 
cause I  have  refused  him :  for  Jehovah  seeth  not  as  man  seeth ;  for  man  looketh  on 
the  outward  appearance,  but  Jehovah  looketh  on  the  heart."  It  further  appeared  that 
no  one  of  the  other  sons  of  Jesse  then  present  was  the  object  of  the  divine  choice. 
On  this,  Samuel,  with  some  surprise,  asked  Jesse  whether  he  had  other  sons  ;  and 
learning  that  the  youngest,  a  mere  youth  of  fifteen  years  old,  was  abroad  in  the  fields, 
he  caused  him  to  be  sent  for.  When  he  arrived,  Samuel  was  struck  by  his  uncom- 
monly handsome  appearance,  especially  by  a  freshness  of  complexion  unusual  in  that 
country,  and  by  the  singular  fire  and  beauty  of  his  eyes.  The  divine  choice  was  at 
once  intimated  to  him,  "  Arise,  anoint  him,  for  this  is  he  !"  As  in  the  case  of  Saul 
himself,  this  precious  anointing  was  significant  only  of  the  divine  intention  and  choice. 
As  Saul  had  returned  to  his  fields,  so  David  returned  to  his  flock.  The  path  to  the 
throne  was  to  be  opened  by  circumstances  which  did  not  yet  appear.  The  anointing 
was  the  sign  and  seal  of  an  ultimate  intention.  For  the  present  David  was  not  more 
a  king,  nor  Saul  less  one,  than  before. 

The  doom  of  exclusion  had  been  pronounced  upon  Saul  at  a  time  when  he  was  daily 
strengthening  himself  on  the  throne,  and  increasing  in  power,  popularity,  and  fame ; 
and  when  his  eldest  sou,  Jonathan,  stood,  and  deserved  to  stand,  so  high  in  the  favor 
of  all  the  people,  that  no  man  could,  according  to  human  probabilities,  look  upon  any 
one  else  as  likely  to  succeed  him  in  the  throne.  But  when  the  excitement  of  war  and 
victory  had  subsided,  and  the  king  had  leisure  to  consider  and  brood  over  the  solemn 
and  declaredly  irrevocable  sentence  which  the  prophet  had  pronounced,  a  very  serious 
effect  was  gradually  produced  upon  his  mind  and  character ;  for  he  was  no  longer 
prospered  and  directed  by  God,  but  left  a  prey  to  his  own  gloomy  mind.  The  con- 
sciousness that  he  had  not  met  the  requirements  of  the  high  vocation  to  which, 
"when  he  was  little  in  his  own  sight,"  he  had  been  called,  together  with  the  threat- 
ened loss  of  his  dominion  and  the  possible  destruction  of  his  house,  made  him  jealous, 
sanguinary,  and  irritable,  and  occasionally  threw  him  into  fits  of  the  most  profomid 
and  morbid  melancholy.  This  is  what,  in  the  language  of  scripture,  is  called  "  the 
evil  spirit  that  troubled  him."  That  it  was  not  a  case  of  demoniacal  possession,  as 
some  have  been  led  by  this  form  of  expression  to  suppose,  is  obvious  from  the  effects 
to  which  we  shall  presently  advert.  Nor  was  it  needful ;  for,  as  acting  upon  the  char- 
acter of  man,  earth  contains  not  a  more  evil  spirit  than  the  guilty  or  troubled  mind 
abandoned  to  its  own  impulses. 

Not  long  after  David  had  been  anointed  by  Samuel,  the  mental  malady  of  Saul  gath- 
ered such  strength — the  fits  of  his  mad  melancholy  became  so  long  and  frequent,  that 
some  remedial  measures  appeared  necessary.  Remembering  that  Saul  had  always 
been  remarkably  sensible  to  the  influence  of  sweet  sounds,  it  occurred  to  his  friends 
that  it  might  be  attended  with  good  effects,  were  an  able  musician  retained  at  court, 
to  play  before  the  king,  when  his  fits  of  gloom  and  horror  came  upon  him.  Saul  him- 
self approved  of  this  advice,  and  directed  that  a  person  with  the  suitable  qualifications 
should  be  sought.  This  reminded  one  of  the  courtiers  how  skilfully  and  sweetly  he 
had  heard  the  youngest  son  of  Jesse  play  upon  the  harp  ;  and  in  mentioning  this  to 
the  king  he  also  took  occasion  to  commend  David  as  a  young  man  of  known  valor, 
prudent  in  conduct,  and  very  comely  in  his  person.  From  this  and  other  corroborative 
circumstances,  it  is  easy  to  perceive  that  music  was  now,  and  much  earlier,  cultivated 
by  the  Hebrews  as  a  private  accomplishment  and  solace.  It  formed  their  most  usual 
relaxation,  and  divided  their  time  with  the  labors  of  agriculture  and  the  care  of  flocks. 
The  report  which  he  had  heard  engaged  Saul  to  send  to  Jesse,  demanding  his  son 
David.  The  old  man  accordingly  sent  him  to  court,  together  with  such  a  present  to 
the  king  as  the  customs  of  the  age — and  of  the  east  in  all  ages,  required  as  a  homage. 
It  consisted  of  a  quantity  of  bread,  a  skin  bottle  of  wine,  and  a  kid. 

Thus,  in  the  providence  of  God,  an  opening  was  made  for  David,  whereby  he  might 
become  acquainted  Avith  the  manners  of  the  court,  the  business  of  government,  and 
the  affairs  and  interests  of  the  several  tribes,  and  was  put  in  the  way  of  securing  the 
equally  important  advantage  of  becoming  extensively  known  to  the  people.  These 
were  training  circumstances  for  the  high  destinies  which  awaited  him.  Saul  himself, 
ignorant  that  in  him  he  beheld  the  "  man  worthier  than  himself,"  on  whom  the  in- 
heritance of  his  throne  was  to  devolve,  contributed  to  these  preparations.  He  received 
the  youthful  minstrel  with  fervor ;  and,  won  by  his  engaging  disposition  and  the  beau- 

16 


242  ^A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

ries  of  his  mind  and  person,  not  less  than  by  the  melody  of  his  harp,  became  much 
attached  to  him.  The  personal  bravery  of  David,  also,  did  not  long  remain  unnoticed 
by  the  veteran  hero,  who  soon  elevated  him  to  the  honorable  and  confidential  station 
of  his  armor-bearer — having  obtained  Jesse's  consent  to  allow  his  son  to  remain  in  at- 
tendance upon  him.  His  presence  was  a  great  solace  and  relief  to  Saul ;  for  whenever 
he  fell  into  his  fits  of  melancholy,  David  played  on  his  harp  before  him ;  and  its  soft 
and  soothing  strains  soon  calmed  his  troubled  spirit,  and  brought  peace  to  his  soul. 

In  the  twenty-six  years  which  had  passed  since  the  signal  overthrow  of  the  Phil- 
istines at  Michmash,  that  people  had  recruited  their  strength,  and  at  last*  deemed 
themselves  able  to  wipe  out  the  disgrace  they  then  incurred,  and  to  recover  their  pre- 
vious superiority  over  the  Israelites.  They  recommenced  the  war  by  invading  the  ter- 
ritory of  Judah  :  Saul  marched  against  them  ;  and  the  two  armies  encamped  in  the 
face  of  each  other,  on  the  sides  of  opposite  mountains  which  a  valley  separated. 
While  thus  stationed  the  Hebrews  were  astonished  and  terrified  to  behold  a  man  of 
enorinous  stature,  between  nine  and  ten  feet  high,  advance  from  the  camp  of  the  Phil- 
istines attended  by  his  armor-bearer.  His  name  was  Goliah.  He  was  arrayed  in 
complete  mail,  and  armed  with  weapons  proportioned  to  his  bulk.  He  stood  forth 
between  the  hosts,  and,  as  authorized  by  the  Philistines,  who  were  confident  that  his 
nrtatch  could  not  be  found,  proposed,  with  great  arrogance  of  language,  that  the  ques- 
tion of  tribute  and  servitude  should  be  determined  by  the  result  of  a  single  combat 
between  himself  and  any  champion  which  might  be  opposed  to  him.  The  Israelites 
were  quite  as  much  dismayed  at  the  appearance  of  Goliah,  and  at  the  proposal  which 
he  made,  as  the  Philistines  could  have  expected,  or  as  the  Philistines  themselves 
would  have  been  under  the  same  circumstances.  No  heart  in  Israel  was  found  stout 
enough  to  dare  the  encounter  with  this  dreadful  Philistine;  nor  was  any  man  then 
present  willing  to  take  on  his  single  arm  the  seiious  consequences  of  the  possible  re- 
sult. Then  finding  that  no  one  of  riper  years  or  higher  pretensions  offered  himself  to 
the  combat,  David  presented  himself  before  Saul,  whom  he  attended  as  his  armor- 
bearer,_and  said,  "Let  no  man's  heart  fail  because  of  him;  thy  servant  will  go  and 
fight  with  this  Philistine."  But  Saul  told  him  that  he  was  unequal  to  such  a  contest, 
"For  thou  art  but  a  youth,  but  he  a  man  of  war  from  his  youth."  The  reply  of  Da- 
vid was  equally  forcible  and  modest :— "  Thy  servant  tended  his  father's  flock ;  and 
when  there  came  a  lion  or  a  bear,  and  took  a  lamb  out  of  the  flock,  then  I  pursued 
him  and  smote  him,  and  snatched  it  from  his  mouth ;  and  if  he  rose  against  me,  I 
caught  him  by  the  beard,  and  smote  him,  and  slew  him.  Both  lions  and  bears  hath 
thy  servant  smitten,  and  this  uncircumcised  Philistine  shall  be  like  one  of  them.  Let 
me  go  and  smite  him,  and  take  away  the  reproach  from  Israel ;  for  Avho  is  this  uncir- 
cumcised Philistine  that  he  should  defy  the  hosts  of  the  living  God  ?"  He  added, 
"  Jehovah  who  delivered  me  from  the  power  of  lions  and  bears  will  deliver  me  from 
the  hand  of  this  Philistine."  Saul  had  been  too  little  accustomed  to  this  mode  of 
speaking  and  feeling  not  to  be  struck  by  it.  Although  he  had  himself  not  been  prone 
to  exhibit  military  confidence  in  God,  he  perceived  that  such  a  confidence  now  sup- 
plied the  only  prospect  of  success  ;  he  therefore  said,  "  Go ;  and  may  Jehovah  be  with 
thee  !"  He  would  fain  have  arrayed  him  in  his  own  complete  arnior ;  but  David  re- 
jected this  as  an  incumbrance,  and  stepped  lightly  forward  in  his  ordinary  dress,  and 
withotit  sword  or  shield,  or  spear,  having  only  in  his  right  hand  a  sling— with  the  use 
of  which  early  pastoral  habits  had  made  him  familiar — and  in  his  left  a  little  bag, 
containing  five  smooth  pebbles  picked  up  from  the  small  brook  that  then  meandered 
and  still  meanders  through  the  valley  of  Elah.f  The  giant  was  astonished,  and  felt 
irisulted  that  a  mere  youth  should  be  sent  forth  to  contend  with  so  redoubted  a  cham- 
pion as  himself;  and  availing  himself  of  the  pause  Avhich  the  ancient  champions  were 
wont  to  take  to  abuse,  threaten,  and  provoke  each  other,  he  cried,  "  Am  I  a  dog,  that 
thou  comest  against  me  with  staves  ?"  He  then  cursed  him  by  his  god,  and,  like  the 
old  Homeric  heroes,  threatened  to  give  his  flesh  to  the  fowls  of  the  air  and  to  the 
beasts  of  the  field.     David's  reply,  conceived  in  the  finest  and  truest  spirit  of  the  the- 

♦  B.  C.  1080,  five  years  after  tlie  anointing  of  David. 

t  "  We  entered  tlie  famous  Terebintliine  vale,  renowned  for  centuries  as  the  field  of  the  victory  gained 
by  David  over  the  uncircumcised  Philistine.  Nothing  has  occurred  to  alter  the  face  of  the  country.  The 
ver)'  brook  out  of  which  David  chose  the  live  smooth  stones  has  been  noticed  by  many  a  thirsty  pilgrim 
journeying  from  Jaffa  to  Jerusalem,  all  of  wliom  must  pass  it  in  their  way.  The  ruins  of  goodly  edifices, 
indeed,  attest  the  religious  veneration  entertained  in  later  periods  for  this  hallowed  spot ;  but  even  these 
>ire  now  become  so  insignificant  that  they  are  scarcely  discernible,  and  nothing  can  be  said  to  interrupt  the 
native  dignity  of  this  memorable  scone."— Clarke. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  ^  ,  243 

ocracy,  at  once  satisfies  us  that  we  behold  in  him  the  man  fit  to  reign  over  the  pecu- 
liar people.  "  Thou  comest  to  me  with  a  sword,  and  with  a  spear,  and  with  a  shield ; 
but  I  come  to  thee  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  of  hosts,  the  God  of  the  hosts  of  Israel, 
whom  thon  hast  defied.  This  day  will  Jehovah  deliver  thee  into  my  hand ;  and  I 
will  take  thy  head  from  thee,  and  I  will  give  thy  carcass,  and  the  carcasses  of  the 
host  of  the  Philistines,  this  day  to  the  fowls  of  the  air  and  to  the  wild  beasts  of  the 
earth,  that  the  whole  earth  may  knoio  that  there  is  a  God  in  Israel.  And  all  this  as- 
sembly shall  know  that  Jehovah  can  save  without  sword  or  spear;  for  the  battle  is 
Jehovah's,  and  he  will  deliver  vou  into  our  hands."  On  this  the  enraged  giant  strode 
forward  ;  and  David  hastened  to  fit  a  stone  to  his  sling ;  and  he  flung  it  with  so  true 
an  aim  that  it  smote  the  Philistine  in  the  only  vulnerable  part  that  was  not  cased  ui 
armor,  his  forehead,  and  buried  itself  deep  in  his  brain.  He  then  ran  and  cut  off  the 
monster's  head  with  his  own  sword,  thus  fulfilling  the  prediction  he  had  just  uttered. 
A  few  minutes  after  he  had  gone  forth,  he  returned,  and  laid  the  head  and  sword  of 
the  giant  at  the  feet  of  Saul. 

The  overthrow  of  their  champion  struck  a  panic  into  the  Philistines.  They  fled, 
and  were  pursued,  wiih  great  slaughter,  even  to  their  own  country,  by  the  Israelites, 
who  then  returned  and  plundered  their  camp. 

The  honor  which  David  won  by  this  splendid  achievement  was  too  great  for  his 
safety.  Saul  could  not  but  feel  that  the  sort  of  spirit  by  which  the  youthful  hero  had 
been  actuated  was  precisely  that  which  on  many  preceding  occasions  he  himself  ought 
to  have  manifested,  and  for  not  doing  which  the  doom  of  exclusion  had  been  pro- 
nounced against  him.  The  feeling  that  David  was  really  the  hero  of  the  recent  fight, 
was  also  not  pleasant  to  one  so  jealous  of  his  military  glory.  And  when  the  women 
came  forth  from  their  towns  to  greet  the  reluming  conquerors  with  their  instruments 
of  music,  and  sang  responsively  to  their  tabrets  and  their  viols, — 

"  Saul  has  smitten  his  thousands, 
But  David  has  his  ten  thousands  slain," 

the  indignation  of  the  king  was  provoked  to  the  utmost.  "  To  me,"  he  said,  "  they 
have  ascribed  but  thousands,  and  to  David  tens  of  thousands:  what  more  can  he  have 
but  the  kingdom?"  It  would  IJierefore  seem  that  this  preference  of  David  to  him  by 
the  women  in  their  songs  first  suggested  to  him  the  possibility  that  he  was  the  man, 
worthier  than  himself,  who  was  destined  to  succeed  him  and  to  supersede  his  de- 
scendants :  and  the  notion  having  once  occurred,  he  probably  made  such  inquiries  as 
enabled  him  to  conclude  or  to  discover  that  such  was  the  fact.  His  knowledge  of  it 
appears  soon  after ;  and  we  know  that  from  this  time  forward  David  became  the  ob- 
ject, not  merely  of  his  envy  and  jealousy,  but  of  his  hatred  and  dislike.  Yet  he  was 
afraid,  if  he  as  yet  wished,  to  do  him  any  open  injury ;  but  as  he  could  not  bear  him 
any  lono^er  m  his  former  close  attendance  about  his  person,  he  threw  him  more  into 
the  public  service,  intrusting  to  him  the  command  of  a  thousand  men.  From  his  sub- 
sequent expressions  and  conduct,  it  seems  likely  that  the  king  expected  that  the 
inexperience  of  youth  might  lead  David  into  such  errors  in  this  responsible  public 
station  as  would  either  give  him  occasion  to  act  agahist  him,  or  would  seriously 
damage  his  character  with  the  people.  But  if  such  were  his  views,  they  were 
grievously  disappointed.  In  his  public  station  "David  behaved  himself  wisely  in  all 
his  ways,  for  Jehovah  was  with  him ;"  and  the  opportunity  which  was  given  him 
only  served  to  evince  his  talents  for  business  and  his  attention  to  it ;  and,  conse- 
quently, to  increase  and  establish  that  popularity  among  the  people  which  his  char- 
acter and  exploits  had  already  won.  And  so  it  was,  that  the  dislike  and  apprehen- 
sions of  Saul  increased  in  proportion  to  the  abilities  and  discretion  which  David 
evinced,  and  to  the  popularity  which  he  acquired. 

The  king  was  under  the  full  operation  of  those  feelings,  which  as  yet  he  durst  not 
avow,  when  he  happened  to  learn  that  his  dauffhter  Michal  had  become  attached  to 
David.  This  was  far  from  displeasing  him,  as  he  thought  it  gave  him  an  opportunity 
of  entrapping  the  son  of  Jesse  to  his  own  destruction.  He  promised  her  to  him;  but 
on  the  condition  of  so  diflicult  an  enterprise  against  the  Philistines,  as  he  fully  ex- 
pected would  ensure  his  death.  But  David,  always  victorious,  returned  in  a  few  days 
with  more  numerous  pledges  of  his  valor  than  the  king  had  ventured  to  demand  ;  and 
he  was  then  married  to  Michal,  who  could  not  with  any  decency  be  refused  to  him. 

In  some  subsequent  actions  against  the  Philistines,  with  whom  a  desultory  warfare 
was  still  carried  on,  David  displayed  such  courage  and  stihtary  skill  as  greatly  in- 


244  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

creased  his  renown  in  Israel,  and  increased  in  the  same  proportion  the  aniniositv  ot 
Saul.  His  haie  became  at  last  so  ungovernable,  that  he  could  no  longer  confine  the 
dark  secret  to  his  own  bosom,  or  limit  himself  to  underhand  attempts  against  ihe 
life  of  Jesse's  son.  He  avowed  it  to  his  son  Jonathan  and  to  his  courtiers,  charging 
them  to  take  any  favorable  opportunity  of  putting  him  to  death.  He  knew  noi  yel 
of  the  strong  attachment  which  subsisted  between  Jonathan  and  David, — that  his 
noble  son,  rising  far  above  all  seliishness,  pride,  or  envy,  loved  the  son  of  Jesse  even 
"as  his  own  soul."  He  heard  the  command  with  horror,  and  apprized  David  of  it, 
counselling  him  to  hide  himself  until  he  should  have  an  opportunity  of  remonstrating 
on  the  subject  privately  with  the  king.  This  he  did  with  such  eflect,  displaying  the 
services  and  fidelity  of  David  with  such  force,  that  the  better  reason  of  Sjiul  prevailed 
for  the  time,  and  he  solemnly  swore  to  make  no  further  attempt  against  his  life. 

But  not  long  after,  all  the  evil  passions  of  Saul  were  again  roused  by  the  increased 
renoAvn  which  David  obtained,  by  a  splendid  victory  over  the  Philistines.  He  had 
scarce  returned  to  court  before  he  had  a  narrow  escape  of  being  piimed  to  the  wall 
by  a  javelin  which  the  king  threw  at  him  in  one  of  those  fits  of  phrensied  melancholy 
which  the  son  of  Jesse  was  at  that  moment  endeavoring  to  sooth  by  playing  on  his 
harp. 

David  then  withdrew  to  his  own  house.  But  the  king  had  now  committed  him- 
self, and  henceforth  threw  aside  all  disguise  or  restraint.  He  sent  some  of  his  attend- 
ants to  watch  the  house  ;  and  David  would  undoubtedly  have  been  murdered  the  next 
morning,  had  not  his  faithful  wife  managed  his  escape  during  the  night,  by  letting 
him  down  in  a  basket  through  one  of  the  windows.  In  the  morning,  when  the  man 
demanded  admittance  with  the  intention  of  slaying  her  husband,  Miehal  told  them 
he  was  very  ill  and  confined  to  his  bed ;  and  in  proof  of  it  showed  them  the  bed,  in 
which  she  had  placed  a  figure  made  up  so  as  to  present  the  appearance  of  a  body 
covered  with  the  bedclothes.  This  news  they  carried  to  the  king,  who  sent  them 
back  with  orders  to  bring  him  alive  in  his  bed.  By  this  means  Michal's  artifice  was 
discovered,  and  her  father  was  so  enraged,  that,  for  her  own  safety,  she  made  him 
believe  that  it  was  to  save  her  own  life  she  had  consented  to  it. 

As  the  only  revenge  then  in  his  power,  Saul  took  away  Miehal,  and  gave  her  in 
marriage  to  another  ;  and  the  story  which  she  had  made  up,  that  David  had  put  her 
m  fear  of  her  life,  probably  precluded  her  from  making  that  strenuous  opposition 
which  she  might  otherwise  have  done. 

David  himself  escaped  to  Ramah,  where  he  acquainted  Samuel  with  all  the  king's 
behavior  to  him.  Samuel  took  him  to  Naioth,  which  seems  to  have  been  a  kind  of 
school  or  college  of  the  prophets,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Ramah,  over  which  Samuel 
presided.  Saul  soon  heard  where  he  was;  and  so  reckless  was  he  now  become,  and 
so  madly  bent  on  his  murderous  object,  that  he  would  not  respect  even  this  asylum, 
but  sent  messengers  to  bring  David  to  him.  These,  Avhen  they  beheld  the  company 
of  prophets,  witli  Samuel  at  their  head,  "  prophesying,"  or  singing  hymns,  fell  into 
an  ecstasy,  and  "  prophesied"  in  like  manner.  The  same  happened  to  a  second  and 
a  third  party.  At  last  Saul  determined  to  go  himself;  and  in  his  rage  he  probably 
intended  to  slay  Samuel  also  for  sheltering  David.  Indeed,  that  the  youth  had  gone 
to  Samuel,  and  was  sheltered  by  him,  must  have  confirmed  his  conviction  that  David 
was  his  appointed  successor,  if  he  did  not  yet  know,  as  he  probably  did,  that  the  son 
of  Jesse  had  actually  been  anointed  by  the  prophet.  But  no  sooner  had  the  king  be- 
held what  had  so  strongly  affected  his  messengers,  than  he  also,  as  had  happened  to 
him  in  his  happier  days,  "  prophesied,"  and  lay  in  an  ecstatic  trance,  divested  of  his 
outer  garment,  all  that  day  and  night. 

This  gave  David  an  oi)portunity  to  leave  the  neighborhood;  and  he  repaired  to 
.Gibeah,  where  the  king  resided,  and  where  Jonathan  then  was,  to  seek  a  private  in- 
terview with  that  valuable  friend.  Jonathan  thought  himself  fully  acquainted  with 
all  the  intentions  of  his  father,  and  would  not  beheve  that  he  really  designed  the 
death  of  David.  But  the  latter  was  well  assured  of  it ;  and  thought  that  Saul,  having 
become  acquainted  with  their  friendship,  had  concealed  his  full  purpose  from  Jona- 
than. It  was,  however,  agreed  between  them,  that  the  conduct  of  the  king  on  an 
approaching  occasion  should  be  deemed  to  determine  his  ultimate  intentions;  and 
that  meanwhile  David  should  keep  himself  concealed.  The  two  friends  then  walked 
forth  mto  the  fields.  Jonathan  then  avowed  to  David  his  conviction  that  he,  and  not 
himself,  was  the  destined  successor  of  Saul ;  and,  with  rare  generosity  of  spirit  and 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


245 


Throwing  a  Javelin. 


246  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

abandonment  of  self,  he  expressed  his  cheerful  assent  to  this,  and  only  desired  to  re- 
ceive the  pledge  of  David  that,  if  himself  alive  when  he  became  king,  protection 
should  be  granted  to  him  from  the  designs  which  evil  men  might  entertain ;  and  that 
if  not  himself  living,  kindness  should  be  extended  to  his  family  for  his  sake.  This 
was  a  matter  in  which  he  might  be  allowed  at  this  time  to  feel  more  than  usual 
anxiety,  as  it  appears,  from  a  comparison  of  dates,  that  a  son,  Mephibosheth,  had 
lately  been  born  to  him.  Reciprocally,  he  would  pledge  himself  to  protect  the  life 
of  David,  to  the  extent  of  his  power,  from  the  designs  of  Saul  and  his  other  enemies. 
These  things  they  swore  before  God  to  each  other,  and  entered  together  into  a  cove- 
nant of  peace  and  love. 

It  seems  that  by  this  time  Saul  lived  in  considerable  state.  At  the  recurrence  of 
the  new  moons,  he  was  accustomed  to  entertain  his  principal  officers  at  meat.  Such 
a  feast  was  now  near  ai  hand  ;  and  it  appears  that  Saul,  who  knew  that  David  had 
returned  to  Gibeah,  expected  that,  notwithstanding  what  had  passed,  he  would  make 
his  appearance  at  this  feast,  as  it  would  seem  that  non-attendance  was  regarded  as 
an  oflFensive  neglect.  Most  probably  the  king  thought  that  David  might  regard  the 
attempt  which  had  been  made  upon  his  life  as  mere  phrenetic  impulse,  not  indicative 
of  any  deliberate  intention  against  him.  The  first  day  of  the  feast,  the  place  which 
belonged  to  David  at  the  king's  table  was  vacant;  but  Saul  then  made  no  remark, 
thinking  the  absence  might  be  accidental.  But  when  the  son  of  Jesse  made  no  ap- 
pearance on  the  second  day,  the  king  put  some  questions  to  Jonathan,  who  excused 
David's  absence,  alleging  that  it  was  by  his  permission  and  consent.  On  this  Saul 
broke  forth  into  the  grossest  abuse  of  Jonathan,  and  assuring  him  that  his  succession 
to  the  throne  could  never  be  secure  while  David  lived,  concluded  with,  "  Wherefore 
now  send  for  him;  for  he  shall  surely  die."  And  when  Jonathan  ventured  to  remon- 
strate, "  Wherefore  shall  he  be  slain  ?  What  hath  he  done  ?"  the  maddened  king 
threw  his  javelin  to  smite  him.  That  he  could  thus  treat  his  own  son,  on  whom,  in 
fact,  all  the  hopes  that  remained  to  him  were  centred,  lessens  our  wonder  at  his  be- 
havior to  David,  and  at  the  other  acts  of  madness  of  which  he  was  guilty.  By  this 
Jonathan  knew  that  the  king  really  intended  to  destroy  his  friend.  He  therefore 
took  his  bow  and  went  forth,  attended  by  a  lad,  as  if  to  shoot  in  the  field  where  Da- 
vid lay  hid  ;  for  it  had  been  agreed  upon  between  them  that  the  manner  in  which  the 
arrows  were  shot,  and  the  expressions  used  by  the  archer  to  the  lad  who  collected 
the  arrows  after  they  had  been  discharged,  was  to  be  a  sign  intimating  to  David  the 
course  he  was  to  take ;  thus  preventing  the  danger  which  might  accrue  to  both  from 
another  interview.  But  when  the  unfavorable  sign  had  been  given,  which  he  knew 
would  render  his  friend  a  fugitive,  Jonathan  could  not  resist  the  desire  again  to  com- 
mune with  him  before  he  departed.  He  therefore  sent  away  the  lad,  and  as  soon  as 
he  was  gone  "  David  arose  out  of  a  place  toward  the  south,  and  fell  on  his  face  toward 
the  ground,  and  three  times  did  obeisance ;  and  they  kissed  each  other,  and  wept  one 
with  another,  with  great  lamentation." 

After  taking  leave  of  Jonathan,  David  took  his  journey  westward,  with  the  inten- 
tion of  pulling  himself  beyond  the  reach  of  Saul,  by  going  to  the  land  of  the  Philis- 
tines, who  were  not  at  that  time  in  actual  hostilities  with  the  Israelites,  and  with 
whom  alone  the  enmity  of  Saul  was  not  likely  to  operate  to  his  disadvantage.  In  his 
way,  attended  by  a  few  young  men  who  were  attached  to  him,  he  came  to  the  town 
of  Nob,  belonging  to  the  priests,  about  twelve  miles  from  Gibeah,  and  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Jerusalem  and  Anathoth.  To  this  place  the  tabernacle  had  at  this  time 
been  removed.  We  are  not  made  acquainted  with  the  precise  occasion  of  its  removal 
from  Shiloh ;  but  it  was  probably  consequent  upon  the  destruction  of  that  town  in 
the  war  with  the  Philistines.  At  this  place  he  was  received,  as  his  rank  and  renown 
demanded,  by  the  high-priest  Ahimelech,  whose  surprise  at  seeing  him  he  thought 
himself  obliged  to  dispel,  by  the  false  and  unseemly  pretence  that  he  had  been  sent 
by  the  king  on  private  business  of  importance.  But  taking  notice  of  the  presence  of 
one  Doeg,  an  Edomite,  the  chief  of  Saul's  shepherds,  by  whom  he  doubted  not  that 
he  should  be  betrayed,  he  represented  to  Ahimelech  that  his  business  was  urgent, 
and  begged  that  he  would  supply  some  refreshment  to  himself  and  his  men,  after 
which  he  would  continue  his  journey.  The  high-priest  bad  nothing  to  offer  but 
bread  which  had  lain  a  week  on  the  table  of  showbread  in  the  sanctuary ;  and  al- 
^though  by  the  priests  only  this  might  lawfully  be  eaten,  he  was  induced  by  the 
alleged  urgency  of  the  occasion  to  give  it  to  David  and  his  men.     David  afterward 


fflSTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


247 


248  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

inquired  for  weapons ;  and  was  told  there  were  none  but  the  sword  of  Goliah,  which, 
as  a  pious  memorial  of  the  victory  over  that  proud  blasphemer,  had  been  deposited 
in  the  tabernacle.  This,  at  his  desire,  was  brought  to  him,  and  having  girded  it  on, 
he  took  leave  of  Ahimelech,  and  continued  his  journey  till  he  reached  the  Philistine 
city  of  Gath,  where  he  presented  himself  or  was  brought  before  Achish,  the  king  of 
that  place,  or  rather  of  the  state  of  which  that  place  Avas  the  denominating  metrop- 
olis. It  does  not  appear  that  David  intended  himself  to  be  knoAvn ;  or  if  so,  aniici- 
pated  a  more  favorable  reception :  for  when  he  found  that  he  was  recognised,  and 
that  the  courtiers  ommously  represented  him  as  that  David  to  whom  the  maidens  of 
Israel  had  in  their  songs  ascribed  the  slaughter  of  tens  of  thousands  of  Philistines, 
and  thousands  only  to  Saul,  dreading  the  result  of  such  recollections,  David  feigned 
himself  mad,  with  such  success  that  Achish  exclaimed,  "  Lo,  ye  see  the  man  is  mad ; 
why  have  ye  brought  him  to  me?  Have  I  need  of  madmen,  that  ye  have  brought 
this"  one  to  play  the  madman  in  my  presence  ?  Shall  such  a  one  come  into  my  house  ?" 
He  was  therefore  allowed  to  go  where  he  pleased.  He  delayed  not  to  avail  himself 
of  this  advantage,  and  hastened  into  the  territory  of  his  own  tribe  of  Judah,  where 
he  found  shelter  in  the  cave  of  Adullam.  He  was  here  joined  by  his  parents  and 
family,  who  probably  deemed  themselves  unsafe  in  Bethlehem;  and  as  soon  as  his 
retreat  became  known  in  the  neighborhood.  Us  reputation  attracted  to  him  a  consid- 
erable number  of  men  hanging  loose  upon  society,  as  in  the  somewhat  analogous  case 
of  Jephthah.  To  understand  some  of  their  future  operations  mider  David,  it  is  quite 
necessary  to  give  them  just  that  character,  and  no  other,  which  they  bear  in  the 
Scriptural  record,  which  states  that  "  Every  one  in  distress,  every  one  in  debt,  and 
every  one  discontented,  flocked  to  him;  and  he  became  chief  over  them,  and  there 
were  Avith  him  about  four  hundred  men." 

From  Adullam  David  took  an  opposite  direction  to  that  which  he  had  first  followed, 
and  went  into  the  land  of  Moab.  Here  he  was  well  received ;  for  the  king  consented  to 
take  the  parents  of  the  outcast  under  his  protection,  until  the  dawnmg  of  better  days. 
They  therefore  remained  among  the  Moabites  until  the  troubles  of  their  son  ended 
with  the  life  of  Saul.  But,  although  he  might  himself  have  found  greater  safety  in 
that  land,  it  Avas  important  to  his  future  interests  that  he  should  return  to  his  oAvn 
country,  that  his  conduct,  adventures,  and  persecutions,  there  might  keep  him  alive 
in  the  minds  of  the  people.  He  did  not  himself  plan  anything  with  reference  to  the 
destination  intended  for  him  ultimately ;  but  God,  who  best  knew  by  what  agencies 
to  effect  his  purpose,  sent  the  prophet  Gad  to  command  him  to  return  into  the  land 
of  Judah.     He  obeyed,  and  found  shelter  in  the  forest  of  Hareth. 

Saul  soon  heard  of  David's  return  and  the  place  of  his  retreat,  and  was  greatly 
troubled ;  for,  as  his  safety  could  not  be  the  object  of  this  move  from  the  security 
which  Moab  afforded,  he  inferred  that  he  had  returned  Avith  the  intention  of  acting 
offensively  and  Aaudictively  against  him  when  occasion  or  advantage  offered.  He 
therefore  called  together  the  officers  of  his  court ;  and  as  there  was  not,  as  yet,  any 
building  or  palace  in  which  such  assemblies  could  be  held,  the  king  sat  upon  a  bank, 
under  a  tamarisk  tree,  with  a  spear  in  his  hand.*  It  seems  that  the  persons  present 
were  chiefly  Benjamites ;  and  Saul,  speaking  as  one  distrustful  of  their  fidelity, 
appealed  to  their  selfish  interests,  asking  on  what  grounds  they,  as  Benjamites,  could 
hope  to  be  bettered  by  the  son  of  Jesse;  and  complained  that  there  Avere  plots  be- 
tween him  and  his  own  son  Jonathan,  of  Avhich  they  knew,  but  that  they  Avere  not 
sorry  for  him,  nor  Avould  give  any  information  to  him.  On  this  Doeg,  the  Edomite, 
informed  him  of  the  assistance  which  David  had  received  at  Nob  from  the  high- 
priest  ;  but  omitted  to  state,  if  he  knew,  the  certainly  false  grounds  on  Avhich  that 
assistance  had  been  claimed  by  David  and  given  by  the  priest ;  and  added  (Avhich 
was  not  true)  that  Ahimelech  had  "  inquired  of  God"  for  him.  On  hearing  this, 
Saul  Avas  highly  enraged,  and  immediately  sent  for  Ahimelech  and  all  the  priests  of 
his  family  that  were  at  Nob.  When  they  arrived,  the  king  fiercely  charged  him 
with  his  participation  in  Avhat  his  jealous  imagination  tortured  into  a  conspiracy  of 
David  against  him.  Ahimelech  declared  that  he  had  entertained  him  merely  as  the 
king's  son-in-law,  and  one  employed  on  the  king's  business,  and  denied  that  he  had 
consulted  the  sacred  oracle  on  his  behalf;  but  Saul,  without  listening  to  his  state- 
ment, commanded  his  followers  to  slay  them  all.    A  dead  stillness  followed  this 

*  The  spear  was  obviously  used  by  him  not  more  as  a  weapon  than  as  a  sceptre.  As  such  it  is  several 
times  mentioned.    The  earliest  sceptres  were,  in  fact,  spears  in  many  ancient  nations. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  249 

order ;  and,  finding  that  no  one  moved  to  obey  it,  the  frantic  king  turned  to  Doeg  and 
commanded  him  to  fall  upon  them.  The  unscrupulous  Edomite  was  ready  in  his 
obedience  ;  and  although  the  Israelites  then  present  had  refused  to  stain  their  own 
hands  with  the  blood  of  the  most  sacred  persons  in  the  land,  they  had  not  sufficient 
spirit  or  principle  to  interpose  in  th&,r  behalf,  but  stood  by  and  saw  them  slaughtered 
by  Doeg  and  his  myrmidons.  Not  fewer  than  eighty-five  priests  fell  m  this  horrid 
massacre ;  and  immediately  after,  Doeg,  by  Saul's  order,  of  course,  proceeded  to  Nob, 
and  slew  all  that  lived  in  it — man,  woman,  child,  and  beast.  This  was  a  further 
development  of  that  judgment  upon  the  house  of  Eli  wiiich  had  been  pronounced  of 
old ;  this  was  that  deed  in  Israel  of  which  it  had  been  predicted  that  "  both  the  ears 
of  every  one  that  heareth  it  shall  tingle."  The  only  individual  of  the  family  of  the 
high-priest  who  escaped  was  Abiathar,  one  of  his  sons.  This  person  repaired  to 
David,  who  was  deeply  afflicted  at  the  intelligence  which  he  brought,  and  desired 
him  to  remain  with  him. 

Soon  after  this,  David  heard  that  a  party  of  Philistines  had  come  up  against  the 
border-toAvn  of  Keilah,  with  the  view  of  taking  away  the  produce  of  the  harvest 
which  the  people  of  that  town  had  lately  gathered  in.  He  greatly  desired  to  march 
his  troop  to  the  relief  of  that  place ;  but  his  men,  who,  as  might  be  expected  from  their 
character,  were  by  no  means  distinguished  for  their  courage  or  subordination,  declined 
so  bold  an  enterprise.  At  last,  a  distinct  promise  of  victory  from  the  sacred  oracle, 
consulted  by  Abiathar,  who  acted  as  priest,  encouraged  their  obedience.  They  went 
and  obtained  a  complete  victory  over  the  Philistines,  delivering  Keilah  from  the 
danger  by  which  it  was  threatened.  This  and  other  instances  of  David's  readiness, 
in  his  own  precarious  situation,  to  emphjy  his  resources  against  the  enemies  of  his 
country,  must  have  tended  much  to  raise  his  character  among  the  people,  and  to 
keep  him  before  the  public  eye. 

He  now  entered  and  remained  in  the  town  he  had  relieved,  which  Saul  no  sooner 
understood  than  he  exclaimed,  "  God  hath  delivered  him  into  my  hand ;  for  he  is 
shut  in  by  entering  into  a  town  that  hath  gates  and  bars;"  and  he  delayed  not  to  call 
together  a  powerful  force,  which  he  marched  to  besiege  that  place.  But  David,  being 
apprized  by  the  oracle  that  the  people  of  Keilah,  unmindful  of  their  obligation  to 
him,  would  deliver  him  up  to  the  king  if  he  remained  there  until  his  arrival,  with- 
drew from  the  place  at  the  head  of  a  force  now  increased  to  six  hundred  men.  When 
Saul  heard  this,  he  discontinued  his  march  against  Keilah. 

David  now  sought  shelter  in  the  eastern  part  of  Judea,  toward  the  Dead  sea. 
There  were  strong  posts  and  obscure  retreats  in  that  quarter,  among  the  mountains 
and  the  woods,  to  which  he  successively  removed,  as  the  motions  of  Saul  dictated ; 
for  the  king,  now  openly  bent  on  his  destruction,  hastened  to  every  place  to  which  he 
heard  that  the  son  of  Jesse  had  retreated,  huntmg  him  "  like  a  partridge  in  the 
mountains."  He  was  for  some  time  in  diff'erent  parts  of  the  wilderness  of  Ziph. 
He  was  sheltered  by  a  wood  in  that  wilderness^  when  Jonathan,  becoming  acrjuainted 
with  his  place  of  retreat,  went  to  him,  "  to  encourage  him  to  trust  in  God."  He 
said  to  him,  "  Fear  not,  for  the  hand  of  Saul  my  father  shall  not  find  thee ;  and  thou 
shalt  be  king  over  Israel,  and  I  shall  be  next  thee ;  and  that  also  Saul  my  father 
knoweth.''''  Again  the  friends  renewed  their  covenant  before  Jehovah,  and  parted — to 
meet  no  more.  There  is  really  nothing  in  all  history  finer  than  this  love  of  Jonathan 
to  David ;  it  was,  as  the  latter  himself  found  occasion  to  describe  it,  "  AVonderful, 
passing  the  love  of  women !"  It  was  a  noble  spirit  with  which  the  son  of  the  king 
held  close  to  his  heart,  and  admitted  the  superior  claims  of,  the  man  destined  to 
supersede  him  and  his  in  the  most  splendid  object  of  human  ambition,  which,  on 
ordinary  principles,  he  might  have  considered  his  just  inheritance.  But  his  were  nut 
ordinary  principles,  such  as  swayed  the  mind  and  determined  the  conduct  of  his  father. 
His  were  the  true  principles  of  the  theocracy,  whereby  he  knew  that  Jehovah  was 
the  true  king  of  Israel,  and  cheerfully  submitted  to  his  undoubted  right  to  appoint 
whom  he  would  as  his  regent,  even  to  his  own  exclusion ;  and,  with  generous  hu- 
mility, was  the  first  to  recognise  and  admire  the  superior  qualities  of  the  man  on  whom 
it  was  known  that  his  forfeited  destinies  had  fallen.  Yet  lest,  in  our  admiration  of 
Jonathan's  conduct,  human  virtue  should  seem  too  highly  exalted,  it  may  be  well  to 
remember  that  the  hereditary  principle  in  civil  government  was  as  yet  without  pre- 
cedent among  the  Hebrews,  with  whom  sons  had  not  yet  learned  to  look  to  succeed 
their  fathers  in  their  public  offices.     None  of  the  judges  had  transmitted  their  authority 


250  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

to  their  sons  or  relatives:  and  the  only  instance  in  which  an  attempt  had  been  made 
(b}'  Abimelech)  to  establish  this  hereditary  principle  had  most  miserably  failed.  But 
the  friendship  of  Jonathan  and  David  is  a  passage  in  the  history  of  the  Hebrew  king- 
dom from  which  the  mind  reluctantly  withdraws.  If  it  occurred  in  a  fiction,  it  would 
be  pointed  out  as  an  example  of  most  refined  and  consummate  art,  that  the  author 
represents  to  us  in  such  colors  of  beauty  and  truth  the  person  he  intends  to  set  aside, 
and  allows  him  so  largely  to  share  our  sympathies  and  admiration  with  the  hero  of 
his  tale. 

Not  long  after  this,  some  inhabitants  of  Ziph  went  to  Gibeah  and  acquainted  the 
king  with  the  quarter  in  which  David  lay  hid.  Saul  was  so  transported  with  joy  at 
the  news,  that  he  heartily  blessed  them  as  the  only  people  who  had  compassion  upon 
him  in  his  trouble;  for  by  this  time,  if  not  before,  it  seems  that  his  morbid  fancy  had 
fully  persuaded  him  that  David  was  really  engaged  in  a  conspiracy  to  take  his  life, 
and  place  the  crown  upon  his  own  head.  Buj  David  had  timely  intelligence  that  his 
retreat  was  betrayed,  and  withdrew  southward  into  the  wilderness  of  Moan.  But 
Saul  pursued  him  thither,  and,  with  the  design  to  surround  him,  was  already  on  one 
side  of  the  mountain,  on  the  other  side  of  which  David  lay,  when  he  was  providen- 
tially called  off  by  intelligence  of  a  sudden  incursion  into  the  country  by  the  Philis- 
tines. He  went  and  repulsed  them ;  and  then,  at  the  head  of  three  thousand  men, 
returned  to  follow  upon  the  tracks  of  Jesse's  son — so  inveterately  was  he  now  bent 
upon  his  fell  purpose. 

Meanwhile  David  had  removed  to  the  district  of  Engeddi,  toward  the  southwestern 
extremity  of  the  Dead  sea,  the  caverns  and  rocky  fastnesses  of  which  offered  many 
secure  retreats.  Saul  pursued  him  into  this  region,  and  one  day  entered  a  large  cave, 
to  repose  himself  during  the  heat  of  the  day.  Now  it  happened  that  David  and  his 
men  were  already  in  this  cave ;  but,  being  in  the  remote  and  dark  inner  extremity, 
were  unperceived  by  the  king ;  but  he,  being  between  them  and  the  light  which  entered 
at  the  cave's  mouth,  was  seen  and  recognised  by  them.  As  he  lay  asleep,  David's 
men  joyfully  congratulated  him  that  his  enemy  was  now  completely  in  his  power. 
But  they  knew  not  what  manner  of  spirit  was  in  the  son  of  Jesse.  "Jehovah  forbid," 
he  said  to  them,  "  that  I  should  do  this  thing  to  my  master,  the  anointed  of  Jehovah, 
to  stretch  forth  my  hand  against  him ;  for  the  anointed  of  Jehovah  is  he ;"  and  the 
men  were  with  difficulty  restramed  by  these  words  from  putting  the  king  to  death- 
But  that  he  might  know  how  completely  his  life  had  been  in  the  hands  of  the  man 
whose  life  he  sought,  David  went  and  cut  off  the  skirt  of  his  mantle.  Saul  at  length 
arose,  and  left  the  cave,  and  went  his  way.  David  went  out  and  called  after  him, 
"My  lord,  the  king!"  When  Saul  turned,  David  bowed  himself  reverently  toward 
the  earth,  and  proceeded  in  the  most  respectful  terms  to  remonstrate  against  the 
injustice  with  which  he  had  been  treated,  and  the  inveteracy  with  which  he  was 
pursued.  He  cliaritably  imputed  the  designs  laid  to  his  charge  to  the  suggestions  of 
evil-minded  men ;  and,  in  proof  of  their  utter  groundlessness,  related  what  had  hap- 
pened in  the  cave,  and  produced  the  skirt  to  show  how  entirely  the  king's  life  had 
been  in  his  power.  Saul's  naturally  good  feelings  were  touched  by  this  generous  for- 
bearance from  one  who  knew  that  his  own  life  was  then  sought  by  him.  "Is  that 
thy  voice,  my  son  David !"  he  cried,  and  his  softened  heart  yielded  refreshing  tears, 
such  as  he  had  not  lately  been  wont  to  shed.  That  which  had  been  in  David  a  for- 
bearance resulting  from  the  natural  and  spontaneous  impulse  of  his  own  feelings, 
seemed  to  the  king  an  act  of  superhuman  virtue,  which  forced  upon  him  the  recog- 
nition that  he  was  indeed  that  "  worthier"  man  to  whom  the  inheritance  of  his  crown 
had  been  prophesied.  Rendering  good  for  evil  was  a  new  thing  to  him  ;  and  now,  in 
the  regard  and  admiration  which  it  excited,  he  freely  acknowledged  the  conviction  he 
entertained, — "  And  now,  behold,  I  know  well  that  thou  wilt  surely  be  king,  and  that 
the  kingdom  of  Israel  will  be  established  in  thy  hand.  Swear  now,  therefore,  to  me, 
by  Jehovah,  that  thou  Avilt  not  cut  off  my  seed  after  me,  and  that  thou  wilt  not 
destroy  my  name  out  of  my  father's  house."  The  anxiety  of  the  king,  and  even  of 
Jonathan,  on  this  point,  seems  to  show  (what  has  already  appeared  in  the  case  of 
Abimelech)  that  it  was  even  then,  as  it  ever  has  been  until  lately,  usual  for  oriental 
kings  to  remove  by  death  all  those  whose  claims  to  the  throne  might  seem  superior 
or  equal  to  their  own,  or  whose  presence  might  offer  an  alternative  to  the  discon- 
tented: the  intense  horror  with  which  the  Hebrews  regarded  the  prospect  or  fear  of 
genealogical  extinction,  also  contributes  to  explain  the  anxiety  which  both  Saul  and 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  251 

Jonathan  felt  on  this  point  more  tlian  on  any  other.  David  took  the  oatii  required 
fiom  him ;  Saul  then  returned  to  Gibeah,  and  David,  who  had  little  confidence  in  the 
permanency  of  the  impression  he  had  made,  remained  in  his  strongholds. 

Very  soon  after  this,  Samuel  died,  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-two  years  (B.  C. 
1072),  after  he  had  judged  Israel  fifty  years,  that  is,  twelve  years  alone,  and  thirty- 
eight  years  jointly  with  Saul;  for  there  is  no  (Joubt  that  he  retained  his  authority  as 
civil  judge  to  the  end  of  his  life.  The  death  of  this  good  man  was  lamented  as  a 
common  calamity  by  all  true  Israelites,  who  assembled  in  great  numbers  lo  honor  his 
funeral.     He  was  buried  in  the  garden  of  his  own  house  at  Ramah. 

As  David  immediately  after  removed  much  further  southward,  even  "  into  the 
wilderness  of  Paian,"  it  would  seem  that,  having  no  confidence  in  Saul's  fits  of  right 
feeling,  he  was  fearful  of  the  consequences  of  the  absence  of  that  degree  of  moral 
restraint  upon  him  Avhich  liad  existed  while  the  prophet  lived.  The  southern  coun- 
try offers,  in  the  proper  season,  excellent  pastures,  away  to  which  those  of  Judah, 
who  had  "  large  possessions  of  cattle,"  were  wont  to  send  their  flocks  during  a  part 
of  the  year.  The  advantage  offered  by  the  free  use  of  these  open  pastures  was, 
however,  in  some  degree  counterbalanced  by  the  danger  from  the  prowling  Arab 
tribes  with  which  they  sometimes  came  in  contact.  David  probably  supported  his 
men  during  the  eight  months  of  his  stay  in  this  region  by  acting  against  those  tribes, 
and  making  spoil  of  their  cattle.  And  as  their  hand  was  against  every  man,  it  was 
natural  that  every  man's  hand  should  be  against  them;  the  rather,  as  we  may  be 
sure,  from  their  general  conduct,  that  they  lost  no  occasions  of  oppressing  or  plun- 
dering the  people  inhabiting,  or  pasturing  their  flocks,  along  or  near  the  southern 
frontier.  Thus  the  presence  of  David's  troop  was,  for  that  reason,  a  great  advantage 
to  the  shepherds,  as  he  had  by  this  time  secured  sufficient  control  over  his  men  to 
oblige  them  to  respect  the  property  of  the  Israelites.  And  this  was,  at  least  in  the 
feelings  of  the  people,  no  small  thing  in  a  body  of  men  living  abroad  with  swords  in 
their  hands,  and  obliged,  as  they  were,  to  collect  their  subsistence  in  the  best  way 
they  could.  Among  those  who  were  advantaged  by  this,  none  were  more  so  than  the 
shepherds  of  Nabal,  a  man  of  large  possessions  in  Carmel.  When  David  returned 
northward,  he  heard  that  Nabal  was  making  great  preparations  for  the  entertainment 
of  his  people  during  the  shearing  of  his  three  thousand  sheep ;  and  being  then 
greatly  pressed  for  provisions,  he  sent  some  of  his  young  men  to  this  person  to  salute 
him  respectfully  in  his  name,  and  t(j  request  some  small  supply  out  of  the  abundance 
he  had  provided.  Now  in  point  of  fact,  according  to  all  usage,  Nabal  ought  to  have 
anticipated  this  request,  as  soon  as  he  learned  that  one  who  had  protected  his  property 
in  the  wilderness  was  then  in  his  neighborhood.  But  Nabal  was  "  churlish  and  evil 
in  all  his  manners,  and  irritable  as  a  dog."  This  character,  his  insulting  answer  to 
the  message  fully  supported : — "  Who  is  David  ?  and  who  is  the  son  of  Jesse  ? 
There  be  many  servants  7iow-a-days  that  break  aicay,  every  man  from  his  jnaster. 
Shall  I  then  take  my  bread,  and  my  water,  and  my  flesh,  which  I  have  killed  fox  my 
shearers,  and  give  it  to  men  whom  I  know  not  whence  they  be  ?"  When  this  answer 
was  brought  back  to  David,  he  was  highly  enraged,  and  ordered  his  men  to  gird  on 
their  swords ;  and,  with  four  hundred  of  them  (leaving  two  hundred  to  protect  the 
baggage),  he  set  forth  with  the  rash  and  cruel  purpose  of  destroying  the  churl  and 
all  that  belonged  to  him.  The  provocation,  although  very  great,  and  not  likely  to  be 
overlooked  by  a  military  man,  was  certainly  not  such  as  to  justify  this  barbarous 
design.  Its  execution  was,  however,  averted  by  Abigail,  the  wife  of  Nabal,  Avho  is 
described  as  "  a  woman  of  good  understanding,  and  beautiful  in  form."  Those 
shepherds  who  had  been  in  the  wilderness  with  the  flocks,  and  were  sensible  of  the 
value  of  that  protection  which  David's  troop  had  rendered,  greatly  disapproved  of 
their  master's  conduct.  They  therefore  reported  the  whole  matter  to  their  mistress, 
who  appears  to  have  had  that  real  authority  in  the  household  which  a  woman  of 
sense  always  has  had  in  the  house  of  even  a  brutal  fool.  She  concurred  in  their 
apprehensions  as  to  the  probable  consequences,  and  with  a  promptitude  which  bears 
out  the  character  given  to  her,  decided  on  the  proper  steps  to  avert  them.  While 
Nabal  was  eating  and  drinking,  even  to  drunkenness,  at  the  feast,  she  made  up  an 
elegant  and  liberal  present,  consisting  of  two  hundred  loaves  of  bread,  tAVo  skin- 
bottles  of  wine,  five  measures  of  parched  corn,  five  sheep  ready  dressed,  two  hundred 
clusters  of  raisins,  and  two  hundred  cakes  of  figs ;  and,  having  placed  all  this  on  asses, 
she  set  forth  with  suitable  attendance  to  meet  the  enraged  hero.     She  soon  met  him 


252 


A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 


and  his  men,  on  full  march  to  Carmel; 
and  after  rendering  him  her  most  respect- 
ful homage,  she  spoke  to  him  with  such 
tine  tact  and  prudence,  that  his  passion 
grew  calm  under  her  hand ;  and  she  con- 
vinced him  that  the  deed  which  he  con- 
templated would  cause  the  weight  of  in- 
nocent blood  to  lie  heav^'  on  his  conscience 
in  after  days.  Being  thus  made  to  feel 
that  he  had  allowed  the  bitterness  of  "a 
blockhead's  insult"  *  to  sink  too  deeply  in 
his  soul,  he  felt  really  thankful  that  his  fell 
purpose  had  been  interrupted: — "Blessed 
be  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel,"  he  said, 
"  who  sent  thee  this  day  to  meet  me ;  and 
blessed  be  ihy  advice,  and  blessed  be  thou, 
who'hast  kept  me  this  day  from  coming 
to  shed  blood,  and  from  avenging  myself 
with  mine  own  hand." 

Abigail  returned  to  her  husband,  and 
the  next  day  acquainteil  him  with  the 
steps  she  had  taken,  and  the  imminent 
danger  into  which  his  cimrlishness  had 
brought  him  and  his.  The  view  which 
was  presented  to  his  rniiid  of  the  evil 
which  had  hung  over  his  head  struck  him 
with  such  intense  dread  and  horror,  that 
in  a  few  days  he  died  of  a  broken  heart. 
When  this  came  to  the  ears  of  David, 
who  had  been  much  charmed  by  the  good 
sense  and  beauty  of  Abigail,  he  sent  to 
her,  and  she  consented  to  become  his  wife. 
He  had  previously  married  Ahinoam  of 
Jezreel,  after  Saul  had  given  Michal  to 

*  "  Fate  never  wounds  more  deep  the  gen'rous  heart, 
Than  when  a  blcchJiead's  uuult  points  the  dart." 

JOHh'SOR. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  253 

aaother.  Polj'gamy  was  not  expressly  forbidden  by  the  law ;  neither  did  it  receive 
any  sanction  therefrom.  It  was  a  matter  of  existing  usage  with  which  the  law  did 
not  interfere ;  although  it  discouraged  the  formation,  by  the  kings,  of  such  extensive 
harems  as  the  kings  of  the  East  have  been  wont  to  possess:  and  both  David  and  his 
son  Solomon  had  ample  occasion  to  lament  those  besotting  passions  which  led  them 
tvJ  neglect  this  injunction,  as  well  as  to  learn  that  there  is  in  this  matter  an  obvious 
social  law  which  can  not  with  impunity  be  transgressed. 

Soon  afier  this  David  removed  to  his  former  place  of  shelter,  in  the  wilderness  of 
Ziph.  While  he  remained  there,  Saul  justified  the  doubts  which  the  son  of  Jesse, 
who  well  knew  his  character,  entertained  of  the  continuance  of  his  good  resolutions; 
for  he  again  came  to  seek  him  at  the  head  of  three  thousand  men.  But  this  only 
gave  David  another  opportunity  of  evincing  the  true  and  generous  loj'alty  of  his  own 
characfer.  For  one  night,  while  the  king  lay  asleep  in  the  midst  of  his  men,  with 
his  spear  stuck  in  the  ground  at  his  head,  to  mark  the  station  of  the  chief,  David  en- 
tered his  camp,  attended  by  Abishai  (brother  to  the  subsequently  celebrated  Joab), 
and,  without  bemg  noticed,  penetrated  to  the  very  spot  where  the  king  lay.  Abishai 
thought  this  a  fine  opportunity  of  ending  all  their  troubles  with  the  life  of  their  per- 
secutor ;  and  begged  David  to  permit  him  to  transfix  the  sleeping  king  with  his  spear. 
But,  to  the  pious  hero,  "  a  divinely  appointed  king,  although  his  enemy,  was  a  sacred 
person.  To  lay  violent  hands  on  him,  and  to  open  a  way  to  the  throne  by  regicide, 
was  a  crime  which  he  jus'ly  abhorred.  AVhat  God  had  promised  him  he  was  willing 
to  wait  for,  till  He  who  had  promised  should  deliver  it  to  him  in  the  ordinary  course 
of  his  providence."*  He  therefore  checked  the  misdirected  zeal  of  Abishai,  and 
withdrew  with  him,  taking  away  the  spear  which  was  planted  at  Saul's  head,  and 
the  vessel  of  water  which  stood  there  for  his  use.  David  then  went  and  stationed 
himself  at  the  edge  of  an  opposite  cliff  overlooking  the  camp  of  Saul,  and  calling  by 
name  to  Abner,  the  cousin  and  chief  commander  of  the  king,  told  him  he  was  worthy 
of  death  for  the  careless  manner  in  which  he  guarded  the  royal  person.  As  he  went 
on  reproaching  Abner,  Saul,  as  he  expected,  recognised  his  voice,  and  guessing  that 
he  had  agam  been  spared  when  in  his  power,  called  out,  "  Is  thai  thy  voice,  my  son 
David?"  and  was  answered,  "It  is  my  voice,  my  lord,  0  king!"  David  then  pro- 
ceeded with  much  energy,  but  in  ihe  most  respectful  language,  to  remonstrate  against 
the  treatment  he  received,  and  produced  the  evidence  of  the  spear  and  water-jug,  as 
evincing  the  value  of  the  king's  life  in  his  eyes.  The  result  was  the  same  as  it  had 
been  on  a  similar  occasion  before :  Saul's  heart  was  touched.  He  acknowledged  that 
he  had  "  acted  foolishly,  and  erred  exceedingly ;"  and  after  blessing  David,  returned 
to  Gibeah. 

David  had  before  this  formed  the  intention  of  again  withdrawing  to  the  Philistines ; 
for  in  his  remonstrance  with  Saul  he  had  laid  the  responsibility  of  this  measure  upon 
his  persecutors : — "  If  Jehovah  hath  stirred  thee  up  against  me,  let  him  accept  an 
offering;  but  if  they  be  the  children  of  men,  accursed  be  they  before  Jehovah,  for 
they  now  drive  me  out  from  abiding  in  the  mheritance  of  Jehovah."  He  must  not 
be  allowed,  however,  thus  easily  to  rid  himself  of  the  responsibility  of  so  ill-advised 
and  desperate  an  expedient,  in  which  he  neglected  to  ask  counsel  of  God,  but  followed 
the  impulse  of  his  own  apprehensions ;  and  from  the  natural  and  obvious  consequences 
of  which  he  could  only  escape  by  acts  of  equivocation,  hypocrisy,  and  ingratitude, 
which  do  no  honor  to  his  name.  However,  we  are  to  regard  David,  in  all  this  por- 
tion of  his  life,  as  a  learner,  as  one  who  was  in  the  course  of  being  trained  to  rule 
wisely,  by  various  disciplines,  distresses,  and  errors ; — for  even  the  errors  of  conduct 
into  which  men  fall,  by  having  placed  themselves  in  a  false  position  through  too  con 
fident  a  reliance  on  their  own  judgment,  are  not  among  the  least  profitable  experi 
ences  which  they  obtain,  and  which  go  toward  the  ripening  of  their  mhids.  But, 
undoubtedly,  it  had  been  better  for  David,  and  more  becoming,  had  he  remained  in 
his  own  country,  relying  upon  the  protection  of  that  good  Providence  by  which  he 
had  hitherto  been  presen'ed. 

On  reaching  Gath,  with  his  six  hundred  men,  David  was  well  received  by  the 
king,  who  appears  to  have  been  the  same  Achish  in  whose  presence  he  had  formerly 
played  the  madman.  The  Hebrew  chief  soon  took  occasion  to  request  the  Philistine 
king  to  assign  him  some  town  in  which  he  might  reside  apart  with  his  people ;  and 
the  king,  with  generous  and  unsuspecting  confidence,  made,  over  to  him,  to  his  fuU 

•  Jahn,  i.  103  % 


254  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

and  exclusive  possession,  the  small  border  town  of  Ziklag,  which  was  situated  not 
far  from  the  brook  Besor.  Here  he  resided  one  year  and  four  months,  or  until  the 
death  of  Saul.  From  this  place  he  undertook  excursions  against  the  ancient  predator}' 
enemies  of  Israel,  the  Amalekites,  the  Geshurites,  and  the  Gezrites,  Avho  roved  about 
in  Arabia  Petrgea,  on  the  seacoast  as  far  as  Pelusium,  and  on  the  southern  frontier  of 
the  tribe  of  Judah.  In  all  these  excursions  he  utterly  destroyed  man,  woman,  and 
child,  and  took  possession  of  the  cattle  and  apparel,  of  which  their  wealth  consisted. 
The  exterminating  character  which  he  gave  to  this  warfare  was  to  prevent  the  Phi- 
listines from  learning  that  he  had  been  acting  against  their  allies  and  friends;  and 
he  always  pretended  to  Achish  that  his  expedition  had  been  against  the  Israelites 
and  their  allies,  by  which  he  established  himself  firmly  in  the  confidence  of  that 
kmg.  For  the  cool  manner  in  which  the  son  of  Jesse  poured  out  innocent  blood  to 
cover  a  deliberate  and  designing  falsehood,  we  have  no  excuse  to  offer.  He  must 
bear  the  blame  for  ever. 

In  those  days  the  Philistine  states  joined  their  forces  for  war  against  Israel ;  and 
David,  having  by  his  pretences  impressed  upon  Achish  the  conviction  that  he  now 
detested  his  own  people,  and  was  detested  by  them,  was  driven  to  the  dreadful  alter- 
native of  either  taking  the  field  with  the  Philistines  and  fighting  against  his  brethren, 
or  else  of  appearing  ungrateful  to  Achish,  and  perhaps  of  occasioning  the  destruction 
of  his  family  and  himself.  But  from  this  difficulty  he  was  extricated  by  the  not  un- 
reasonable jealousy  of  the  other  Philistine  princes,  who  expected  he  might  turn 
against  them  in  the  battle  in  order  to  reconcile  himself  to  his  master.  Achish  was 
much  hurt  at  such  suspicions  against  one  on  whom  he  so  perfectly  relied,  but  was 
reluctantly  obliged  to  dismiss  him  from  the  expedition. 

On  returning  to  Ziklag,  David  found  the  city  pillaged  and  reduced  to  ashes.  The 
Amalekites,  Geshurites,  and  Gezrites,  had  taken  the  opportunity  of  his  absence  in 
another  direction  thus  to  avenge  themselves  for  his  former  inroads  upon  them.  They 
did  not,  however,  retaliate  to  the  full  extent ;  for  although  "  they  took  the  men  and 
women  who  were  in  it  captive,  they  slew  not  any,  either  great  or  small,  but  carried 
them  away."  David's  two  wives  were  among  the  captives.  His  men  were  frantic 
.at  the  loss  of  their  families  and  substance,  and  at  first  talked  of  stoning  their  leader, 
whom  they  regarded  as  at  least  the  remote  cause  of  this  calamity.  But  they  were 
at  last  appeased,  and  set  out  in  pursuit  of  the  spoilers,  notwithstanding  the  fatigue 
occasioned  by  their  previous  march.  Two  hundred  of  the  men  were  unable  to  pro- 
ceed farther  than  the  brook  Besor;  and  David,  leaving  them  there,  continued  the 
pursuit  with  the  remaining  four  hundred.  On  their  Avay  they  fell  in  with  a  man 
half  dead  with  illness,  hunger,  and  thirst.  Having  refreshed  him  with  food  and 
drink,  they  learned  that  he  was  an  Egyptian,  a  slave  to  one  of  the  party  they  pur- 
sued ;  but  that  having  fallen  ill  three  days  before,  his  master  had  left  him — to  live 
or  die,  as  might  happen — and  that  since  then  no  bread  or  water  had  passed  his  lips. 
He  gave  an  account  of  the  operations  of  the  horde;  and,  Avhen  pressed,  agreed  to 
conduct  the  Hebrew  party  to  the  spot  at  which  he  knew  that  they  intended  to  repose. 
When  that  spot  was  reached,  the  nomades  were  enjoying  themselves  in  full  security, 
as  they  supposed  themselves  beyond  the  reach  of  pursuit,  and  could  not  know  that 
David  would  have  returned  to  Ziklag  so  soon.  They  were  thus  easily  overthrown; 
and  not  only  did  the  Hebrews  recapture  all  that  they  had  taken,  but  gained  besides 
so  considerable  a  booty,  that  David  was  enabled  to  send  presents  to  all  the  rulers  in 
Judah  who  were  favorat)le  to  his  cause. 

The  four  hundred  men  who  had  continued  the  pursuit  were  unwilling  to  share  the 
additional  spoil  with  the  two  hundred  who  had  tarried  by  the  brook  Besor,  although 
willing  to  restore  their  own  property  to  them.  But  David  took  the  opportunity  of 
establishing  the  useful  principle  that  all  the  persons  engaged  in  an  expedition  should 
share  equally,  whatever  part  they  took  in  it;  or,  in  other  words,  that  those  whose 
presence  protected  the  baggage  should  be  equally  benefited  by  a  victory  with  those 
who  went  to  the  fight. 

The  present  campaign  of  the  Philistines  against  the  Israelites  was  one  of  those 
large  operations  which  nations  can  in  general  only  undertake  after  long  intervals  of 
rest.  There  seems,  indeed,  during  the  reign  of  Saul,  to  have  been  always  a  sort  of 
desultory  and  partial  warfare  between  the  two  nations;  but  it  had  produced  no  meas- 
ure comparable  to  this,  which  was  intended  to  be  decisive,  and  was  calculated  to  tax 
to  the  utmost  the  resources  of  the  belligerents.     When  Saul  surveyed,  from  the 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


Bedouins  with  Captives  and  Spoil 

heights  of  Gilboa,  the  formidable  array 
which  the  Philistine  had  brought  into  the 
plain  of  Esdraelon — that  great  battle-field 
of  nations — his  heart  failed  him.  Presenti- 
ments of  coming  events  cast  deep  shadows 
over  his  troubled  mind.  He  sought  coun- 
sel of  God.  But  God  had  forsaken  him — 
left  him  to  his  own  devices — and  answered 
him  not,  "  either  by  dreams,  or  by  urim, 
or  by  prophets." 

The  crimes  of  Saul  arose  from  his  dis- 
loyalty to  Jehovah,  in  his  reluctance  to 
acknowledge  him  as  the  true  king  of  Isra- 
el. But  as  his  God  he  worshipped  him, 
and  had  no  tendency  toward  those  idola- 
tries by  which  so  many  subsequent  kings 
were  disgraced.  All  idolatry  and  idolatrous 
acts  were  discouraged  and  punished  by 
him.  In  obedience  to  the  law  (Deut.  xviii. 
10,  11),  he  banished  from  the  land  all  the 
diviners  and  wizards  he  could  find.  But 
now,  in  his  dismay,  he  directed  his  attend- 
ants to  find  out  a  woman  skilful  in  necro- 
mancy, that  he  might  seek  through  her  the 
information  which  the  Lord  refused  to 
give.  One  was  found  at  Endor,  a  town  not 
far  from  the  camp  in  Gilboa  ;  and  to  her 
he  repaired  by  night,  disguised,  with  two 
attendants,  and  desired  her  to  evoke  the 
spirit  of  Samuel,  that,  in  this  dread  emer- 
gency, he  might  ask  comisel  of  him.  What- 
ever might  be  the  nature  of  the  woman's 
art,  and  her  design  in  midertaking  to  fulfil 
his  wish — whether  she  meant  to  impose 
on  Saul  by  getting  some  accomphce  to  per- 
sonate Samuel,  who  had  only  been  dead 
two  years,  and  whose  person  must  have 
become  well  known  to  the  Israelites  during 


256  A  NEW  AND   COMPLETE 

his  long  administration— or  whether  she  expected  a  demoniacal  spirit  to  give  mm  an 
answer;  it  appears  from  a  close  examination  of  the  text,  that,  to  the  great  astonish- 
ment of  the  woman  herself,  and  before  she  had  time  to  utler  any  of  her  incantations, 
the  spirit  of  Samuel  was  permitted  to  appear,  in  a  glorified  form,  and  ominously  clad 
m  that  mantle  in  which  was  the  rent  that  signified  the  rending  of  the  kingdom  from 
the  family  of  Saul.  When  the  figure  appeared,  the  king  kneio  that  it  was  Samuel, 
and  bowed  himself  to  the  ground  before  him.  From  that  awful  and  passionless  fjrni 
he  heard  that  the  doom  declared  long  since  was  now  to  be  accomplished ;— to-morrow 
Israel  should  be  given  up  to  the  sword  of  the  Philistines — to-morrow  Saul  and  las 
sons  should  be  numbered  with  the  dead.  At  these  heavy  tidings  the  king  fell  down 
as  one  dead,  for  he  had  touched  no  food  that  night  or  the  preceding  day,  and  was 
with  difficulty  restored  to  his  senses,  and  refreshed  by  the  woman  and  his  at- 
tendants. 

The  next  day  all  that  had  been  foretold  was  accomplished.  Israel  fled  before  the 
Philistine  archers ;  and  Saul  and  his  sons,  unable  to  stem  the  retreating  torrent,  fled 
also.  The  three  sons  of  the  king,  Jonathan,  Abinadab,  and  Melchi-shua,  were 
slain.  Saul  himself  was  grievously  wounded  by  the  archers;  and  that  he  might  not 
fall  alive  into  the  hands  of  the  Philistines,  and  be  subjected  to  their  insults,  he  desired 
his  armor-bearer  to  strike  him  tlirough  with  his  sword;  and  when  that  faithful  fol- 
lower refused,  he  fell  upon  his  own  sword :  and  the  example  was  followed  by  the 
armor-bearer,  when  he  beheld  his  lord  lying  dead  before  him.  "  So  Saul  cRed,  and 
his  three  sons,  and  his  armor-bearer,  and  alfhis  men,  that  same  day  together." 

The  next  day,  when  the  Philistines  came  to  collect  the  spoils  of  the  slain,  they 
found  the  bodies  of  Saul  and  his  three  sons.  The  indignity  with  which  they  treated 
the  remains  of  these  brave  men  has  no  previous  example.  They  cut  off"  their  heads, 
and  hung  their  bodies  to  the  wall  of  the  town  of  Bethshan,  near  the  Jordan.  Their 
heads  aiTd  armor  they  sent  into  Philistia,  as  trophies  of  their  triumph,  by  the  hand 
of  the  messengers  Avho  were  despatched  to  publish  it  in  their  temples  and  their 
towns.  The  bodies  of  Saul  and  his  sons  were  soon  stolen  away  by  night  from  the 
wall  of  Bethshan,  by  some  valiant  men  of  Jabesh,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river, 
where  a  grateful  remembrance  was  cherished  of  the  king's  first  military  exploit, 
whereby  the  people  of  that  town  were  delivered  from  the  loss  of  their  liberty  and 
their  eyes.  To  preclude  any  attempt  at  the  recovery  and  continued  insult  of  the 
bodies,  the  people  burnt  them,  and  buried  the  collected  bones  and  ashes  under  a 
tamarisk-tree. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

On  the  third  day  of  David's  return  to  Ziklag  a  man  arrived  in  haste,  with  his  clothes 
rent,  and  earth  upon  his  head,  and  laid  at  the  feet  of  David  the  crown  and  armlet 
which  Saul  had  worn.  He  told,  truly,  that  Israel  had  fled  before  the  Philistines,  and 
that  Saul  and  his  sons  were  slain  ;  but  thinking  to  win  royal  rewards  from  the  son  of 
Jesse,  he  boasted  that  ho  had  slain  Saul  with  his  own  hand.  The  truth  was  probably 
that  he  had  found  the  body  of  Saul  in  the  night  after  the  battle,  and  had  taken  from 
it  the  royal  insignia  which  he  brought  to  David.  His  expectations  were  grievously 
disappointed ;  for  David,  believing  his  statement,  caused  him  to  be  put  to  death,  as 
one  who  had  not  feared  to  slay  the  Lord's  anointed.  The  man  was  an  Amaiekite. 
David  mourned  and  fasted  for  the  desolation  of  Israel,  and  he  lamented  the  death  of 
his  beloved  Jonathan,  and  even  of  Saul,  in  a  most  aff"ecting  and  beautiful  elegy,  which 
we  may  here  introduce  as  a  specimen  of  the  poetical  compositions  of  one  whose  rank 
amono-  the  poets  of  the  Hebrews  is  fully  equal  to  that  which  he  occupies  among  their 
''ings: — * 

"O,  antelope  of  Israel  1  pierced  on  thy  high  place  ! 
llow  arc  the  mighty  fallen! 

Tell  it  not  in  Gath  ; 
Publish  it  not  in  the  streets  of  Askelon ; 
Lest  the  daughters  of  the  Philistines  rejoice, 
Lest  the  daughters  of  the  uncircumcised  triumph. 

*  The  version  now  given  is  that  of  Boottu-oyd,  altered  in  some  of  the  lines 


HISTOR  .    OF  THE  BIBLE.  2.W 

Ye  mountains  of  Gilboa,  on  you  be  no  dew, 
Nor  rain,  nor  fields  of  first-fruits  ; 
Since  there  hath  been  vilely  cast  away, 
The  shield  of  the  mighty,  the  shield  of  Saul, 
The  armor  of  him  anointed  with  oil. 

From  the  blood  of  the  slain. 
From  the  fat  of  the  mighty, 
The  bow  of  Jonathan  was  not  held  back, 
Nor  did  the  sword  of  Saul  return  in  vain. 
Saul  and  Jonathan  1  . 

n  mutual  love  were  they  in  life  united, 
A.nd  in  their  death  they  were  not  separated. 
Swifter  than  eagles,  stronger  than  lions  were  they! 

Ye  daughters  of  Israel  weep  over  Saul, 
Who  clothed  you  pleasantly  in  scarlet. 
And  put  golden  ornaments  upon  your  robes. 
How  are  the  mighty  fallen  in  the  midst  of  battle  '. 

O  Jonathan,  slain  on  thy  own  mountains  '. 
I  am  grieved  for  thee,  O  Jonathan,  my  brother' 
"Very  dear  to  me  wast  thou  : 
Wonderful  was  thy  love  to  me, 
Surpassing  the  love  of  women. 

How  are  the  mighty  fallen  ! 
And  the  weapons  of  war  perished  !" 


That  he  mourned  even  for  Saul,  will  only  be  attributed  to  hypocrisy  by  those  wno 
are  themselves  incapable  of  such  magnanimity,  and  are  determined  to  forget  that  Da- 
vid, during  the  life  of  his  persecutor,  always  respected  him  as  a  king  appointed  by- 
God,  and  twice  spared  him  when  he  had  his  life  completely  in  his  power. 

With  the  approbalion  of  the  Lord,  whom  he  consulted,  David  now  removed  with 
his  family  and  friends,  to  Hebron,  where  the  rulers  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  with  views 
altogether  theocratical,  awarded  the  sceptre  to  him,  as  one  whom  God  had  already 
designated  as  king.     David  was  at  this  time  thirty  years  of  age. 

But  no  other  tribe  concurred  with  Judah  in  this  important  step.  On  the  contrary, 
all  the  other  tribes  elected  Saul's  only  surviving  son,  Eshbaal,  as  he  was  orio-inally 
named  (1  Chron.  xiii.  33,  ix.  39),  but  nicknamed  Ishbosheth  {a  man  of  shame),  from 
his  weakness  and  incapacity,  which, .it  would  appear,  saved  his  life,  by  precludin'o-  him 
from  being  present  at  the  battle  in  Avhich  his  brothers  perished.  This  measure  was 
probably  promoted  by  that  radical  jealou.sy  between  the  tribes  of  Judah  and  Ephraim^ 
which  prevented  the  latter  (which  took  the  lead  among  the  other  tribes)  from  con- 
currnig  in  the  appointing  a  king  of  the  rival  tribe,  or  indeed  from  heartily  sympathizing 
m  any  measure  which  that  tribe  originated.  But  the  prime  agent  in  this  schism  was 
Abner,  the  commander  of  the  army,  who  had  drawn  off  the  remnant  of  the  defeated 
army  to  the  other  side  the  Jordan,  and  there,  at  Mahanaim,  proclaimed  Ishbosheth 
king.  Abner  was  a  bold  and  able,  but  unprincipled  man  ;  and  doubtless  expected  to 
govern  in  the  name  of  his  feeble  nephew.     And  he  did  so. 

For  two  years  no  hostile  acts  between  the  two  kingdoms  took  place.  But  war  was 
at  length  provoked  by  Abner,  who  crossed  the  Jordan  with  the  intention  to  subdue  the 
tribe  of  Judah  to  the  authority  of  Ishbosheth.  David  sent  Joab  to  meet  him ;  and  the 
opposing  forces  met  near  the  pool  of  Gibeon.  But  the  men  on  each  side  felt  that  they 
were  all  Israehtes,  and  were  reluctant  to  fight  against  each  other.  The  two  o-enerals 
therefore,  thought  of  a  device  which  has  often  been  employed  in  the  east,  and  else- 
where, to  excite  tribes  or  nations  to  battle,  when  relationship  or  other  causes  made 
them  reluctant  or  wanting  in  zeal.  Twelve  men  on  each  side  were  matched  to  fio-ht 
against  each  other  between  the  two  armies;  and  sowell  Avere  thev  matched  that  they 
no  sooner  came  within  reach  of  one  another,  than  each  man  seized  his  antac^onist  by 
the  head  and  sheathed  his  sword  in  his  body,  |d  that  they  were  all  killed  upon  the 
spot.  1  his  kindled  the  opposing  forces,  and  desperate  and  most  sanguinary  battle 
ollowed.  It  ended  m  the  defeat  of  Abner,  who  Avas  himself  obliged  to  flee  for  his 
hie.  As  he  fled  he  was  singled  out  by  Joab's  brother  Asahel,  "  Avho  was  as  SAvift  of 
loot  as  any  antelope  of  the  field;"  and  he  pursued  him,  without  alloAving  him-^elf  to 
be  drawn  aside  by  other  objects.  He  was  close  at  the  heels  of  Abner,  when  the  lat- 
ter looked  back,  and  findmg  who  it  was,  he  became  most  anxious  to  avoid  such  a 
blood-teud  as  Avould  arise  betAveen  him  and  Joab,  in  case  he  sleAV  his  brother  even  in 
his  own  defence.  He  therefore  entreated  Asahel  to  turn  back  that  he  miah't  not  be 
compelled  to  smite  him  to  the  ground.  But  finding  that  he  was  still  pursued,  and  that 
It  was  impossible  to  outstrip  his  pursuer,  he  struck  at  him  with  the  hinder  pomt  of 

17 


258 


A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


"^"■"1^ 


rVr. 


IIS  spear,*  and  with  such  force  that  the 
weapon  passed  tlirough  him  and  came  out 
behind.     The  pursuit  of  Abner  and  the 
3ther  fugitives  was  continued  by  Joab  and 
lis  other  brother  Abishai  until'sunset,  by 
A^hich  time  they  were  got  as  far  as  the 
nil   of  Ammah.     Here    the   Benjamites 
always  valiant,  and  jealously  attached  to 
he  house  of  Saul)  rallied   again  under 
Umer,   and   posting   themselves   on    the 
isnig  of  the  hill,  stood  prepared  to  make 
L  stout  defence;   but  their  general,  who 
h/as  weary  of  fighting,  called  to  Joab,  and 
•egged  him  to  put  a  stop  to  the  slaughter 
if  his  brethren,  whose  destruction  could 
lot  but  cause  bitterness  in  the  end.     Al- 
hough  Joab  had  determined  to  continue 
he  pursuit  all  night,  he  had  the  sense  to 
learken  to   his  advice,  and   caused   the 
rumpet  to  sound  a  retreat.     After  this, 
Lbner  and  his  men  took  the  way  to  Ma- 
anaim,  and    Joab   returned    to   Hebron, 
lbner  lost  three  hundred  and  sixty  men 
El  this  action,  while  on  David's  side  only 
'ineteen  were  killed.      The  Avar  havin^ 
Itius  commenced  was  continued  for  several 
jears ;  but  it  appears  to  have  been  a  small 
rntating  warfare,  which  never  came  to 
iny  important    or   decisive   engagement 
letween  the  opposing  parties.     It  wa"? 
:owever,  attended  with  this  result,  that 
:ie  cause  of  David  was  gathering  streno-th 
very  day,  while  the  house  of  Saul  daily 

,mT»^^  i*^*^''  'u  ^™«^  **  ^^^  'ower  end  with  a 
unted  iron,  x^hereby  it  is  stuck  into  the  ground 
men  tht  owner  is  in  repose. 


A'ry 


8d0  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

became  weaker  and  weaker.     Indeed,  it  seems  to  have  required  all  the  great  talents 
of  Abner  to  keep  the  kingdom  of  Ishbosheth  together. 

Meanwhile  David  reigned  prosperously  in  Hebron.*  He  increased  the  number  of 
his  wives  to  six,  by  all  of  whom  sons  were  born  to  him  in  that  place.  In  this  small 
kingdom  his  good  and  prosperous  government,  together  with  the  knowledge  that  he 
had  been  divinely  appointed  to  reign  over  all  Israel,  appears  insensibly  to  have  in- 
clined the  other  "tribes  toward  him,  by  which,  more  even  than  by  war,  his  cause 
gathered  that  strength  which  that  of  Ishbosheth  lost.  Abner  was  fully  sensible  that 
without  himself  the  kingdom  of  his  nephew  would  fall  to  pieces,  or  rather  pass 
quietly  into  the  hands  of  David.  He  rated  his  services  at  their  full  value ;  and 
although  we  do  not  ourselves  see  cause  to  suspect,  as  some  have  done,  that  he  con- 
templated taking  the  crown  to  himself,  it  is  certain  that  he  was  not  disposed  to  con- 
sider himself  responsible  to  the  king  for  his  conduct,  or  to  allow  any  of  his  proceed- 
ings to  be  questioned  by  him.  Now  Ishbosheth  had  heard  that  Abner  carried  on  a 
crfminal  intercourse  with  one  of  Saul's  concubines,  named  Rizpah  :  and  as,  according 
to  the  usages  of  the  East,  the  concubines  of  a  deceased  sovereign  became  the  property 
of  the  successor  in  so  strong  and  peculiar  a  sense,  that  such  an  act  as  that  imputed 
to  Abner  might  be  interpreted  into  a  design  upon  the  crown, f  or  at  least  was  an 
insulting  encroachment  upon  the  peculiar  rights  of  royalty,  even  the  timid  Ishbosheth 
was  roused  to  question  Abner  on  the  subject.  It  is  not  very  clear  whether  the  charge 
was  true  or  false;  but  it  is  clear  that  this  overbearing  personage  was  astonished  and 
disgusted  that  the  king  should  dare  to  question  any  part  of  his  conduct.  He  rose 
into  a  towering  passion :  "  Am  I,  who,  against  Judah,  have  to  this  day  shown  kind- 
ness to  the  house  of  Saul,  thy  father,  and  to  his  brethren  and  to  his  friends,  and  have 
not  delivered  thee  into  the  hands  of  David,  such  a  dog's  head  that  thou  chargest  me 
to-day  with  a  fault  concerning  this  woman?  God  do  so  to  Abner,  and  more  also,  if, 
as  Jehovah  hath  sworn  to  David,  I  do  not  so  to  him,  by  transferring  ih^  dominion  of 
the  house  of  Saul,  and  to  set  up  the  throne  of  David  over  Israel  and  ovei-  Judah,  from 
Dan  even  to  Beersheba."  From  this  it  seems  that  even  Abner  kneAv  *hat  he  had 
acted  against  a  higher  duty,  in  setting  up  Ishbosheth  in  opposition  to  Dav\d ;  but  this 
can  not  justify  the  grouijds  on  which  he  now  declared  his  intention  to  act  ag-ainst  him. 

♦  Hebron  is  an  ancient  cify  of  Palestine,  situated  in  the  heart  of  the  liill-country  of  Judea,  abwt  twenty- 
seven  miles  southwest  from  Jerusalem.  Originally  it  was  called  Kirjath-Arba,or  the  city  of  Arbe  "which 
Arba  was  a  great  man  among  tlie  Anakims."  (Josh.  xiv.  15.)  In  the  vicinity  of  this  place  Abraham  abode, 
after  he  parted  with  Lot  (Gen.  xiii.  18),  and  bought  a  field  with  a  cave  in  which  to  bury  his  dead  (Gen. 
xxiii.  3-20.)  Besides  Abraham  and  Sarah,  his  son  Isaac,  his  grandson  Jacob,  with  their  wives  Rebekah  and 
Leah,  and  his  great  grandson  Joseph,  were  severally  interred  here.  (Gen.  xxiii.  19,  xxv.  10,  xhx.  2P-?'<,  1. 
12,  13.)  When  the  Hebrews  invaded  Palestine,  Hebron  was  the  residence  of  a  king  (Josh.  xii.  10)  nam<>d 
Hoham,  who  confederated  with  four  other  Canaanitish  kings  against  Israel  ;  but  Ihey  were  all  discomfited 
and  destroyed  by  Joshua.  (Josh.  x.  3,  4,  22-27.)  After  which  the  city,  being  taken,  was  assigned  to  Caleb 
(Josh,  xix.'6-ll)  agreeably  to  a  promise  given  him  by  Moses.  (Numb.  xiii.  30-33,  xix.  5,  24.)  Subsequently 
it  was  made  a  city  of  refuge,  and  given  to  the  priests.  (Josh.  xxi.  11,  xx.  7.)  Afterward,  wlien  David  suc- 
ceeded Saul  on  the  throne  of  Israel,  he  selected  Hebron  for  his  royal  residence,  and  continued  there  until 
Jerusalem  was  captured  from  the  Jebusites.  (2  Sam.  ii.  1,  v.  4-9. ;  1  Chron.  xii.  xiii.)  On  the  division  of  the 
kingdom  under  Rehoboam,  Hebron  fell  to  the  share  of  the  king  of  Judali.  (2  Chron.  xi.  10.) 

Hebrew,  Habroun,  or,  according  to  the  Arabic  orthography  followed  by  tlie  moderns,  El  Hhalil,  is  a 
flourishing  town,  the  flat-roofed  houses  of  which  are  closely  jammed  together.  It  contains  about  four 
hundred  families  of  Arabs.  The  hill  above  it  is  composed  of  limestone  rock,  partially  covered  with  vines ; 
and  its  end  is  clothed  with  a  wood  of  olives.  The  hill  beyond  the  mosque  (which  edifice  forms  a  prominent 
object  in  our  view)  is  more  barren  ;  and  in  the  fore-ground  there  are  masses  of  buildings  thrown  down  and 
scattered  in  every  direction,  this  portion  of  the  town  having  been  destroyed  a  few  years  since.  The 
inhabitants  are  engaged  in  perpetual  hostilities  with  those  of  Bethlehem,  on  which  account  it  is  less 
frequently  visited  by  pilgrims.  A  splendid  church  was  erected  over  the  graves  of  the  patriarchs  by  the 
emperess  Helena:  it  has  long  been  converted  into  a  Turkish  mosque.  According  to  Ali  Bey,  who  visited  it 
in  1807,  the  ascent  to  it  is  by  a  large  and  fine  staircase  leading  to  a  long  gallery,  the  entrance  to  which  is 
by  a  small  court.  Toward  llie  left  is  a  portico,  resting  upon  square  pillars.  The  vestibule  of  the  temple 
contains  two  rooms,  one  of  which  is  called  the  tomb  of  Abraham,  the  other  that  of  Sarah.  In  the  body  of 
the  church,  between  two  large  pillars  on  the  right,  is  seen  a  small  recess,  in  which  is  the  sepulchre  of 
Isaac,  and  in  a  similar  one  upon  the  left  is  that  of  his  wife.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  court  is  another 
vestibule,  which  has  also  two  rooms,  respectively  called  the  tombs  of  Jacob  and  liis  wife.  At  the 
extremity  of  the  portico,  on  the  right  hand,  is  a  door  leading  to  a  sort  of  long  gallery,  which  still  serves  for 
a  mosijue  ;  and  passing  thence,  is  observed  another  room,  said  to  contain  the  ashes  of  Joseph.  All  the 
sepulchres  of  the  patriarchs  are  covered  with  rich  carpets  of  green  silk,  magnificently  embroidered  with 
gold  ;  those  of  their  wives  are  red,  embroidered  in  like  manner.  The  sultans  of  Constantinople  furnish 
these  carpets,  which  are  renewed  from  time  to  time.  Ah  Bey  counted  nine,  one  over  the  other,  upon  the 
sepulchre  of  Abraham.  The  rooms  also  which  contain  the  tombs  are  covered  with  rich  carpets;  the 
entrance  to  them  is  guarded  by  iron  gates,  and  wooden  doors  platod  with  silver,  having  bolts  and  padlocks 
of  the  same  metal.  More  than  ahundrcd  persons  are  employed  in  the  service  of  this  Mohammedan  temple^ 
The  population  of  Hebron  is  considerable  :  the  inhabitants  manufacture  glass  lamps,  which  are  exported 
to  Egypt.     Provisions  are  abundant,  and  there  is  a  considerable  number  of  shops. 

t  See  instances  of  tliis  in  the  (Sise  of  Absalom  (2  Sam.  xx  23)  and  Adonijah,  1  Kings,  ii.  13-25 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  261 

What  he  had  said  was  no  vain  threat,  although  he  was  probably  willing  afterward 
that  the  son  of  Saul  should  take  it  for  an  unmeaning  outbreak  of  passion.  He  sent 
messengers  to  David  to  enter  into  a  treaty  with  him,  under  which  he  would  engage 
to  use  his  great  influence  in  bringing  all  Israel  to  acknowledge  him  as  king ;  and 
after  this  he  found  a  pretence  for  going  himself  unsuspectedly  to  Hebron  to  complete 
the  agreement  and  arrange  the  steps  to  be  taken.  David  had  sent  to  Ishbosheth  to 
desire  him  to  restore  to  him  his  wife  Michal,  whom  Saul  had  given  to  another.  He 
had  a  perfect  right  to  make  this  demand,  if  so  inclined, — the  rather  as  she  had  thus 
been  disposed  of  against  her  own  wish  ;  but  we  may  suppose  that  he  was  particularly 
induced  to  reclaim  her  at  this  juncture,  in  consideration  of  the  satisfaction  the  measure 
was  likely  to  give  to  those  attached  to  the  family  of  Saul.  As  this  claim  was  doubt- 
less supported  by  Abner,  it  was  granted ;  and  having  obtained  an  order  to  demand 
her  from  her  present  husband,  that  personage  himself  undertook  to  escort  her  to 
David.  From  this  transaction  it  Avould  seem  that  the  war  had  latterly  been  allowed 
to  die  away,  although  without  any  concession  or  treaty  having  been  made  on  either 
side.  That  he  was  escorting  the  daughter  of  Saul  to  David,  proved  to  Abner  a  favor- 
able opportunity,  on  his  way,  of  explaining  his  present  sentiments  to  the  elders  of  the 
tribes  through  which  he  passed ;  especially  to  those  of  Benjamin,  which  was  natu- 
rally the  most  attached  to  the  house  of  Saul,  while  his  own  influence  in  it  was  the 
greatest.  He  dwelt  strongly  on  the  public  benefits  which  might  be  expected  from 
the  government  of  one  who  had  been  expressly  nominated  by  Jehovah  to  the  king- 
dom;  and  such  a  presentation,  coming  from  such  a  quarter,  coupled  with  the  favor- 
able dispositions  toward  David  which  had  grown  up  during  his  reign  in  Hebron,  was 
attended  with  such  efl'ect,  that  Abner  was  authorized  to  make  overtures  to  him  in 
behalf  of  the  tribes  which  had  hitherto  adhered  to  the  house  of  Saul. 

Abner  was  received  with  great  distinction  and  royally  feasted  by  David ;  and  aftei 
the  business  on  which  he  really  came  had  been  settled  to  his  satisfaction,  he  departed 
with  the  iiatention  of  inducing  the  tribes  to  concur  in  giving  David  a  public  invitation 
to  take  the  crown  of  Israel. 

Joab  had  been  absent  from  Hebron  during  this  visit  of  Abner;  but  he  returned  im- 
mediately after  Abner  had  departed,  and  was  deeply  displeased  when  he  learned 
what  had  occurred.  Through  the  energy  of  his  character,  his  abilities  and  experience 
in  the  affairs  of  peace  and  war,  l\is  influence  and  popularity  with  the  army  which 
was  under  his  command,  and  his  unquestioned  devotion  to  the  interests  of  David,  this 
man  had  great  authority  with  the  king.  His  standing,  indeed,  in  the  kingdom  of 
Judah,  had  much  resemblance  to  that  of  Abner  in  the  other  kingdom;  nor  were  their 
characters  altogether  unlike.  In  the  points  of  difference,  the  advantage  was  on  the 
side  of  Abner ;  for  his  experience  in  military  and  public  affairs  was  larger,  from 
which,  together  with  his  near  relationship  to  Saul  and  his  son,  and  the  high  stations 
he  had  occupied  under  them,  his  influence  with  the  people  was  far  greater  than  that 
which  Joab  or  any  other  man  in  Israel  could  pretend  to;  and  hence  his  greater  power 
at  this  time  of  rendering  essential  services  to  the  king  of  Judah.  Abner  and  Joab 
also  served  very  different  masters ;  and  thus  it  happened  that  while  Abner  was,  in 
the  public  eye,  the  greatest  man  in  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  Joab  was  in  that  of  Judah 
only  the  greatest  man  next  to  David.  Upon  the  whole,  Abner  was  the  only  man  in 
the  country  of  whom  Joab  had  cause  to  be  afraid,  and  by  whom  it  was  likely  that 
his  own  influence  would  be  superseded  in  case  the  two  kingdoms  were  united  through 
his  instrumentality.  It  was  probably  more  from  such  considerations  than  any  other 
that  his  displeasure  at  the  intercourse  between  David  and  Abner  arose.  He  went 
instantly  te  the  king,  and  reproached  him  for  allowing  himself  to  be  imposed  upon 
by  the  able  uncle  of  Ishbosheth,  declaring  his  belief  fhat  the  true  object  of  his  visit 
was  to  obtain  such  information  concerning  his  state  and  resources  as  he  might  after- 
ward employ  against  him.  He  then  went  out  and  sent  a  messenger  after  Abner  to 
call  him  back  in  the  name  of  the  king.  As  he  returned,  Joab  took  care  to  meet  him 
near  the  gate,  and  drew  him  aside  as  if  to  speak  to  him  privately,  and  while  he  was 
entirely  unguarded  and  unsuspicious,  gave  him  a  treacherous  stab,  of  which  he 
instantly  died.  The  history  describes  this  as  an  act  of  blood-revenge  for  the  death 
of  his  brother  Asabel  by  the  hand  of  Abner;  and  while  allowing  him  the  full  benefit 
of  this  motive,  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  envy  and  jealousy  sharpened  not  the  dagger 
of  the  avenger.  It  must  be  conceded,  nevertheless,  that  the  existence  of  a  blood-feud 
between  them  extenuated  if  it  did  not  justify  the  act  of  Joab  in  the  eyes  of  all  Israel. 


262  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

It  was,  in  fact,  accorduig  to  the  strict  ideas  of  that  barbarous  institution,  the  impera- 
tive duty  of  Joab  to  shed  the  blood  of  Abner,  who  had  slain  his  brother  ;  and  tliai 
Abner  himself  knew  that  the  death  of  Asahel  would  be  attended  with  this  result,  is 
evinced  by  his  anxiety  to  avoid  the  fatal  necessity  of  slaying  his  pursuer;  Jor  if  ihe 
ma:i-slayer  is  known,  the  avenger  is  not  bound  to  make  any  distinction  as  to  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  his  relative  is  slain :  and  at  the  present  day,  the  one  who 
slays  anotlier  in  battle  is  pursued  by  the  avenger  equally  with  the  murderer.  The 
extent  to  which  the  law  of  Moses  had  interfered  with  this  custom  onlv  provided  fur 
the  safety  of  the  rnan-slayer  while  in  a  city  of  refurre.  Hebron  was  a  city  uf  refuse  : 
and  if  Joab  had  slain  Abner  u-ithin  that  city,  the  law  would  have  allowed  David  to 
treat  him  as  a  murderer.  This  Joab  knew;  and  hence  his  meeting  Abner  at  the 
gate,  and  drawing  him  aside  before  he  entered  the  city.  These  details  we  judge 
necessary,  to  show  that  those  who  most  suffered  from  the  death  of  Abner,  and  ab- 
horred the  manner  in  which  it  was  inflicted,  knew  that  his  offence  was  not  punish- 
able by  the  king  or  by  the  law;  and  hence  that  it  was  not  merely  the  rank  and 
influence  of  Joab  which  prevented  David  from  calling  him  to  account  for  this  barbarous 
deed.  Perhaps  he  could  not  have  punished  Joab  in  any  case ;  but  it  is  important  to 
know,  that  in  the  present  case  the  law,  custom,  and  public  opinion,  did  not  require  or 
permit  him  to  do  so. 

The  resentment  of  David  was  nevertheless  very  great.  Like  other  eastern  sover- 
eigns, he  must  have  been  impressed  with  the  evils  of  this  custom  of  blood-reveug-e, 
and  the  extent  to  which  it  interfered  with  good  government ;  nor  Avas  he  insensible 
to  the  insult  offered  to  himself,  in  the  present  and  other  instances,  by  "  the  sons  of 
Zeruiah,"  Joab  and  Abishai,  and  the  high  hand  with  which  they  wrought  their  own 
will.  "  I  am  this  day  weak,"  he  said,  "though  an  anointed  king;  and  these  men, 
the  sons  of  Zeruiah,  are  too  stubborn  for  me.  Jehovah  will  reward  the  evil-doer 
according  to  his  evil  deeds."  As  it  was  of  the  highest  importance  to  him  that  he 
should  be  clear  of  any  suspicion  of  having  had  any  part  in  the  death  of  Abner,  he 
publicly,  "  before  Jehovah,"  declared  himself  guiltless  of  the  blood  Avhich  had  l>een 
shed,  and  invoked  the  full  burden  of  that  blood  on  Joab  and  on  his  house.  He 
ordered  a  public  act  of  solemn  mourning,  in  which  he  himself  look  a  prominent  part: 
and  at  the  funeral  he  followed  the  body,  as  chief  mourner,  to  the  grave,  where  he 
stood  weeping,  and  where  he  lamented,  in  elegiac  verse,  over  the  prince  and  great 
man  who  had  that  day  fallen  in  Israel. 

This  conduct  of  David  tended  siill  further  to  satisfy-  and  conciliate  the  tribes  at- 
tached to  the  house  of  Saul;  and  by  them  the  murder  of  Abner  was  never  imputed 
to  him.  Indeed,  the  event  must,  at  the  time,  have  seemed  to  himself  and  others 
anything  but  advantageous  for  his  cause.  But  we,  who  have  his  whole  historv  be- 
fore us,  can  see  that  the  manner  in  which  he  ultimately  became  king  over  all  Israel, 
by  the  free  and  unsolicited  choice  of  the  tribes,  was  more  honorable  and  safe  to  him. 
and  more  becoming  his  divine  appointment,  than  the  same  result  brought  about 
through  the  exertions  of  Abner,  whose  conduct,  as  between  David  and  Ishbosheth, 
must  have  seemed  very  equivocal,  and  cotild,  at  the  best,  have  been  but  "  traitorously 
honest."* 

When  Ishbosheth  heard  of  Abner's  death  (without  being  aware  of  the  plot  in 
which  he  was  engaged),  he  felt  that  the  right  arm  of  his  kingdom's  strength  was 
broken.  Others  felt  this  also:  and  the  conviction  that  the  son  of  Saul  could  not  gov- 
ern the  troubled  kingdom  without  Abner,  grew  stronger  every  day  among  the  tribes, 
and  directed  their  eyes  to  David  as  the  only  person  under  whom  thev  could  expect 
to  realize  the  benefits  the  nation  had  expected  lo  enjov  under  a  reijal  gevernment. 
This  feeling,  this  tendency  of  the  nation  toward  David,  was  perceived,  even  in  the 
court  of  Ishbosheth;  and  two  of  his  officers,  brothers,  determined  to  anticipate  the 
course  which  events  were  taking,  by  the  assassination  of  their  master,  expecting  by 
this  act  to  deserve  high  rewards  and  honors  from  the  king  of  Judah.  Accordingly, 
they  stole  into  his  chamber,  while,  according  to  the  universal  custom  of  the  East,  he 
slept  there  during  the  mid-day  heat.  They  pierced  him  as  he  slept,  and  then  took 
off  his  head,  with  which  they  escaped  unperceived,  as  at  that  time  of  the  dav  most 
of  the  people  were  asleep.  The  nmrderers  sped  lo  Hebron,  and  laid  the  head  of 
Saul's  son  at  the  feet  of  David,  with  the  words,  "  Behold  the  head  of  Ishbosheth.  the 
son  of  Saul  thine  enemy,  who  sought  thy  life.     Jehovah  hath  this  day  avenged  m\ 

*  Bishop  Kail 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  263 

lord  the  king  of  Saul  and  of  his  seed."  Astounding  to  them  was  the  answer — "As 
Jehovah  liveth,  who  hath  redeemed  my  soul  out  of  every  distress  I  if,  when  one  told 
me,  saying,  Behold,  Saul  is  dead,  thinking  that  he  brought  good  ridings,  I  took  hold 
of  him  and  slew  him  at  Ziklag,  when  he  expected  that  I  should  have  given  him  a 
reward  for  his  tidings; — how  much  more  when  wicked  men  have  slain  a  just  person 
in  his  own  house,  upon  his  own  bed,  shall  I  not  now  require  his  blood  from  your 
hand,  and  destroy  you  from  the  earth  ?"  And  with  these  words  he  commanded  his 
attendants  to  remove  them  to  an  ignominious  death.  The  head  of  Ishbosheth  he 
ordered  to  be  deposited  in  the  sepulchre  of  Abner. 

The  kingdom  of  Israel  was  now  without  even  the  appearance  of  a  head,  nor  was 
there  any  remaining  member  of  the  family  of  Saul  whom  the  most  zealous  adherents 
of  that  fallen  house  could  dream  of  supporting  in  opposition  to  David.  Saul  had  in- 
deed left  some  sons  by  concubines,  but  they  were  living  in  obscurity,  and  even  their 
existence  was  scarcely  known  to  the  people.  Jonathan  also  had  left  one  son,  but  he 
was  a  mere  boy  and  lame.  He  was  five  years  old  when  Saul  and  his  sons  perished 
in  the  battle  of  Gilboa,  and  he  became  lame  from  a  fall  which  he  received  when  his 
nurse  fled  with  him,  as  soon  as  the  tidings  of  that  overthrow  were  brought  to  the 
house  of  Saul  and  Jonathan.     His  name  was  Mephibosheth. 

David  had  reigned  seven  years  and  a  half  in  Hebron,  when,  after  the  deaths  of 
Abner  and  Ishbosheth,  the  crown  of  all  Israel  seemed  to  devolve  upon  him,  as  natu- 
rally as  by  an  act  of  succession.  It  was  probably  the  result  of  a  unanimous  decision 
in  a  great  council  of  the  eleven  tribes,  that  those  tribes  sent  an  embassy  to  David  in 
Hebron  to  invite  him  to  assume  the  general  government  of  the  nation.  This  they 
did  on  the  grounds  of,  1,  his  military  claim,  as  one  who  had  often  led  them  to  victory 
in  the  days  of  Satil;  and,  2,  of  his  iheocratical  claim,  as  one  who  had  been  expressly 
nominated  by  God  to  govern  Israel.  By  this  we  see  that  the  people  were  on  this  oc- 
casion careful  to  recognise  the  theocracy,  since  they  rested  their  preference  of  him  on 
his  having  been  nominated  to  the  kingdom  by  Jehovah,  and  having  proved  himself 
worthy  of  it  during  the  reign  of  Saul.  The  studious  avoidance  of  all  notice  of  the 
seven  years  in  which  the  tribes  had  been  separately  ruled  seems  to  intimate  a  desire 
that  this  measure  should  be  formally  regarded  as  following  the  death  of  Saul.  David 
iiuirnated  his  readiness  to  receive  the  honor  designed  for  him,  and  to  accede  to  the 
conditions  on  which  the  crown  was  to  be  held.  The  rulers  of  the  eleven  tribes,  there- 
fore, at  the  head  of  large  bodies  of  the  best  trained  men  in  the  several  tribes,  described 
as  "  men  that  could  keep  rank,"  who  were  chosen  to  represent  the  whole  of  their 
several  tribes  in  the  great  national  act  of  inauguration,  repaired  to  Hebron  to  make 
David  king.  The  number  amounted  to  not  less  than  three  hundred  and  forty  thou- 
sand, and  the  enumeration  in  the  book  of  Chronicles  (1  Chron.  xii.  23,  ad  Jin.)  is  ac- 
companied with  several  remarks,  which  the  scantiness  of  our  information  concemino- 
the  distinctive  character  of  the  tribes  makes  interesting.  It  appears  that  many  men> 
bers  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  had  adhered  to  the  house  of  Saul,  and  abode  within  its  do- 
minions; for,  on  the  present  occasion,  six  thousand  eight  hundred  men  of  that  tribe, 
armed  with  shield  and  spear,  came  with  the  others  to" submit  to  David.  There  were 
seven  thousand  one  hundred  Simeonites  of  valor.  The  Levites  sent  four  thousand 
six  hundred;  and  there  were  three  thousand  seven  hundred  priests,  headed  by  Je- 
hoiada,  the  son  of  Benaiah;  besides  whom  came  Zadok  at  the  head  of  twenty-two 
chiefs  of  his  father's  house.  This  Zadok,  of  the  old  pontifical  line  of  Eleazer,  "is  the 
same  who  was  long  after  made  sole  high-priest  by  Solomon,  to  the  final  exclusion  of 
the  house  of  Eli ;  but,  on  the  present  occasion,  heis  particularly  noticed  as  "  a  young 
man,  mighty  in  valor,"  which  shows — as  indeed  appears  in  the  historj- — that  the 
pursuits  of  the  Levites,  and  even  of  the  Aaronites,  were  not  exclusively  of  an  eccle- 
siastical and  civil  nature.  From  Benjamin  came  three  thousand  men  ;  but  the  greater 
part  of  this  tribe  held  back,  still  cherishing  a  lingering  and  futile  attachment"  to  the 
house  of  Saul,  the  rule  of  which  had  given  to  the  tribe  a  flattering  pre-eminence, 
which  it  was  unwilling  to  relinquish.  The  half-tribe  of  Manasseh  on  this  side  the 
Jordan  sent  eighteen  thousand  men ;  and  the  proud  tribe  of  Ephraim  testified  its 
concurrence  by  sending  twenty-eight  thousand.  From  Issachar  came  only  two  hun- 
dred men;  but  these  were  the  chief  persons  in  the  tribe,  the  whole  of  which  Avas  at 
their  beck,  and  would  have  been  in  attendance  if  required.  To  them  is  given  the 
marked  character  of  being  men  of  political  prudence  and  sagacity,  who  knew  better 
than  most  men  how  Israel  ought  to  act  under  the  present  and  other  circumstances. 


264  -  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

and  whose  support  was  therefore  of  great  value  to  David.  From  Zebulon  came  not 
fewer  than  fifty  thousand  men,  skilled  in  the  use  of  all  warlike  weapons,  and  "not 
double-hearted,"  with  respect  to  the  object  for  which  they  came.  Naphtali  furnished 
one  thousand  captains,  and  with  them  thirty-seven  thousand  men,  armed  with  shield 
and  spear.  Dan  supplied  twenty-eight  thousand  six  hundred  able  warriors,  and 
Asher  forty  thousand.  The  tribes  beyond  Jordan,  Reuben,  Gad,  and  the  half-tribe 
of  Manasseh,  sent,  collectively,  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  warlike  men.  One 
obvious  remark,  arising  from  the  survey  of  these  numbers,  is  the  comparative  large- 
ness of  the  proportions  furnished  by  the  remoter  tribes,  to  the  north  and  beyond  Jor- 
dan. This  is,  perhaps,  explained  by  the  absence  in  those  tribes  of  any  pretensions 
for  themselves,  and  of  any  strong  attachment  for  the  house  of  Saul,  which  could  in- 
terfere with  the  heartiness  of  their  recognition  of  the  claims  of  David ;  together  with 
the  operation  of  the  principles  which  gives  to  a  prophet  and  great  man  the  least  de- 
gree of  honor  in  and  near  his  own  home.* 

With  this  vast  body,  the  flower  of  the  Hebrew  nation,  and  representing  the  whole 
of  it,  "  David  made  a  league  before  the  Lord,"  which  can  be  construed  to  have  no 
other  meaning  than  that  which  has  already  been  indicated  in  the  case  of  Saul,  that 
he  bound  himself  by  oath  to  observe  the  conditions  on  which  he  received  the  sceptre, 
which  are  now  unknown.  He  was  then  anointed  king,  and  received  the  homage  of 
his  new  subjects;  and  the  whole  was  terminated  by  a  feast  to  all  the  multitude  as- 
sembled at  Hebron,  supplies  for  which  were  liberally  sent  in  by  all  the  neighboring 
tribes,  "  on  asses,  on  camels,  on  mules,  and  on  oxen,"  and  consisted  of  meat,  meal, 
figs,  raisins,  wine,  oil,  oxen,  and  sheep,  in  great  abundance.  "  For  there  was  great 
joy  in  Israel." 

The  first  act  of  David's  reign  was  to  undertake  the  reduction  of  the  fortress  of  Je- 
hus, on  Mount  Zion,  which  had  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  natives  ever  since  the 
days  of  Joshua,  and  which,  as  Josephus  reports,!  had  been,  from  its  situation  and  its 
fortifications,  hitherto  deemed  impregnable.  The  Jebusites,  therefore,  ridiculed  the 
attempt,  and  appear  to  have  placed  the  lame  and  the  blind  on  the  walls,  in  derision, 
as  fully  sufficient  to  keep  him  out.  But  from  the  lower  city,  which  was  already  in 
the  possession  of  the  Israelites,  there  was  "  a  gutter,"  or  subterraneous  communica- 
tion, with  the  fortress,  by  which  David  introduced  a  party  of  men  and  took  "  the 
stronghold  of  Zion."  In  the  operations  of  this  seige  such  ability  and  conduct  were 
displayed  by  Joab,  that  he  was  appointed  to  the  same  chief  command  of  the  armies 
of  Israel  which  he  had  previously  held  in  the  separate  kingdom  of  Judah.  The  fact 
that  his  rule  was  likely,  under  all  circumstances,  to  find  the  most  zealous  supporters 
in  his  own  tribe  of  Judah,  probably  disinclined  him  to  remove  from  its  borders ;  and 
he  determined  to  make  his  new  conquest  the  metropolis  of  his  empire.  A  more  cen- 
trical situation,  with  respect  to  all  the  tribes,  would  have  placed  him  in  the  hands  of 
the  Ephraimites,  whose  cordiality  toward  a  Judahite  king  might  Avell  be  suspected, 
and  in  whom  little  confidence  could  be  placed  in  times  of  danger  and  difficulty.  Sim- 
ilar considerations  have  dictated  the  choice  of  a  very  inconveniently  situated  capital 
to  the  reigning  dynasty  of  Persia.  But  although  better  sites  for  a  metropolitan  city 
might  have  been  found  in  the  largest  extent  of  Palestine,  there  were  not  better  within 
the  limits  to  which,  for  the  reasons  indicated,  the  choice  of  David  was  confined. 
That  the  site  is  overlooked  from  the  Mount  of  Olives,  although  a  great  disadvantage 
in  the  eyes  of  modern  military  engineers,  was  of  little  consequence  under  the  ancient 
systems  of  warfare,  and  could  not  countervail  the  peculiar  advantages  which  it  ofl'ered 
in  being  enclosed  on  three  sides  by  a  natural  fosse  of  ravines  and  deep  valleys,  and 
terminating  in  an  eminence,  which,  while  strong  in  its  defences  from  ivithout,  com- 
manded the  town  rvithin,  and  was  capable  of  being  strongly  fortified.  The  united  in- 
fluence of  all  these  considerations  appears  to  have  determined  the  preference  of  David 

*  Of  this  Fuller  seems  to  have  siven  a  satisfactory  explanation.  "How  this  comes  to  pass  let  others 
largely  dispute.  We  may,  in  brief,  conclude,  it  is  partly  because  their  cradles  can  be  remembered,  and 
those  swaddlins-clothcs  once  used  about  them,  to  strengthen  them  while  infants,  are  afterward  abused 
against  tliem,  to  disgrace  them  when  men,  and  all  the  passages  of  their  youth  repeated  to  tlieir  disparage- 
ment ;  partly  because  all  the  faults  of  their  family  (which  must  be  many  in  a  numerous  alliance)  are  charged 
on  the  prophet's  account.  Wherefore  that  prophet  who  comes  at  the  first  in  his  full  growth  from  a  far  lor- 
eign  place  (not  improving  himself  among  them  from  a  small  spark  to  a  fire,  to  aflame,  but,  sun-like,  arising 
in  perfect  lustre),  gains  the  greatest  reputation  among  the  people.  liccausc,  in  some  respects,  he  is  like 
Melchisedek,  'without  father,  without  mother,  without  descent,'  while  the  admiring  vulgar,  transported 
with  his  preaching,  and  ignorant  of  his  extraction  on  earth,  will  charitably  presume  his  pedigree  from 
heaven,  and  his  breeding  as  weli  as  calling  to  be  divine." 

*  Antiq.  v.  2.    Josh.  xv.  63. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  "^  ^6f 

for  a  site  which  was  open  to  the  serious  objection  among  others,  of  being  so  remote 
from  the  ^ortherrtribes  as  to  render  the  legal  obhgation  of  resort  to  it  three  tunes 
eveTy  year  a  more  burdensome  matter  to  them  than  it  need  have  been  had  a  moie 

''U^^r.^'^'^^^^  g-e  the  name  of  JerusalernC  the  possession  of 
neac?ntoTe  city  but  this  is  not  quite  certain.  On  Mount  Zion  he  fixed  his  resi- 
dence Ind  erec  ed  a  palace  and  other  buildings,  and  it  was  on  this  account  called 
"Te  city  of  David  ''     This  strong  part  of  the  whole  metropolis  ever  alter  remained 

"^riUUli^tSad  gSlSto  drlad  ISI consequences  of  the  consolidation  of 
all  t  e  nower  of  the  Hebrew  tribes  in  hands  of  such  tried  vigor  as  those  of  David 
and  Serremed  it  prudent  to  set  upon  him  before  he  had  time  to  establish  himself 
firmly  in  his  Idntdom.  Their  measures  were  so  well  planned,  and  so  secretly  exe- 
cmed  tlat  hey  appeared  suddenly,  in  great  force,  in  the  heart  ot  Judea  and  took 
die  kind's  native  town  of  Bethlehem  before  he  was  able  to  make  any  resistance.  In- 
deed ?he  danger  of  his  position  was  so  urgent,  that  he  was  obh.cd  to  wuhdmw,  foi 
Snt  safety!  with  some  attached  followers,  to  his  old  retreat  in  the  cave  of  Adul- 
fanf  It  was  here  that  he  happened  to  express  a  longing  desire  for  a  drink  ot  water 
from  thlt  well  of  ht  native  town  at  which  the  thirst  of  his  younger  days  had  often 
heZ  assuaged.  Hearing  this,  three  of  his  most  va  lant  and  devoted  men,  Joab 
Sobeam,\nd  Eleazer,%ecretly  departed    and    breaking  through  the  ^^^^^^  he 

Philistine'^  which  was  encamped  along  the  valley  of  Rephaim,  brought  him  tne 
Pecious  fliiid  for  which  they  had  perilled  their  lives.  But  when  the  kmg  received 
it  he  would  not  drink,  but  poured  it  out  as  a  libation  to  Jehovah. 

Soon  "fer  this  Da^id,  encouraged  by  a  favorable  answer  from  God,  fell  upon  the 
Philistines  and  ^oeffec'tually  dilcomfited  them  in  two  different  onsets,  that  they 
were  never  after  able  to  make  head  agamst  him  or  any  of  his  successors,  i hus  was 
Te  of  the  most  irritating  thorns  in  the  side  of  Israel  most  ^ff-'^^l'^ '-J-f;^i^  * 

And  now,  when  David  had  a  respite  from  war,  about  the  tenth  year  ot  his  rei^, 
he  d  oucrhTof  the  ark  of  God,  which  had  so  long  remained  m  the  house  of  Abinadab 
at  K  r^ath-  ear  m.  and  contemplated  its  removal  to  Jerusa  em  that  the  place  which 
haSv  becor'the  capital  of  the  human  kingdom,  might  also  become  the  capital 
of  the  i^vSe  mng      The  design  being  received  with  approbation  by  the  e  ders  and 
chiefs  of  Is  ad  whom  he  consulted,  the  king  prepared  for  its  execution,  by  despatch- 
be^  messencfersThro^^  all  Israel,  to  summon  all  the  priests  arid  Levites,  and  to 
Kas  many  of  the  people  as  were  so  disposed  to  attend  the  solemnity.     He  also 
prepared  rSber°iaclet  to  eceive  the  ark  on  its  arrival.    Accordingly,  at  the  appointed 
S  the  a  k  was  reinoved  from  the  house  of  Abinadab,  upon  a  new  cart,  attended 
by  David  and  his  court,  by  a  large  body  of  priests  and  Levites,  who  ^^ng  and  played 
on  various  instruments  of  music,  and  by  a  numerous  concourse  of  ?«"?!«  f^ndv 
parts  of  the  kino-dom.     On  the  irregularity  of  removing  it  on  a  cart,  we  have  already 
K  occas  1  toVemark.t     This  irregularity  gave  occasion  to  an  accident    attended 
with  uch  fata^  consequences  as  threw  an  effectual  damp  upon  the  joy  of  the  solem- 
Sv    for  the  cart  being  at  one  place  much  shaken  by  the  oxen,  the  officious  Uzzah 
?he^son  or  cfrandson  of  Abinadab,  was  struck  dead  upon  the  spot  for  puttirig  forth  his 
hand  to  stay  the  ark,  none  but  the  priests  being  warranted  to  touch  it  under  pam  of 
death    (Numiv.  15  )     This  event  struck  David  and  the  people  wUh  such  consterna- 
tion  thath^  indention  of  taking  the  ark  to  Jerusalem  was  rehnquished,  and  it  was 
lefUn  the  hou  e  of  a  Levite  named  Obed-edom,  near  whicli  the  circumstance  occurred 
But  about  three  months  after,  hearin<r  that  the  blessing  of  Jehovah  had  very  evidently 
res  ed  on  te  house  in  which  the  ark  lay,  the  king  hastened  to  complete  his  design 
Se  perceived  the  former  improprieties,  and  directed  that  the  priests  should  now  bear 
the  ark  upon  their  shoulders;  and  the  whole  solemnity  was  placed  under  the  direc- 
Jnn  nf  riCaniah  the  chief  of  the  Levites,  who  was  found  to  be  best  acquainted 
S    h?  rope    observrci      This  was  a  great  day  in  Israel      Nothing  was  omitted 
Ty  whichTe^occasion  could  be  honored.     In  the  presence  of  that  sacred  symbol  of 

*  Counting  from  his  first  ^f  o^j"/  W"|°;j'//;^;|^,'^  °,^^^  and  all  the  sacred  utensils,  were,  as  it  ap- 

t  The  old  tabernacle   made  '"J'f  ,'^''°,^;"'^t!'i;;^^^^  of  removing  the  former,  does  not  clearly 

he  intended  it  to  occupy. 
t  See  the  Note  at  p.  98. 


266  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

the  Divine  Kinfr,  David  laid  aside  his  royal  mantle,  and  appeared  in  such  a  garb  as 
the  Levites  wore,  with  and  before  whom  he  went,  as  one  of  them;  and  as  they  sang 
and  played  the  triuinpiiant  song  which  he  had  composed  for  the  occasion,  he  accom- 
panied them  with  his  renowned  harp,  and  danced  to  the  joyful  sounds  it  gave  forth. 
Michal,  the  daughter  of  Saul,  beheld  this  from  a  window,  when  the  procession  was 
approaching  its  destination;  and  she,  imbued  with  some  of  the  royal  notions  which 
had  been  fatal  to  her  father  and  his  house,  despised  him  in  heart  for  acting  so  far 
beneath  what  she  conceived  to  be  the  dignity  of  the  king  of  Israel :  and  when  he 
came  home,  she  could  not  refrain  from  allowing  vent  to  this  feeling.  The  reply  of 
David  was  spirited  and  proper,  declaring  that  it  was  before  Jehovah,  the  true  king 
of  Israel,  that  he  had  laid  aside  the  king,  and  made  himself  one  with  the  people. 
And  if  this  were  to  be  vile,  as  she  deemed,  "  I  will  yet  be  more  vile  than  thus,  and 
will  be  base  in  mine  own  sight." 

David  now  instituted  a  regular  and  orderly  attendance  upon  the  ark  and  its  taber- 
nacle. But  the  regular  services  of  religion  were  still  performed  at  Gibeon,  where 
the  old  tabernacle  and  altar  remained,  and  which  was  still  therefore  the  place  of 
concourse  to  the  nation  at  their  great  festivals.  Here  the  priests  rendered  their  ser- 
vices, under  Zadok.  The  solemn  removal  of  the  ark,  and  its  dignified  repose  in  the 
city  of  David,  were  well  calculated  to  make  an  impression  upon  the  multitudes  who 
were  present  on  that  occasion,  and  awaken  their  slumbering  zeal  for  Jehovah.  These 
favorable  and  becoming  dispositions  the  king  v/ished  to  confirm  and  strengthen,  and 
for  that  end  made  suitable  regulations  m  the  services  of  the  priests  and  Levites,  and 
this  especially  by  animating  and  instructive  psalms,  which  were  composed  partly  by 
himself,  and  partly  by  other  gifted  persons.  •  They  were  sung  not  only  by  the  Levites 
at  all  the  sacrifices,  but  also  by  the  people  while  on  their  way  to  the  national  altar, 
to  attend  the  feasts.  A  very  precious  collection  of  these  compositions  has  been  pre- 
served to  our  own  day  in  the  book  of  Psalms,  which  has  in  all  subsequent  ages  min- 
istered much  edification  and  comfort  to  a  large  portion  of  mankind.  By  such  instruc- 
tive means  David,  without  coercive  measures,  brought  the  whole  nation  to  forget 
their  idols,  and  to  worship  Jehovah  alone ;  and  thus  also  their  religion  became  hon- 
orable, even  in  the  eyes  of  foreigners,  and  acceptable  to  many  of  them.  The  above 
is  the  first  occasion  on  which  Zadok  is  mentioned  as  high-priest.  But  after  this, 
throughout  the  reign  of  David,  he  and  Abiathar  are  often  named  separately  or  to- 
gether, as  both  bearing  that  character — a  singular  innovation,  resulting  probably  from 
circumstances  over  which  the  king  had  little  control.  It  se'ems  likely  that  after  Saul 
had  slain  the  priests  of  Ithamar's  line  at  Nob  he  restored  the  pontificate  to  the  line 
of  Eleazer,  in  the  person  of  Zadok ;  while  David  and  his  people,  during  his  Avander- 
ing  and  his  reign  in  Judah,  had  been  accustomed  to  look  to  Abiathar,  the  escaped  son 
of  Ahimelech,  as  the  high-priest;  and  that,  on  his  accession  to  the  throne  of  Israel, 
he  found  the  ))eople  so  accustomed  to  regard  Zadok  as  high-priest,  that  he  thought  it 
proper  and  prudent  to  recognise  him  in  that  character,  without  depriving  Abiathar 
of  the  consideration  he  had  previously  enjoyed.  If  ihis  explanation  be  correct,  Zadok 
would  have  had  this  advantage  over  Abiathar,  that  he  had  actually  discharged  the 
regular  functions  of  the  high-priesthood  at  the  tabernacle,  which  the  other  had  never 
an  opportunity  of  doing.  It  is  probably  on  this  account,  that  wherever  the  two  names 
occur  together,  that  of  Zadok  is  placed  first. 

About  five  years  after  this,  and  the  fifteenth  of  David's  reign,  when  the  king  had 
finished  and  inhabited  his  palace  of  cedar,  "and  God  had  given  him  rest  from  his 
enemies  round  about,"  he  meditated  a  design  of  building  a  temple  to  Jehovah,  in 
place  of  the  temporary  tabernacle  which  he  had  provided.  This  design  he  mentioned 
to  the  prophet  Nathan,  to  whom  it  seemed  so  obviously  proper,  that  he  gave  it  much 
commendation  and  encouragement.  But  the  ms\u  following,  a  message  from  God  to 
David  was  delivered  to  him.  This  message  declared  it  seemly  that  the  temple  of 
God  should  be  built  by  a  man  of  peace;  but  his  life  had  been  spent  in  warfare,  and 
he  had  shed  much  blood.  He  was  therefore  directed  to  leave  the  accomplishment  of 
his  plan  to  his  son  and  successor,  whose  reign  should  be  one  of  peace.  Nevertheless, 
it  was  well  for  David  that  this  intention  had  been  formed  ;  for  the  Lord,  to  testify  his 
approbation  of  this  and  other  evidences  of  his  zeal,  and  of  his  attachment  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  theocracy,  promised  to  make  his  name  "as  great  as  the  names  of  the 
great  ones  who  are  on  the  earth;"  and,  far  beyond  this,  the  Lord  promised  "  to  build 
him  a  house,"  by  establishing  the  succession  m  his  house,  and  by  granting  to  his  pos- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  267 

terity  an  eternal  kingdom.  The  gratitude  with  which  this  promise  was  received  by 
David  seems  to  show  he  had  some  conception  of  its  extensive  import,  He  went,  and 
seating  himself  most  reverently  on  the  ground  before  the  ark,  poured  forth  the  strong 
expression  of  his  gratitude. 

As  the  Israelites  were  always  victorious  in  war  while  they  were  faithful  to  their 
God  and  to  the  principles  of  the  theocracy,  so  now  the  arms  of  David  prospered  in 
whatever  direction  they  were  turned.  Indeed,  it  is  scarcely  until  his  reign  that  the 
national  character  of  the  Hebrews  can  be  deemed  to  have  recovered  of  the  wounds 
which  it  had  received  in  Egypt ;  and  we  find  among  them  little  military  skill,  and  as 
little  valor  or  fortitude.  But  from  this  lime  forward,  trained  to  war  and  victory  by 
David,  they  may  be  recognised  as  a  truly  courageous  people,  possessing  among  them 
as  much  military  skill,  science,  and  discipline,  as  any  other  nation  of  the  same  rank 
and  age  could  claim. 

The  neighboring  and  rival  nations  had  soon  cause  to  learn  that  a  new  kin-g  reigned 
in  Israel.  The  time  was  come  for  the  old  enemies,  who  had  so  often  inspired  the 
Israelites  with  dread,  to  be  afraid  in  their  turn;  and  even  the  more  distant  foreign 
princes,  whose  assistance  they  procured,  had  cause  to  repent  of  provoking  an  enemy 
more  puissant  than  themselves.  It  was  nuw  the  turn  of  the  Philistines  to  receive 
the  yoke  to  which  they  had  accustomed  Israel.  Attacked  in  their  own  country,  and 
beaten  on  all  hands,  they  were  brought  under  tribute  and  subjection.  The  Moabites 
were  more  heavily  dealt  wilh:  to  secure  his  conquest,  David  thought  il  necessary  to 
act  with  a  severity  not  usual  with  him  ;  for  he  put  to  death  one  half  of  those  who 
were  taken  with  arms  in  their  hands :  and  although  it  was  then,  or  had  been  not  long 
previously,  usual  for  the  r  ^tions  to  put  all  the  armed  men  to  death,  this  deed  strikes 
us  as  harsh,  from  comparison  with  the  milder  general  character  of  David's  own  war- 
fare, and  can  only  be  explained  by  reference  to  some  peculiar  circumstances  with 
which  we  are  unacquainted. 

In  the  ancient  promises  to  the  Hebrews,  the  limit  to  which,  in  their  palmy  state, 
their  victorious  arms  should  extend,  had  been  as  clearly  defined  as  the  limit  of  theii 
own  proper  territory.  And  the  distinction  here  incidentally  mentioned,  between  the 
limit  of  the  proper  country  destined  for  their  own  occupation,  and  that  of  the  subject 
territory  which  shuuld  be  acquired,  is  of  considerable  importance,  and  should  not  be 
overlooKed  or  confounded  as  it  often  has  been.  The  limit  of  conquest  was  fully  reached 
by  David. 

Eastward  this  limit  was  to  extend  to  the  Euphrates.  Of  the  kings  who  reigned  ui 
the  intermediate  country,  one  of  the  most  powerful  Avas  Hadadezer,  king  of  Zobah. 
This  sovereign,  whose  dominion  extended  eastward  to  the  Euphrates,  was  defeated 
by  David  in  the  first  battle,  and  lost  twenty  thousand  infantry,  seven  thousand  horse- 
men with  their  horses,  and  one  thousand  chariots  of  war.  Of  the  chariots,  the  king 
of  Israel  preserved  a  hundred,  with  horses  for  them ;  but,  mindful  that  the  law  of  the 
kingdom  forbade  the  accumulation  of  horses,  all  the  others  were  destroyed.  The 
Syrians  of  Damascus,  who  were  allies  (perhaps  tributaries)  of  Hadadezer,  and  came 
to  his  assistance,  shared  his  fate.  Hadad,  their  king,  was  vanquished,  with  the  loss 
of  twenty-two  thousand  men,  and  David  brought  his  territory  under  subjection  to  his 
sceptre.  These  two  victories  carried  the  eastern  limit  of  his  conquests  to  the  Eu- 
phrates. Josephus  adduces  the  testimony  of  a  native  historian,  Nicolaus  of  Damas- 
cus, in  confirmation  of  the  testimony  which  the  Hebrew  writers  have  left.  Frum  this 
it  seems  that  the  kingdom,  of  which  Damascus  was  the  capital,  had  grown  very  pow- 
erful under  this  Hadad,  who  might,  indeed,  be  considered  as  its  actual  founder; 
but  after  various  engagements  with  King  David,  was  finally  overthrown  in  a  great 
battle  near  the  Euphrates,  in  v/hich  he  performed  deeds  worthy  of  his  high  name. 
Josephus  himself,  in  conformity  with  the  Scriptural  account,  relates  that  after  David 
had  reduced  to  his  obedience  Damascus  and  all  Syria,  having  strong  garrisons  in 
every  place  where  they  seemed  necessary,  he  returned  in  triumph  to  Jerusalem, 
where  he  consecrated  to  God  the  golden  shields  which  had  been  borne  by  the  royal 
guard  of  Hadadezer,  from  whose  cities  he  also  brought  much  spoil  of  brass  for  the 
service  of  the  future  temple. 

While  David  was  engaged  in  these  victories,  the  southern  frontier  of  his  conquests 
was,  according  to  ancient  promises,  extended  southward  to  the  Red  sea.  This  was 
the  work  of  Joab's  valiant  brother,  Abishai,  who  defeated  the  Edomites  in  "  the 
Valley  of  Salt,"  at  the  southern  extremity  of  the  Dead  sea,  and  then  carried  his  vie- 


268  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

tonous  arms  into  the  mountains,  the  enclosed  valleys,  and  the  rocky  wildernesses  of 
Mount  Seir,  leaving  garrisons  to  secure  the  advantages  he  had  gained. 

David  was  too  well  acquainted  with  the  law,  to  attempt  to  incorporate  any  of  these 
conquests  as  integral  parts  of  the  Hebrew  territory.  He  appears  in  most  cases  to 
have  left  the  internal  government  of  the  conquered  states  in  the  hands  of  the  native 
princes,  who  were  required  to  render  annually  a  certain  amount  of  tribute,  consisting, 
for  the  most  part,  of  such  articles  as  their  country  afforded  in  the  most  abundance,  or 
which  they  had  the  best  means  of  procuring  or  producing.  The  delivery  of  such 
tribute  from  subject  states,  under  the  name  of  presents,  was  anciently,  as  it  is  now, 
an  occasion  of  great  pomp  and  ceremony,  which,  on  another  occasion,  we  shall  more 
particularly  notice.  The  obedience  of  the  more  distant  conquests  was  secured  by 
garrisons,  which  do  not  seem  to  have  been  judged  necessary  in  those  nearer  countries 
which  the  mere  vicinity  of  the  conquering  power  might  sufficiently  control. 

Thus  David  literally  became  a  "  king  of  kings,"  and  his  fame  extended  into  far 
countries.  Some  states  which  had  been  at  hostilities  with  the  states  conquered  by 
him  sent  splendid  embassies,  with  valuable  gifts,  to  congratulate  him  on  his  successes. 
Among  these,  Toi,  the  king  of  Hamah,  upon  the  Orontes,  who  had  been  at  war  with 
Hadadezer,  is  ])articularly  mentioned.  He  sent  his  own  son  Joram  "  to  salute  and 
bless"  King  David,  and  to  deliver  costly  gifts,  such  as  vessels  and  utensils  of  gold, 
silver,  and  fine  brass.  All  the  surplus  wealth  thus  acquired  from  the  states  he  con- 
quered, or  from  those  which  sought  his  friendship  and  alliance,  was  treasured  up  by 
him  for  the  great  work  which  he  had  so  much  at  heart,  and  which  his  son  was 
destined  to  execute. 

But  of  all  David's  foreign  alliances,  the  earliest  and  most  valuable  was  that  with 
Hiram,  king  of  Tyre.  This  had  been  formed  very  soon  after  David  had  taken  Jeru- 
salem and  defeated  the  Philistines,  and  seems  to  have  been  sought  by  Hiram;  for  it 
will  be  remembered  that  David  was  famous  in  the  closely  neighboring  states  before 
he  became  king;  and  no  doubt  not  only  his  eminent  public  qualities,  but  his  remark- 
able personal  history,  was  familiar  not  less  to  the  Phoenicians  than  to  the  Philistines. 
And  although  an  enterprising  commercial  and  skilful  manufacturing  nation,  like 
them,  would  be  disposed  to  look  down  upon  a  people  so  inferior  to  themselves  as  the 
Hebrews  in  the  finer  and  larger  arts  of  social  life,  military  talents  and  success,  and 
such  heroic  qualities  as  the  character  of  David  off'ered,  have  never  yet  failed  to  be 
appreciated,  wherever  Tound.  Hiram  "  was  ever  a  lover  of  David,"  and  the  offered 
alliance  must  have  been  the  more  gratifying  to  him  as  it  came  before  "  David  ac- 
quired a  name,  and  [before]  his  fame  went  out  into  all  lands,  and  the  Lord  brought 
the  fear  of  him  upon  all  nations."  This  alliance  was  one  of  mutual  advantage. 
Tyre  possessed  but  a  narrow  strip  of  maritime  territory,  the  produce  of  which,  if  sed- 
ulously cultivated,  would  have  been  very  inadequate  to  the  supply  of  its  teeming 
population  and  numerous  fleets.  But,  besides  this,  the  absorbing  devotion  of  the 
Phoenicians  to  commerce  and  the  arts  rendered  them  averse  to  the  slow  pursuits  of 
agriculture,  the  products  of  which  they  could  so  much  more  easily  obtain  by  exchange 
against  the  products  of  their  foreign  traffic  and  their  skill.  To  them  therefore  it  was 
a  most  invaluable  circumstance,  that  behind  them  lay  a  country  in  the  hands  of  a 
people  who  had  none  of  tlie  advantages  which  were  so  much  prized  by  themselves, 
but  who  had  abundance  of  corn,  wine,  oil,  and  cattle,  to  barter  for  them.  An  alliance 
cemented  by  such  reciprocal 'benefits,  and  undisturbed  by  territorial  designs  or  jeal- 
ousies, was  likely  to  be  permanent;  and  we  know  that  it  tended  much  to  advance 
the  Hebrews  in  the  arts  which  belong  to  civilized  life,  and  to  promote  the  external 
splendor  of  this  and  the  ensuing- reign.  In  the  present  instance  Hiram  sujiplied  the 
architects  and  mechanics,  as  well  as  the  timber  (hewn  in  Lebanon),  whereby  David 
was  enabled  to  build  his  palace  of  cedar,  and  to  undertake  the  other  works  which 
united  the  upper  and  lower  cities,  and  rendered  Jerusalem  a  strong  and  comely 
metropolis. 

In  the  midst  of  his  success  and  glory,  the  memory  of  Jonathan  was  still  very  dear 
to  David.  He  caused  inquiry  to  be  made  whether  anv  of  his  family  remained,  "to 
whom  he  might  show  kindness;"  he  then  first  heard  of  his  lame  son  Mephibosheih, 
and  caused  him  to  be  conducted  to  Jerusalem.  The  afflicted  young  man  was  received 
with  great  kindness  by  the  king;  who  restored  to  him  the  lands  which  had  belonged 
to  Saul  for  the  support  of  his  household,  but  desired  that  he  would  himself  be  a  con- 
stant guest  at  the -royal  table,  even  as  one  of  the  king's  own  sons.     This  generous 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


269 


270  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

treatment,  with  the  continued  kindness  which  he  afterward  received,  won  entirelv 
the  open  heart  of  Jonathan's  son.  He  became  strongly  attached  to  the  person  and 
interests  of  David,  whose  higher  qualities  he  regarded  wiih  admiration  and  reverence. 

It  was  probably  in  the  period  of  peace  and  glory  which  followed  the  victories  ot 
David  over  all  the  enemies  of  Israel,  that  he  employed  himself  in  the  organization  of 
the  government.  The  very  important  part  which  he  took  in  giving  to  all  the  depart- 
ments of  the  government  the  form  and  character  which  he  desired  it  to  bear  in  fuiuie 
times,  has,  it  seems  to  us,  been  rather  overlooked  and  undervalued.  For,  in  iruili, 
David  was  the  real  founder  of  the  Hebrew  monarchy ;  and  in  that  character  his  great 
abilities  appear  not  less  prominently  than  in  the  various  other  endoAvraents  by  which 
he  was  so  eminently  distinguished  from  the  mass  of  mankind. 

During  the  days  of  his  adversity,  when  persecuted  hy  vSaul,  David  had  been  treated 
by  Nahash  the  king  of  Ammon  with  some  kindness,  of  which  he  cherished  a  very 
grateful  remembrance.  When,  therefore,  he  heard  of  his  dealh,  he  sent  an  embassy 
to  condole  with  the  new  king,  Hanun,  upon  the  loss  of  his  father,  and  to  congratulate 
him  upon  his  peaceable  succession.  But  this  prince  was  led  by  his  courtiers  to  re- 
gard the  ambassadors  as  spies,  and  dared  to  give  them  such  treatment  as  was  then, 
and  would  be  at  this  day  in  the  East,  regarded  as  the  most  ignominious  "which  any 
men  could  receive.  He  caused  their  beards  to  be  shaved,  and  their  long  garments  to 
be  cut  short  at  their  buttocks,  and  in  this  condition  sent  them  away.  When  David 
heard  of  this  grievous  insult  to  him  through  his  ambassadors,  he  was  filled  with  in- 
dignation. He  sent  messengers  to  meet  these  personages,  and  to  relieve  them  from 
the  necessity  of  appearing  at  his  court  in  their  present  degraded  condition,  by  direct- 
ing them  to  remain  at  Jericho  until  the  renewed  growth  of  their  beards  might  enable 
them  to  appear  without  shame.  As  the  insult  was  loo  gross  to  be  allowed  to  pass 
unpunished,  David  ordered  Joab  to  march  with  an  imposing  force  against  the  Am- 
monites. Meanwhile  that  people  had  not  been  idle;  but,  fully  aware  of  the  probable 
effect  of  their  ungenerous  conduct,  and  not  confiding  in  their  oAvn  strength,  they  en- 
gaged the  assistance  of  some  of  the  neighboring  princes  of  Svria — in  fact,  "hired" 
them  as  mercenaries,  being  the  first  example  of  the  kind  which  history  offers.  The 
force  thus  obtained  from  four  Syrian  princes  amounted  to  thirty-three  thousand  men, 
who  came  and  encamped  before  Medeba  in  the  land  of  Ammon.  The  force  of  the 
Ammonites  themselves  marched  out  of  the  town  when  the  army  of  Israel  appeared. 
Joab  with  his  usual  address  hastened  to  prevent  the  junction  of  the  two  armies,  and 
himself  turned  against  the  Syrians,  while  his  brother  Abishai  kept  the  Ammonites 
in  check.  The  Syrians  were  speedily  put  to  flight  by  Joab :  and  when  the  Ammon- 
ites saw  this,  they  also  fled  before  Abishai,  and  hastened  into  the  city. 

In  a  second  campaign,  David  himself  marched  against  a  powerful  armv,  composed 
not  only  of  the  Syrians,  but  of  Assyrians  from  beyond  the  Euphrates,  whose  assist- 
ance had  been  procured  by  Hadadezer,  who  seems  now  to  have  determined  on  a  last 
and  grand  effort  to  recover  and  secure  his  independence.  This  formidable  army  was 
under  the  command  of  Shobach,  the  general  of  Hadadezer,  and  were  encamped  at 
Helam,  near  the  Kuphrites,  where  David  fotmd  them.  In  the  terrible  battle  which 
ensued  the  Israelites  were  victorious;  and  that  day  they  destroyed  7fl0  chariots,  7,000 
horse,  and  40,000  foot,  being  about  half  the  force  which  the  Syrians  on  both  sides  the 
river  had  been  able  to  bring  into  the  field.  By  this  decisive  victory  the  Syrian  na- 
tions were  completely  subdued,  and  the  Ammonites  were  henceforth  left  to  their 
own  resources. 

The  next  campaign  against  that  nation  David  left  to  the  conduct  of  Joab,  remain- 
ing himself  at  Jerusalem.  Joab  marched  into  the  land  of  Ammon,  and,  after  rava- 
ging the  country,  laid  siego  to  the  metropolitan  city  of  Rabbah,  or  Rabbath-Ammon,* 
which  for  some  time  held  out  against  him. 

*  Tlio  site  of  the  ancient  capital  of  tlie  Amtnonites  was  first  indicated  by  Seetzen,  and  has  since  been 
visited  by  various  travellers.  Tlie  orii,'in;il  names  of  this  town,  wliich  existed  in  tlie  time  of  Moses,  Am- 
mon, and  Rabbatli-Ammon,  was  for  a  time  observed  by  that  of  Philadelphia,  wtiich  it  took  from  Ptolemy 
PhilMilelphus,  by  whom  it  was  rebuilt.  That  any  portions  of  the  ruins  are  of  earlier  date  than  this  rebuild- 
ing by  him,  it  would  be  absurd  to  expect ;  and  most  of  them  are  obviously  of  later  date,  and  may,  for  the 
most  part,  be  referred  to  the  period  of  tlie  Roman  domination  in  Syria.  The  present  natives  of  the  coun- 
try now  know  notliing  ol  the  name  of  Philadelphia,  but  give  to  the  site  its  original  name  of  Ammon. 

Tlie  very  precise  manner  in  which  the  propliecies  applicable  to  the  city  have  been  fulfilled,  gives  to  the 
place  more  interest  than  it  could  historically  claim,  although  even  that  is  not  inconsiderable.  Tlie  de- 
scription which  is  the  most  available  for  our  purposes  is  that  wliich  Lord  Lindsay  has  given.  In  transcri- 
bing it,  however,  we  omit  the  account  of  the  ruins,  which,  although  of  high  interest  in  lliem-selves,  are 
not  such  as  the  purpose  of  the  present  work  requires  us  to  describe; 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


271 


?  S- 


^^  !^ 


27a  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

There  was  little  in  this  war  to  occasion  much  anxiety  in  the  king,  who  remained 
quiet  at  Jerusalem,  where,  in  an  evil  and  unguarded  hour,  his  inordinate  desires 
brought  him  very  low,  and  entailed  much  anguish  and  sorrow  on  his  future  reign. 

One  afternoon  the  king  arose  from  his  mid-day  sleep,  and  walked  on  the  terraced 
roof  of  his  palace,*  from  the  commanding  height  of  which  he  unhappily  caught  a 
view  of  a  woman  bathing.  This  was  the  beautiful  Bathsheba,  the  wife  of  Uriah  the 
Hittile,  who  was  then  serving  under  Joab  at  the  siege  of  Rabbah.  The  king  sent  for 
her,  and  she  became  with  child  by  him.  Afflicted  at  this  event,  which  was  so  calcu- 
lated, by  betraying  the  adulterous  connexion,  to  bring  upon  the  woman  the  ignomini- 
ous death  which  the  law  demanded,  if  the  husband  should  think  proper  to  demand 
her  punishment,  David  sent  to  desire  Joab  to  send  him  to  Jerusalem,  as  if  with  news 
of  the  war,  hoping  that  his  presence  about  this  time  would  screen,  or  at  least  render 
doubtful,  the  effects  of  his  own  crime.  But  Uriah,  either,  as  he  professed,  thinking 
the  gratifications  of  home  inconsistent  with  the  obligations  of  his  military  service,  or 
suspecting  the  fidelity  of  his  wife,  avoided  her  during  his  stay,  and  remained  pub- 
licly among  the  king's  attendants.  Disappointed  in  this  device  by  the  proud  honor 
or  caution  of  Uriah,  the  king  concluded  that  the  life  of  Bathsheba  and  his  own  char- 

"  The  scenery  waxed  drearier  and  drearier,  as,  at  ten  hours  and  a  half  from  Jerash,  we  descended  a  pre- 
cipitous stony  slope  into  the  valley  of  Ammon,  and  crossed  a  beautiful  stream  called  Moiet  Ammon.  It 
has  its  source  in  a  pond  a  few  hundred  paces  from  the  southwest  end  of  the  town,  and,  after  passing  under 
ground  several  times,  empties  itself  into  the  Zerka  (Jabbok).  The  valley  is  bordered  at  intervals  by  strips 
of  stunted  grass,  often  interrupted  ;  no  oleanders  cheered  the  eye  with  their  rich  blossoms  ;  the  hills  on 
both  sides  were  rocky  and  bare,  and  pierced  with  excavations  and  natural  caves.  Here,  at  a  turning  in 
the  narrow  valley,  commences  the  antiquities  of  Ammon.  It  was  situated  on  both  sides  the  stream.  The 
dreariness  of  its  present  aspect  is  quite  indescribable.  It  looks  like  the  abode  of  death.  The  valley  stmks 
with  dead  camels.  One  of  them  was  rotting  in  the  stream,  and,  although  we  saw  none  among  the  ruins, 
they  were  absolutely  covered  in  every  direction  with  their  dung.  That  morning's  ride  would  have  con- 
vinced a  skeptic  How  runs  the  prophecy?  '  I  will  make  Rabbah  a  stable  for  camels,  and  the  Ammonites 
for  flocks  ;  and  ye  shall  know  that  I  am  the  Lord  I' 

"  Nothing  but  the  croaking  of  frogs  and  screams  of  wild  birds  broke  the  silence,  as  we  advanced  up  this 
valley  of  desolation.  Passing  on  the  left  an  unopened  tomb  (for  the  singularity  in  these  regions  is  where 
the  tomb  has  not  been  violated),  several  broken  sarcophagi,  and  an  aqueduct,  in  one  spot  full  of  human 
sculls,  a  bridge  on  the  right,  a  ruin  on  the  left,  apparently  the  southern  gate  of  the  town,  a  high  wall  and 
lofty  terrace,  with  one  pillar  still  standing,  the  remains  probably  of  a  portico,  we  halted  under  the  square 
building  supposed  by  'Seetzen  to  have  been  a  mausoleum,  and,  after  a  hasty  glance  at  it,  hurried  up  the 
glen  in  search  of  the  principal  ruins,  which  we  found  much  more  extensive  and  interesting  than  we  ex- 
pected, not  certainly  in  such  good  preservation  as  those  of  Jerasli,  but  designed  on  a  much  grander  scale. 
Storks  were  perched  in  every  direction  on  the  tops  of  the  different  buildings  ;  others  soared  at  an  immense 
height  above  us." 

Then  follows  a  more  detailed  account  of  the  ruins,  the  predominant  architectural  character  of  which  is 
indicated  by  tbe  very  fine  specimen  inserted  in  our  text.  By  far  the  best  and  most  ample  description  of  the 
whole  is  that  which  has  been  given  by  Buckingham,  in  his  "  Travels  among  the  Arab  Tribes,"  67-81.  After 
his  description.  Lord  Lindsay  resumes  : 

"  Such  are  tlie  relics  of  the  ancient  Ammon,  or  rather  of  Philadelphia,  for  no  building  there  can  boast 
of  a  prior  date  to  that  of  the  change  of  name.  It  was  a  bright  cheerful  morning,  but  still  the  valley  is  a 
very  dreary  spot,  even  when  the  sun  shines  brightest.  Vultures  were  garbaging  on  a  camel,  as  we  slowly 
rode  back  through  the  glen,  and  reascended  the  akiba  by  which  we  entered  it.  Ammon  is  now  quite  de 
serted,  except  by  the  Bedouins  who  water  their  Hocks  at  its  little  river.  We  met  sheep  and  goats  by  thou- 
sands, and  camels  by  hundreds,  coming  down  to  drink,  all  in  beautiful  condition.  How— let  me  again  cite 
the  prophecy— how  runs  it  ?  '  Ammon  shall  be  a  desolation  I— Rabbah  of  the  Ammonites  .  .  .  shall  be  a 
desolate  heap  1— I  will  make  Rabbah  a  stable  for  camels,  and  the  Ammonites  a  coucliing  place  for  flocks  ; 
and  ye  shall  know  that  I  am  the  Lord  I'  " 

*  There  have  been  many  grave  remarks  and  sermons  upon  the  consequences  of  idleness,  as  exempUfied 
in  this  instance,  and  so  forth.  Now  there  is  no  idleness  in  the  case,  or  anything  to  blame  David  for,  but 
the  sin  into  which  he  fell.  It  is  quite  true  that,  if  he  had  not  been  at  Jerusalem,  and  if  he  had  not  walked 
on  the  roof  of  his  palace  after  sleep,  this  thing  would  not  have  liappened  to  him ;  but  this  is  no  more  than 
the  obvious  truth  that  if  a  man  were  doing  one  thing  another  thing  would  not  have  been  done,  which  is 
as  applicable  to  every  human  act  as  to  that  of  David.  We  are  told  that  he  ought  not  to  have  been  nt  Jerusa- 
lem, but  at  the  huad  of  his  army.  Now  this  is  more  than  we  know.  It  is,  perhaps,  rather  creditable  to  Da- 
vid'that  ho  knew  that  a  king  had  more  important  duties  than  to  lead  forth  his  armies  in  person  on  every 
occasion.  He  was  doubtless  ready,  if  there  had  been  adequate  occasion  ;  but  the  result  proved  that  Joab 
was  fully  equal  to  the  service  onwliich  he  was  engaged  ;  and  the  king  could  probably  more  easily  find  one 
to  command  the  army,  than  to  conduct  tlie  civil  government  in  his  own  absence,  according  to  his  own 
plans  and  designs.  Those  must  have  singular  notions  of  an  oriental  monarchy  who  suppose  that  David 
had  grown  indolent  because  he  remained  in  his  metropolis;  for  there  are  few  men  whose  ordinary  home 
duties  are  more  arduous  and  laborious  tlian  those  of  most  eastern  kings  ;  and  we  know,  from  a  subsequent 
event  that  David  actually  undertook  in  his  own  person  more  labor  than  he  was  able  adequately  to  sus- 
tain. Then,  as  to  his  afternoon  sleep  and  subsequent  walk  :  the  idleness  of  this  has  seemed  unquestionable. 
But  this  is  the  ignorant  inference  of  people  who  sleep  outright  by  night  for  eight  or  nine  hours,  and  tlien 
marvel  to  see  others  sleepful  while  they  are  wakeful,  without  considering  that  these  others  have  slept  but 
five  hours  at  night,  rose  at  daybreak,  and  have  discharged  half  the  duties  of  the  day  before  they  com- 
mence their  owli.  In  warm  climates  the  cool  morning  hours  are  higlily  favorable  to  exertion,  and  there- 
fore the  orientals  rise  early  to  employ  them  ,  to  compensate  for  which,  and  to  obtain  tlie  total  quantity  of 
sleep  which  nature  requires,  they  lie  down  again  during  the  heat  of  the  day,  when,  if  they  were  awake, 
the  relaxing  warmth  would  make  exertion  ditlicuit.  Taken  in  all,  the  orientals  do  not  sleep  more,  if  as 
much  as  we  do  ;  but  they  find  it  convenient  and  suitable  to  have  two  short  sleeps  instead  of  a  single  long 
one  ;  and  for  this  they  do  not  deserve  to  be  considered  indolent.  Joab  doubtless  slept  as  soundly  in  his 
camp  this  afternoon,  as  David  in  his  palace. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  273 

acter  could  only  be  secured  by  his  death.  This  therefore  he  contrived,  in  concert 
with  the  unprincipled  Joab,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  him  perish  by  the  sword 
of  the  Ammonites,  although  this  could  not  be  effected  without  involving  several  other 
men  in  the  slaughter.  David  concluded  his  complicated  crime  by  sending  back  to 
Joab,  through  the  messengers  who  brought  this  intelligence,  a  hypocriiical  message 
of  condolence  :  "  Let  not  this  trouble  thee,  ybr  the  sword  devoureth  one  as  ivell  as  an- 
other." And  then,  to  fill  up  the  measure  of  his  successful  guili.  he  openly  took 
Bathsheba  to  wife,  after  the  days  of  her  mourning  were  expired ;  and  she  bore  him 
a  son. 

But  the  deed  which  David  had  done  with  so  much  privacy,  thinking  to  escape  hu- 
man detection,  "  displeased  Jehovah ;  and  he  sent  Nathan  the  prophet  to  reprove 
him."  This  he  did  with  much  tact,  in  a  well-known  and  beautiful  talr  of  oppression 
and  distress,*  so  framed  that  the  king  did  not  at  the  first  perceive  its  application  to 
himself,  and  Avhich  worked  so  powerfully  upon  his  feelings  that  his  anger  was  kin- 
lied  against  the  man  "  who  had  no  pity,"  and  he  declared  not  only  that  he  should,  as 
the  law  required,  make  a  fourfold  restitution,  but,  Avith  a  severity  beyond  the  law 
of  the  case,  pronoimced  a  sentence  of  death  upon  him.  Instantly  the  prophet  re- 
torted, "  Thou  art  the  man  !"  \r\  the  name  of  the  Lord,  he  authoritatively  upbraided 
him  with  his  ingratitude  and  transgression,  and  threatened  him  that  the  sioord  which 
he  had  privily  employed  to  cut  ofi'  Uriah  should  never  depart  from  his  own  house, 
and  that  his  own  wives  should  be  publicly  dishonored  by  his  neighbor. 

Convicted  and  confounded,  David  instantly  confessed  his  guilt — "  I  have  sinned 
against  Jehovah  !"  and  for  this  speedy  humiliation,  without  attempting  to  dissemble 
or  cloak  his  guilt,  the  Lord  was  pleased  to  remit  the  sentence  of  death  which  he  had 
pronounced  on  himself,  and  to  transfer  it  to  the  fruit  of  his  crime.  The  child  died; 
and  the  Rabbins  remark  that  three  more  of  Da^nid's  sons  were  cut  off  by  violent 
deaths,  thus  completing  as  it  were  the  fourfold  retaliation  for  the  murder  of  Uriah, 
which  he  had  himself  denounced. 

"  The  fall  of  David  is  one  of  the  most  instructive  and  alarming  recorded  in  that 
most  faithful  and  impartial  of  all  histories,  the  Holy  Bible.  And  the  transgression 
of  one  idle  and  unguarded  moment  pierced  him  through  with  many  sorrows  and  em- 
bittered the  remainder  of  his  life,  and  gave  occasion  for  the  enemies  of  the  Lord  to 
blaspheme  on  account  of  this  crying  offence  of  "  the  man  after  God's  own  heart." 
When  he  only  cut  off  the  skirt  of  Saul's  robe,  his  heart  smote  him  for  the  indignity 
thus  offered  to  his  master;  but  when  he  treacherously  cut  off  a  faithful  and  gallant 
soldier,  who  was  fighting  his  battles,  after  having  defiled  his  bed,  his  heart  smote 
him  not— at  least  we  read  not  of  any  compunction  or  remorse  of  conscience  till 
Nathan  was  sent  to  reprove  him.  Then,  indeed,  his  sorrow  was  extreme ;  and  his 
Psalms,  composed  on  this  occasion,  express  in  the  most  pathetic  strains  'he  anguish 
of  a  wounded  spirit,  and  the  bitterness  of  his  penitence.  (See  Ps.  xxxii.,  li.,  ciii.) 
Still  the  rising  again  of  David  holds  forth  no  encouragement  to  sinners  who  may  wish 
to  shelter  themselves  under  his  example,  or  flatter  themselves  with  the  hope  of  ob- 
taining his  forgiveness;  for  though  his  life  was  spared,  yet  God  inflicted  upon  him 
those  temporal  punishments  which  the  prophet  had  denounced.  The  remainder  of 
his  days  were  as  disastrous  as  the  beginning  had  been  prosperous.! 

These  things  happened  about  the  eighteenth  year  of  David's  reign,  and  the  forty- 
eighth  of  his  age. 

Soon  after  this,  Joab,  ahvays  zealous  for  the  honor  and  credit  of  his  master,  though 
not  himself  an  unambitious  man,  sent  to  acqu;  'at  David  that  he  had  taken  the  royal 
quarter  of  the  city  of  Rabbah ;  and  as  this  contained  the  sources  from  which 
the  rest  was  supplied  with  water,  it  was  not  possible  that  it  could  much  longer  hold 
out.  He  therefore  desired  that  the  king  Avould  come  with  a  suitable  reinforce- 
ment and  carry  the  toAvn,  that  his  might  be  the  glory  of  bringing  the  war  to  a  con- 
clusion. David  did  so.  The  spoil  taken  in  this  metropolis  was  immense  ;  and  among 
it  was  the  crown  of  the  king,  of  gold  set  round  with  jewels,  and  worth  a  talent  of 

*  "There  were  two  men  in  one  city  ;  the  one  rich,  and  t.io  other  poor.  The  ricli  man  had  exceeding 
many  flocks  and  herds  :  but  the  poor  man  had  nothing  hut  one  little  ewe  lamb,  wliich  he  had  bought  and 
nourished  up ;  and  it  grew  up  together  with  him  and  with  liis  cliildren ;  and  it  ate  of  his  own  morsel,  and 
dranif  of  his  own  cup,  and  lay  in  his  bosom,  and  was  unto  him  like  a  daughter.  Now  a  traveller  came  to 
the  rich  man,  and  he  spared  to  take  of  his  own  flock  and  of  his  own  herd  to  dress  for  the  traveller  that 
had  come  to  him :  but  took  the  poor  man's  lamb  and  dressed  it  for  the  man  that  had  come  to  him." — 
2  Sam.  xii.  2-4. 

t  Hales,  ii.  341-341 

18 


j>74  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

gold,  which  may  be  reckoned  at  nearly  thirty  thousand  dollars.  This  was  "  set  upon 
David's  head;" 'but  whether  as  appropriating  it  to  his  own  future  use  as  king  of 
Israel,  or  as  the  act  of  a  conqueror  lo  denote  the  transference  to  himself  of  that 
sovereignty  over  Ammon  which  the  native  princes  had  hitherto  enjoyed,  is  not  quite 
evident?  It  is  certain  that  such  of  this  cruel  and  arrogant  people  as  Avere  taken  in 
Rabbah  were  treated  with  unusual  severity— not,  indeed,  by  their  being  put  to  tor- 
turing deaths,  as  tlie  ambiguous  terms  of  the  text  have  suggested,  but  by  their  being 
reduced  to  personal  servitude,  and  devoted  to  the  most  laborious  employments  which 
existed  among  the  Hebrews,  being  such  as  those  of  sawing  and  cleaving  wood,  cf 
harrowing  the  ground,  and  of  laboring  in  the  brick-fields. 

This  was  prosperity ;  as  was,  not  long  after,  the  birth  of  another  son  from  Bath- 
sheba.  This  son  was  Solo.mon,  who,  long  before  his  birth,  and  long  before  his  mother 
was  known  to  David,  had  been  pointed  out  by  name  as  "  the  man  of  peace,"  who 
was  to  succeed  him  in  the  throne,  and  through  whom  his  dynasty  was  to  reign  in 
Israel. 

But  the  commencement  of  the  evils  threatened  upon  the  house  of  David  was  not 
long  withheld.  Amnon,  the  eldest  of  his  sons,  conceived  a  violent  passion  for  his 
half-sister,  Tamar,  the  full  sister  of  Absalom.  By  a  feigned  sickness,  he  procured 
her  presence  in  his  house,  and  delayed  not  to  declare  to  her  his  criminal  desires ;  and 
finding  that  he  could  not  persuade  her  to  compliance,  he  by  force  effected  her  dis- 
honorf  Then,  passing  suddenly  from  a  criminal  excess  of  love  to  an  equalexcess  of 
hate,  he  expelled  her  ignominiously  from  his  house.  Tamar,  in  her  grief,  rent  her 
virginal  robe  and  threw  dust  upon  her  head,  and  sought  the  asylum  of  her  brother 
Absalom's  house ;  for,  according  to  the  ideas  of  the  East,  the  son  of  the  same  mother 
is,  more  than  even  the  father,  the  proper  person  to  protect  a  female  and  lo  redress 
her  wrongs.  No  man  could  be  more  haughty  and  implacable  than  Absalom  ;  but  he 
was  also  deeply  politic ;  and  while  he  received  the  unhappy  Tamar  with  tenderness, 
he  desired  tier  to  conceal  her  grief,  seeing  that  a  brother  was  the  cause  of  it,  and  to 
spend  her  remaining  days  in  retirement  in  his  house.  He  made  no  complaint  on  the 
subject,  and,  young  as  he  was,  so  well  concealed  his  deep  resentment,  that  even 
Aranon  had  not  the  least  suspicion  of  it.  When  the  news  of  this  villanous  fact  came 
to  the  ears  of  David,  it  troubled  him  greatly ;  but  being  greatly  attached  to  Amnon, 
as  being  his  eldest  son  and  probable  successor  in  the  throne,  he  neglected  to  call  him 
to  account  or  to  punish  him  for  his  transgression.  This,  we  may  be  sure,  increased 
the  resentment  of  Absalom,  and  perhaps  laid  the  foundation  of  his  subsequent  aliena- 
tion from,  and  dislike  to,  his  father. 

Absalom  waited  two  years  before  he  found  an  opportunity  of  giving  effect  to  his 
long  and  deeply-cherished  purposes  of  vengeance.  It  seems  that  David  allowed 
separate  establishments  to  his  sons  very  early.  We  find  before  that  both  Amnon  and 
Absalom  had  separate  houses,  and  now  we  learn  that  Absalom  (and  doubtless  his 
brothers)  had  a  distinct  property  to  support  his  expenses.  For  at  this  time  he  was 
about  to  hold  a  grand  sheep-shearing  feast  in  Baal-hazor,  to  which  he  invited  the 
king  and  all  his  sons.  As  Absalom  had  hoped,  David  declined,  on  the  ground  of  the 
expense  which  his  presence  would  occasion  to  his  son ;  but  all  the  princes  went,  and 
among  them,  and  the  chief  of  them,  was  the  eldest,  Amnon.  Kow  Absalom  felt 
that  the  day  ol  his  vengeance  was  come ;  and  while  he  received  his  company  with 
distinction,  and  royally  entertained  them,  he  gave  secret  orders  to  his  servants  to  fall 
upon  Amnon,  and  slay  him,  even  at  the  table,  on  a  given  signal  from  himself  This 
was  done.  Amnon  was  slain  while  his  heart  was  warm  with  wine ;  on  which  the 
other  princes,  expecting  perhaps  the  same  fate,  made  all  haste  to  get  to  their  mules, 
and  fled  to  Jerusalem.  Their  arrival  relieved  the  king  from  the  horror  into  which 
he  had  been  plunged  by  a  rumor  that  all  his  sons  had  been  slain ;  but  still  his  indig- 
nation and  grief  were  very  great.  Absalom  himself  fled  the  country,  and  found 
refuge  with  his  maternal  grandfather,  Talmai,  the  king  of  Geshur,  with  Avhom  he 
remained  for  three  years. 

During  this  time  the  grief  of  David  for  the  murder  of  Amnon  was  gradually 
assuaged,  and  his  heart  insensibly  turned  with  kindness  toward  Absalom,  to  whom 
he  always  had  been  much  attached,  and  who  was  now  his  eldest  son,  and  who  might 
seem  to  have  the  more  claim  on  his  indulgence  and  sympathy  on  account  of  his 
exclusion  from  the  succession  to  the  throne,  to  which  by  birth  he  deemed  himself 
entitled.     Joab  was  not  slow  to  perceive  the  turn  which  the  king's  feelings  were 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


2J5 


taking,  and  was  desirous  of  bringing  about  a 
reconciliation  between  David  and  Absalom ; 
but  not  daring  to  speak  openly  to  the  king 
himself,  in  the  first  instance,  he  engaged  a 
shrewd  woman  of  Tekoah  to  come  before 
the  king  with  a  fictitious  tale  of  distress, 
which,  as  in  the  case  of  Nathan's  story, 
might  be  made  instructively  applicable  to 
the  circumstances.  The  woman  played  her 
part  to  admiration ;  but  when  she  began  to 
make  her  application,  the  king  at  once 
guessed  that  she  had  been  prompted  by 
Joab ;  and  this  being  admitted  by  the 
woman,  the  king  turned  to  that  personage, 
who  was  present  all  the  time;  and,  glad 
that  what  was  secretly  his  own  desire  was 
thus  made  to  appear  a  concession  to  the  ur- 
gent request  of  that  powerful  servant,  he  said,  "Behold,  now,  I  grant  this  request;  go, 
then,  and  bring  back  the  youni;  man  Absalom."  He  accordingly  came  back  to  Jerusalem ; 
but  his  father  declined  to  see  him  on  his  return;  and  he  remained  two  years  in  Jerusa- 
lem without  appearing  before  the  king. 

At  the  ead  of  that  time,  Absalom  was  again,  through  the  interference  of 'Joab,  admit- 
ted to  the  presence  of  his  father,  who  embraced  him  and  Avas  reconciled  to  him. 

It  would  seem  that  during  his  retirement  Absalom  had  formed  those  designs,  for  the 
ultimate  execution  of  which  he  soon  after  began  to  prepare  the  way:  this  was  no  less 
than  to  deprive  his  father  of  his  crown.  As  David  was  already  old,  Absalom  would 
probably  have  been  content  to  await  iiis  death,  but  for  peculiar  circumstances.  If  David 
properly  discharged  his  duty,  he  must  have  led  his  sons  to  understand,  that  although  the 
succession  to  the  throne  had  been  assured  to  his  family,  the  ordinary  rules  of  succession 
were  not  to  be  considered  obligatory  or  binding,  inasmuch  as  the  Supreme  King  pos- 
sessed and  would  exercise  the  right  of  appointing  the  particular  person  who  might  be 
acceptable  to  him.  In  the  absence  of  any  contrary  intimation,  the  ordinary  rules  might 
be  observed  ;  but,  according  to  the  principles  of  the  theocratical  government,  no  such  rules 
could  be  of  force  when  a  special  appointment  intervened.  It  was  already  known  to  Da^nd, 
and  could  not  but  be  known  or  suspected  by  Absalom,  that  not  only  he  but  some  other 
of  the  king's  sons  were  to  be  passed  over  by  such  an  appouitment,  in  favor  of  Solomon,  to 


[Flight  on  Mules.] 


276  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

whom,  by  this  time,  the  king  probably  began  to  pay  attention  as  his  successor.  The 
fact  that  even  the  ordinary  law  of  primogeniture,  as  applied  to  the  government,  had 
not  yet  been  exemplified  among  the  HebreAVS,  must  have  tended  to  increase  Absa- 
lom's uncertainty  of  his  own  succession  to  his  father.  Besides,  in  contending  for  the 
crown  while  his  father  lived,  he  had  but  one  competitor,  and  that  one  fondly  attached 
to  him ;  whereas,  if  he  waited  imtil  his  father's  death,  lie  might  have  many  vigorous 
competitors  in  his  brothers.  These,  or  some  of  them,  were  probably  the  considera- 
tions in  which  the  designs  of  Absalom  originated.  But  these  designs  were  not 
merely  culpable  as  against  his  own  father,  but  as  an  act  of  rebellion  against  the 
ordinations  of  the  theocracy,  since  they  involved  an  attempt  to  appropriate  by  force 
that  which  God  had  otherwise  destinated,  or  which  at  least  was  to  be  left  for  his 
free  appointment.  The  ultimate  success  of  Absalom  would,  therefore,  have  utterly 
subverted  the  theocratical  principle  which  still  remained  in  the  constitution  of  the 
Hebrew  state. 

At  the  first  view,  such  an  enterprise,  against  such  a  man  as  David,  and  by  his  own 
son,  must  have  seemed  wild  and  hopeless.  But  in  the  contest  between  youth  and 
age — between  novelty  and  habit — between  the  dignity  and  authority  of  an  old  king, 
and  the  ease  and  freedom  of  one  who  has  only  popularity  to  seek,  the  advantages  are 
not  all  in  favor  of  the  old  governor.  Besides,  it  seems  that  there  was  much  latent  dis- 
content among  the  people,  arising  in  a  considerable  degree  from  that  very  confidence 
in  the  justice  and  wisdom  of  the  king  by  which  his  throne  ought  to  have  been  secured. 
It  is  the  duty  of  an  oriental  king  to  administer  justice  in  his  own  person,  and  that 
duty  is  not  seldom  among  the  heaviest  of  those  which  devolve  upon  him.  This 
grew  in  time  to  be  so  sensibly  felt,  that  ultimately  among  the  Hebrews,  as  in  some 
oriental  and  more  European  states,  the  king  only  undertook  to  attend  to  appeals  from 
the  ordinary  tribunals.  But  under  the  former  state  of  things,  the  people  will  rather 
bring  their  causes  before  a  just  and  popular  king  than  to  the  ordinary  judges  ;  and  he 
in  consequence  is  so  overwhelmed  with  judicial  business,  that  there  remain  only  two 
alternatives — either  to  give  up  all  his  time  to  these  matters,  to  the  neglect  of  the 
general  affairs  of  the  nation,  or  else  to  risk  his  popularity  by  fixing  a  certain  time 
every  day  for  the  hearing  of  causes,  whereby  some  of  the  suiters  must  often  Avait 
many  days  before  their  causes  can  be  brought  under  his  notice.  This  hinderance  to 
bringing  a  case  immediately  before  the  king  is  calculated  to  relieve  him  by  inducing 
the  people  to  resort  to  the  inferior  judges,  from  whom  prompt  justice  might  be  ob- 
tained ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  well  calculated  to  endanger  his  popularity  with 
the  unthinking  multitude,  who  deem  their  own  affairs  of  the  highest  importance, 
and  attnlmte  to  his  neglect  or  indolence  the  delay  and  difficulty  which  they  expe- 
rience. David  made  choice  of  the  latter  alternative,  and  suffered  the  inevitable 
consequences. 

Absalom  was  not  slow  to  perceive  the  advantage  this  was  to  him,  or  to  neglect  the 
'ise  Avhich  might  be  made  of  it.  He  had  other  advantages:  he  was  an  exceedingly 
fine  young  man,  admired  by  all  Israel  for  his  beauty,  and  particularly  celebrated  for 
the  richness  and  luxuriance  of  his  hair.  This  was  no  small  matter  among  a  people 
so  open  as  were  the  Hebrews  to  receive  impressions  from  the  beauty,  or  tallness,  or 
strength  of  their  public  men.  It  was  also,  probably,  a  great  advantage  to  Absalom, 
as  against  David,  and  which  would  have  availed  him  against  any  of  his  brothers,  had 
any  of  them  been  older  than  himself,  that  he  was  maternally  descended  from  a  race 
of  kings.  When,  even  in  our  oAvn  day,  we  see  the  conventional  rights  of  primogeni- 
ture set  aside,  in  the  East,  in  favor  of  the  son  of  a  nobly-descended  mother,*  we  can 
not  suppose  this  consideration  without  v/eight  among  the  Israelites  in  the  time  of 
David.  * 

Soon  after  the  reconciliation  with  his  father,  Absalom  began  to  live  Avith  great 
ostentation,  taking  upon  him  much  more  state  than  his  station  as  the  eldest  son  of 
the  crown  required,  and  more  probably  than  his  father  exhibited  as  king.  He  had 
chariots,  and  a  guard  of  horsemen,  and  never  appeared  in  public  but  attended  by  fifty 
men.  This,  by  contrast,  the  more  enhanced  the  condescension  and  affability  Avhich 
his  purposes  required  him  to  exemplify.  It  Avas  his  Avont  to  make  his  appearance 
very  early  in  the  morning,  in  the  Avay  that  led  to  the  palace  gate ;  and  Avhen  any 

*  In  Persia,  Abbas  Mcerza,  the  father  of  the  king-,  was,  on  account  of  the  noble  descent  of  his  mother, 
noTiiinateJ  by  liis  father  to  succeed  him  in  the  throne,  in  preference  to  an  elder  son  whose  mother  was  a 
mercliant's  daughter. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  277 

man  wno  had  a  lawsuit  came  to  the  king  for  judgment,  Absalom  would  call  to  him 
and  inquire  with  much  apparent  interest  from  what  town  he  came,  and  the  nature  of 
his  suit  before  the  king;  he  would  then  condole  with  him  on  the  state  of  affairs 
which  made  it  so  difficult  to  obtain  redress  and  justice,  and  would  wind  up  with  the 
passionate  exclamation,  "  Oh  that  /  were  made  judge  in  the  land,  that  every  man 
who  hath  any  suit  or  cause  might  come  unto  me,  and  I  would  do  him  justice  !"  And 
then  when  any  man  passing  by  came  to  make  his  obeisance  to  the  king's  son,  Absalom 
would  put  forth  his  arms,  and  take  hold  of  him,  and  embrace  him  like  a  brother. 
"And  after  this  manner,"  says  the  narrative,  "  did  Absalom  to  all  Israel  who  came 
to  the  king  for  judgment :  thus  Absalom  stole  away  the  hearts  of  the  men  of  Israel.''^ 
And  it  is  important  to  note,  that  the  men  whose  hearts  he  thus  "  stole  away,"  were 
inhabitants  of  all  the  different  parts  of  the  land,  who  would  afterward  carry  to  their 
several  homes  the  impressions  they  had  received. 

At  last,  four  years  after  his  reconciliation  to  his  father,  Absalom  judged  his  plans 
ripe  for  execution ;  he  therefore  obtained  the  king's  permission  to  go  to  Hebron,  under 
the  pretence  of  offering  there  a  sacrifice  which  he  had  vowed  during  his  residence  at 
Geshur.  At  this  place  lie  had  appointed  the  chiefs  of  his  party  to  meet  him,  while 
others,  who  were  dispersed  through  all  the  tribes,  were  ordered  to  proclaim  him 
king,  as  soon  as  they  heard  the  signal  given  by  the  sound  of  the  trumpet.  At  his 
arrival  in  Hebron,  he  sent  for  Ahithophel,*  who  readily  came;  and  the  defection  of 
that  great  politician,  who  had  been  the  chief  of  David's  counsellors,  and  whose  repu- 
tation for  wisdom  was  so  great  that  his  opinion  on  most  subjects  was  respected  as 
that  of  an  oracle,  gave  much  strength  to  the  cause  of  Absalom,  and  attracted  to 
Hebron  numbers  of  influential  men  from  all  quarters  of  the  land. 

Alarmed  at  this  formidable  rebellion  so  close  to  him,  David  hastily  took  flight  with 
his  family  and  servants,  leaving  ten  of  his  concubine-wives  in  charge  of  the  palace. 
He  paused  outside  the  town  to  survey  the  faithful  few  who  were  prepared  to  follow 
his  fortunes.  Among  them  were  the  high-priests,  Zadok  and  Abiathar,  with  the 
priests  and  Levites  bearing  the  ark.  These  David  directed  to  return  with  ihe  ark 
into  the  city:  "  If  I  shall  find  favor  in  the  eyes  of  Jehovah,  he  will  brmg  me  back, 
and  show  me  both  it  and  his  habitation.  But  if  he  thus  say,  '  I  have  no  delight  in 
thee,'  behold,  here  am  I,  let  him  do  to  me  as  seemeth  good  unto  him."  From  this 
and  other  expressions,  similarly  humbled  and  resigned  to  the  dispensations  of  Provi- 
dence, it  appears  that  he  recognised  in  this  unnatural  conspiracy  against  him  a  por- 
tion of  the  judgments  which  the  prophet  had  been  authorized"  to  denounce  against 
him  for  his  iniquities  in  the  matter  of  Uriah  and  Bathsheba.  David  also  pointed  out 
to  the  high-priests  that  they  might  render  him  much  service  by  remaming  in  the 
city,  from  which  they  might  secretly  transmit  intelligence  and  advice  to  him  through 
their  sons,  Ahimaaz  and  Jonathan. 

The  whole  of  the  two  corps  of  body-guards  (the  Cherethites  and  Pelethites),  as 
well  as  the  six  hundred  Gathites,  were  ready  to  attend  the  king.  The  last-named 
body  appear  to  have  been  native  Philistines  of  Gath,  whom  David  had  attached  to 
his  service  after  the  conquest  of  their  country,  and  who  had  perhaps  become 
proselytes.f 

The  king  attempted  to  dissuade  Ittai,  their  leader,  from  attending  him  with  his 
men,  apparently  feeling  that,  as  foreigners  and  mercenaries,  they  might  be  rather 
expected  to  attach  themselves  to  the  rising  fortunes  of  Absalom.  But  the  answer 
of  Ittai  was  decisive :  "  As  Jehovah  liveth,  and  as  my  lord  the  king  liveth,  surely  in 
what  place  my  lord  shall  be,  whether  in  death  or  life,  there  also  will  thy  servant  be." 
Having  taken  this  melancholy  review  of  his  followers,  the  king  went  on,  "  by  the 
ascent  of  Mount  Olivet,  and  wept  as  he  went  up,  barefoot,  and  wit1i  his  head  covered; 
and  all  the  people  that  were  with  him  covered  every  man  his  head,  weeping  as  they 
went  up,"  in  token  of  extreme  sorrow  and  humiliation.  They  had  scarcely  reached 
the  summit  before  David  was  joined  by  an  old  and  attached  friend  named  Hushai, 

*  The  Jews  suppose  that  Aliithophel  was  the  grandfather  of  Batlisheba,  and  that  he  had  been  alienated 
from  David  by  his  conduct  toward  her,  and  by  the  murder  of  her  Imsband.     But  this  is  doubtful. 

+  Some,  however,  think  it  was  a  band  of  native  Israelites,  called  Gathites  in  memory  of  the  six  hundred 
men  who  composed  the  band  of  followers  who  accompanied  him  when  he  sought  refuge  the  second  time 
in  Gath,  and  in  which  indeed  the  members  of  that  body  had  been  incorporated,  and  were  replaced  as  they 
died  off.  But  there  is  no  good  reason  why  such  a  body  should  be  named  from  Gath  rather  than  from  other 
places  or  circumstance  in  which  their  history  connected  them  with  David.  Besides,  he  obviously  speaks 
to  Ittai.  their  leader,  as  to  a  foreigner,  who,  with  "his  brethren,"  could  hardly  be  expected  to  incui  distress 
<'or  his  sake. 


278  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

who  had  been  one  of  his  council,  and  who  came  with  his  clothes  rent  and  dust  upon 
his  head,  resolved  to  share  in  the  misfortunes  of  his  khig.  But  David,  well  con- 
vinced of  his  attachment,  did  not  think  it  fit  to  take  him  with  his  train,  but  rather 
begged  him  to  go  and  join  himself  to  Absalom,  where  he  might  render  much  better 
service  by  thwarting  the  counsels  of  Ahithophel  (of  whose  defection  he  had  just 
heard),  and  by  conveying  to  him,  through  the  two  high-priests,  information  of  what- 
ever resolutions  the  revolters  might  take.  Hushai  readily  accepted  this  office,  and 
acquitted  himself  in  it  with  such  consummate  tact  and  zeal,  as  not  a  little  contrib- 
uted to  the  final  overthrow  of  Absalom  and  his  party. 

In  his  further  progress  David  was  joined  by  Ziba,  the  steward  of  Mephibosheth, 
who  brought  with  him  some  necessary  refreshments,  and  falsely  and  treacherously 
reported  that  his  master  remained  behind,  in  the  expectation  that  the  turn  which 
affairs  were  taking  might  result  in  the  restoration  of  the  house  of  Saul  in  his  person. 
David,  sensibly  hurt  at  this  treatment  from  one  who  OAved  so  much  to  his  kindness 
and  gratitude,  hastily  told  Ziba  henceforth  to  regard  as  his  own  property  the  lands  he 
had  hitherto  managed  for  Mephibosheth.  Immediately  after,  an  incident  occurred 
to  confirm  the  impression  he  had  thus  received  ;  for  near  Bahurim,  a  village  not  far 
on  the  eastern  side  of  Olivet,  he  was  encountered  by  one  of  Saul's  family,  named 
Shimei,  who  dared  to  throw  at  him  and  his  people  volleys  of  stones,  accompanied  by 
the  grossest  abuse  and  bitterest  imprecations  against  David  as  the  author  of  all  the 
wrongs  and  misfortunes  of  the  house  of  Saul,  which  he  said  were  now  in  the  course 
of  being  avenged.  All  this  unexpected  insult  David  bore  with  meekness  and 
patience ;  for  when  Abishai  desired  permission  to  punish  the  man  on  the  spot,  the 
king  refused:  "  Behold,"  he  said,  "  my  son,  that  came  forth  out  of  mine  own  bow- 
els, seekelh  my  life,  how  much  more  now  this  Benjamite  ?  Let  him  alone,  and  let 
him  curse ;  for  Jehovah  hath  bidden  him  It  may  be  that  Jehovah  will  look  upon 
mine  atHiction,  and  requite  me  good  for  his  cursing  this  day." 

Absalom  delayed  not  to  march  to  Jerusalem.  He  was  surprised  and  gratified  to 
find  there  Hushai,  the  old  friend  of  his  father,  and  gave  him  a  place  in  his  council. 
In  that  council  the  voice  of  Ahithophel  was  still  paramount  and  decisive.  Perceiving 
that  many  held  back  or  wavered  from  the  apprehension  that  Absalom  would  hardly 
go  to  the  last  extremities  against  his  father,  and  that  possibly  they  might  become  the 
victims  of  another  reconciliation  between  I)avid  and  his  son,  this  wily  and  unprin- 
cipled statesman  advised  that  Absalom  should  not  delay  to  remove  this  apprehension 
by  such  an  act  as  would,  in  the  sight  of  all  the  people,  commit  him  beyond  all  hope 
of  a  pardon  or  reconciliation  to  the  bad  cause  in  which  he  was  engaged.  This  was, 
that  he  should  rear  a  pavilion  on  the  top  of  the  palace  (to  render  it  conspicuous  from 
afar),  into  which  he  should,  "in  the  sight  of  all  Israel,"  enter  to  the  concubine- wives 
•whom  David  had  left  in  charge  of  the  palace.  This  atrocious  counsel  was  followed 
"by  Absalom,  who  thus  unintentionally  accomplished  Nathan's  prophecy. 

The  next  advice  of  Ahithophel  was  that  not  a  moment  should  be  lost  in  crowning 
the  success  of  the  rebellion  by  the  death  of  the  king,  without  allowing  him  time  to 
I)ring  his  resources  into  action.  To  this  end  he  offered  himself  to  pursue  him  at  the 
liead  of  twelve  thousand  men:  "  And  I  shall  come  upon  him  while  he  is  weary  and 
-weak-hatided,  and  terrify  him ;  and  while  all  the  people  who  are  Avith  him  nee,  I 
-will  smite  the  king  only.  And  I  will  bring  back  all  the  people  unto  thee,  as  a  bride 
is  brought  to  her  husband  (fur  only  one  man's  life  thou  seekest) ;  and  the  whole 
people  shall  have  peace."  This  really  sagacious  advice  was  much  approved  by 
Absalom,  who  perhaps  considered  that  the  guilt  would  rest  upon  Ahithophel ;  and  to 
the  other  counsellors  it  also  seemed  good.  Hushai  was  absent :  and  as  a  high  opinion 
of  his  prudence  Avas  entertained,  AI)salom  sent  lor  him,  and  then  told  him  Avhat 
Ahithophel  had  advised,  and  asked  Avhether  he  thought  that  advice  good.  Hushai 
at  once  saw  that  David  was  lust,  if  this  plan  Avere  not  frustrated.  He  therefore, 
with  great  presence  of  mind,  adduced  several  specious  arguments  against  it,  and  in 
favor  of  delay ;  dAvelling  upon  the  known  valor  of  David  and  his  friends,  and  the 
serious  consequence  of  any  check  or  failure  in  the  first  attack.  The  least  repulse  at 
such  a  juncture  might  be  fatal  to  the  cause  of  Absalom.  The  awe  in  Avhich  they  all 
stood  of  the  military  talents  and  courage  of  the  old  king  gave  such  effect  to  these 
suggestions,  that  the  counsel  of  Hushai  Avas  preferred  to  that  of  Ahithophel.  Of  all 
this  Hushai  apprized  the  high-priests,  and  desired  them  to  convey  the  information  to 
David  through  their  sons,  together  with  his  advice  that  not  a  moment  should  be  los. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


K 


280  ,  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

in  passing  to  the  country  beyond  Jordan.  This  message  was  conveyed  to  David  with 
some  danger  and  difficulty  by  Jonathan  and  Ahimaaz,  who  had  remained  in  conceal- 
ment at  A  in  Rogel,  outside  the  city.  Neither  the  information  nor  advice  was  lost 
upon  the  king,  who  instantly  marched  to  the  Jordan,  and  passed  over  with  all  his 
people,  so  that  by  the  morning  light  not  one  was  left  in  the  plain  of  Jericho. 

The  far-seeing  Ahithophel  deemed  the  cause  of  Absalom  to  be  lost,  when  he  knew 
that  the  counsel  of  Hushai  was  to  be  followed.  His  pride  also  could  little  brook  the 
neglect  the  advice  which  he  had  given,  and  which  he  had  been  used  to  see  so  reve- 
rently regarded.  On  both  accounts,  he  abandoned  the  cause.  He  went  to  his  own 
home  ;  and  while  he  was  still  wise  enough  to  set  his  affairs  in  order,  was  mad  enough 
to  hang  himself. 

David  established  himself  at  the  town  of  Mahanaim,  which,  it  will  be  remember- 
ed, had  been  the  royal  seat  of  Ishbosheth,  and  which  appears  to  have  been  chosen  by 
him,  and  now  by  David,  on  account  of  the  strength  of  its  fortifications.  To  that  place 
several  principal  persons  of  the  country,  who  were  well  affected  to  the  cause  of  Da- 
vid, brought  a  timely  supply  of  provisions  for  himself  and  his  men,  together  with 
tents,  beds,  and  other  necessary  utensils.  An  aged  person  of  Gilead,  named  Barzillai, 
particularly  distinguished  himself  by  his  liberality  on  this  occasion  to  the  exiled  king. 

When  Absalom  heard  that  his  father  was  at  Mahanaim,  he  crossed  the  Jordan  with 
an  army,  and  encamped  in  the  land  of  Gilead.  His  army  was  under  the  command 
of  Amasa,  his  cousin.* 

David,  on  his  part,  reviewed  his  force,  Avhich  was  but  a  handful  of  men  as  compared 
with  the  large  host  which  Absalom  brought  into  the  field.  He  divided  it  into  three 
battaliops,  the  command  of  which  he  gave  to  Joab,  Abishai,  and  Ittai  the  Gathite,  in- 
tending himself  to  command  the  whole  in  person.  But  his  people,  aware  that  his 
valued  life  was  principally  sought,  would  not  hear  of  it,  but  insisted  on  his  remaining 
behind  at  Mahanaim,  with  a  small  reserved  force.  As  the  rest  of  his  adherents 
marched  out  at  the  gate,  David,  Avho  stood  there,  failed  not  to  charge  the  command- 
ers, m  the  hearing  of  the  men,  for  his  sake  to  respect  the  life  of  Absalom. 

A  most  sanguinary  action  was  soon  after  fought  in  the  forest  of  Ephraim,  wherein 
the  rebel  army  was  defeated,  with  the  loss  of  twenty  thousand  men,  slain  in  the  bat- 
tle-field, besides  a  great  number  of  others  who  perished  in  the  wood  and  in  their  flight. 
Absalom  himself,  mounted  upon  a  mule,t  was  obliged  to  flee  from  a  party  of  David's 
men  toward  the  wood,  where  the  boughs  of  a  thick  oak  having  taken  hold  of  his 
bushy  hair,  in  which  he  took  so  much  pride,  the  mule  continuing  its  speed,  left  him 
suspended  in  the  air.  The  pursuing  soldiers,  seeing  him  in  this  state,  respected  the 
order  of  the  king,  and  forbore  to  smite  him  ;  but  Joab,  Avho  happened  to  learn  what 
had  occurred,  ran  and  struck  three  darts  through  his  body.  "  Whatever  were  Joab's 
crimes,  among  them  disloyalty  was  not  to  be  reckoned.  And  now  he  gave  the  most 
unequivocal  proof  of  his  unshaken  fidelity,  in  knowingly  incurrin<j  the  king's  displeas- 
ure, to  rid  him  of  an  obstinate  rebel  against  his  own  father,  Avhom  no  forgiveness 
could  soften  and  no  favors  could  bind,  for  whom  Joab  himself  had  so  successfully  in- 
terceded, and  was  likely  therefore  to  have  been  otherwise  well  disposed  toward  Ab- 
salom from  the  mere  circumstance  of  having  served  him."| 

As  the  death  of  Absalom  ended  the  cause  of  war,  Joab  caused  the  trumpet  to  sound 
a  retreat,  to  stop  the  carnage.  The  body  of  Absalom  was  taken  down,  and  cast  into 
a  large  pit,  and  covered  with  a  heap  of  stones.  This  was  not  the  end  or  the  sepul- 
chre expected  by  this  ambitious  man,  when  he  reared  for  himself  a  fair  monument 
"in  the  king's  dale,"  supposed  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  to  keep  his  name  in  re- 
membrance, because  he  had  no  sous,  and  therefore  called  it  by  his  own  name.  In 
what  manner  we  may  venture  to  connect  with  Absalom  the  monument  which  now 
appears  in  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat  'rearing  his  name,  is  a  matter  on  which  a  few 
words  may  be  said  in  a  note  to  this  page.|| 

*  Zeruiah.  the  motlier  of  Joab  and  Abishai,  was  a  sister  of  David ;  Ablpail,  the  mother  of  Amasa,  was 
another  sister.  Whence  Joab,  Abisliai,  and  Amasa,  were  all  nephews  of  David,  and  cousins  of  Absalom  : 
whence  also  it  happened  that  commanders  of  the  opposite  armies  were  sisters'  sons.  See  1  Chron.  ii.  10, 
17.     But  2  Sarn.  xvii.  25,  makes  .Abigail  the  gmrffmotheT  of  Amasa. 

t  As  he  had  for  civil  state  plenty  of  horses  and  chariots,  this  shows  that  the  Hebrews  had  not  yet  come 
to  use  either  in  war. 

t  Hales,  ii.  349. 

II  Absalom's  Sepulchre,  see  p.  279. — Of  the  monument  represented  in  the  engraving-,  a  very  grood  and 
satisfactory  account  has  been  given  by  Mr.  Wilde,  wliose  description  we  shall  here  transcribe  :— 

"Descending  to  Gethsetnane,  we  continued  our  course  tlirough  the  valley  of  Jehosliaphal  by  those  re- 
markable monuments  denominated  the  sepulchres  of  the  patriarchs,  wl.  ch  have  been  described,  as  we)l  as 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


281 


'<iS2  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

The  partisans  of  Absalom  were  no  sooner  acquainted  with  the  death  of  their  pop- 
ular chiel'  than  they  lied,  every  man  to  his  own  home. 

Ahiiuuaz,  ihe  son  of  Zadok  the  high-priest,  besought  Joab  to  be  allowed  to  bear 
the  tidings  of  the  victory  to  the  king.  But  as  Joab  knew  that  David  would  regard  as 
evil  any  tidnigs  that  included  the  death  of  his  son,  he,  out  of  regard  to  Ahimaaz,  re- 
fused liis  permission,  but  sent  Cushi  with  the  news.  The  other,  afterward  persisting 
in  his  request,  was  allowed  to  go  also ;  and  he  went  with  such  speed  that  he  outran 
Cushi,  and  Avas  first  to  appear  before  the  king,  who  sat  at  the  gate  of  jMahanaim, 
anxiously  awaiting  tidings  from  the  battle.  The  king  and  the  father  had  struggled 
hard  within  him;  the  father  conquered;  and  now  his  absorbing  desire  was  to  know 
that  Absalom  was  safe.  Aware  of  this  feeling,  Ahimaaz  contented  himself  with  re- 
porting the  victory,  leaving  to  Cushi  the  less  pleasant  news;  and  he,  when  plainly 
asked,  "  Is  the  young  man  Absalom  safe  ?"  answered,  with  much  discretion,  "  The 
enemies  of  my  lord  the  king,  and  all  that  rise  against  thee  to  do  thee  evil,  be  as  that 
young  man  is."  On  hearing  this,  "  the  king  was  much  moved,  and  went  up  to  ihe 
chamber  over  the  gale ;  and  as  he  went,  thus  he  said,  '  0  my  son  Absalom  !  my  son, 
my  son  Absalom !  would  to  God  I  had  died  for  thee,  0  Absalom,  my  son,  my  son  !'  " 
And  thus  he  remained  in  the  chamber  over  the  gate,  with  his  head  covered  like  a 
mourner,  wailing  for  his  son,  and  oblivious  to  all  things  else. 

His  faithful  adherents,  who,  by  venturing  their  lives  for  him  against  fearful  odds, 
had  that  day  restored  him  to  his  throne,  returning  weary  to  the  city,  where  they  de- 
served to  be  greeted  with  thanks  and  praises,  and  triumphal  songs,  were  quite  con- 
founded to  learn  this  conduct  of  the  king,  and  slunk  into  the  town  like  guilty  people — 
even  like  defeated  men  rather  than  conquerors.  As  very  serious  consequences  might 
arise  from  this  state  of  feeling,  Joab  went  in  to  the  king,  and  reproved  him  very 
sharply  for  his  unkingly  conduct  and  untimely  wailing,  so  calculated  to  discourage  his 
truest  friends,  and  insisted  that  he  should  go  forth  and  show  himself  to  the  people, 
and  speak  kindly  to  them;  "For,"  said  he,  "if  thou  go  not  forth,  not  a  man  will  re- 
main with  thee  this  night ;  and  this  will  be  worse  to  thee  than  any  evil  that  hath  be- 
fallen thee  from  thy  youth  until  now."  The  king  could  see  the  prudence  of  this 
counsel ;  and,  therefore,  curbing  his  strong  emotion,  he  went  down  to  the  gate  and 
sat  there  ;  on  hearnig  which  the  people  hastened  to  present  themselves  before  him, 
and  all  was  well. 

It  might  seem  the  obvious  consequence  of  his  victory,  that  David  should  repass  the 

drawn  with  great  accuracy  by  most  writers  on  Palestine.  They  are  placed  on  the  eastern  side  of  Kedron, 
nearly  opposite  the  southern  angle  of  the  present  wall,  and  are  some  of  the  rarest  and  most  extraordinary 
specimens  of  sepulchral  architecture  in  existence.  Tliey  are  hewn  out  of  the  solid  rock,  with  tcniple-hke 
fronts.  Some  of  them  are  enormous  masses  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  rock,  and  left  standing  like  so 
many  monolithic  temples— monuments  that  record  as  well  (if  not  more  so)  tlie  labor  and  ingenuity  of  their 
constructors  as  those  to  whose  memory  they  have  been  erected.  The  names  assigned  to  these  tombs  are 
Jelioshaphat,  .Tames,  Zechariah,  and  Absalom.  Tliis  latter  is  the  most  elegant  and  tasteful  piece  of  arclii- 
tecture  in  Judea,  indeed,  I  might  almost  add,  in  the  East,  and  viewed  from  the  valley  beneath,  it  is  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  tombs  that  I  have  ever  seen  in  any  country.  It  consists  of  a  mass  of  rock  twenty-foui 
feet  square,  separated  from  the  rest,  and  standing  in  a  small  enclosure  that  surrounds  three  of  its  sides. 
■•  It  has  four  pilasters  with  Ionic  capitals  on  each  front,  the  two  outer  ones  being  flat,  while  those  in  the  cen- 
tre are  semicircular  ;  the  frieze  is  ornamented  with  triglyphs.  The  upper  part  is  composed  of  several  pieces, 
and  surmounted  by  a  small  spire  terminating  in  a  bunch  of  lca\cs.  There  is  a  hole  in  the  back  immedi- 
ately lieneatli  the  architrave  througli  wliich  I  was  enabled  to  climb  into  its  interior.  As  the  door  by  which 
it  was  entered  was  concealed,  this  opening  was  formed,  in  all  piobability,  for  the  purpose  of  rifling  the  sep- 
ulchre of  its  contents.  Within,  it  presents  the  usual  form  of  eastern  tombs,  having  niches  at  the  sides 
for  bodies.  The  general  opinion  of  antiquaries  is,  that  the  Grecian  architecture  exhibited  on  the  exterior 
of  this  rock  is  no  test  of  the  date  of  its  construction  ;  and,  that  it  was  added  in  later  times,  and  a  similar 
workmanship  is  visible  in  the  other  neighboring  tombs.  To  it  may  be  referred  that  rebuke  of  our  Lord  to 
tlie  Pharisees,  regarding  their  garnishing  tlie  sepulchres  of  the  prophets.  The  tradilion  is,  that  this  pillar, 
of  which  we  have  an  account  in  the  book  of  Samuel,  was  erected  by  Absalom.  '  Now  Absalom  in  his  life- 
time had  taken  and  reared  up  for  himself  a  pillar,  which  is  in  the  king's  dale ;  for  he  said,  I  have  no  son  to 
keep  my  name  in  remembrance  ;  and  he  called  the  pillar  after  his  own  name  ;  and  it  is  called  untotliis  day 
Absalom's  Place.'  Josephus  also  informs  us  that  '  Absalom  had  erected  for  himself  a  stone  marble  pillar 
in  tlie  kinfi's  dale,  two  furlongs  distant  from  Jerusalem,  which  he  named  Absalom's  Stand,  saving,  that  if 
his  children  were  killed,  his  name  would  remain  by  that  pillar.'  I  see  no  reason  to  doubt  the  "tradilion  re- 
garding this  monument,  although  tlie  historian  has  stated  it  to  be  a  greater  distance  from  the  city  than  we 
now  find  it ;  but  this  is  an  error  into  which  lie  often  falls.  In  confirmation  of  its  supposed  origin  I  may  add, 
that  it  has  ever  been  a  place  of  detestation  ^o  the  Hebrews  ;  and  every  Jew  who  passes  it  by  throws  a 
stone  at  it  to  this  day,  so  that  a  large  cairn  has  formed  round  its  base. 

"  The  style  of  the  whole  of  these  four  sepulchres,  but  especially  the  two  I  have  more  particularly  noticed, 
is  very  peculiar,  and  is  totally  different  from  other  tombs  in  this  neighborhood.  An  inspection  of  them 
would  lead  us  to  believe  that,  at  the  time  of  erection,  the  Hebrews  had  not  quite  forgot  the  lessons  on 
architecture  which  their  forefathers  had  learned  in  Egypt.  Around  these  mausolea,  upon  the  sides  of  the 
rocks,  and  the  slopes  of  Mount  Olivet,  there  are  hundreds  of  plain  flat  gravestones  belonging  to  the  Jews 
All  these  liave  Hebrew  inscriptions,  some  of  which  a  Hebrew  scholar  resident  in  the  city  informed  me 
were  dated  a  short  time  subsequent  to  the  Christian  era." — Wilde's  "  Narrative  of  a  Vcn/age,"  p.  325-'2''' 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  2S3 

Jordan  at  the  head  of  his  conquering  army,  and  resume  his  throne  at  Jerusalem.  But 
the  mass  of  the  people  had  chosen  another  for  their  king,  and  by  that  act  had  virtu- 
ally, to  the  extent  of  their  power,  deposed  himself;  and  in  such  a  case  it  would  ap- 
pear that  the  civil  principles  of  the  constitution  required  that  he  should,  in  a  certain 
sense,  be  re-elected  to  the  crown  by  the  people,  before  he  was  entitled  to  regard  him- 
self as  king  over  any  but  such  as  had  continued  to  recognise  him  in  that  character. 
He  therefore  remained  beyond  Jordan  until  the  tribes  should  decide  to  recall  him.  It 
seems  there  was  a  general  disposition  among  the  people  to  do  this ;  they  blamed  one 
another  for  their  rebellion  against  the  king,  and  their  remissness  in  recalling  him  ;  but 
all  seemed  to  shrink  from  taking  the  first  step  in  the  matter.  Judah,  from  its  more 
intimate  relations  with  David,  mighi  be  expected  to  give  the  example;  but  Judali  had 
been  the  headquarters  of  the  rebellion ;  and  it  appears  that  Jerusalem  was  in  the  oc- 
cupation of  Amasa,  who,  li-om  the  extent  to  which  he  had  committed  himself  in  Ab- 
salom's rebellion,  might  judge  his  case  desperate,  and  hence  use  all  his  influence  to 
prevent  the  king's  return.  This  state  of  affairs  being  understood  by  David,  he  sent 
to  the  high-priests,  who  were  still  in  Jerusalem,  charging  them  to  remind  the  elders 
of  Judah  of  the  obligation  which  seemed  peculiarly  to  devolve  upon  them,  and  also 
to  gain  over  Amasa  by  the  offer  to  make  him  captain  of  the  host  in  the  place  of  Joab. 
This  was  attended  with  the  desired  result;  and  the  elders  of  Judah  sent  back  the  an- 
swer, "Return  thou,  and  all  thy  servants."  On  receiving  this  invitation,  the  king 
marched  to  the  Jordan  :  and  the  men  of  Judah,  on  their  part,  assembled  at  Gilgal,  to 
assist  him  over  the  river,  and  to  receive  him  on  his  arrival.  Among  these,  and  fore- 
most among  them,  were  a  thousand  men  of  Benjamin,  headed  by  Shimei,  and  including 
Ziba  with  his  fifteen  sons  and  twenty  servants.  No  sooner  had  the  king  passed  the 
river  in  a  ferry-boat,*  than  Shimei  tlirew  himself  at  liis  feet,  acknowledged  his  former 
crime,  but  trusted  that  it  would  be  forgiven  in  consideration  of  his  being  the  first  in 
all  Israel  (except  Judah)  to  come  forward  with  a  powerful  party,  to  promote  his  resto- 
ration. In  consideration  of  tliis  circumstance,  and,  what  was  a  greater  merit  and  ben- 
efit— that  his  party  was  from  the  tribe  of  Benjamin — it  would  have  been  a  most  un- 
gracious act  had  the  king  been  inexorable.  He  therefore  pardoned  him  ireely,  although 
some  of  his  officers  were  for  putting  him  to  death.  For  the  like  reason,  probably, — 
that  is,  for  fear  of  disgusting  the  valuable  party  to  which  he  belonged,  and  in  which 
he  had  much  influence, — the  king  dared  not  entirely  recall  from  Ziba  the  grant  of 
Mephibosheth's  lands  which  he  had  hastily  made  to  him.  When  the  son  of  Jonathan 
came  to  the  Jordan  to  meet  the  king,  he  made  it  clear  to  him  that  he  had  been  slan- 
dered by  his  steward,  who  had  purposely  neglected  to  provide  him  with  the  means  of 
escape  from  Jerusalem  when  he  purposed  to  join  the  king  in  his  exile;  so  that,  incon- 
sequence of  his  lameness,  he  had  been  obliged  to  remain  behind ;  but,  during  his  stay, 
had  remained  in  retirement,  and,  as  a  mourner,  had  neither  dressed  his  feef,  trimmed 
his  beard,  nor  changed  his  clothes.  Under  the  circumstances,  the  king  could  only  say, 
"  Thou  and  Ziba  divide  the  land  ;"  to  which  the  reply  of  Mephibosheih  was  worthy 
of  the  son  of  the  generous  Jonathan,  "  Yea,  let  him  take  all,  since  my  lord  the  king 
is  come  again  to  his  own  house  in  peace." 

The  rich  old  man  of  Gilead,  Barzijlai,  who  had  so  liberally  ministered  to  the  wants 
of  David  during  his  exile,  came  down  to  the  Jordan  to  see  him  over.  The  king  Avould 
fain  have  persuaded  him  to  accompany  him  to  Jerusalem,  that  he  might  have  an  op- 

tiortunity  of  rewarding  his  services  ;  but  Barzillai  returned  the  touching  reply,  "How 
ong  have  I  to  live  that  I  should  go  up  with  the  king  to  Jerusalem  ?  I  am  this  day 
eighty  years  old,  and  can  I  discern  between  good  and  evil  ?  Can  thy  servant  taste 
what  I  eat,  or  what  I  drink  ?  Can  I  hear  any  more  the  voice  of  singing-men  and 
singing-women  ?  Why  then  should  thy  servant  be  yet  a  burden  to  my  lordthe  king? 
Let  thy  servant  just  go  over  Jordan  with  the  king;  and  then  let  thy  servant,  I  pray 
thee,  return,  that  I  may  die  in  my  own  city,  near  the  grave  of  my  father  and  my  mo- 
ther."  He,  however,  recommended  the  fortunes  of  his  son  Chimham  to  the  care  of 
the  king,  who  accordingly  took  that  person  with  him  to  Jerusalem. 

From  the  result,  we  may  doubt  the  wisdom  of  the  separate  appeal  which  David 

*  Tlie  first  and  only  time  we  ever  read  of  a  ferry-boat  on  tlie  Jordan.  The  interpretation  is,  however, 
rattier  doubtful.  Some  malce  it  a  bridge  of  boats.  Many  interpreters  prefer  tlie  sense  of  the  Septuagint  and 
Syriac,  whicli,  instead  of,  "And  there  went  over  a  ferry-boat  to  carry  over  the  king-'s  household,  and  to  do 
what  he  thought  good,"  read,  "  And  these  (the  men  of  Judah  and  Benjamin)  went  over  the  Jordan  before 
the  Icing,  and  performed  the  service  of  bringing  over  the  king's  household,  and  in  doing  what  he  thaught 
good. 


284  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE  > 

had  made  to  his  own  tribe  of  Judah,  inasmuch  as  his  more  intimate  connexion  with 
that  tribe,  by  birth  and  by  having  reigned  over  it  separately  for  seven  years,  required 
the  most  cautious  policy  on  his  side,  to  prevent  his  appearing  to  the  other  tribes  as  the 
king  of  a  party.  Now,  when  he  had  crossed  the  Jordan,  people  from  all  the  tribes 
flocked  to  him  to  join  in  the  act  of  recall  and  restoration.  But  when  they  came  to 
consider  of  it,  the  other  tribes  were  not  willing  to  forgive  Judah  for  having  been  be- 
forehand with  them;  or,  in  other  words,  that,  instead  of  inviting  them  to  join  with 
themselves  in  the  act  of  recall,  the  elders  of  Judah,  by  acting  independently  had  en- 
abled themselves  to  exhibit  the  appearance  of  more  alacrity  and  zeal  in  the  fcing's  be- 
half, putting  the  other  tribes  in  an  unfavorable  position  by  comparison.  They  alleged 
also  their  claim  to  be  considered,  on  the  ground  that  the  ten  tribes  had  tenfold  the  in- 
terest in  the  kingdom  to  that  which  the  single  tribe  of  Judah  could  claim.  The  an- 
swer of  that  tribe  was  the  most  impolitic  and  provoking  that  could  be  made.  They 
alleged  that  seeing  the  king  was  of  their  own  tribe,  "  their  bone  and  their  tlesh,"  they 
had  a  right  to  take  a  peculiar  and  exclusive  interest  in  his  recall.  This  quarrel  grew 
so  hot,  as  to  strengthen  the  i^atural  disposition  of  the  tribes  to  regard  David  as  the 
king  of  the  Judahites ;  and  but  a  slight  impulse  Avas  wanting  to  induce  them  to  leave 
him  to  his  own  party.  This  impulse  was  supplied  by  one  Sheba,  of  the  discontented 
tribe  of  Benjamin,  who,  perceiving  the  state  of  feeling,  blew  the  trumpet,  and  gave 
forth  the  Hebrew  watchword  of  revolt,  "  To  your  tents,  0, Israel !"  and,  in  the  name 
of  the  tribes,  disclaimed  all  further  interest  in  David,  and  bade  defiance  to  his  adhe- 
rents. The  effect  of  this  move,  perhaps,  exceeded  his  expectation.  On  a  sudden  he 
saw  himself  at  the  head  of  all  the  tribes,  except  that  of  Judah,  which  had  occasioned 
this  defection,  and  which  was  left  almost  alone  to  conduct  the  king  from  the  Jordan 
to  Jerusalem. 

This  circumstance,  perhaps,  supplied  to  David  an  additional  motive  for  performing 
his  secret  promise  of  making  Amasa  captain  of  the  host ;  as  that  person  appears  to 
have  been  high  in  favor  with  the  tribes.  But  most  readers  will  feel  displeased  that 
Joab  should  at  this  juncture — after  the  brilliant  displays  which  he  had  so  lately  af- 
forded of  his  loyalty,  courage,  and  prudence — be  displaced  in  favor  of  the  rebel  leader  ; 
and  even  if  judged  by  the  principles  of  the  East,  that  every  stroke  of  policy  by  which 
something  may  be  gained,  is  a  good  stroke,  whatever  interests  or  honor  it  sacrifices, — 
even  judged  by  this  rule,  the  policy  of  this  operation  may  very  much  be  doubted,  as, 
indeed,  David  himself  had  soon  occasion  to  suspect.  In  fact,  we  agree  with  Hales, 
that  in  this  David  "  seems  to  have  acted  rather  ungratefully  and  unwisely,  justifying 
Joab's  reproach  (on  a  former  occasion),  '  thou  lovest  thine  enemies  and  hatest  thy 
friends.'  But"  the  old  grudge  and  jealousy  which  he  entertained  against  '  the  sons  of 
Zeruiah,'  who  were  above  his  control,  and  too  powerful  to  be  punished,  as  in  Abner's 
case,  combined  with  Joab's  disobedience  of  orders  in  killing  Absalom,  which  he  could 
never  forget,  nor  forgive,  to  the  day  of  his  death,  seem  to  have  got  the  better  of  his 
usual  temporizing  caution  and  political  prudence." 

Amasa,  the  new  captain  of  the  host,  failed  to  assemble  the  forces  of  Judah,  to  act 
against  Sheba,  within  the  time  which  the  king  had  appointed.  Whether  this  arose 
from  want  of  zeal  or  ability  in  him,  or  from  the  disgust  of  the  Judahites  at  the  re- 
moval of  Joab  from  an  office  which  he  had  filled  with  great  distinction  for  twenty- 
seven  years,  Ave  know  not.  The  king  was  in  consequence  obliged  to  order  Joab's 
brother,  Abishai,  to  take  the  command  of  the  royal  guards,  and  pursue  Sheba  Avithout 
delay,  before  he  could  get  into  the  fenced  cities;  for  that  otherAvise  he  might  raise  a 
rebellion  more  dangerous  than  Absalom's.  On  this  occasion  Joab  Avent  Avith  Abishai 
as  a  volunteer,  foUoAved  by  the  company  which  formed  his  private  command,  for  his 
zeal  for  his  king  and  country  rose  paramount  above  his  sense  of  the  disgrace  which 
had  recently  been  inflicted  on  him.  But  when  Amasa,  Avith  the  force  he  had  collected, 
joined  them  at  Gibeon  to  take  the  command,  Joab,  under  the  pretext  of  saluting  him 
as  his  ''brother,''''  slew  him,  just  as  in  a  former  time  he  had  slain  Abner.  He  then 
took  the  command  himself,  causing  proclamation  to  be  made, — "  He  that  fovoreth 
Joab,  and  he  that  is  for  David,  let  him  follow  Joab."  He  then  pursued  Sheba,  be- 
sieged him  in  a  toAvn  to  Avhich  he  had  fled,  deraajuled  his  head  from  the  inhabitants, 
and  crushed  the  rebellion.  He  then  returned  triumphant  to  Jerusalem,  self-reinstated 
in  his  former  station,  of  which  David  dared  no  more  to  de[)rive  him. 

About  the  thirty-fourth  year  of  David's  reign*  commenced  a  grievous  famine,  which 

•  So  Hales  ;  but  some  tlunl<  that  altliou^h  the  history  relates  tlie  event  in  this  place,  it  actually  occurred 
in  the  early  part  of  David's  reign.     And  tliere  are  some  very  probable  reasons  tor  this  conclusion. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  285 

continued  for  three  successive  years.  When  the  sacred  oracle  was  consulted,  it  de- 
clared that  this  was  uu  account  of  the  unatoned  blood  of  the  Gibeonites,  whom  Saul, 
in  despite  of  the  ancient  treaty  betAveen  that  people  and  the  Israelites,  had  cut  olT. 
This  circumstance  is  not  mentioned  in  the  history  of  Saul ;  but,  from  the  circum- 
stances, it  may  perhaps  be  collected  that  Saul,  finding  the  difficulty,  to  which  we  have 
adverted  more  than  once,  of  forming  a  landed  property  for  his  fayiily,  where  the  land 
was  already  inalienably  parcelled  out  among  the  people,  had,  under  pretence  of  zeal 
for  the  interests  of  his  own  people,  formed  the  design  of  utterly  destroying  the  Gib- 
eonites, and,  as  far  as  he  was  able,  executed  that  design,  giving  their  lands  and  wealth 
to  his  relatives,  by  the  survivors  of  whom  they  were  still  possessed.  As  it  therefore 
appeared  that  the  calamity  which  punished  this  breach  of  national  faith  could  only 
be  averted  through  satisfaction  being  rendered  to  the  remjaant  of  the  Gibeonites,  Da- 
vid sent  to  learn  what  satisfaction  they  required.  They,  actuated  by  the  powerful 
principles  of  revenge  for  blood,  to  which  we  had  such  frequent  occasion  to  advert,  re- 
fused to  take  "  silver  or  gold,"  that  is,  a  blood-fine,  from  the  house  of  Saul,  but  de- 
manded that  execution  should  be  performed  upon  seven  members  of  that  house. 
Seven  members  of  Saul's  family  were  accordingly  sought  out  and  given  up  to  thein. 
These  were,  two  sons  of  Saul  by  his  concubine  Rizpah,  and  five  grandsons  by  his  eld- 
est daughter  Merab  ;  Mephibosheth  (Avho  appears  to  have  been  the  only  other  mem- 
ber of  the  family)  was  held  back  by  David,  on  account  of  the  covenant  between  him 
and  Jonathan.  The  Gibeonites  took  these  persons,  and,  after  having  slain  them, 
hanged  up  their  bodies  upon  a  hill.  This  was  against  the  law,  which  forbids  that  a 
body  should  be  kept  hanging  after  the  going  down  of  the  sun  on  the  first  day.  How 
long  they  thus  remained,  is  not  stated  ;  but  the  famine  had  been  occasioned  by  drought, 
and  they  hung  there  until  the  rains  of  heaven  fell  upon  them.  It  was  then  made 
known  to  David  that  Eizpah,  the  mother  of  two  of  them,  had  spread  sackcloth  for 
herself  upon  the  rock,  and  had  there  remained  to  protect  the  bodies  i'rom  the  birds  of 
the  air  and  the  beasts  of  the  field.  Touched  by  this  striking  instance  of  tlie  tender- 
ness of  maternal  aff'ection,  David  not  only  directed  the  bodies  of  these  persons  to  be 
taken  down,  but  he  went  (or  sent)  to  Jabesh  Gilead,  to  remove  from  under  the  oak  in 
that  place,  the  bones  of  Saul  and  Jonathan,  and  deposite  them,  with  all  respect,  in  the 
family  sepulchre  at  Kelah  in  Benjamin,  together  with  the  remains  of  these  unhappy 
members  of  their  house. 

David  has  been  censured  by  some  writers  for  consenting  to  the  demand  of  the 
Gibeonites ;  but  the  reader  must  perceive  that  the  demand  of  the  Gibeonites  was 
one  w"hich  the  king  could  not  refuse.  They  might  have  accepted  the  blood-fine ;  but 
this  was  optional  with  them,  and  they  were  perfectly  entitled  to  refuse  it,  and  to  de- 
mand blood  for  blood.  That  the  persons  who  were  slain  had  themselves  no  hand  in 
the  crime  for  which  they  were  punished,  is  more  than  we  know;  it  is  most  likely 
that  they  were  active  parties  in  it,  and  still  more  that  they  reaped  the  profits  of  it. 
But  even  were  this  not  the  case,  it  is  a  Avell-known  principle  of  blood-avengement 
that  the  heirs  and  relatives  of  the  blood-shedder  are  responsible  for  the  blood  in  their 
own  persons,  in  case  the  avenger  is  not  able  to  reach  the  actual  perpetrator.  That 
David  had  any  interest  in  getting  rid  of  these  persons  is  equally  absurd  and  untrue, 
for  they  made  no  pretensions  to  the  crown  themselves,  nor  did  others  make  such 
pretensions  for  them.  Even  when  the  cause  of  Saul's  house  was  most  in  want  of  a 
head,  none  of  these  persons  appeared  to  advance  their  claims,  nor  did  the  warmest 
partisans  of  the  cause  dream  of  producing  any  of  them  in  opposition  to  David. 

Now  that  the  Israelites  had  been  Aveakened  by  two  rebellions  and  three  years  of 
famine,  the  Philistines  deemed  the  opportunity  favorable  for  an  attempt  to  shake  off 
their  yoke.  They  therefore  renewed  the  war  about  the  thirty-seventh  year  of  Da- 
vid's reign,  but  were  defeated  in  four  engagements,  and  finally  subdued.  In  all  these 
engagements  the  Philistines  exhibited  their  old  passion  for  bringing  gigantic  cham- 
pions into  the  field.  In  the  first  of  these  engagements,  David  himself,  notwithstand- 
ing his  years,  shrunk  not  from  the  combat  with  the  giant  Izbi-benob  ;  but  he  waxed 
faint,  and  was  in  danger  of  being  slain,  had  not  the  brave  and  trusty  Abishai  hastened 
to  his  relief,  and  killed  the  gigantic  Philistine.  After  this  the  peopJe  would  no  more 
allow  David  to  go  forth  in  person  to  battle,  "lest  he  should  quench  the  light  of  Is- 
rael." This  war  completely  extinguished  the  gigantic  race  to  which  Goliah  had 
belonged. 

The  numbering  of  the  people  was  one  of  the  last  and  most  reprehensible  acts  of  the 


286  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

reign  of  David.  In  itself,  an  enumeration  of  the  population  might  be  not  only  inno- 
cent but  useful ;  it  was  the  motive  by  which  the  deed  was  rendered  evil.  This  mo- 
tive, so  offensive  to  God,  Avas  obviously  supplied  by  the  design  of  forcing  all  the  Is- 
raelites into  military  service,  with  a  view  to  foreign  conquests;  a  design  not  only 
pitiable  in  so  old  a  man,  but  in  every  way  repugnant  to  both  the  internal  and  exter- 
nal polity  of  the  theocratical  government.  That  the  census  was  not,  as  in  former 
times,  taken  through  the  priests  and  magistrates,  but  by  Joab,  as  commander-in-chief, 
assisted  by  the  other  military  chiefs,  sufficiently  indicates  the  military  object  of  the 
census ;  and  if  they  were  accompanied  by  the  regular  troops  under  their  command, 
as  the  mention  of  their  "  encamping"  leads  one  to  suspect,  it  may  seem  that  the  ob- 
ject was  known  to  and  disliked  by  the  people,  and  that  the  census  could  only  be  taken 
in  the  presence  of  a  military  force.  Indeed  the  measure  was  repugnant  to  the  wishes 
of  the  military  commanders  themselves,  and  was  in  a  peculiar  degree  abhorrent  to 
Joab,  who  saw  the  danger  to  the  liberties  of  the  people,  and  gave  it  all  the  opposition 
in  his  power,  and  undertook  it  reluctantly,  when  he  found  the  king  adhered  to  his 
purpose  with  the  obstinacy  of  age. 

At  the  end  of  nine  months  and  twenty  days,  Joab  brought  to  the  king  the  return 
of  the  adult  male  population,  which  was  900,000  men  in  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel,  and 
400,000,  in  round  numbers,  in  the  tribe  of  Judah  alone;  being,  together,  1,300,000. 
But  the  tribes  of  Levi  and  Benjamin  were  not  included  in  this  account;  for  Joab  did 
not  finish  the  enumeration,  probably  in  consequence  of  some  indications  of  the  Divine 
displeasure  in  the  course  of  it.  According  to  usual  proportions,  the  entire  population 
of  Israel  at  this  time  (without  including  these  two  tribes)  could  not  well  have  been 
less  than  5,200,000.  The  same  marks  of  the  Divine  displeasure  which  prevented  the 
completion  of  the  census  were  probably  those  which  aAvakened  the  slumbering  con- 
science of  David  when  the  return  was  presented  to  him.  He  confessed  before  God 
that  he  had  sinned,  and  prayed  to  be  forgiven.  The  next  morning  it  was  made 
known  to  him,  through  the  prophet  Gad,  that  he  had  sinned  indeed,  and  that  his  sin 
was  not  of  such  a  nature  as,  with  a  due  regard  to  the  public  principles  of  the  govern- 
ment, could  be  allowed  to  pass  without  signal  punishment.  The  choice  of  punish- 
ment was  offered  to  him :  seven  years  of  famine,  three  months  to  be  pursued  by  his 
enemies,  or  three  days  of  pestilence.  The  humbled  monarch  confessed  the  choice  to 
be  hard,  but  fixed  on  the  latter  alternative,  as  the  more  equal  punishment,  and  such 
as  seemed  more  immediately  under  the  direction  of  Heaven.  Accordingly,  Jehovah 
sent  a  pestilence,  which  in  the  course  of  two  days  destroyed  70,000  men,  from  Dan 
to  Beersheba.  It  was  then  beginning  to  visit  Jerusalem,  when  God  was  pleased  to 
put  a  stop  to  it,  at  the  earnest  prayer  of  David.  He  beheld  the  commissioned  angel 
stand  in  the  thrashing-floor  of  Araunah,  a  chief  person  among  the  Jebusites,  as  one 
preparing  to  destroy.  And  then  he  and  the  elders  of  Israel,  all  clad  in  sackcloth,  fell 
upon  their  faces,  and  the  king  cried — "  Is  it  not  I  that  commanded  the  people  to  be 
numbered?  Even  I  it  is  that  have  sinned  and  done  evil  indeed  ;  but  as  for  these 
sheep,  what  have  they  done  ?  Let  thy  hand,  I  pray  thee,  O  Jehovah,  my  God,  be  on 
me,  and  on  my  father's  house  ;  but  not  on  thy  people  that  they  should  be  plagued." 
This  noble  prayer  Avas  granted  as  soon  as  uttered.  Through  the  prophet  Gad,  he 
was  commanded  to  erect  an  altar,  and  offer  sacrifices  on  that  spot  of  ground  where  he 
had  seen  the  destroying  angel  stand.  The  king  accordingly  bought  the  thrashin?- 
floor  from  Araunah  (who  would  willingly  have  given  it  free  of  cost)  for  fifty  shekels 
of  silver.*  He  then  ha.-iened  to  erect  an  altar,  and  to  offer  thereon  burnt-offerings, 
and  peace-offerings ;  and  a  miraculous  fire  which  descended  from  the  heavens  and 
consumed  the  victims  gave  manifest  proof  of  the  Divine  complacency,  and  so  sanc- 
tified the  spot  as  to  point  it  out  for  the  site  of  the  future  temple.  The  plague  was 
stayed. 

David  was  now  advancing  toward  seventy  years  of  age,  and  it  appeared,  from  the 
declining  state  of  his  health,  that  his  latter  end  could  not  be  far  off.     This  made 

•  As  tliis  was  Httle  more  than  thirty  dollars  of  our  money,  and  paid  not  only  for  the  thrashing--floor,  but 
for  all  that  was  upon  it— cattle  and  implements— it  seems  to  show  that  the  value  o(  the  precious  metals 
among  the  Hebrews  at  this  time  was  much  higher  tlian  it  is  now  with  us.  It  is,  however,  possible  that 
Araunah  merely  set  a  nominal  price  to  satisfy  the  delicacy  of  the  king,  who  would  not  sacrifice  to  God  at 
the  cost  of  other  people.  There  is  an  apparent  contradiction  between  the  account  in  2  Sam.  xxiv.  24,  and 
1  Chron  xxi.  ?5,  which  says  that  David  gave  Araunali  fiOO  shekels  of  gold  by  weight  (which  would  be  no 
less  than  $6,0fK)  of  our  money) ;  but  this  may  be  removed  by  the  very  probable  supposition  that  after  Da- 
vid knew,  by  the  acceptance  of  the  altar  erected  on  the  spot,  that  the  temple  was  to  be  built  in  tliis  place 
ne  made  a  further  purcliase  of  a  sufficient  site  for  the  additional  and  much  larger  sum  just  named 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  ?8' 

Adonijah,  his  eldest  surviving  son,  determine  to  take  measures  to  secure  the  throne, 
vi'hich,  had  il  been  hereditary,  would  naturally  have  devolved  to  him.  He  doubtless 
kitew  that  the  crown  had  been  assigned  to  his  younger  brother  Solomon,  and  felt  that 
this  was  perhaps  his  only  opportunity  of  asserting  what  he  conceived  to  be  his  natu- 
ral rights.  Adonijah  was  a  very  handsome  man,  and  he  had  not  at  any  time  been 
balked  or  contradicted  by  his  father,  many  of  whose  sorrows  arose  from  his  exces- 
sive indulgence  of  his  children.  He  now,  in  apparent  imitation  of  Absalom,  set  up 
a  splendid  retinue,  and  courted  popularity  among  the  people  ;  and  he  succeeded  in 
drawing  over  to  his  parly  Joab,  who  now  at  last  forsook  his  old  master,  and  Abiathar 
the  high-priest,  who  had  shared  all  his  fortunes.  One  day,  when  matters  seemed 
ripe  for  the  further  development  of  his  designs,  he  made  a  grand  entertainment  at 
A  in  Rogel,  the  fountain  in  the  king's  garden,  to  which  he  invited  all  the  king's  sons, 
with  the  significant  exception  of  Solomon,  and  the  principal  persons  in  the  state, 
with  the  exception  of  those  who  were  known  to  be  in  Solomon's  interest.  There  he 
was  proclaimed  king  in  the  usual  form — "  Long  live  the  king  Adonijah  !" — by  the 
powerful  party  assembled. 

In  this  important  emergency,  Nathan  the  prophet  sent  Bathsheba  to  inform  the 
king  of  these  proceedings,  and  afterward  came  in  himself  and  confirmed  her  account. 
By  both  he  was  reminded  of  his  previous  declarations  that  Solomon  was  to  be  his 
successor  in  the  throne.  The  old  king  was  roused  to  his  wonted  energy  by  this  in- 
telligence. He  instantly  appointed  Nathan  the  prophet,  Zadok  the  priest,  Benaiah, 
and  his  own  guards  the  Cherithites  and  Pelethites,  who  continued  faithful,  to  take 
Solomon,  and  conduct  him,  mounted  on  the  king's  own  mule,  to  the  fountain  of  (li- 
hon,  and  there  to  anoint  and  proclaim  him  king.  The  ceremony  was  thus  attended 
with  every  circumstance  which  coultt  give  it  authority  in  the  eyes  of  the  people,  as 
indicating  the  intention  of  the  king,  which,  it  was  now  well  known,  was  according-  to 
the  will  of  God.  There  was  the  mule,  which  none  but  David  had  ever  been  seen  to 
ride,  and  which,  he  having  habitually  ridden,  none  but  a  king  mio-ht  ride;  there  was 
the  prophet  who  could  only  sanction  that  which  he  knew  to  be  the'^will  of  God  ;  there 
was  Zadok,  with  the  holy  anointing  oil  from  ihe  tabernacle ;  and  there  were  the 
guards,  whom  the  people  had  been  accustomed  to  see  in  attendance  only  on  the  king. 
The  whole  ceremony  was  also  directed  to  take  place  on  one  of  the  most  public  and 
frequented  roads  leading  from  Jerusalem.  The  people  were  adequately  impressed 
by  all  these  considerations  and  circumstances;  they  heartily  shouted,  "Long  live 
King  Solomon  !"  The  earth  was,  as  it  were,  rent  with  the  rejoicing  clamor,  mixed 
Aviih  the  sounds  of  trumpets  and  of  pipes.  The  party  of  Adonijah  heard  the  noise  • 
and  when  mformed  of  the  cause,  they  were  all  so  s'truck  with  consternation  at  the 
promptitude  and  effect  of  this  counter-move,  that  they  dispersed  immediately,  and 
slunk  away  every  riian  to  his  own  house.  Adonijah,  seeing  himself  thus  forsaken, 
and  dreading  nothing  less  than  immediate  death,  fled  to  the  refuge  of  theVltar 
(erected  on  the  tharshing-floor  of  Araunah).  Solomon,  being  informed  of  this  "^sent 
to  tell  him  that,  if  by  his  future  conduct  he  proved  himself  a^worthy  man,  he  would 
not  hurt  a  hair  of  his  head,  but  at  the  same  time  assured  him  that  any  future  instance 
of  a  disloyal  intention  would  be  fatal  to  him.  On  leaving  the  altar,'  Adoniiah  went 
and  rendered  his  homage  to  the  new  king;  after  whichlie  was  ordered  to  retire  to 
his  own  house. 

The  waning  spark  of  David's  life  gleamed  up  once  again  before  it  finally  expired 
He  availed  himself  of  this  to  call  a  general  assembly  of  the  nation  to  ratify- the  coro- 
nation of  Solomon,  and  to  receive  the  declaration  'of  his  views  and  desi'o-ns  The 
aged  king  was  able  to  stand  up  on  his  feet  as  he  addressed  the  assemblv  aT  consider-' 
able  lensth.  Perceiving  from  the  revolts  of  Absahira  and  Adonijah,  into  Avhirji  last 
some  of  his  own  stanchesi  friends  had  been  drawn,  that  the  principle  of  primoo-eni 
ture  was  likely  to  interfere  very  seriously  with  the  true  doctrine  of  the  theocracy  he 
was  careful  to  ponit  out  how  the  sceptre  had  been  assigned  to  Judah  not  the 'first- 
born of  Jacob;  and  in  the  tribe  of  Judah,  to  the  familv  of  Jesse,  not  the  first  or  most 
powerful  of  that  tribe;  and  of  the  eight  sons  of  Jesse,  to  David  the  youno-esf  and 
of  the  sons  of  David,  to  Solomon,  at  a  time  when  there  were  livinor"  three  |if  not 
four*)  older  than  he.  He  then  proceeded  to  state  the  reasons  whiclf  had  prevented 
him  from  bmldmg  to  the  Lord  that  temple  Avhich  he  had  desio-ned  •  and  sii-ce  thi= 
great  work  had  been  reserved  for  the  peaceable  reign  of  his  son,  he  solemnly  ex- 
*  Chileab,  the  son  of  Abigail,  is  not  liistoncal  v  named.    The  probability  is  that  he  died  early 


288  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

horted  him  and  the  nation  to  erect  that  temple  according  to  the  model  which  he  had 

himself  supplied,  and  to  contribute  liberally  themselves  toward  it,  iu  addition  to  the 
ample  stores  and  materials  which  in  the  course  of  his  reign  he  had  been  enabled  to 
provide.  He  concluded  with  a  most  noble  and  devout  thanksgiving  to  the  Lord  for 
all  the  mercies  which  he  had  shown  to  himself  and  to  his  people:  and  this,  with  the 
rest  of  his  conduct  on  this  occasion,  shows  that,  whatever  were  now  the  bodily  infir- 
mities of  the  aged  king,  his  better  faculties  were  still  in  their  prime. 

Solomon  was  now  again  anointed  king  in  the  presence,  and  with  the  sanction  of 
the  assembly,  by  Zadok,  who  himself  was  now  declared  and  recognised  as  sole  high- 
priest,  Abiathar'being  deposed  from  his  participation  in  that  dignity  on  account  of  his 
having  gone  over  to  Adonijah.  It  is  impossible  not  to  see  in  all  this  a  strenuous  as- 
sertion by  David  of  the  theocratical  principles  of  the  constitution,  which  rendered 
conclusive  and  final  any  appointment  which  the  Divine  King  had  made,  or  might 
make ;  and  for  this  he  deserves  the  more  honor,  as  there  is  good  reason  to  think  that, 
for  himself  merely,  as  a  father,  he  would  quite  as  soon  have  seen  Absalom  or  Adoni- 
jah on  the  throne  as  Solomon.  Of  Abiathar  it  was  quite  necessary  to  make  an  ex- 
ample; for,  as  high- priest,  he  of  all  men  ought  to  have  been  sensible  of  the  obligation 
of  the  divine  appointment,  the  maintenance  of  which  had  now  become  one  of  ihe 
most  marked  and  grand  prerogatives  of  Jehovah  as  king  of  the  Hebrews,  and  the  one 
which  was  calculated  to  keep  his  superiority  present  to  the  minds  of  the  people.  If 
this  prerogative  were  allowed  to  be  contemned  by  the  high-priest,  who  should  be 
its  most  strenuous  supporter,  the  people  would  not  be  likely  to  hold  it  in  much 
respect. 

The  enthusiasm  manifested  by  the  king  for  the  object  which  for  many  years  past 
he  had  so  much  at  heart,  kindled  a  corresponding  zeal  in  the  people,  who  presented 
liberal  offerings  for  the  great  work  which  Solomon  Avas  destined  to  execute. 

The  following  day  was  spent  as  a  high  festival.  Holocausts  of  numerous  steers, 
and  rams,  and  lambs,  were  offered  to  Jehovah,  and  also  abundant  peace-offerings,  on 
which  the  people  feasted  with  great  gladness,  before  they  departed  to  their  homes. 
This  was,  in  fact,  the  coronation-feast  of  Solomon.  He,  being  now  twice  anointed, 
and  formally  recognised  by  the  people,  mounted  the  throne  of  his  father,  and  admin- 
istered the  government  while  David  still  lived. 

It  was  not,  however,  long  before  David  felt  that  his  last  hour  approached.  He  then 
sent  for  his  son,  to  give  to  him  his  last  counsels.  He  first  of  all  recapitulated  the  gra- 
cious promises  which  God  had  made  to  him  and  his  posterity,  and  then  reminded 
Solomon  that  these  promises  were  only,  in  their  first  and  obvious  sense,  to  be  under- 
stood as  conditional,  and  depending  upon  their  observance  of  the  divine  law;  so  that 
they  might  expect  their  prosperity  to  rise  and  fall  in  proportion  to  their  obedience. 
He  then  proceeded  to  advise  him  as  to  the  course  he  should  take  with  reference  to 
certain  persons  whom  his  own  history  has  brought  conspicuously  under  the  notice  of 
the  reader.  The  predominating  influence  of  the  sons  of  Zeruiah  had,  throughout  his 
reign,  been  very  galling  to  himself,  and  he  advised  his  son  not  to  incur  the  same 
grievance,  or  to  submit  to  it.  As  to  Joab,  he  had,  through  policy,  been  pardoned  for 
his  part  in  Adonijah's  rebellion,  as  David  himself  had,  from  like  reasons,  been  com- 
pelled to  overlook  the  crimes  of  which  he  had  been  guilty — such  as  the  murders  of 
Abner  and  Amasa ;  yet,  should  he  again  offend,  Solomon  was  advised  to  bring  him 
to  condign  punishment,  by  which  he  would  strike  terror  into  evil  doers,  and,  more 
than  by  any  other  act,  evince  the  strength  and  firmness  of  his  government. 

The  pardon  which  Shimci  had  asked,  beside  the  Jordan,  with  a  thousand  men  at 
his  back,  could  not  well  have  been  refused,  and  David  had  no  wish  to  annul  it;  but, 
aware  of  the  character  of  this  disaffected  and  dangerous  Benjamite,  he  cautioned 
Solomon  against  him,  and  advised  to  keep  him  under  his  eye  in  Jerusalem,  and  watch 
him  well  that  he  might  have  no  opportunity  of  stirring  up  seditions  among  the 
tribes ;  and  should  his  conduct  again  offer  occasion,  David  counselled  the  young  king 
not  to  spare  hiin,  but  at  once  rid  his  kingdom  of  so  suspicious  and  malevolent  a  char- 
acter. 

David  appears  to  have  survived  the  coronation  of  Solomon  about  six  months ;.  for, 
although  he  reigned  seven  years  and  six  months  over  Judah,  and  thirty-three  years 
over  ail  Israel,  yet  the  whole  duration  is  reckoned  only  forty  years  in  2  Sam.  v.  4,  5; 
1  Chron.  xxix.  27.  The  interval  he  seems  to  have  employed  in  the  development,  for 
the  benefit  of  his  son,  of  those  plans  and  regulations  which  had  long  before  been 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  289 

formed  and  considered  in  his  own  mind,  and  to  which  the  due  effect  was  afterward 
given  by  his  son.  These  are  fully  stated  in  the  first  five  chapters  of  the  second  book 
of  Chronicles. 

David  was  seventy  years  of  age  when  "he  slept  with  his  fathers."  At  that  time 
certainly  the  period  of  human  life  was  reduced  to  the  present  standard  ;  for,  in  re- 
cording his  death  at  this  age,  the  historian  says,  "  He  died  in  a  good  old  age,  lull  of 
days,  riches,  and  honor."  He  was  buried  in  a  stately  tomb,  which,  according  to  a 
touching  custom,  still  prevalent  in  the  East,  he  had  prepared  for  himself,  in  that 
part  of  the  city  (on  Mount  Zion)  which  he  had  covered  with  buildings,  and  which 
was  called  after  him,  "  the  city  of  David." 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

On  the  death  of  David,  his  son  Solomon,  who  had  been  declared  by  him  king  of 
Israel,  with  the  divine  approbation,  succeeded  to  the  throne,  to  the  universal  satis- 
faction of  the  people.  This  event  took  place  when  he  was  a^out  twenty  years  of 
age,  and  in  the  year  1030  B.  C.  Never  monarch  ascended  the  throne  with  greater 
advantages,  or  knew  better  how  to  secure  and  improve  them.  Under  David  the 
kingdom  had  been  much  extended,  and  brought  under  good  regulations.  The  arms 
of  the  Hebrews  had  for  so  many  years  been  leared  by  all  the  neighboring  nations,  so 
that  the  habit  of  respect  and  obedience  on  their  part  offered  to  the  new  king  the 
reasonable  prospect,  confirmed  by  a  divine  promise,  that  his  reign  should  be  one  of 
peace.  Noio,  the  predominant  tribe  of  Judah  lay  as  a  lion  and  as  a  lioness,  which  no 
nation  ventured  to  rouse  up.  (Gen.  xlix.  9;  Num.  xxiii.  24,  xxiv.  9.)  The  Hebrews 
were  the  ruling  people,  and  their  empire  the  principal  monarchy  of  Western  Asia. 
From  the  Mediterranean  sea  and  the  Phcenicians  to  the  Euphrates,  in  its  nearer  and 
remoter  bounds — from  the  river  of  Egypt  and  the  Elanitic  gulf  to  Berytus,  Hamath, 
and  Thapsacus,  all  were  subject  to  the  dominion  of  Solomon ;  nor  were  the  tribes 
which  wander  in  northern  Arabia,  eastward  to  the  Persian  gulf,  miconscious  of  his 
rule.  At  home  the  Canaanites  had  not,  as  we  have  seen,  been  either  entirely  ex- 
pelled or  annihilated;  but  they  had  become  obedient  and  peaceable  subjects,  and, 
which  was  of  importance  to  an  eastern  king,  liable  to  services  which  no  king  dared 
to  impose  upon  the  Israelites  themselves.  Jahn  calculates  that  their  whole  number 
may  have  been  about  four  or  five  hundred  thousand,  since  ultimately  one  hundred 
fifty-three  thousand  were  able  to  render  soccage  to  the  king.  The  warlike  and  civ- 
ilized Philistines,  the  Edomites,  Moabites,  and  Ammonites,  the  Syrians  of  Damascus, 
and  some  tribes  of  the  nomadic  Arabians  of  the  desert,  were  all  tributary  to  him. 
The  revenues  derived  from  the  subject  states  were  large  ;  and  the  wealth  in  the  royal 
treasures  great  beyond  calculation:  and  the  king  had  the  enterprise  and  talent  to 
open  new  sources  through  which  riches  were  poured  into  the  country  from  distant 
lands.  Nor  were  the  prospects  and  promises  with  which  tliis  reign  opened  frustrated 
in  its  continuance.  "Peace  gave  to  all  his  subjects  prosperity;  the  trade  which  he 
introduced  brought  wealth  into  the  country,  and  promoted  the  sciences  and  arts, 
which  there  found  an  active  protector  in  the  king,  who  was  himself  distinguished  for 
his  learning.  The  building  of  the  temple  and  of  several  palaces  introduced  foreign 
artists,  by  whom  the  Hebrews  were  instructed.  Many  foreigners,  and  even  sovereign 
princes,  were  attracted  to  Jerusalem,  in  order  to  see  and  converse  with  the  prosperous 
royal  sage.  The  regular  progress  of  all  business,  the  arrangements  for  security  from 
foreign  and  domestic  enemies,  the  army,  the  cavalry,  the  armories,  the  chariots,  the 
palaces,  the  royal  household,  the  good  order  in  the  administration,  and  in  the  service 
of  the  court,  excited  as  much  admiration  as  the  wisdom  and  learning  of  the  viceroy 
of  Jehovah.  -So  much  ivas  effected  by  the  single  iiijiuejice  of  David,  because  he  scru- 
pulously conformed  himself  to  the  theocracy  of  the  Hebrew  state."* 

Such  is  the  argument  to  the  history  of  Solomon's  reign,  to  the  details  of  which  we 
now  proceed. 

Although  Solomon  was  not  the  first-born,  nor  even  the  eldest  living  son  of  David, 
but  succeeded  to  the  throne  through  the  special  appointment  of  the  Supreme  King, 


Jahn,  b.  iv.  sect.  33. 

19 


r 


;^90  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

Jehovah,  there  was  one  circumstance  which,  from  the  usual  notions  of  the  Orientals, 
could  not  but  be  highly  favorable  to  him,  even  had  all  his  elder  brothers  been  alive. 
Amnon  had  been  bom  before  his  father  became  king,  and  Absalom  and  Adonijah 
while  he  was  king  of  Judah  only ;  while  Solomon  was  born  Avhen  his  father  was 
king  over  all  Israel,  and  lord  over  many  neighboring  states.  And  in  the  East  there 
is  a  strong  prejudice  in  favor  of  him  who  is  the  son  of  the  king  and  of  the  kingdom, 
that  is,  who  is  born  while  his  father  actually  reigns  over  the  states  which  he  leaves 
at  his  death.  Thus,  therefore,  if  at  the  death  of  David,  Amnon  and  Absalom  had 
been  alive,  as  well  as  Adonijah  and  Solomon,  there  might  have  been  a  contest  among 
them  on  these  grounds : — Amnon  would  have  claimed  as  the  eldest  son  of  David  ; 
Absalom  would  probably  have  disputed  this  claim  on  the  ground,  first,  that  he  was 
the  first-born  after  David  became  a  king  ;  and,  secondly,  on  the  ground  that  his  mother 
was  of  a  royal  house:  this  claim  could  not  have  been  disputed  by  Adonijah  ;  but  he 
would  have  considered  his  own  claim  good  as  against  Amnon,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
as  against  Solomon  on  the  other.  But  Solomon  might  have  claimed  on  the  same 
ground  as  the  others  against  Amnon;  and  against  Absalom  and  Adonijah,  on  the 
ground  that  their  father  was  only  king  of  Judah  when  they  were  born,  but  king  of 
all  Israel  at  the  time  of  his  own  birth.  And  this  claim  would,  in  fact,  have  been  but 
a  carrying  out  of  the  principle  on  which  Absalom  and  Adonijah  are  supposed  to  op- 
pose Amnon;  and  in  this  claim  there  would  have  seemed  so  much  reason  to  an  Ori- 
ental, that,  apart  from  all  other  considerations,  we  doubt  not  it  woiild  have  found 
many  adherents  in  Israel ;  and  we  have  no  doubt  that  it  did  operate  in  producing  a 
more  cheerful  acquiescence  in  the  preference  given  to  Solomon. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  his  father,  Solomon  discovered  a  new  plot  of  Adonijah's,  so 
deeply  laid  and  carefully  veiled,  that  he  even  ventured  to  make  the  king's  own 
mother,  Bathsheba,  an  acting  though  unconscious  party  in  it.  And  here  it  may  be 
proper  to  observe,  fhat  in  eastern  countries,  where  polygamy  is  allowed,  or  not  for- 
bidden, by  the  law,  and  where  the  kings  have  numerous  wives  and  concubines,  there 
is  no  dignity  analogous  to  that  which  the  sole  wife  of  a  sovereign  occupies  in  Europe. 
In  fact,  there  is  no  queen,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word,  as  applied  to  the  consort 
of  a  king.  But  the  mother  of  the  king  (and,  next  to  her,  or  instead  of  her,  the  mother 
of  the  heir  apparent)  is  the  woman  of  the  greatest  influence  and  highest  station  in 
the  state,  and  the  one  whose  condition  is  the  most  queenly  of  any  which  the  Eas 
affords.  According  to  this  view,  Bathsheba— during  the  latter  part  of  David's  rciga 
as  mother  of  Uie  heir  apparent,  and  during  at  least  the  early  portion  of  Solomon'' 
reign,  as  mother  of  the  king — was,  in  fact,  queen  of  Israel ;  whence  in  both  periods 
we  find  her  taking  a  part  in  public  affairs,  which,  however  slight,  is  such  as  none 
but  a  woman  so  placed  could  have  taken. 

The  first  manifestation  of  Adonijah's  design  was  to  endeavor  to  procure  permission 
to  espouse  Abishag,  one  of  the  wives  of  his  father,  whom  he  had  taken  in  his  last 
days  and  had  left  a  virgin.  He  had  the  address  to  interest  Bathsheba  in  his  object, 
and  to  get  her  to  propose  the  subject  to  the  king,  although  part  of  what  he  said  to 
her  as  an  inducement  was  well  calculated  to  awaken  her  suspicions:  "  Thou  know- 
est,"  said  he,  "  that  the  kingdom  was  mine,  and  that  all  Israel  set  their  faces  on  me, 
that  I  should  reign;  howlfeit,  the  kingdom  is  turned  about,  and  is  become  my 
brother's,  for  it  was  his  from  the  Lord." 

The  king  was  seated  on  his  throne  when  Bathsheba  appeared  before  him  to  urge 
the  suit  of  Adonijah.  He  rose  when  he  beheld  her,  and  bowed  to  her;  after  which 
he  caused  a  seat  to  be  brought  and  ])laced  at  his  right  hand  for  her._  She  then  made 
"  the  one  small  petition"  with  which  she  was  charged.  The  king  instantly  saw 
through  the  whole ;  and  knew  enough  of  the  several  parties  to  feel  assured  (or  actu 
ally  knew)  that  the  measure  had  been  prompted  by  Joab  and  Abiathar,  or  that  ai 
least  they  were  parties  to  the  ulterior  design.  According  to  what  Ave  have  already 
stated  respecting  the  widows  of  a  deceased  king,  it  is  obvious  that  Solomon  recog- 
nised in  this  insidious  demand  a  plan  formed  to  accredit  the  former  pretensions  of 
Adonijah.  He  therefore  answered  warmly,  "And  why  dost  thou  ask  Abishag, 
the  Shunamraite,  for  Adonijah  ?  Ask  for  him  the  kingdom  also ;  for  he  is  mine 
elder  brother,  even  for  him,  and  for  Abiathar  the  priest,  and  for  Joab  the  son  of  Ze- 
ruiah."  By  this  he  clearly  intimated  that  he  considered  Joab  and  Abiathar  as  par- 
ties in  this  new  plot,  and,  as  such,  liable  to  the  punishments  which  he  proceeded  to 
inflict.     Adonijah  he  ordered  to  be  put  to  death,  as  one  whom  it  was  no  hwger  safe 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


291 


Great  Mogul  on  his  Throne. 


Howdah  of  an  Indian  Prince 


292  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

to  pardon.  On  receiving  this  news,  Joab  justified  the  suspicions  (if  not  morej  of  the 
king,  by  fleeing  for  refuge  to  the  sanctuary  of  the  altar— a  plain  act  of  a  guilty  con- 
science. When  this  was  told  to  Solomon,  he  ordered  Benaiah  to  go  and  put  him  to 
death.  Benaiah  went,  and  ordered  him,  in^the  king's  name,  to  come  forth.  This  he 
refused,  saymg,  "  Nay,  but  I  will  die  here !"  either  in  the  hope  that  Solomon  would 
so  far  regard  the  altar  as  not  to  slay  him,  or  that  he  would  die  there  hi  the  hope  that 
God,  whose  altar  it  was,  would  be  gracious  to  him.  This  bemg  a  new  case,  in 
which  Benaiah  liked  not  to  act  on  his  own  responsibility,  he  returned  to  report  the 
matter  to  the  kino-,  who,  with  great  firmness,  and  with  a  freedom  from  superstition 
which  shows  how  well  he  understood  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  law,  said,  "  Do  as 
he  hath  said,  and  slay  him  there,  and  bury  him,  that  thou  mayest  take  away  the  in- 
nocent blood,  which  Joab  shed,  from  me  and  from  the  house  of  my  father."  So  Joab 
was  slain  at  the  altar,  and  buried  in  the  garden  of  his  own  house  in  the  wilderness. 
Benaiah,  who  had  been  his  executioner,  Avas  made  commander-in-chief  in  his  room. 
It  appears  that  m  the  Hebrew  kingdom,  as  in  some  other  ancient  and  in  some  modern 
states,  it  was  the  duty  of  the  king's  chief  officer  to  execute  his  sentence  upon  high 
offenders. 

As  to  Abiathar,  who  had  before  joined  Adonijah,  and  was  no  stranger  to  the  more 
recent  intrigue,  he  had  shared  the  fate  of  Joab,  if  the  king  had  not  been  mindful  of 
his  early  and  long-continued  attachment  to  David,  and  respected  the  sacred  character 
he  bore.'  He  was  commanded  to  withdraw  to  his  estate  in  Anathoth,  and  no  longer 
presume  to  exercise  his  sacerdotal  functions.  Thus  was  the  house  of  Eli  finally  de- 
graded in  the  person  of  Abiathar,  and  the  house  of  Eleazer  completely  restored  m  the 
person  of  Zadok. 

This  affair  reminded  Solomon  of  the  necessity  of  keeping  watch  over  another  dis- 
affected person,  Shimei,  as  counselled  by  David.  He  therefore  ordered  him  to  fix  his 
residence  in  Jerusalem,  which  he  engaged  him  by  oath  not  to  leave,  forewarning  him 
that  the  breach  of  this  engagement  would  be  at  the  expense  of  his  life.  Of  this 
Shimei  was  properly  mindful  for  two  years ;  but  then  he  was  induced  to  leave  the 
city,  and  went  as  far  as  Gath  (a  suspicious  quarter)  in  pursuit  of  two  runaway  slaves. 
He  was  therefore,  on  his  return,  consigned  to  the  sword  of  Benaiah. 

By  the  removal  of  these  dangerous  persons,  Solomon  felt  his  throne  secured  to 
him.  He  then  sought  an  aUiance  worthy  of  the  rank  to  which  his  kingdom  had  at- 
tained. The  nearest  power,  from  an  alliance  with  which  even  he  might  derive 
honor,  was  that  of  Egypt.  He  therefore  demanded  and  received  the  daughter  of  the 
reigning  Pharaoh  in  marriage.  His  new  spouse  was  received  by  the  king  of  Israel 
with  great  magnificence,  and  was  lodged  in  "  the  city  of  David,"  imtil  the  new  and 
splendid  palace,  which  he  had  already  commenced,  should  be  completed.  That  Sol- 
omon should  thus  contract  an  alliance,  on  equal  terms,  with  the  reigning  family  of 
that  great  nation  which  had  formerly  held  the  Israelites  in  bondage,  was,  in  the  or- 
dinary point  of  view,  a  great  thing  for  him,  and  shows  the  relative  importance  into 
which  the  Hebrew  kingdom  had  now  risen.  The  king  is  in  no  part  of  Scripture 
blamed  for  this  alliance,  even  in  places  where  it  seems  unlikely  that  blame  would 
have  been  spared  had  he  been  considered  blameworthy ;  and  as  we  know  that  the 
Egyptians  were  idolaters,  this  absence  of  blame  may  intimate  that  Solomon  stipulated 
th'at  the  Egyptian  princess  should  abandon  the  worship  of  her  own  gods,  and  conform 
to  the  Jewisii  law.  This  at  least  was  what  would  be  required  by  the  law  of  Moses, 
which  the  king  was  not  likely  (at  least,  at  this  time  of  his  life^  to  neglect.  Nor  need 
we  suppose  that  the  royal  family  of  Egypt  would  make  much  difficulty  in  this;  for, 
except  among  the  Jsraelilcs,  the  religion  of  a  woman  has  never  in  the  East  been  con- 
sidered of  nmch  conscfiuence. 

Solomon,  soon  after,  sought  by  his  example  to  restore  the  proper  order  of  public 
worship.  At  Gibeon  was  the  tabernacle  and  altar  of  Moses,  and  there,  notwiih^uuid- 
ing  the  absence  of  the  ark,  the  symbol  of  the  divine  presence,  the  Shechinah,  siill 
abode.  This  therefore  was,  according  to  the  law,  the  only  proper  seat  of  public 
worship,  and  the  place  to  which  the  tribes  should  resort  to  render  homage  to  the 
Great  Kin".  Therefore,  at  one  of  the  religious  festivals,  the  king  repaired  to  Gibeon, 
accompanied  by  all  his  court,  the  officers  of  his  army,  and  the  chiefs  and  elders  of 
his  people,  witli  a  vast  multitude  of  the  people.  There,  in  the  midst  of  all  the  state 
and  ceremony  of  the  holy  solemnities,  the  king  presented,  to  be  offered  on  the  brazen 
altar,  a  thousand  beasts,  as  a  holocaust.     This  solemn  act  of  homage  from  the  young 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


293 


294  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

king  was  acceptable  to  God,  who  in  the  following  night  manifested  himself  to  him 
in  a  dream,  and  promised  to  satisfy  whatever  wish  he  might  then  form.  Instead  of 
expressing  the  usual  desires  which  animate  kings,  as  well  as  others,  for  wealth,  and 
glory,  and  length  of  days,  Solomon  expressed  his  sense  of  the  difficulties,  to  one  so 
young,  of  the  high  station  to  which  he  had  been  called;  and,  humbly  conscious  of 
his  lack  of  the  experience  required  to  conduct  well  the  affairs  of  his  large  empire 
and  numerous  people,  he  prayed  for  wisdom — nothing  but  wisdom  :  "  I  am  but  a 
youth  :  I  know  not  how  to  go  or  to  come  in.  And  thy  servant  is  in  the  midst  of  ihy 
people,  whom  thou  hast  chosen,  a  great  people,  that  can  not  be  numbered  nor  counted 
for  multitude.  Give,  therefore,  thy  servant  an  understanding  heart  to  judge  thy  peo- 
ple, that  I  may  discern  between  good  and  evil:  for  who  is  able  to  judge  this  "thy  so 
great  a  people  ?"  This  request  which  Solomon  had  made  was  highly  pleasing  to 
God.  That  which  he  had  asked  was  promised  to  him  in  abounding  measure— wis- 
dom such  as  none  before  him  had  ever  possessed,  or  should  possess  in  future  times: 
and  since  he  had  made  so  excellent  a  choice,  that  which  he  had  iiot  asked  should 
also  be  given  to  him — riches  and  honors  beyond  all  the  kings  of  his  time,  and,  besitl^ 
this,  length  of  days,  if  he  continued  in  obedience.  Solomon  awoke ;  and  feelLig 
within  himself  that  illumination  of  mind  and  spirit  which  assured  him  that  his 
dream  had  indeed  been  oracular  and  divine,  he  returned  with  great  joy  to  Jeru- 
salem. 

Soon  after  this,  the  discharge  of  those  judicial  duties  which  engage  so  much  of  the 
attention  of  eastern  kings,  gave  him  an  opportunity  of  displaying  so  much  discern- 
ment as  satisfied  the  people  of  his  uncommon  endowments,  and  his  eminent  qualifi- 
cations for  his  hi^h  place.  This  was  his  celebrated  judgment  between  the  two  har- 
lots who  both  claimed  a  living  child,  and  both  disclaimed  one  that  had  died  ;  in  which 
he  discovered  the  rightful  owner  of  the  living  child  by  calling  forth  that  self-denying 
tenderness  which  always  reigi>:  in  a  mother's  heart.*  This  produced  the  very  best 
■  effect  among  all  the  people  ;  for,  generally,  nothing  is  better  understood  and  appre- 
ciated, popularly,  than  an  acute  and  able  judicial  decision  of  some  difficult  point  in  a 
case  easily  understood,  and  by  which  the  sympathies  are  much  engaged. 

The  preparations  for  the  temple  had  from  the  first  engaged  the  attention  of  Solo- 
mon. Among  the  first  who  sent  to  congratulate  him  on  his  succession  was  Hiram, 
king  of  Tyre,  who  has  already  been  named  as  an  attached  friend  and  ally  of  David. 
The  value  of  the  friendship  offered  by  this  monarch  was  fully  appreciated  by  Solo- 
mon, who  returned  the  embassy  with  a  letter,  in  which  he  opened  the  noble  design 
he  entertained,  and  solicited  the  same  sort  of  assistance  in  the  furtherance  of  it,  as 
the  same  king  had  rendered  to  his  father  David,  when  building  his  palace.  Hiram 
assented  with  great  willingness,  and  performed  the  required  services  with  such  fidel- 
ity and  zeal,  as  laid  the  foundation  of  a  lasting  friendship  between  the  kings,  and  to 
the  formation  of  other  mutually  beneficial  connexions  between  them.  The  forests 
of  the  Lebanon  mountains  only  could  supply  the  timber  required  for  this  great  work. 
Such  of  these  forests  as  lay  nearest  the  sea  were  in  the  possession  of  the  Phoenicians ; 
among  whom  timber  was  in  such  constant  demand  that  they  had  acquired  great  and 
acknowledged  skill  in  the  felling  and  transportation  thereof,  and  hence  it  was  of  much 
importance  that  Hiram  consented  to  employ  large  bodies  of  men  in  Lebanon  to  hew 
timber,  as  well  as  others  to  perform  the  service  of  bringing  it  down  to  the  seaside, 
whence  it  was  to  be  taken  along  the  coast  in  floats  to  the  port  of  Joppa,  from  which 
place  it  could  be  easily  taken  across  the  country  to  Jerusalem.  This  portion  of  the 
assistance  rendered  by  Hiram  was  of  the  utmost  value  and  importance.  If  he  had 
de>-.lined  Solomon's  proposals,  all  else  that  he  wanted  might  have  been  obtained  from 
Egypt.  But  that  country  was  so  far  from  being  able  to  supply  timber,  that  it  wanted 
it  more  than  almost  any  nation. 

Solomon  also  desired  that  PhoBnician  artificers  of  all  descriptions  should  be  sent  to 
Jerusalem,  particularly  such  as  excelled  in  the  arts  of  design,  and  in  the  working  of 
gold,  silver,  and  other  metals,  as  well  as  precious  stones ;  nor  was  he  insensible  of 
the  value  and  beauty  of  those  scarlet,  purple,  and  other  fine  dyes,  in  the  preparation 
.and  application  of  which  the  Tyrians  excelled.  Men  skilled  in  all  these  branches  of 
art  were  largely  supplied  by  Hiram.  He  sent  also  a  person  of  his  own  name,  a  Tyr- 
lan  by  birth,  who  seems  to  have  been  a  second  Bezaleel ;  for  his  abilities  were'so 
great,  and  his  attainments  so  extensive  and  various,  that  he  was  skilled  not  only  in 

*  See  ttie  original  narrative  in  I  Kings  in.  10-28 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  295 

ihe  working  of  metals,  but  in  all  kinds  of  works  in  wood  and  stone,  and  even  in  em- 
broidery, in  tapestry,  in  dyes,  and  the  manufacture  of  all  sorts  of  fine  cloth.  And  not 
only  this,  but  his  general  attainments  in  art,  and  his  inventive  powers,  enabled  him 
to  devise  the  means  of  executing,  and  to  execute,  whatever  work  in  art  might  be 
proposed  to  him.  This  man  was  a  treasure  to  Solomon,  who  made  him  overseer  not 
only  of  the  men  whom  the  king  of  Tyre  now  sent,  but  of  his  own  workmen,  and 
those  whom  David  had  formerly  engaged  and  retained  in  his  employment. 

In  return  for  all  these  advantages,  Solomon  engaged  on  his  part  to  furnish  the  king 
of  Tyre  yearly  with  2,500  quarters  of  wheat,  and  150,000  gallons  of  pure  olive  oil, 
for  his  own  use,  beside  furnishing  the  men  employed  in  Lebanoriwith  the  same  corn 
quantities,  respectively,  of  wheat  and  barley,  and  the  same  liquid  quantities  of  wine 
and  oil. 

Josephus  informs  us  that  the  correspondence  on  this  subject  between  Solomon  and 
Hiram,  copies  of  which  are  given  by  him  as  well  as  in  the  books  of  Kings  and  Chron- 
icles, were  in  his  time  still  preserved  in  the  archives  of  Tyre. 

Three  years  were  spent  in  preparation ;  but  at  last  all  was  ready,  and  the  founda- 
tion of  this  famous  temple  was  laid  in  the  fourth  year  of  Solomon's  reign  (1027  B.  C), 
in  the  second  month,  and  finisiied  in  the  eleventh  year  and  eighth  month;  being  a 
spaceof  seven  years  and  six  mouths. 

Many  elaborate  treatises  have  been  written  on  this  magnificent  structure,  but  no 
satisfactory  result  has  been  obtained  therefrom.  This  may  arise  from  a  mistaken 
reference  to  classical  ideas  and  models,  and  from  the  scanty  knowledge  we  possess 
of  ancient  and  modern  oriental  architecture.  Hence  it  is  that  modern  commentators 
and  illustrators  of  Scripture  have  generally  shrunk  from  the  subject;  arid  hence  the 
many  conjectural  plans  which  have  been  exhibited  as  illustrative  of  this  far-famed 
building,  must  be  looked  upon  as  inconclusive.  The  only  safe  ground  we  have  to  go 
upon  is  Scripture,  whence  our  account  shall  be  derived,  and,  for  the  most  part,  in  the 
sacred  historian's  own  language. 

We  learn,  from  the  history  of  David,  that  when  he  was  raised  to  the  throne  of 
Israel,  he  piously  resolved  to  erect  a  temple  to  the  honor  of  Jehovah.  Thus,  in  one 
of  his  beautiful  psalms,  he  says:  "Lord,  remember  David,  and  all  his  afflictions : 
how  he  sware  unto  the  Lord,  and  vowed  unto  the  mighty  God  of  Jacob  ;  surely  I  will 
not  come  into  the  tabernacle  of  my  house,  nor  go  up  into  my  bed ;  I  will  not  give 
sleep  to  mine  eyes,  or  slumber  to  mine  eyelids,  until  I  find  out  a  place  for  the  Lord, 
a  habitation  for  the  mighty  God  of  Jacob,'"  Psa.  cxxxii.  1-5.  Because,  however,  Da- 
vid was  a  man  of  war,  God,  by  his  prophet  Nathan,  intimated  to  him  that  while  he 
approved  of  his  design,  he  nevertheless  should  not  be  permitted  to  build  him  a  house; 
but,  at  the  same  time,  he  gave  him  a  promise  that  his  son  and  successor  should  fulfil 
his  pious  intention :  see  1  Chron.  xvii. 

The  good  monarch  acquiesced  in  the  Divine  will ;  and,  to  enable  his  son  to  perform 
so  glorious  a  work,  he  himself  commenced  preparations,  and  we  find  him,  in  his  last 
moments,  instructing  Solomon  in  God's  promises,  and  in  his  duty  in  building  the 
temple,  at  the  conclusion  of  which  he  stales  what  material  he  had  prepared  for  the 
undertaking  :  "  Now,  behuld,  in  my  trouble  I  have  prepared  for  the  house  of  the  Lord 
a  hundred  Thousand  talents  of  gold,  and  a  thousand  thousand  talents  of  silver;  and 
of  brass  and  iron  without  weight,  for  it  is  in  abundance  :  timber  also  and  stone  have 
I  prepared;  and  thou  mayest  add  thereto.  Moreover  there  are  workmen  with  thee 
in  abundance,  hewers  and  workers  of  stone  and  timber,  and  all  manner  of  cunning 
men  for  every  manner. of  work.  Of  the  gold,  the  silver,  and  the  brass,  and  the  iron, 
there  is  no  number.  Arise,  therefore,  and  be  doing,  and  the  Lord  be  with  thee." — 
1  Chron.  xxii.  14-16.  David,  moreover,  gave  to  Solomon  "  the  pattern  of  the 
porch,  and  of  the  houses  thereof,  and  of  the  treasuries  thereof,  and  of  the  upper 
chambers  thereof,  and  of  the  inner  parlors  thereof,  and  of  the  place  of  the  mercy- 
seat,  and  the  pattern  of  all  that  he  had  by  the  spirit,  of  the  courts  of  the  house 
of  the  Lord,  and  of  all  the  chambers  round  about,  of  the  treasuries  of  the  house 
of  God,  and  of  the  treasuries  of  the  dedicated  things ;  also  for  the  courses  of  the 

Eriests  and  the  Levites,  and  for  all  the  work  of  the  service  of  the  house  of  the 
lOrd,  and  for  all  the  vessels  of  service  in  the  house  of  the  Lord.  He  gave  of  gold  by 
weight  for  things  of  gold,  for  all  instruments  of  all  manner  of  service ;  silver  also  for 
all  instruments  of  silver  by  weight,  for  all  instruments  of  every  kind  of  service  :  even 
the  weight  for  the  candlesticks  of  gold,  and  for  their  lamps  of  gold,  bv  weight  for 


296  •  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

every  candlestick,  and  for  the  lamps  thereof:  and  for  the  candlesticks  of  silver  by 
weight,  both  for  the  candlestick,  and  also  for  the  lamps  thereof,  according  to  the  use 
of  every  candlestick.  And  by  weight  he  gave  gold  for  the  tables  of  sho\vbread,  for 
every  table ;  and  likewise  silver  for  the  tables  of  silver :  also  pure  gold  for  the  flesh- 
hooks,  and  the  bowls,  and  the  cups ;  and  for  the  golden  basins  he  gave  gold  by  weight 
for  every  basin ;  and  likewise  silver  by  weight  for  every  basin  of  silver :  and  for  the 
altar  of  incense  refined  gold  by  weight ;  and  gold  for  the  pattern  of  the  chariot  of  the 
cherubim,  that  spread  out  their  wings,  and  covered  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the 
Lord.  All  this,  said  David,  the  Lord  made  me  to  understand  in  writing  by  his  hand 
upon  me,  even  all  the  works  of  this  pattern.  And  David  said  to  Solomon  his  son,  Be 
strong  and  of  good  courage,  and  do  it :  fear  not,  nor  be  dismayed,  for  the  Lord  God, 
even  my  God,  will  be  with  thee ;  he  will  not  fail  thee,  nor  forsake  thee,  until  thou 
hast  finished  all  the  work  for  the  service  of  the  house  of  the  Lord.  And,  behold,  the 
courses  of  the  priests  and  the  Levites,  even  they  shall  be  with  thee  for  all  the  ser- 
vice of  the  house. of  God  :  and  there  shall  be  with  thee  for  all  manner  of  workman- 
ship every  Avilling  skilful  man,  for  any  manner  cf  service :  also  the  princes  and  all 
the  people  will  be  wholly  at  thy  commandment."     1  Chron.  xxviii.  11-2L 

The  youthful  monarch  was  not  unmindful  of  his  royal  parent's  charge.  No  sooner 
was  he  seated  peaceably  on  his  throne,  than  we  find  him  addressing  Hiram  king  of 
Tyre  in  these  words  :  "  Thou  knowest  how  that  David  my  father  could  not  build  a 
house  mito  the  name  of  the  Lord  his  God  for  the  wars  which  Avere  about  him  on  ev- 
ery side,  until  the  Lord  put  them  under  the  soles  of  his  feet.  But  now  the  Lord  my 
God  hath  given  me  rest  on  every  side,  so  that  there  is  neither  adversary  nor  evil 
occurrent.  And,  behold,  I  purpose  to  build  a  house  unto  the  name  of  the  Lord  my 
God,  as  the  Lord  spake  unto  David  my  father,  saying,  Thy  son  whom  I  will  set  upon 
thy  throne  in  thy  room,  he  shall  build  a  house  unto  my  name.  Now  therefore  com- 
mand thou  that  they  hew  me  cedar-trees  out  of  Lebanon  ;  and  my  servants  shall  be 
with  thy  servants :  and  unto  thee  will  I  give  hire  for  thy  servants  according  to  all 
that  thou  shalt  appoint :  for  thou  knowest  that  there  is  not  among  us  any  that  can 
skill  to  hew  timber  like  unto  the  Sidonians."    1  Kings  v.  3-6. 

In  this  request,  as  we  have  already  stated,  Hiram,  who  was  the  friend  of  Solomon, 
complied,  and  the  building  was  commenced,  in  the  four  hundred  and  eighteenth  year 
after  the  children  of  Israel  were  come  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt.  There  were  em- 
ployed, in  the  construction  of  this  building,  one  hundred  and  eighty-three  thousand 
men,  including  Hebrews  and  Canaanites ;  and  though  everything  was  made  ready 
ere  it  came  to  the  spot,  so  that,  in  the  language  of  Holy  Writ,  "  there  was  neither 
hanamer  nor  axe  nor  any  tool  of  iron  heard  in  the  house,  while  it  was  in  building." 
1  Kings  vi.  7. 

The  site  on  which  the  temple  was  built  was  Mount  Moriah,  "  where  the  Lord  ap- 
peared unto  David  his  father,  in  the  place  that  David  had  prepared  in  the  threshing- 
floor  of  Oman  the  Jebusite."     2  Chron.  ii.  L 

The  description  which  the  sacred  historian  gives  of  the  building  is  as  follows  : 
"And  the  house  which  King  Solomon  built  for  the  Lord,  the  length  thereof  was 
threescore  cubits,  and  the  breadth  thereof  twenty  cubits,  and  the  height  thereof  thirty 
cubits.  And  the  porch  before  the  temple  of  the  house,  twenty  cubits  was  the  length 
thereof,  according  to  the  breadth  of  the  house  ;  and  ten  cubits  was  the  breadth  there- 
of before  the  house.  And  for  the  house  he  made  windows  of  narrow  lights"  (or 
windows  broad  within  and  narrow  without).  "And  against  the  wall  of  the  house 
he  built  chambers  round  about,  against  the  walls  of  the  house  round  about,  both  of 
the  temple  and  of  the  oracle  :  and  he  made  chambers  roiuid  about :  the  nethermost 
chamber  was  five  cubits  broad,  and  the  middle  was  six  cubits  broad,  and  the  third 
was  seven  cubits  broad :  for  without  in  the  wall  of  the  house  he  made  narrowed 
rests  roimd  about,  that  the  beams  should  not  be  fastened  in  the  walls  of  the  house. 
The  door  for  the  middle  chamber  was  in  the  right  side  of  the  house :  and  they  went 
up  with  winding  stairs  into  the  middle  chamber,  and  out  of  the  middle  into  the  third. 
So  he  built  the  house  and  finished  it ;  and  covered  the  house  with  '^eams  and  boards 
of  cedar.  And  then  he  built  chambers  against  all  the  house,  five  cubits  high  :  and 
they  rested  on  the  house  with  limber  of  cedar.  And  he  built  the  Avails  of  the  house 
within  with  boards  of  cedar,  both  the  floor  of  the  house,  and  the  walls  of  the  ceiling: 
and  he  covered  them  on  the  inside  with  wood,  and  covered  the  floor  of  th'e  house  with 
planks  of  fir.     And  he  built  twenty  cubits  on  the  sides  of  the  house,  both  the  floor 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  297 

and  the  walls  with  boards  of  cedar  :  he  even  built  them  for  it  within,  even  for  the 
oracle,  even  for  the  most  holy  place.  And  the  house,  that  is  the  temple  beiore  it, 
was  forty  cubits  long.  And  the  cedar  of  the  house  withm  was  carved  with  knops 
[gourds]  and  open  flowers :  all  was  cedar;  there  was  no  stone  seen.  And  the  oracle 
he  prepared  in  the  house  within,  to  set  there  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord. 
And  the  oracle  in  the  forepart  was  twenty  cubits  in  length,  and  tAventy  cubits  m 
breadth,  and  twenty  cubits  in  the  height  thereof:  and  he  overlaid  it  with  pure  gold; 
and  so  covered  the  altar  which  was  of  cedar.  So  Solomon  overlaid  the  house  withm 
with  pure  gold :  and  he  made  a  partition  by  the  chains  of  gold  before  the  oracle; 
and  he  overlaid  it  with  gold.  And  the  whole  house  he  overlaid  with  gold,  until  he 
had  finished  all  the  house  ;  also  the  whole  altar  that  was  by  the  oracle  he  overlaid 
with  gold.  And  within  the  oracle  he  made  two  cherubim  of  olive-tree,  each  ten 
cubits  high.  And  five  cubits  was  the  one  wing  of  the  cherub,  and  five  cubits  the 
other  wing  of  the  cherub  :  from  the  uttermost  part  of  the  one  wing  unto  the  utter- 
most part  of  the  other  were  ten  cubits.  And  the  otlier  cherub  was  ten  cubits  :  both 
the  cherubim  were  of  one  measure  and  one  size.  The  height  of  the  one  cherub  was 
ten  cubits,  and  so  was  it  of  the  other  cherub.  And  he  set  the  cherubim  within  the 
mner  house :  and  they  stretched  forth  the  wings  of  the  cherubim,  so  that  the  wing 
of  the  one  touched  the  one  wall,  and  the  wing  of  the  other  cherub  touched  the  other 
wall ;  and  their  wings  touched  one  another  in  the  midst  of  the  house.  And  he  over- 
laid the  cherubim  with  gold.  And  he  carved  all  the  walls  of  the  house  round  about 
with  carved  figures  of  cherubim  and  palm-trees  and  open  flowers  within  and  without. 
And  the  floor  of  the  house  he  overlaid  with  gold,  Avithin  and  without.  And  for  the 
entering  of  the  oracle  he  made  doors  of  olive-tree  :  the  lintel  and  side-posts  were  a 
fifth  part  of  the  Avail.  The  tAvo  doors  also  Avere  of  olive-tree  ;  and  he  carved  upon 
them  carvings  of  cherubim  and  palm-trees  and  open  flowers,  and  overlaid  them  Avith 
gold,  and  spread  gold  upon  the  cherubim,  and  upon  the  palm-trees.  So  also  made 
he  for  the  door  of  the  temple-posts  of  olive-tree,  a  fourth  part  of  the  wall.  And  the 
two  doors  Avere  of  fir-tree  :  the  two  leaves  of  the  one  door  Avere  folding,  and  the  two 
leaves  of  the  other  door  Avere  foldmg.  And  he  carved  thereon  cherubim  and 
palm-irees,  and  open  flowers :  and  covered  them  with  gold  fitted  upon  the  carved 
work.  And  he  built  the  inner  court  with  three  rows  of  hewed  stone,  and  a  roAV  of 
cedar-beams."    1  Kings  vi. 

In  the  next  chapter  Ave  read  of  two  remarkable  pillars  connected  with  the  porch. 
Speaking  of  Hiram,  Avhom  Solomon  had  caused  to  be  fetched  from  Tyre,  to  aid  in 
the  erection  of  the  temple,  the  sacred  historian  says  :  "  He  was  a  widoAv's  son  of  the 
tribe  of  Naphtali,  and  his  father  Avas  a  man  of  Tyre,  a  worker  in  brass;  and  he  was 
filled  Avith  Avisdom,  and  understand mg,  and  cunning,  to  Avork  all  works  in  brass. 
And  he  came  to  King  Solomon,  and  Avrought  all  his  AVork.  For  he  cast  tAvo  pillars 
of  brass,  of  eighteen  cubits  high  apiece ;  and  a  line  of  twelve  cubits  did  compass 
either  of  them  about.  And  he  made  two  chapiters  of  molten  brass,  to  set  upon  the 
tops  of  the  pillars  :  the  height  of  the  one  chapiter  Avas  five  cubits,  and  the  height  of 
the  other  chapiter  was  five  cubits :  and  nets  of  checkerwork  and  wreat|is  of  chain- 
work,  for  the  chapiters  Avhich  were  upon  the  top  of  the  pillars ;  seven  for  the  one 
chapiter,  and  seven  for  the  other  chapiter.  And  he  made  the  pillars,  and  tAvo  roAVS 
round  about  upon  the  one  nctAVork,  to  cover  the  chapiters  that  were  upon  the  top, 
with  pomegranates :  and  so  did  he  for  the  other  chapiter.  And  the  chapiters  that 
were  upon  the  top  of  the  pillars  were  of  lily-Avork  in  the  porch  four  cubits.  And  the 
chapiters  upon  the  two  pillars  had  pomegranates  also  above,  over  against  the  belly 
which  Avas  by  the  netAvork  :  and  the  pomegranates  Avere  tAvo  hundred  in  rows  round 
about  upon  the  other  chapiter.  And  he  set  up  the  pillars  in  the  porch  of  the  tem- 
ple: and  he  set  up  the  right  pillar,  and  called  the  name  thereof  Jachin"  (Avhich  may 
be  read,  "it  shall  stand") ;  "and  he  set  up  the  left  pillar,  and  called  the  name  there- 
of Boaz"  (which  may  be  read,  "in  strength,"  thus  forming  a  kind  of  sentence,  "It 
shall  stand  in  strength").  1  Kings  vii.  14-21.  The  reader  av ill  find  other  interesting 
details  concerning  the  temple  in  the  concluding  verses  of  this  chapter,  and  in  the 
parallel  chapters,  2  Chron.  iii.-vi. ;  1  Chron.  xxii.-xxix. ;  and  1  Kings  vii.,  viii. 

The  temple,  with  all  things  destined  for  its  service,  and  every  arrangement  con- 
nected with  It,  being  completed,  its  dedication  was  celebrated  the  year  after,  with  a 
magnificence  worthy  of  the  object  and  the  occasion.  All  the  chief  men  in  Israel 
were  present — the  heads  of  tribes,  and  paternal  chiefs,  together  with  multitudes  of 


298  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

people  from  all  parts  of  the  land.  The  priests,  if  not  the  Levites,  also  attended  in 
full  force,  the  succession  of  the  courses  being  afterward  to  commence.  God  him- 
self was  pleased  to  manifest  his  presence  and  his  complacency  by  two  striking 
miracles : — 

At  the  moment  when  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  having  been  brought  in  high  pro- 
cession from  its  former  place  in  "  the  city  of  David,"  Avas  deposited  in  the  holy  of 
holies,  the  numerous  Levitical  choirs  thundered  forth  their  well-known  song, — sent 
to  the  heavens  by  their  united  voices,  and  by  the  harmonious  concord  of  a  thousand 
instruments, — "  Praise  Jehovah  !  for  he  is  good ;  for  his  mercy  endureth  for  ever  !" 
Suddenly,  as  at  the  consecration  of  the  first  tabernacle,  the  house  of  God  was  covered 
with  a  thick  cloud,  which  filled  it,  and  which  enveloped  all  the  assistants  in  such 
profound  obscurity  that  the  priests  were  unable  to  continue  their  services.  This 
was  a  manifest  symbol  that  God  had  accepted  this  as  his  house,  his  palace ;  and  that 
his  Presence  had  entered  to  inhabit  there.  It  was  so  understood  by  Solomon,  whose 
voice  rose  amidst  the  silence  which  ensued.  "  Jehovah  said  that  he  would  dwell  in 
the  thick  darkness.  I  have  assuredly  built  for  thee  a  house  to  dwell  in,  a  settled 
place  for  thee  to  abide  in  for  ever !"  The  king  stood  on  a  brazen  platform  which  had 
been  erected  in  front  of  the  altar ;  and  now,  turning  to  the  people,  he  explained  the 
origin  and  object  of  this  building.  After  which  "he  spread  forth  his  hands  toward 
the  heavens''  to  address  himself  to  God.  The  prayer  he  offered  on  this  occasion  is 
one  of  the  noblest  and  most  sublime  compositions  in  the  Bible.  It  exhibits  the  most 
exalted  conceptions  of  the  omnipresence  of  God,  and  of  his  superintending  provi- 
dence ;  and  dwells  more  especially  on  his  peculiar  protection  of  the  Hebrew  nation, 
from  the  time  of  its  departure  from  Egypt,  and  imploring  pardon  and  forgiveness  for 
all  their  sins  and  transgressions  in  the  land,  and  during  those  ensuing  captivities 
which,  in  the  same  prophetic  spirit  that  animated  the  last  address  of  Moses,  he 
ai)pears  to  have  foreseen.  Nothing  can  be  finer  than  that  part  of  his  long  and 
beautiful  address,  in  which,  recurring  to  the  idea  of  inhabitance  which  had  been  so 
forcibly  brought  before  his  mind,  he  cries,  "  But  will  God  indeed  dwell  on  the  earth  ? 
Behold  the  heaven,  and  the  heaven  of  heavens  can  not  contain  thee;  how  much  less 
this  house  that  I  have  builded  !" 

The  king  had  no  sooner  concluded  his  prayer  than  a  fire  from  the  heavens 
descended  upon  the  altar  and  consumed  the  burnt-offerings.  All  the  Israelites  beheld 
this  prodigy,  and  bent  their  faces  toward  the  earth  in  adoration,  and  repeated  Avith 
one  voice  the  praise  which  was  the  most  acceptable  to  him:  "  He  is  good;  his  mercy 
endureth  for  ever !" 

By  these  two  signs  the  sanctuary  and  the  altar  received  the  same  acceptance  and 
consecration  which  had  been  granted  in  the  wilderness  to  the  tabernacle  and  the 
altar  there. 

After  this  the  sacrifices  were  resumed,  and  countless  victims  were  offered.  During 
two  consecutive  weeks  the  people  celebrated  this  great  solemnity  with  unabated 
zeal.  It  was  the  year  of  jubilee,  which  had  probably  been  chosen  as  a  season  of 
general  joy  and  leisure  ;  and  hence  the  unusually  great  concourse  to  Jerusalem.  In 
this  year  the  jubilee  feast  was  followed  by  that  of  tabernacles,  which  explains  the 
duration  of  this  great  festival  beyond  th^  seven  days  in  which  public  festivals  usually 
terminated.  On  the  last  day  of  the  second  feast,  the  king  blessed  the  people,  and 
dismissed  them  to  their  homes,  to  which  they  repaired,  "joyful  and  glad  of  heart 
for  all  the  good  which  Jehovah  had  done  for  !pavid  his  servant,  and  for  Israel  his 
people." 

Solomon  having  thus  worthily  accomplished  the  obligation  imposed  upon  him  by 
his  father,  felt  himself  at  liberty  to  build  various  sumptuous  structures,  and  under- 
take various  works  suited  to  the  hoaor  of  his  crown  and  the  dignity  of  his  great 
kingdom.  All  that  can  be  said  with  reference  to  these  will  be  little  more  than  an 
amplification  of  his  own  statement  on  the  subject:  "I  raised  magnificent  works ;  I 
built  for  myself  houses ;  I  planted  for  myself  vineyards ;  I  made  for  myself  gardens 
and  groves,  and  planted  in  them  fruit-trees  of  every  kind ;  I  made  also  pools  of 
water,*  to  water  therewith  the  growing  plantations.     I  bought  men-servants  and 

*  Solomon's  Pools  {see  Engraving,  p.  299). — The  pools  of  Solomon  are  situated  about  one  hour's  distance 
to  the  south  of  Bethlehem  :  and  to  them  the  king  of  Israel  is  supposed  to  refer  in  Eccles.  ii.  4-<5,  where, 
among  other  magnificent  works  executed  by  him,  he  enumerates  vineyards,  gardens,  orchards,  and  pools. 
These  pools  are  tlirce  in  number,  of  an  oblong  quadrangular  form,  cut  out  of  the  native  rock,  and  are 
covered  with  a  thick  coat  of  plaster  in  the  inside,  and  supported  by  abutments  •  the  workmanship  through- 


HISTOHY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


299 


^"■ijjfBSlK'f 


300  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

women-servants,  and  had  servants  born  in  my  house;  I  possessed  also  herds  antf 
flocks  in  abundance,  more  than  any  had  before  me  in  Jerusalem  ;  I  collected  also  sil- 
ver and  gold,  and  precious  treasure  from  kings  and  provinces ;  I  procured  men-singers 
and  women-singers,  and  the  sweetest  instruments  of  music,  the  delight  of  the  chil- 
dren of  men.  Thus  I  became  great,  and  possessed  more  than  any  who  had  been 
before  me  in  Jerusalem."  (Eccles.  ii.  3-9.) 

Of  the  royal  buildings  to  which  allusion  has  been  made,  our  more  particular  infor- 
mation is  respecting  the  palace  which  the  king  buih  for  himself,  another  for 
"Pharaoh's  daughter,"  and  "the  house  of  the  forest  of  Lebanon."  It  is  difficult, 
from  the  brief  intimations  which  the  scriptural  history  offers,  to  form  a  clear  or  con- 
nected idea  of  these  buildings.  The  description  of  Josephus,  although  more  precise, 
does  not  supply  this  deficiency;  but  by  its  assistance  we  may  make  out  that  the  two 
palaces,  for  himself  and  the  princess  of  Egypt,  were  not  separate  buildings,  but,  as 
the  existing  arrangements  in  oriental  palaces  would  suggest,  a  distinct  part,  or  Aving, 
of  the  same  building.  It  may  assist  the  matter  to  understand  that  an  oriental  palace 
consists,  for  the  most  part,  of  a  series  of  open  quadrangles,  with  distinct  appropria- 
tions, and  each  surrounded  Avith  buildings  suitable  to  its  appropriation.  In  fact,  they 
are  distinct  buildings,  connected  only  by  communicating  doors,  similar  in  their  general 
plan  to  each  other,  but  differing  much  in  size  and  workmanship.  The  quadrangle 
into  which  the  gate  of  entrance  opens  usually  contains  the  state  apartments  and 
offices,  principally  the  hall  in  which  the  sovereign  gives  audience,  sits  in  judgment, 
and  transacts  all  public  business.  Hence  the  court  is  very  often  called  "  the  gate,'''' 
of  which  we  have  a  familiar  instance  in  the  Ottoman  Porte,  and  of  which  examples 
are  found  in  scripture  with  reference  to  the  courts  of  the  Hebrew,  Babylonian,  and 
Persian  kings.*  Now,  from  the  description  of  Josephus,  it  would  appear  that  the 
palace,  as  a  whole,  consisted  of  three  quadrangles,  of  which  that  in  the  centre  con- 
tained the  hall  of  audience  and  justice,  and  other  state  apartments,  while  that  on  the 
right  hand  formed  the  king's  palace  of  residence,  and  that  on  the  left  was  the  palace 
of  the  Egyptian  princess.  The  only  point  on  which  we  are  in  doubt,  is,  whether  the 
three  quadrangles  were  on  a  line  with  each  other,  or  that  the  one  which  contained 
the  public  halls  was  in  advance  of  the  others;  for  in  this  way,  equally  with  the 
other,  the  palaces  of  the  king  and  queen  might  be  respectively  described  as  to  the 
right  and  left  of  the  public  building.  There  are  some  who  think  that  "  the  house 
of  the  forest  of  Lebanon"  was  the  same  as  this  front  or  public  portion  of  the  whole 

out,  like  everything  Jewish,  is  more  remarkable  for  strength  than  beauty.  They  are  situated  in  a  most 
secluded  situation,  at  the  south  end  of  a  small  valley,  in  the  midst  of  mountains  ;  and  are  so  disposed  on 
the  sloping  hill,  that  the  water  in  the  uppermost  pool  flows  into  the  second,  and  thence  into  the  third. 
That  on  the  west  is  nearest  to  the  source  of  the  spring  which  supplies  it  with  water,  and  is  stated  by  Dr. 
Richardson  to  be  480  feet  long  ;  the  second  is  about  fiOO  feet,  aud  the  third  about  6(i0  feet  in  length.  The 
breadlli  of  them  all  is  nearly  the  same  ;  but  no  traveller,  ancient  or  modern,  has  ascertained  their  depth. 
The  pools  communicate  freely  with  each  other,  and  are  capable  of  containing  a  great  quantity  of  water, 
which  they  discharge  into  a  small  aqueduct  that  conveys  it  to  Jerusalem.  This  aqueduct  was  constructed 
all  along  on  tlie  surface  of  the  ground,  and  framed  of  perforated  stones  let  one  into  another,  with  a  fillet 
round  the  cavity,  so  framed  as  to  prevent  leakage,  and  united  to  each  other  with  so  firm  a  cement  that 
they  will  sometimes  sooner  break  than  endure  a  separation.  These  pipes  were  covered,  for  greater  secu- 
rity, witli  a  case  or  layer  of  smaller  stones,  which  were  laid  over  them  in  a  very  strong  mortar.  "  The 
wliole  work  "says  Maundrell,  "seems  to  be  endued  with  such  absolute  firmness,  as  it  it  had  been  designed 
for  eternity.'  But  the  Turks  liave  demonstrated,  in  this  instance,  that  nothing  can  be  so  well  wrought  but 
they  are  able  to  destroy  it.  For  of  this  strong  aqueduct,  which  was  carried  formerly  five  or  six  leagues 
with  so  vast  e-xpense  and  labor,  you  now  see  only  here  and  there  a  fragment  remaining." 

The  fountain  whence  these  pools  principally  derive  their  waters  is  at  the  distance  of  about  one  hundred 
and  forty  paces  from  them.  This,  the  friars  of  Bethlehem  are  fully  persuaded,  is  the  "sealed  fountain"  to 
which  Solomon  compares  his  bride.  fSol.  Song,  iv.  12.)  In  confirmation  of  their  opinion,  they  pretend  a 
tradition,  that  King  Solomon  shut  up  these  springs,  and  kept  the  door  of  them  sealed  with  his  signet,  in 
order  that  he  might  preserve  the  waters  for  his  drinking  in  their  natural  freshness  and  purity.  Nor  was  it 
difficult  thus  to  secure  them,  as  they  rise  under  ground,  and  there  is  no  avenue  to  them  but  by  a  little  hole, 
hke  the  mouth  of  a  narrow  well.  Through  this  hole  you  descend  directly,  tliough  not  witliout  some 
difiiculty,  for  about  four  yards,  when  you  arrive  in  a  vaulted  room,  forty-five  feet  in  length  and  twenty-four 
in  breadth,  adjoining  to  whicli  there  is  another  room  of  the  same  kind,  but  somewhat  less.  Both  these 
rooms  are  covered  with  handsome  stone  arches,  of  great  antiquity,  which  Maundrell  thinks  may  be  ihe 
work  of  Solomon.  , 

Below  thi-se  pools,  at  the  distance  of  more  than  half  a  mile,  is  a  deep  valley,  enclosed  on  each  side  by 
lofty  mountains,  which  the  monks  of  Uethlehem  affirm  to  be  the  "  enclosed  garden"  alluded  to  in  Sol. 
Song  iv.  12.  Whether  this  conjecture  (for  it  is  no  more  than  a  conjecture)  be  well  founded  or  not, 
Maundrell  thinks  it  probable  enough  that  the  pools  may  be  the  same  with  Solomon's,  there  not  being  ths 
like  supply  of  excellent  spring  water  to  be  met  with  anywhere  else  throughout  Palestine.  Hut  if  Solonion 
made  the  gardens  in  the  rocky  ground  now  assigned  for  them,  it  may  be  safely  affirmed,  that  he  demon 
strated  greater  power  and  wealth  in  finishing  his  design  than  he  did  wisdom  in  selecting  the  place  for  it. 

•  2  Sam.  XV.  2;  Est.  ii.  19,  21 ;  iii.  2,  3  ;  Dan.  ii.  49.  Compare  Matt.  xvi.  18;  see  also  Xenop.  Cyrop.  i 
3 ;  viii.  a 


«• 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  301 

pile;  nor  should  we  like  absolutely  lo  deny  this,  although  it  seems  more  probable 
that  it  was  a  royal  residence  in  the  neighbhorhood  of  Jerusalem,  deriving  its  name 
either  from  the  number  of  cedar  pillars  which  supported  its  galleries  and  halls,  or 
from  the  plantafious  by  which  it  was  surrounded.  These  structures  were,  for  the 
most  part,  built  Avith  immense  blocks  of  squared  stones,  and  the  whole  was  fitted  up 
with  cedar;  while  the  nobler  rooms  and  galleries  were  lined  with  slabs  of  costly 
polished  marble  to  the  floor,  and  were  above  enriched  with  sculptures  (on  the  wall), 
and  apparently  with  paintings  (on  the  plaster),  especially  toward  the  ceiling,  all  of 
which  Ave  may  conclude  to  have  been  very  much  in  the  style  of  similar  things  among 
the  Egyptians,  Avhose  palaces  Avere  decorated  after  the  same  style.  And  if  Ave  have 
rightlv'interpreted  Josephus  to  intimate  that  there  were  three  ranges  of  ornaments  in 
the  principal  rooms— polished  slabs  at  the  bottom,  sculpture  above,  and  painting 
toAvard  the  top,  it  Avould  be  very  easy  to  show  how  the  same  ideas  and  distributions 
are  retained  in  the  palaces  of  the  modern  East,  where,  above  basement  slabs  of 
lookins:- glass.,  are  wrought  recesses,  and  carvings,  and  arabesques,  and  ornaments  of 
stucco"  (sculpture  being^interdicted) ;  Avhile  toAvard  the  ceiling  much  highly-colored 
pointing  is  displayed.  If  Ave  may  credit  Josephus,  "  barbaric  pearl  and  gold"  Avere 
not  Avanting  among  the  materials  Avhich  contributed  to  the  decoration  of  the  more 
splendid  apartments.  The  historian  is  at  a  loss  for  Avords  to  express  the  full  concep- 
tion, Avhich  the  traditions  of  his  fathers  had  conveyed  to  his  mind,  of  the  spletidors 
of  Solomon's  palatial  buildings  :  "  It  Avould  be  an  endless  task,"  he  says,  "  to  give  a 
particular  survey  of  this  mighty  mass  of  building ;  so  many  courts  and  other  con- 
trivances ;  such  a  A'ariety  of  chambers  and  offices,  great  and  small ;  long  and  large 
galleries ;  vast  rooms  of  state,  and  others  for  feasting  and  entertainment,  set  out  as 
richly  as  could  be  Avith  costly  furniture  and  gildings ;  besides,  that  all  the  service  for 
the  king's  table  were  of  pure  gold.  In  a  word,  the  Avhole  palace  Avas  in  a  manner 
made  up,  from  the  base  to  the  coping,  of  Avhite  marble,  cedar,  gold  and  silver,  with 
precious  stones  here  and  there  intermingled  upon  the  walls  and  ceilings." 

The  descriptions  in  the  Greek  writers  of  the  Persian  courts  in  Susa  and  Ecbatana; 
the  tales  of  the  early  travellers  in  the  East  about  the  kings  of  Samarcand  or  Cathay ; 
and  even  the  imagination  of  the  oriental  romancers  and  poets,  have  scarcely  conceived 
a  more  splendid  pageant  than  Solomon,  seated  on  his  throne  of  ivory,  receiving  the 
homage  of  distant  princes  Avho  came  to  admire  his  magnificence,  and  put  to  the  test 
his  noted  Avisdom.  This  throne  Avas  of  pure  ivory,  covered  with  gold ;  six  steps  led 
up  to  the  seat,  and  on  each  side  of  the  steps  were  tAvelve  lions  carved.  All  the  ves- 
sels of  his  palace  Avere  of  pure  gold— silver  Avas  thought  too  mean :  his  armory  was 
furnished  Avith  gold ;  tAvo  hundred  targets  and  three  hundred  shields  of  beaten  gold 
were  suspended  in  the  house  of  Lebanon.  Josephus  mentions  a  body  of  archers  Avho 
escorted  him  from  the  city  to  his  country  palace,  clad  m  dresses  of  Tyiian  purple, 
and  their  hair  poAvdered  Avith  gold  dust.  "But,  enormous  as  this  wealth  appears,  the 
statement  of  his  expenditure  on  the  temple,  and  of  his  annual  revenue,  so  passes  all 
credibility,  that  any  attempt  at  forming  a  calculation  on  the  uncertain  data  Ave  pos- 
sess, may  at  once  be  abandoned  as  a  hopeless  task.  No  better  proof  can  be  given  of 
the  uncertainty  of  our  authorities,  of  our  imperfect  knoAvledge  of  the  HebreAv  Aveights 
of  money,  and,  above  all,  of  our  total  ignorance  of  the  relative  value  Avhich  the 
precious"  metals  bore  to  the  commodhies  of  life,  than  the  estimate,  made  by  Dr. 
Prideaux,  of  the  treasures  left  by  David,  amounting  to  eight  hundred  millions — 
nearly  the  capital  of  the  national  debt  of  England. 

Our  inquiry  into  the  sources  of  the  A^ast  Avealth  Avhich  Solomon  undoubtedly  pos- 
sessed, may  lead  to  more  satisfactory,  though  still  imperfect,  results.  '  The  treasures 
of  David  Avere  accumulated  rather  by  conquest  than  by  traffic.  Some  of  the  nations 
he  subdued,  particularly  the  Edomites,  Avere  Avealthy.  All  the  tribes  seem  to  have 
worn  a  great  deal  of  gold  and  silver  in  their  ornaments  and  their  armor;  their  idols 
were  often  of  gold,  and  the  treasuries  of  their  temples  perhaps  contained  consider- 
able wealth.  But  during  the  reign  of  Solomon,  almost  the  Avhole  commerce  of  the 
world  passed  into  his  territories.  The  treaty  with  Tyre  Avas  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance ;  nor  is  there  any  instance  in  which  tAvo  neighboring  nations  so  clearly  saw, 
and  so  steadily  pursued,  without  jealousy  or  mistrust,  their  mutual  and  inseparable 
interests.  On  one  occasion  only,  Avhen  Solomon  presented  to  Hiram  tAventy  inland 
cities  Avhich  he  had  conquered,  Hiram  expressed  great  dissatisfaction,  and  called  the 
territory  by  the  opprobrious  name  of  Cabul.    The  Tyrian  had  perhaps  cast  a  wistful  eye 


302  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

on  the  noble  bay  and  harbor  of  Acco,  or  Ptolemais,  Avhich  the  prudent  Hebrew  either 
woald  not  or  could  not — since  it  was  part  of  the  promised  land—  dissever  from  his 
dominions.  So  strict  was  the  confederacy,  that  Tyre  may  be  considered  the  port  of 
Palestine,  Palestine  the  granary  of  Tyre.  Tyre  furnished  the  ship-builders  and 
mariners;  the  fruitful  plains  of  Palestine  victualled  the  fleets,  and  supplied  the 
manufacturers  and  merchants  of  the  Phoenician  league  with  all  the  necessaries  of  Hie. 
This  league  comprehended  Tyre,  Aradus,  Sidon,  perhaps  Tripolis,  Byblus  and  Be- 
rytus ;  the  narroAV  slip  of  territory  which  belonged  to  these  states  was  barren,  rocky, 
and  unproductive.  The  first  branch  of  commerce,  into  which  this  enterprising  people 
either  admitted  the  Jews  as  regular  partners,  or  at  least  permitted  them  to  share  its 
advantages,  was  the  traffic  of  the  Mediterranean.  To  every  part  of  that  sea  the  Phoe- 
nicians had  pursued  their  discoveries ;  they  had  planted  colonies,  and  worked  the 
mines.  This  was  the  trade  to  Tarshish,  so  celebrated,  that  ships  of  Tarshish  seem 
to  have  become  the  common  name  for  large  merchant  vessels.  Tarshish  was  proba- 
bly a  name  as  indefinite,  as  the  West  Indies  in  early  European  navigation  ;  properly 
speaking,  it  was  the  south  of  Spain,  then  rich  in  mines  of  gold  and  silver,  the  Peru 
of  Tyrian  adventure.  Whether  or  not  as  early  as  the  days  of  Solomon, — without 
doubt  in  the  more  flourishing  period  of  Phoenicia ;  before  the  city  on  the  mainland 
was  destroyed  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  insular  Tyre  became  the  emporium — the  Phoe- 
nician navies  extended  their  voyages  beyond  the  pillars  of  Hercules,  where  they 
founded  Cadiz.  Northward  they  sailed  along  the  coast  of  France  to  the  British  isles: 
southward  along  the  African  shore  ;  where  the  boundaries  of  their  navigation  are 
quite  uncertain,  yet  probably  extended  to  the  gold  coast.  The  second  branch  of  com- 
merce was  the  inland  trade  with  Egypt.  This  was  carried  on  entirely  by  the  Jews. 
Egypt  supplied  horses  in  vast  numbers,  and  linen  yarn.  The  valleys  of  the  Nile  pro- 
duced flax  in  abundance;  and  the  yarn,  according  to  the  description  of  the  prudent 
housewife  in  the  Proverbs,  was  spun  and  woven  by  the  females  in  Palestine.  The 
third,  and  more  important  branch,  was  the  maritime  trade  by  the  Red  sea.  The  con- 
quests of  David  had  already  made  the  Jews  masters  of  the  eastern  branch  of  this 
gulf.  Solomon  built  or  improved  the  towns  and  ports  of  Elaih  and  Ezion-geber. 
Hence  a  fleet,  manned  by  Ty^ians,  sailed  for  Ophir,  their  East  Indies,  as  Tarshish  was 
their  West.  They  sailed  along  the  eastern  coast  of  Africa,  in  some  part  of  which  the 
real  Ophir  was  probably  situated.  When  the  Egyptians  under  Necho,  after  the  de- 
clension of  the  Israelitish  kingdom,  took  possession  of  this  branch  of  commerce,  there 
seems  little  reason  to  doubt  the  plain  and  consistent  account  of  Herodotus,  that  the 
Tyrians  sailed  round  the  continent  of  Africa.  The  whole  maritime  commerce,  with 
eastern  Asia,  the  southern  shores  of  the  Arabian  peninsula,  the  coasts  of  the  Persian 
gulf,  and  without  doubt  some  parts  of  India,  entered,  in  the  same  manner,  the  Red 
sea,  and  was  brought  to  Elath  and  Ezion-geber. 

Besides  this  maritime  traffic  the  caravan  trade  by  land  engaged  a  full  share  of  Sol- 
omon's attention.  By  the  possession  of  a  southern  frontier  stretching  across  from  the 
Elanitic  gulf  to  the  Mediterranean,  the  land  traffic  between  Egypt  and  Syria  lay  com- 
pletely at  his  mercy.  He  fell  this,  and  through  some  arrangement  with  his  father- 
in-law  the  king  of  Egypt,  he  contrived  to  monopolize  it  entirely  in  his  own  hands. 
It  appears  that  what  S;,ria  chiefly  required  from  Egypt  were  linen  fabrics  and  yarn, 
for  the  manufacture  of  which  that  country  had  long  been  celebrated  ;  also  chariots, 
the  extensive  use  of  which  in  Egypt  has  already  been  pointed  out ;  oxiA  horses,  oi 
which  that  country  possessed  a  very  excellent  and  superior  breed,  if  we  may  judge 
from  the  numerous  fine  examples  which  the  paintings  and  sculptures  offer.  All  this 
trade  Solomon  appears  lo  have  intercepted  and  monopolized.  He  was  supplied  by 
contract,  at  a  fixed  price,  with  certain  quantities  adequate  to  the  supply  of  the  Syrian 
market,  which,  after  retaining  what  he  required  for  himself,  his  factors  sold,  doubtless 
at  a  high  profit,  to  the  different  kings  of  Syria.  The  price  was  doubtless  arbitrary, 
and  dependant  on  times  and  circumstances ;  but  the  contract  price  at  which  the  char- 
iots and  horses  were  supplied  by  the  Egyptians  to  the  Hebrew  factors  happens  to  be 
named,— six  hundred  silver  shekels  for  a  chariot,  and  one  fourth  of  that  sum,  or  one 
hundred  and  fifty  shekels,  for  a  horse. 

This  was  not  the  only  land  traffic  which  engaged  the  notice  of  Solomon.  His  at- 
tention was  attracted  to  the  extensive  and  valuable  caravan  trade  which,  from  very 
remote  ages,  coming  from  the  farther  east,  and  the  Persian  gulf,  proceeded  te  Egypt, 
Tyre,  and  other  'loints  on  the  Mediterranean,  by  the  Euphrates  and  across  the  great 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


303 


* 


304  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

Syrian  desert.  The  habitable  points  of  that  desert,  even  to  the  great  river,  were  now 
under  the  dominion  of  the  Hebrew  king,  and  even  the  Bedouin  tribes  by  whom  it  wa& 
chiefly  inhabited  were  brought  under  tribute  to  him,  and  were  kept  in  order  by  the 
dread  of  his  great  name.  Under  these  circumstances,  Solomon  was  in  nearly  as  fa- 
vorable a  position  for  taking  a  part  in  this  trade  as  in  the  land  traffic  between  Egypt 
and  Syria.  But  the  measures  which  he  took  were  different,  and  more  specially  adapt- 
ed to  the  circumstances  of  the  case.  They  were  less  coercive,  and  dealt  more  in  the 
offer  of  inducements  and  advantages.  And  the  reason  is  obvious ;  for  although  the 
ordinary  track  of  the  great  caravans  lay  through  his  territories,  it  was  in  the  power 
of  its  conductors  to  alter  that  tract  so  as  to  pass  northward  beyond  the  limits  of  his 
dominion;  but  this  would  have  produced  such  expense,  trouble  and  delay,  that  it 
would  have  been  preferable  to  maintain  the  old  route  even  at  the  expense  of  some 
check  and  inconvenience.  Whether  the  measures  of  Solomon  were  felt  to  be  such, 
we  do  not  know ;  they  were  possibly  deemed  by  the  caravan  merchants  and  by  the 
Hebrews,  as  mutually  advantageous,  although  the  ultimate  purchasers,  who  could  be 
no  parties  in  this  arrangement,  possibly  regarded  them  m  a  different  light.  The  plan 
of  Solomon  was  to  erect  in  the  very  heart  of  the  desert  au  emporium  for  this  import- 
ant trade.  The  route  of  a  caravan  is  so  directed  as  to  include  as  many  as  possible  of 
the  places  at  which  water  may  be  found.  At  the  most  important  of  these  stations, 
where  water,  and  by  consequence  palm-trees,  was  found  in  the  most  abundance,  the 
Hebrew  king  built  a  city  and  called  it  Tadmor*  {a  pal/n-tree),  whence  its  Greek  name 
of  Palmyra.  But  Greek  and  Roman  names  never  fixed  themselves  in  the  soil  of 
Syria,  and  the  ruins  of  the  city  bear,  to  this  day',  among  the  natives,  the  primitive 
name  of  Tadmor.  Here  the  caravans  not  only  found  water  as  before,  but  every  ad- 
vantage of  shelter  and  rest,  while  by  this  establishment  Solomon  was  enabled  more 
effectively  to  overawe  the  tribes,  and  to  afford  protection  to  the  caravans  from  the  pred- 
atory attempts  and  exactions  of  the  Bedouins.  Here  the  caravan  merchants  would 
soon  find  it  convenient  to  dispose  of  their  commodities,  and  leave  the  further  distribu- 
tion of  them,  to  the  nations  west  of  the  desert,  either  to  the  factors  of  Solomon,  or  to 
Erivate  merchants, — for  we  do  not  know  toAvhat  extent  the  king  found  it  advisable  to 
ave  this  trade  free  to  his  own  subjects.  It  may  be  that  private  persons  among  his 
subjects,  or  even  foreigners  from  the  west,  were  not  prevented  from  here  meeting  and 
dealing  with  the  eastern  merchants ;  but  from  the  general — and  with  our  present  lights, 
we  must  say  short-sighted — policy  of  Solomon's  commercial  doings,  it  may  be  inferred 
that  he  monopolized  such  advantages  in  this  trade  as  he  deemed  safe  or  prudent.  At 
the  least,  it  must  be  presumed  that  he  derived  a  considerable  revenue,  in  the  way  of 
customs,  from  such  merchandise  as  did  not  pass  into  the  hands  of  his  own  factors ; 
and  this,  however  advantageous  to  the  king,  may  have  been  felt  by  the  caravan  mer- 
chants but  as  a  reasonable  equivalent  for  the  protection  they  enjoyed,  and  their  free- 
dom from  the  exactions  of  the  Bedouins.  Much  of  this,  which  we  have  stated  as 
probably  connected  with  the  foundation  of  this  city  of  the  desert,  is  not  stated  in  scrip- 
ture :  but  it  is  deducible  from  the  improbability  that  without  strong  inducements  a 
city  would  have  been  founded  in  such  a  situation,  and  from  the  detection  of  these  in- 
ducements in  the  commercial  enterprises  of  Solomon,  with  the  illustration  applied  to 
the  particular  instance,  which  is  derivable  from  the  fact  that  the  wealth  and  glory  in 
which  the  Palmyra  of  a  later  day  appears,  was  due  entirely  to  the  circumstance  that 
its  position  made  it  an  emporium  for  the  caravan  trade  of  the  desert.  In  fact,  thai  it 
was  such  at  a  long  subsequent  date,  and  that  its  very  existence  depended  on  its  being 
such,  illustrates  and  justifies  that  intention  in  its  foundation  which,  on  the  strongest 
circumstantial  evidence,  we  have  ventured  to  ascribe  to  Solomon. 

Besides  these  branches  of  commerce,  "  the  traffic  of  the  spice  merchants"  is  men- 
tioned among  the  sources  froniAvhich  wealth  accrued  to  Solomon.  In  what  form  this 
profit  was  derived  is  not  distinctly  intimated.  From  the  analogy  of  his  other  opera- 
tions, we  might  conclude  that  he  bought  up  the  costly  spices  and  aromatics  brought 
by  the  spice  caravans  of  southernmost  Arabia,  which  nmsi  needs  pass  through  his 
territories  ;  and  that  after  deducting  what  sufficed  for  the  large  consumption  of  his 
own  nation,  he  sold  the  residue  at  an  enhanced  price  to  the  neighboring  nations.  As 
it  is  certain  that,  from  his  own  wants  merely,  an  act  of  trade  must  have  taken  place 
between  him  and  these  caravans,  this  seems  the  more  obvious  conclusion,  although, 

♦  In  the  Ketib  of  1  Kings  ix.  18  it  is  put  Tamar,  tlie  proper  word  for  a  p;ilin-trec,  showing  that  Tadmor 
has  the  same  meaning,  and  probably  that  the  d  is  merely  introduced  for  euphony. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  305 

without  this,  he  may  have  derived  an  important  item  of  profit  from  this  trade  by 
levying  customs  upon  it  in  its  passage  through  his  dominions. 

Such,  as  far  as  they  can  be  traced,  were  the  commercial  operations  of  Solomon.  It 
li  quite  easy  noiv,  and  in  a  commercial  country  like  our  o\vn,  to  see  that  these  opera- 
tions were,  for  the  most  part,  based  on  wrong  views  and  principles,  inasmuch  as  how- 
ever they  might  tend  to  the  aggrandizement  of  the  king,  they  could  confer  little  solid 
and  enduring  benefit  on  the  nation.  But  in  the  East,  where  the  king  is  the  state,  and 
becomes  himself  the  centre  of  most  public  acts,  he  is  seldom  found  to  take  interest  in 
commerce,  but  from  regarding  it  as  a  source  of  emolument  to  the  state,  by  his  direct 
and  personal  concern  therein.  The  king  himself  is  a  trader,  with  such  advantages 
resulting  from  his  position,  as  inevitably  exclude  the  private  merchant  from  the  field 
in  which  he  appears.  He  is  inevitably  a  monopolist ;  and  a  sovereign  moi-iopoly  is, 
if  not  an  evil,  at  least  not  a  benefit  to  the  people,  whatever  wealth  it  may  seem  to 
bring  into  the  country.  The  river,  however  noble,  gives  fertility  only  to  the  banks 
which  hem  it  in  ;  and  it  is  only  when  its  waters  are  drawn  off  in  their  course,  and 
exhausted  into  a  thousand  channels,  that  they  bless  and  glorify  the  wide  country 
around.  Solomon,  in  his  book  of  Ecclesiastes,  acquaints  us  with  many  "vanities" 
and  "  sore  evils"  which  he  saw  "  under  the  sun ;"  hut  from  this  statement  we  do  not 
learn  that  he  ever  became  conscious  of  the  very  great  vanity  and  most  sore  evil  of  a 
rich  king  over  a  poor  people,  or  of  the  system  which  makes  the  king  rich  while  the 
people  remain  comparatively  poor. 

Large  revenues  were  derived  from  the  annual  tributes  of  the  foreign  states,  which 
were  now  subject  to  the  Hebrew  sceptre,  or  over  which  it  exercised  a  more  or  less 
stringent  influence.  The  kings  and  princes  of  such  states  appear  to  have  sent  their 
tribute  in  the  form  of  quantities  of  the  principal  articles  which  their  country  produced, 
or  was  able  to  procure;  as  did  also  the  governors  of  the  provinces  not  left  under  the 
native  princes.  Besides  the  regular  tax  or  tribute  derived  from  countries  more  or  less 
closely  annexed  to  the  Hebrew  kingdom,  there  were  more  distant  states  which  found 
it  good  policy  to  conciliate  the  favor  of  Solomon,  or  to  avert  his  hostility  by  annual 
offerings,  which,  under  the  soft  name  of  "presents,"  formed  no  contemptible  item  of 
the  royal  revenue.  Of  that  revenue  one  item  is  mentioned  in  rather  singular  terms: 
"  All  the  earth  sought  to  Solomon  to  hear  his  wisdom,  which  God  had  put  into  his 
heart.  And  they  brought  every  man  his  present,  utensils  of  silver,  and  utensils  of 
gold,  and  garments,  and  armor,  and  spices,  horses  and  mules,  a  rate  year  by  year." 
Here  the  terms  "  presents,"  and  "  a  rate  year  by  year,"  have  a  degree  of  opposition 
at  the  first  view,  which  seems  to  require  us  to  suppose  either  that  those  great  men 
who  had  once  resorted  to  Jerusalem  to  hear  the  wisdom  of  Solomon,  and  to  behold 
the  manifestation  of  it  in  the  ordering  of  his  court  and  kingdom,  not  only  brought  with 
them  the  presents  which  the  usages  of  the  East  rendered  the  necessary  accompani- 
ments of  such  visits,  but  that  they  continued  to  send  from  their  several  lands  yearly 
gifts  of  compliment  to  him.  Or  else,  that  the  desire  of  thus  complimenting  the  mon- 
arch whom  God  had  so  eminently  gifted,  furnished  a  decent  pretence  to  those  who 
had  other  reasons  for  rendering  a  real  tribute  to  him.  The  latter  interpretation  is  that 
which  we  prefer.  And  it  is  certain  that  in  the  case  of  the  only  royal  visit  which  is 
particularly  described  —that  of  the  queen  of  Sheba— only  such  presents  as  she  brought 
with  her  are  named,  and  no  "  rate  year  by  year"  is  intimated.  Ethiopia  was  too  re- 
mote to  be  wathiu  reach  of  the  influences  which  may  have  determined  the  monarchs 
of  nearer  nations  to  make  their  "  presents"  to  Solomon  a  yearly  payment. 

The  articles  mentioned  in  the  extract  just  given,  together  with  those  named  in  other 
places,  enable  us  to  form  some  idea  of  the  display  which  these  annual  or  occasional 
renderings  of  tributes  and  of  traffics  must  have  offered.  It  has  been  the  fashion  of 
the  East  to  make  a  show  of  such  offerings  by  their  being  taken  in  procession  to  the 
palace  of  the  king  by  the  persons,  arrayed  in  their  varied  costumes,  by  whom  they 
were  brought  to  the  country.  To  this  custom  we  have  more  than  once  had  occasion 
to  allude  in  the  course  of  the  present  work.  Many  were  the  spectacles  of  this  sort 
which  must  have  delighted  the  eyes  of  the  Israelites  during  the  splendid  reign  of  Sol- 
omon. There  are  paintings  of  Egypt,  and  sculptures  of  Persia,  which  enable  us  to 
form  some  idea  of"  these  imposing  exhibitions,  which  indeed  are  in  strict  correspond- 
ence with  those  which  the  courts  of  the  East  have  still  preserved.  Of  the  represent- 
ations to  which  we  allude,  the  former  is  no  less  interesting  and  instructive  from  the 
derails  which  it  offers,  than  venerable  from  its  high  antiquity.     It  is  at  Thebes ;  and 

20 


306 


A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 


represents  the  ambassadors  of  four  nations 
bringing  their  tributes  to  Thothraes  III., 
whose  reign  Sir  J.  G.  Wilkinson  ascribes 
to  the  time  of  the  departure  of  the  Israel- 
ites from  Egypt.  The  general  eflect  of 
this  curious  scene  may  be  estimated  from 
the  annexed  engraving,  although  in  thia 
attempt  to  imbody  the  ideas  which  it  of- 
fers, it  has  been  necessary  to  omit  many  of 
the  details  which  are  included  in  the  ex- 
tensive original  subject.  It  is  remarkable 
that  the  classes  of  articles  brought  by  ihe 
foreigners  are  all  such  as  would  be  included 
in  the  classes  of  products  rendered  to  Sol- 
omon. The  articles  v^ry  with  the  country 
and  costume  of  the  nation  by  which  they 
are  brought.  We  see  principally  gold  and 
silver  money  in  rings ;  vases  and  other 
utensils  of  the  same  metal,  of  very  various 
and  often  truly  elegant  shapes;  baskets 
containing  sealed  bags,  probably  of  jewels; 
baskets  of  fruits,  carefully  packed  and  cov- 
ered with  leaves  to  preserve  their  fresh- 
ness ;  growing  plants, — in  one  instance  we 
see  a  shrub  transported  in  a  growing  state: 
it  is  enclosed  with  the  mould  in  which  it 
grows,  in  a  kind  of  open  case,  which  is 
carried  between  two  men  suspended  from 
a  pole,  the  ends  of  which  rest  on  their 
shoulders.  Then  there  are  elephants'  teeth, 
and  beams  of  ebony  and  other  valuable 
woods ;  and,  besides  the  skins  of  various 
animals,  particularly  leopards,  there  is  a 
most  interesting  exhibition  of  various  liv- 
ing animals  conducted  to  the  king.  Among 
these  are  giraffes,  various  well-distinguish- 
ed species  of  apes  and  monkeys,  leopards, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


307 


308  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

and  even  bears.  There  Avere  also  oxen,  of  a  different  breed  to  that  commoa  m  the 
country,  as  were  probably  the  horses,  which  also  figure  in  the  procession,  and  which, 
with  chariots,  form  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  objects  of  the  whole,  as  being  brought 
to  a  country  which  itself  abounded  in  horses  and  chariots ;  but  the  horses  were  prob- 
ably desirable  to  the  Egyptians  as  of  a  foreign  breed,  and  tlie  chariots  as  a  curious  for- 
eign manufacture.  Upon  the  whole,  a  more  striking  and  appropriate  illustration  of 
this  part  of  Solomon's  glory  can  not  well  be  imagined. 

The  wealth  which  flowed  into  tlie  royal  treasury  from  these  various  sources  appears 
to  have  been  freely  disbursed  by  Solomon  in  enriching  his  buildings,  in  extending  their 
number,  and  in  the  ordering  of  his  court  and  kingdom.  Besides  the  buildings  which 
have  already  been  pointed  out,  various  public  structures  were  built  by  him  in  Jerusa- 
lem, which  city  he  also  enclosed  by  new  walls,  fortified  with  strong  towers.  Other 
important  towns  (as  Gaza)  were  fortified,  and  new  ones  built  in  different  parts  of  the 
country.  Besides  Tadmor,  which  has  already  engaged  our  notice,  Baalath  is  named 
among  the  towns  built  by  him ;  and  this  is  supposed  by  many  to  be  no  other  than  the 
afterward  celebrated  city  of  Baalbec,  in  the  great  valley  of  Coele-Syria. 

It  was  from  these  various  sources  of  wealth,  that  the  precious  metals  and  all  othei 
valuable  commodities  were  in  such  abundance — that,  in  the  figurative  language  of  the 
sacred  historian,  silver  was  in  Jerusalem  as  stones,  and  cedar-trees  as  sycamores. 

Solomon  was  not  less  celebrated  for  iiis  wisdom  than  his  magnificence.  The  visits 
of  the  neighboring  princes,  particularly  that  of  the  queen  of  Sheba  (a  part  of  Arabia 
Felix),  were  to  admire  the  one,  as  much  as  the  other.  Hebrew  tradition,  perhaps 
the  superstitious  wonder  of  his  own  age,  ascribed  to  Solomon  the  highest  skill  in 
magical  arts,  and  even  unbounded  dominion  overall  the  invisible  world.  More  sobei 
history  recognises  in  Solomon  the  great  poet,  naturalist,  and  moral  philosopher  of  his 
time.  His  poetry,  consisting  of  one  thousand  and  five  songs,  except  his  epithalamium, 
and  perhaps  some  of  the  Psalms,  has  entirely  perished.  His  natural  history  of  plants 
and  animals  has  suffered  the  same  fate.  But  the  great  part  of  the  book  of  Proverbs 
and  Ecclesiastes  (perhaps  more  properly  reckoned  as  a  poem)  have  preserved  the 
conclusions  of  his  moral  wisdom. 

The  latter  book,  or  poem,  derives  new  interest,  when  considered  as  coming  from 
the  most  voluptuous,  magnificent,  and  instructed  of  monarchs,  who  sums  up  tlie  esti- 
mate of  human  life  in  the  melancholy  sentence — Vanity  of  vanities  !  vanity  of  vani- 
ties !  It  is  a  sad  commentary  on  the  termination  of  the  splendid  life  and  reign  of  the 
great  Hebrew  sovereign.  For  even  had  not  this  desponduig  confession  been  extorted 
by  the  satiety  of  passion,  and  the  weariness  of  a  spirit,  over-excited  by  all  the  grati- 
fications this  Avorld  can  bestow — had  no  higher  wisdom  suggested  this  humiliating 
conclusion — the  state  of  his  own  powerful  kingdum,  during  his  declining  years,  might 
have  furnished  a  melancholy  lesson  on  the  instability  of  human  grandeur.  Solomon, 
in  his  old  age,  was  about  to  bequeath  to  his  heir,  an  insecure  throne,  a  discontented 
people,  formidable  enemies  on  the  frontiers,  and  perhaps  a  contested  succession.  He 
could  not  even  take  refuge  in  the  sanctuary  of  conscious  innocence,  and  assume  the 
dignity  of  suffering  unmerited  degradation;  for  he  had  set  at  defiance  every  principle 
of  the  Hebrew  constitution.  He  had  formed  a  connexion  with  Egypt — he  had  multi- 
plied a  great  force  of  cavalry — he  had  accumulated  gold  and  silver — he  had  married 
many  foreign  wives.  His  seraglio  was  on  as  vast  a  scale  as  the  rest  of  his  expendi- 
ture— he  had  seven  hundred  wives,  and  three  hundred  concubines.  Tiie  influence  of 
these  women,  not  merely  led  him  to  permit  an  idolatrous  worship  within  his  domin- 
ions, but  even  Solomon  had  been  so  infatuated,  as  to  consecrate  to  the  obscene  and 
barbarous  deities  of  the  neighboring  nations,  a  part  of  one  of  the  hills,  which  over- 
looked Jerusalem — a  spot  almost  fronting  the  splendid  temple,  which  he  himself  had 
built  to  the  one  Almighty  God  of  the  universe.  Hence  clouds  on  all  sides  gathered 
about  his  declining  day.  Hadad,  one  of  the  blood-royal  of  the  Edomite  princes,  began 
to  organize  a  revolt  in  that  province,  on  which  so  nmch  of  the  Jewish  commerce  de- 
pended. An  adventurer  seized  on  Damascus,  and  set  up  an  independent  sovereignty, 
thus  endangering  the  communication  from  Tadmor.  A  domestic  enemy,  still  more 
dangerous,  appeared  in  the  person  of  Jeroboam,  a  man  of  great  valor,  supported  by 
the  prophet  Ahijah,  who  foretold  his  future  rule  over  the  ten  tribes.  Though  forced 
to  fly,  Jeroboam  found  an  asylum  with  Shishak,  or  Sesac,  the  Sesonchosis  of  Mane- 
tho,  who  was  raising  the  kingdom  of  Egypt  to  its  former  alarming  grandeur ;  and, 
QOtwilhstanding  his  alliance  with  Solomon,  made  no  scruple  against  harboring  his  re- 


W 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  309 

bellious  subject.  Above  all,  the  people  were  oppressed  and  dissatisfied ;  either  be- 
cause the  enormous  revenues  of  the  kingdom  were  more  than  absorbed  by  the  vast 
expenditure  of  the  sovereign  ;  or  because  the  more  productive  branches  of  commerce 
were  interrupted  by  the  rebellions  of  the  Edomites  and  Damascenes.  At  this  period 
likewise,  Solomon  departed  from  the  national,  though  iniquitous  policy  of  his  earlier 
reign,  during  which  he  had  laid  all  the  burdens  of  labor  and  taxation  on  the  strangers, 
and  exempted  the  Israelites  from  every  claim  but  that  of  military  service.  The  lan- 
guage held  toRehoboam,  on  his  accession,  shows  that  the  people  had  sufl'ered  deeply 
from  the  arbitrary  exactions  of  the  king,  who,  with  the  state  and  splendor,  had  as- 
sumed the  despotism  of  an  oriental  monarch.  Hence  the  decline  of  the  Jewish  king- 
dom, supported  rather  by  the  fame  of  its  sovereign,  than  by  its  inherent  strength,  was 
as  rapid  as  its  rise.  Solomon  died  after  a  reign  of  forty  years,  and  with  him  expired 
the  glory  and  the  power  of  the  Jewish  empire. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

The  effects  of  the  arbitrary  policy  and  inordinate  expense  which  had  prevailed  in 
the  court  of  Solomon  during  the  last  years  of  his  reign,  began  to  appear  as  soon  as 
his  death  was  announced.  The  rulers  of  the  tribes  assembled  at  the  city  of  Shechem, 
in  the  tribe  of  Ephraim, — which  tribe,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  always  disposed 
to  regard  with  strong  jealousy  the  superiority  of  Judah.  Here  they  wished  to  enter 
into  a  new  stipulation  with  the  heir  to  the  throne — a  precaution  which  had  been 
neglected  under  the  excitement  and  extraordinary  circumstances  which  attended  the 
accession  of  Solomon.  If  Rehoboam  had  been  wise,  the  place  which  had  been  chosen 
for  this  congress,  and  the  presence  of  Jeroboam, — who  had  hastened  from  Egypt 
when  he  heard  of  Solomon's  death,  and  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  present  matter — 
were  circumstances,  which  among  others,  might  have  apprized  him  that  the  occasion 
was  one  of  no  ordinary  moment,  and  required  the  most  careful  and  skilful  manage- 
ment. Rehoboam  was  not  equal  to  this  crisis;  for  when  the  rulers  demanded,  as  the 
condition  of  their  submission,  that  he  should  abrogate  a  portion  of  the  burdens  which 
his  father  had  imposed  upon  them,  he  failed  to  discern  what  might  be  gained  by  a 
ready  and  cheerful  concession,  and  required  three  days  on  which  to  deliberate  on 
their  demand.  In  this  time  he  decided  to  reject  the  counsel  of  the  older  and  more 
prudent  counsel!  ers,  who  enforced  the  necessity  of  compliance  with  this  demand,  and 
chose  rather  to  adopt  the  advice  of  the  young  and  headstrong  courtiers — warm  advo- 
cates of  the  royal  prerogative, — who  exhorted  him  to  overawe  the  remonstrants  by 
his  majesty,  and  to  drive  them  back  like  yelping  dogs  to  their  kennels.  Accordingly 
Avhen  the  three  days  had  expired,  his  fatal  and  foolish  answer  was,  that  his  little 
finger  should  be  heavier  upon  the  nation  than  his  father's  loins;  and  that  whereas 
his  father  had  only  chastised  them  with  whips,  he  would  chastise  them  with  scor- 
pions. Nothing  could  more  clearly  than  this  answer  evince  the  unfitness  of  Rehoboam 
for  the  crisis  which  had  now  occurred,  and  his  utter  ignorance  of  the  spirit  which  was 
in  Israel;  while  it  at  the  same  time  indicates  the  arbitrary  notions  of  the  royal  pre- 
rogative which  he  found  occasion  to  imbibe  during  the  later  years  of  his  father's 
reign. 

On  receiving  this  answer  ten  of  the  tribes  instantly  renounced  their  allegiance  to 
th-e  house  of  David,  and  chose  Jeroboam  for  their  king.  Two  of  the  tribes,  Judah 
and  Benjamin,  alone  adhered  to  Rehoboam, — Judah  had  the  good  reason  that  the 
famUy  of  David  was  of  their  tribe;  and  both  these  tribes  were  advantaged  by  the 
presence  of  the  metropolis  on  their  respective  burders,  and  had  necessarily  derived 
peculiar  benefits  from  that  profuse  expenditure  of  the  late  king  of  which  the  other 
tribes  had  cause  to  complain. 

Thus  was  the  great  and  powerful  empire  which  David  had  erected,  and  which 
Solomon  had  ruled,  already  divided  into  tWovery  unequal  parts.  Jeroboam  had  ten 
of  the  tribes,  and  his  dominion  extended  over,  the  tributary  nations  eastward,  toward 
the  Euphrates ;  while  Rehoboam  only  retained  the  tribes  of  Judah  and  Benjamin, 
which  are  henceforth,  from  their  strict  identity  of  interest,  to  be  regarded  as  one 
tribe,  under  the  name  of  Judah.  To  this  division  belonged  also  the  subject  territories 
of  Philistia  and  Edom.     But  notwithstanding  the  more  than  equal  figure  which  this 


310  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE  * 

kingdom  makes  in  the  further  history  of  the  Hebrew  nation,  it  may  be  well  to  bear 
in  mind  that  what  is  henceforth  to  be  called  the  kingdom  of  Judah,  ruled  by  the 
house  of  David,  formed  not  above  a  fourth  part  of  the  dominions  of  Solomon. 

Rehoboam  was  not  disposed  to  submit  quietly  to  this  proceeding.  At  first,  affecting 
to  suppose  that  his  authority  over  the  ten  tribes  would  still  be  recognised,  he  sent,  at 
the  usual  season,  the  officer  who  was  "  over  the  tribute"  to  collect  the  taxes  which 
had  been  exacted  in  the  last  years  of  his  father's  reign.  But  the  people  rose,  and 
testified  their  indignation  and  defiance  by  stoning  this  obnoxious  personage  to  death. 
On  this  Rehoboam  resolved  to  attempt  to  reduce  the  revolted  tribes  to  his  obedience 
by  force  of  arms,  and  collected  a  large  army  for  that  purpose.  But  when  the  prophet 
Shemaiah  announced  to  him  the  Lord's  command  to  relinquish  this  enterprise,  he 
manifested  some  sense  of  his  true  position  by  disbanding  his  army.  This,  it  must  be 
allowed,  was  a  signal  example  of  submission,  and  may  intimate  that  when  thus  re- 
minded of  it  he  became  sensible  of  the  propriety  of  the  requisition.  No  definite  treaty 
of  peace  was,  however,  concluded,  and  the  frontiers  of  the  two  kingdoms  continued  to 
present  a  hostile  aspect. 

In  the  preceding  history  we  have  seen  that  Jehovah,  from  the  time  of  Moses  to 
the  death  of  Solomon,  always  governed  the  Hebrews  according  to  the  promises  and 
threatenings  which  he  delivered  from  Mount  Horeb.  If  they  deviated  from  the  prin- 
ciple of  worshipping  Jehovah  as  the  only  true  God,  that  is,  if  they  revolted  from  theix 
lawful  king,  he  brought  them  by  suitable  chastisements,  to  reflect  on  their  obligations, 
to  return  to  Jehovah,  and  again  to  keep  sacred  the  fundamental  law  of  their  church 
and  state.  The  same  course  we  shall  find  pursued  in  the  government  of  the  two 
kingdoms.  If  the  monarchs  of  both  had  viewed  the  late  great  revolution,  the  sunder- 
ing of  the  empire,  as  a  consequence  of  the  idolatrous  and  unlawful  practices  of  Solo- 
mon's court,  as  a  warning  (for  such  it  really  was)  to  them  not  to  break  the  funda- 
mental law  of  the  state,  but  to  govern  their  subjects  according  to  the  law,  and  to  treat 
them  as  the  subjects  of  Jehovah ;  then  both  kingdoms  might  have  enjoyed  uninter- 
rupted prosperity.  Even  Jeroboam,  though  he  had  received  no  promise  of  an  eternal 
kingdom,  as  David  had,  yet  the  assurance  was  given  him  that  if  he  obeyed  the  law 
as  David  did,  the  throne  should  long  continue  in  his  family.  (1  Kings  xi.  37,  38,  xii. 
21-24:  2  Chron.  xi.  1-4,  xii.  15.)  But  as  the  kings  of  both  kingdoms  often  disre- 
garded the  fundamental  laws  of  the  commonwealth — by  idolatry  rebelled  against  their 
divine  sovereign,  carried  their  disorders  so  far,  and  treated  their  subjects  in  such  a 
manner,  that  they  are  aptly  described  by  Isaiah  and  Ezekiel  (Isa.  Ivi.  9;  Ezek.  xxxiv.) 
under  the  image  of  wicked  shepherds — there  arose  a  succession  of  prophets,  who,  by 
impressive  declarations  and  symbolic  actions,  reminded  both  rulers  and  subjects  of 
their  duties  to  Jehovah,  and  threatened  them  with  punishment  in  case  of  disobedience. 

Even  the  rebellious  backslidings  from  God  which  more  particularly  distinguished 
the  kingdom  of  Israel,  did  not  prevent  Jehovah  from  governing  the  kingdom  according 
to  his  law.  We  shall  see  in  the  sequel  how  he  exterminated,  one  after  another, 
those  royal  families  Avho  not  only  retained  the  arbitrary  institutions  of  Jeroboam,  and 
tolerated  and  patronised  idolatry,  with  its  concomitant  vices,  but  even  iuti'oduced  and 
protected  it  by  their  royal  authority.  The  extermination  of  the  reigning  family  he 
armoimced  beforehand  by  a  prophet,  and  appointed  his  successor.  We  shall  see  that 
the  higher  their  corruptions  rose,  so  much  the  more  decisive  and  striking  were  the 
declarations  and  signs  made  to  show  the  Israelites  that  the  Lord  of  the  universe  was 
their  Lord  and  King,  and  that  all  idols  were  as  nothing  when  opposed  to  him.  Even 
Naaraan,  the  Syrian,  acknowledged,  and  the  Syrians  generally  found  to  their  sorrow, 
that  the  God  of  the  Hebrews  was  not  a  mere  national  god,  but  that  his  power  ex- 
tended over  all  nations.  The  history  represents  a  contest  between  Jehovah,  who 
ought  to  be  acknowledged  as  God,  and  the  idolatrous  Israelites;  and  evervthing  is 
ordered  to  preserve  the  authority  of  Jehovah  in  their  minds.  At  last,  after  all  milder 
punishments  had  proved  fruitless,  these  rebellions  were  followed  by  the  destruction 
of  the  kingdom,  and  the  captivity  of  the  people,  which  had  been  predicted  by  Moses, 
and  afterward  by  Ahijah,  Hosea,  Amos,  and  other  prophets.  (Deut.  xxviii.  36 ;  1 
Kings  xiv.  15 ;  Hosea  ix ;  Amos  v.) 

We  shall  also  find  that  the  divine  Providence  was  favorable  or  adverse  to  the  king- 
dom of  Judah,  according  as  the  people  obeyed  or  transgressed  the  law;  only  here  the 
royal  family  remained  unchanged,  according  to  the  promise  given  to  David.  We 
shall  here  meet  indeed  with  many  idolatrous  and  rebellious  kings,  but  they  were  al- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


311 


J 


312  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

ways  succeeded  by  those  of  purer  mind,  who  put  a  stop  to  idolatry,  re-established 
theocracy  in  the  hearts  of  their  subjects,  and,  by  the  aid  of  prophets,  priests,  and 
Leviles.  and  the  services  of  the  temple,  restored  the  knowledge  and  worship  of  God. 
Judah,  therefore,  although  much  smaller  than  Israel,  continued  her  national  existence 
one  hundred  and  thirty-four  years  longer;  but  at  last,  as  no  durable  reformation  was 
produced,  she  experienced  the  same  fate  as  her  sister  kingdom,  in  fulfilment  of  the 
predictions  of  Moses  and  several  other  prophets. 

The  following  accoimt  of  the  two  kingdoms,  therefore,  should  be  viewed  as  that 
of  a  real  theocracy;  and  thus,  as  a  continued  execution  of  the  determination  of  God, 
that  the  true  religion  should  be  preserved  on  the  earth.  In  this  view  it  certainly 
deserves  our  most  attentive  study.* 

Shechem  being  one  of  the  most  important  towns  in  his  own  tribe  of  Ephraim,  was 
made  by  Jeroboam  the  metropolis  of  the  new  kingdom.  He  had  also  a  summer 
residence  at  Tirzah,t  in  the  tribe  of  Manasseh,  which,  therefore,  seems  in  the  history 
to  share  the  metropolitan  dignity  with  Shechem. 

The  new  king,  little  regarding  the  unconditional  promises  which  had  been  made 
to  hini,  applied  himself  to  such  operations  of  human  policy  as  might  tend  to  estab- 
lish his  kingdom,  and  confirm  its  separation  from  that  of  Judah.  Viewing  them  as 
measures  of  policy  in  the  abstract,  the  praise  of  much  political  sagacity  and  foresight 
need  not  be  denied  to  their  author ;  and  it  is  certain  that  they  were  successful  in  pro- 
moting the  object  he  had  in  view.  But  they  were,  in  his  peculiar  position,  as  a  king 
in  Israel — that  is,  a  vicegerent  of  Jehovah,  not  only  improper,  but  in  the  highest  de- 
gree criminal ;  for  they  involved  an  interference  with  matters  far  above  the  preroga- 
tive of  Jehovah's  vassal,  and  the  abrogation  of  institutions  which  the  Supreme  King 
had  established  as  essential  to  the  good  government  and  subordination  of  liis  kmg- 
dom,  with  the  introduction  of  other  institutions  of  a  nature  abhorrent  to  the  Mosaic 
law,  and  of  a  tendency  against  which  that  law  had  most  jealously  guarded  the  people. 
Jerob»am  is  therefore  to  be  regarded,  not  as  gratuitously  and  from  abstract  preference 
of  evil,  leading  the  people  into  wrong  courses ;  but  as  being  careless  whether  the 
course  he  took  were  good  or  evil,  so  that  it  tended,  in  his  judgment,  to  the  security 
of  his  kingdom;  for  he  had  failed  to  learn  that  hard  truth — that  implicit  obedience 
to  the  behests  of  his  Almighty  superior,  not  tortuous  courses  of  political  expediency, 
off'ered  the  true  security  of  his  peculiar  kingdom. 

Jeroboam  was  much  annoyed  at  the  obligation  which  the  law  imposed,  of  the  re- 
sort of  all  the  Israelites  three  times  a  year  to  Jerusalem.  He  clearly  perceived  that 
this  concourse  and  frequent  meeting  of  all  the  tribes  to  the  same  place,  and  for  the 
same  object,  was  a  strong  uniting  circumstance  among  them ;  and  he  feared  that  the 
continuance  of  this  usage  might  ultimately  tend  to  the  reunion  of  the  several  king- 
doms under  the  house  of  David.  Undoubtedly  it  was  an  awkward  circumstance  that 
the  subjects  of  one  king  should  be  obliged  thus  often  to  resort  to  the  metropolis  of  a 
neighboring  and  unfriendly  monarch ;  and  still  more,  that  his  own  kingdom  should 
be  drained  of  a  considerable  portion  of  its  wealth  for  the  support  of  a  service  which 
was  exclusively  confined  to  the  now  adverse  metropolis,  and  for  the  maintenance  of 
priests  and  Luvites  whose  services  were  rendered  at  Jerusalem,  in  the  presence  and 
under  the  authority  of  the  rival  sovereign.  This  was  a  slate  of  things  for  which,  it 
must  be  allowed,  Jeroboam  was  under  strong  and  natural  inducements  to  seek  a 
remedy.  His  duty  was  to  have  trusted  that  God,  who  had  promised  to  continue  his 
kingdom  if  he  were  obedient,  and  who  had,  indeed,  already  interposed  his  authority 
to  prevent  Rehoboam  from  wnrring  against  him,  would  provide  a  remedy  for  these 
diflicuhies,  or  take  measures  to  prevent  the  consequences  which  he  apprehended. 
But  Jeroboam  wanted  that  trust  in  God  which  it  behooved  the  vassal  of  Jehovah  tc 
exhibit ;  and  he  applied  himself  to  devise  measures  of  his  own  to  meet  these  exi- 
gencies. The  measures  which  he  took  were  so  bold  and  decisive,  that  they  at  once 
took  root,  and  became  in  their  development  so  interwoven  with  the  political  constitu- 
tion of  the  country,  that  even  the  more  pious  successors  of  this  king  in  the  throne  of 
Israel  did  not  venture  to  abolish  them,  or  re-establish  the  authority  of  the  ftuida- 
mental  law. 

*  The  above,  is  adopted,  with  some  abridgment,  from  Jahn,  book  v.  sect.  35. 

+  From  the  manner  in  wliich  it  is  mentioned,  Tirzali  must  liave  enjoyed  a  very  fine  situation,  and  have 
maJt;  a  ia:r  appearance  ;  but  even  its  site  is  not  now  known,  and  tliat  it  was  in  Manasseh  is  little  more 
than  a  conjecture.    It  had  been  one  of  the  royal  cities  of  the  Canaanites  (Josh.  xii.  24), 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  313 

Under  the  pretence  that  Jerusalem  was  too  distant  for  the  resort  of  his  subjects,  he 
esinhlished  two  places  of  resort  at  the  opposite  extremities  of  his  kingdom,  the  one 
in  the  north,  at  l)an,  and  the  other  in  the  south,  at  Bethel.  Both  of  thes€  places,  it 
will  be  remembered,  had  been  previously  places  of  public  resort, — Bethel  as  a  place 
of  sacred  stones,  and  Dan  on  account  of  the  ephod  and  teraphim  which  the  Danites 
had  reft  from  Micah  and  established  at  that  place.  Then,  to  give  this  resort  an  ob- 
ject, he  established  at  these  places  golden  or  gilded  calves,  in  unquestionable  imita- 
tion of  the  Apis  and  Mnevis  of  the  Egyptians,  among  whom  he  had  spent  the  years 
of  his  exile.  We  are  not  at  all  to  suppose  that  he  intended  to  introduce  the  worship 
of  other  gods.  These  images  were  doubtless  iiitended  as  symbols  of  Jehovah ;  and 
the  worship  rendered  before  them  was  held  to  be  in  his  honor.  But  on  account  of  the 
danger  of  idolatry,  the  use  of  all  such  symbols  had  been  interdicted  by  the  funda- 
mental law  of  the  state;  and  the  use  in  particular  of  this  very  symbol  of  a  golden 
calf,  to  which,  from  Egyptian  contaminations,  the  Israelites  were  (as  Jeroboam  must 
have  known)  more  attached  than  to  any  other,  had  in  former  times  brought  signal 
punishment  upon  the  Hebrews  in  the  wilderness.  It  was,  then,  not  the  worship  of 
other  gods,  but  the  worship  of  the  true  God  in  an  irregular,  dangerous,  and  inter- 
dicted manner,  which  constituted  the  crime  of  Jeroboam,  who  "  sinned  and  made 
Israel  to  sin." 

Nor  did  the  irregularities  end  here.  Jeroboam  made  his  system  a  complete  one. 
He  not  only  changed  the  ;;/ace  of  concourse  to  the  people,  but  also  altered  the  time, 
directing  that  all  the  festivals  should  be  observed  a  month  later  than  the  law  com- 
manded, an  alteration  by  which  considerable  confusion  must  have  been  at  first  pro- 
duced, as  the  law  had  appointed  these  festivals  with  a  reference  to  the  seasons  of 
the  year.  For  this  new  worship,  temples  and  altars  were  erected  at  Dan  and  Bethel, 
and  to  its  support  the  tithes  and  other  sacerdotal  dues  accruing  within  the  ten  tribes 
were  directed  ;  thus  at  once  cutting  off  the  greater  part  of  the  income  of  the  establish- 
ment of  Jemsalem.  It  is  probable  that  this  wealth  might  still  have  been  retained 
by  the  Levites  whose  cities  were  within  the  limits  of  the  kingdom,  and  by  such  of 
the  Aaronic  priests  as  might  have  chosen  to  conform  to  the  new  order  of  things.  But 
to  the  eternal  honor  of  this  nmch-calumniated  body,  they  all  refused  to  sanction  these 
proceedings,  or  to  take  any  part  in  such  violation  of  the  Divine  law;  in  consequence 
of  which  they  not  only  forfeited  the  dues  which  had  afforded  thein  subsistence  in  the 
ten  tribes,  but  found  it  prudent  and  necessary  to  abandon  also  the  cities  which  be- 
longed to  them  in  those  tribes,  and  withdraw  into  the  kingdom  of  Judah.  There 
they  were  cheerfully  received,  although  the  two  tribes  forming  that  kingdom,  thus 
became  burdened  with  the  whole  charge  which  had  hitherto  been  shared  among 
twelve  tribes.  This  fact  is  very  valuable,  as  showing  that  the  Levitical  tribe  had 
conciliated,  and  Avas  entitled  to,  the  esteem  and  respect  of  the  people.  In  the  end 
many  persons  belonging  to  the  other  tribes,  who  disapproved  of  Jeroboain's  innova- 
tions, and  were  disposed  to  maintain  their  own  fidelity  to  the  spirit  of  the  Mosaical 
institutions,  followed  the  example  of  the  Levites,  and  withdrew  into  the  kingdom  of 
Judah.  It  is  not  necessary  to  point  out  how  seriously  these  migrations  lessened  the 
true  strength  of  Jeroboam's  kingdom,  and  increased  that  of  his  rival. 

Jeroboam  was  thus  left  to  establish  a  new  priesthood  for  his  new  worship.  Priests 
were  accordingly  appointed  from  all  the  tribes  indiscriminately ;  but  as  to  the  impor- 
tant oflUce  of  high-priest,  his  prudence  and  ambition  suggested  its  aimexation  to  the 
crown,  as  was  the  case  in  Egypt  and  some  other  heathencountries. 

Jehovah  was  not  slow  in  manifesting  his  displeasure  at  these  proceedings.  At  one 
of  the  periodical  feasts  (that  of  tabernacles)  the  time  for  which  had  been  altered  by 
him,  Jeroboam  was  discharging  the  priestly  act  of  offeruig  incense  on  the  altar  at 
Bethel,  when  a  prophet  of  God  from  Judah  appeared  on  the  spot,  and  denounced 
destruction  upon  this  altar,  to  be  executed  by  a  future  king  of  Judah,  Josiah  by  name: 
and,  in  proof  of  his  mission,  announced  that  it  should  even  now  receive  such' a  crack 
that  its  ashes  should  be  scattered  abroad.  Hearing  this,  the  king  stretched  forth 
his  hand  to  seize  the  prophet,  when  his  arm  stiffened  in  the  act,  and  could  not  be 
again  drawn  back,  until  the  prophet  himself  interceded  with  God  for  him.  At 
the  same  time  the  altar  was  rem,  and  the  ashes  strewed  abroad,  as  the  prophet 
had  said. 

This  message  seems  to  have  produced  no  good  effect  either  on  the  king  or  the 
people ;  and  this  may  have  been  partly  owing  to  the  misconduct  of  the  prophet  him- 


314  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

self;  for  after  having  publicly  declared  that  he  was  forbidden  to  eat  or  drink  in 
Bethel,  or  to  make  any  stay  there,  he  allowed  himself,  after  having  departed,  to  be 
imposed  upon  and  brought  back,  and  to  be  feasted  in  Bethel,  by  a  sort  of  Balaamite 
prophet ;  for  which  he  was  slain  by  a  lion  on  his  return  home,  and  his  body  was 
brought  back  and  buried  in  Bethel.  As  the  prophet  had  thus  acied  against  his  own 
avowed  orders,  and  had  in  consequence  been  destroyed  with  manifest  marks  of  the 
Divine  displeasure,  the  occasion  was  doubtless  taken  to  diminish  the  credit  and  effect 
of  the  mission  with  which  he  had  been  charged. 

Jeroboam  lived  to  see  three  kings  upon  the  throne  of  Judah.  There  arose  a  skir- 
mishing warfare  between  the  two  kingdoms  in  the  latter  years  of  Rehoboam;  and  in 
the  reign  of  his  successor  the  war  was  brought  to  a  great  pitched  battle,  the  result  o. 
which  was  adverse  to  Jeroboam.  In  the  latter  years  of  his  reign,  the  prophet  Ahijah 
who  had  originally  communicated  the  Divine  appointment  to  him,  was  commis- 
sioned to  denounce  the  death  of  his  most  hopeful  son,  Abijah,  about  whose  sickness 
the  wife  of  Jeroboam  went  to  consult  him  in  disguise.  The  prophet,  though  blind 
with  age,  knew  her  by  the  prophetic  impulse  which  came  upon  him ;  and  he  not 
only  told  her  this,  but  declared  the  approaching  destruction  of  Jeroboam's  race  by  a 
succeeding  king  of  Israel,  and  also  announced  the  ultimate  captivity  of  the  tribes  of 
Israel  beyond  the  Euphrates  for  their  manifold  iniquities. 

Jeroboam  himself  died  in  the  year  968,  B.  C.,  after  a  reign  of  twentj^-two  years. 

His  son  Nadab  ascended  the  throne  in  the  second  year  of  Asa,  king  of  Judah.  He 
reigned  tv/o  years,  during  which  he  adhered  to  the  system  of  his  father,  and  at  the 
end  of  which  an  intimate  of  his  own,  named  Baasha,  of  the  tribe  of  Issachar,  con- 
spired against  him  and  slew  him  as  he  was  laying  siege  to  Gibbethon,  a  fortress 
which  the  Philistines  retained  in  their  possession.  Accordhig  to  the  policy  of  the 
East,  Baasha  having  slain  the  head  of  the  house  of  Jeroboam,  hastened  to  destroy 
all  its  other  members,  who  might  prove  disturbers  of  his  safety  in  the  throne.  Thus 
Avas  the  denunciation  of  the  prophet  Ahijah  against  the  house  of  Jeroboam  speedily 
accomplished. 

The  government  of  Baasha  proved  not  only  offensive  to  God,  but  oppressive  to  the 
people,  on  both  which  grounds  great  numbers  of  the  subjects  of  this  kingdom  sought 
repose  in  that  of  Judah.  It  was  probably  partly  in  consequence  of  the  alarm  which 
this  constant  migration  of  his  people  produced,  that  Baasha  entered  into  a  skirmish- 
ing warfare  with  Asa,  king  of  Judah,  and  ultimately  laid  siege  to,  and  took  the  town 
of  Ramah,  seven  miles  to  the  north  of  Jerusalem,  which  he  began  to  rebuild  and 
fortify,  with  the  view  of  leaving  a  garrison  in  it  to  check  the  communication  with 
Jerusalem,  and  to  become  a  point  from  which  excursions  might  be  made  into  the 
kingdom  of  Judah.  This  bold  proceeding  occasioned  much  alarm  in  Judah  ;  but 
instead  of  opposing  it  by  force  of  arms,  King  Asa  collected  all  the  gold  he  could  find 
in  his  own  treasury,  and  that  of  the  temple,  and  sent  it  to  Ben-Hadad,  the  king  of 
Syria,  to  induce  him  to  make  a  diversion  in  his  favor.  Accordingly  the  Syrians  fell 
upon  the  north  of  Israel,  and  took  all  the  fenced  cities  of  Naphtali ;  which  obliged 
Baasha  to  relinquish  his  enterprise  in  the  south,  and  march  to  the  defence  of  his  own 
territories. 

Time  only  confirmed  Baasha  in  the  evil  courses  which  had  proved  the  ruin  of  the 
house  of  Jeroboam ;  in  consequence  of  which  a  prophet,  named  Jehu,  the  son  of 
another  prophet  called  Hanani,  was  sent  to  declare  for  his  house  the  same  doom 
wliich  he  had  himself  been  the  agent  of  inflicting  upon  that  of  Jeroboam. 

Baasha  died  in  966,  B.  C,  after  a  reign  of  twenty-ihree  years. 

After  the  death  of  Baasha,  Israel  became  the  prey  of  a  series  of  sanguinary  revo- 
luiions.  His  son  Elah  remained  only  two  years  on  the  throne,  at  the  expiration  of 
which  he  was  assassinated  during  a  feast  by  one  of  his  generals,  of  the  name  of 
Zimri,  who  then  assumed  the  crown.  Zimri,  during  the  few  days  of  his  reign, 
found  time  to  extirpate  the  whole  family  of  his  predecessor,  thus  accomplishing  upon 
the  house  of  Baasha  the  doom  which  the  prophet  had  declared. 

The  army,  which  was  engaged  against  the  Philistines,  no  sooner  heard  of  the  mur- 
der of  their  king  than  they  declared  in  favor  of  Omri,  their  own  commander,  and 
proclaimed  him  king.  This  new  king  immediately  marched  with  all  his  forces 
against  his  rival,  and  used  such  diligence  that  he  shut  him  up  in  the  summer  capital 
of  Tirzah.  Zimri  maae  no  resistance,  but  fled  to  his  harem,  which  he  set  on  fire,  and 
perished  in  the  flames.     He  had  reigned  only  seven  days ;  and  this  signal  and  speedy 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


315 


,;%!#,  iiiiiii^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 


i  r 


'■■.'lis!'"     \i'4ii'' 


316  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

end  gave  occasion  to  the  proverb  in  Israel,  "  Had  Zimri  peace,  who  slew  his  master  ?" 
Omri  had  another  compelitor:  for  while  the  army  had  elected  him,  a  portion  of 
the  people,  equally  disgusted  at  the  deed  of  Zimri,  had  made  Tibni  king.  The  king- 
dom was  thus  split  into  factions,  and  it  was  only  after  a  civil  war  of  six  years  that 
the  faction  of  Omri  prevailed,  and  Tibni  was  put  to  death.  Omri  reigned  above  five 
years  after  this.  He  was  more  guilty  before  God  than  any  of  his  predecessors,  for  he 
appears  to  have  taken  measures  to  turn  into  actual  idolatry  that  which  under  the 
former  kings  had  only  been  an  irregular  and  interdicted  form  of  worship  and  service. 
Finding  some  disadvantages  in  the  situation  of  Tirzah,  however  pleasant,  for  a  me- 
tropolis, Omri  })urchased  a  hill  of  a  person  called  Samar  for  two  talents  of  silver 
($3,750),  and  built  thereon  a  city,  which,  after  the  name  of  the  previous  owner  of  the 
site,  he  called  Samaria,*  and  made  it  the  capital  of  his  dominion.  So  well  was  the 
situation  chosen,  that  the  city  remained  the  metropolis  of  the  kingdom  while  the 
kingdom  endured,  and  was  still  a  place  of  importance  when  the  Hebrews  ceased  the 
second  time  to  be  a  nation.  There  are  some  respects  in  which  its  site  is  deemed  by 
travellers  preferable  to  that  of  Jerusalem. 

After  his  reign  of  eleven  completed  years,  counted  as  twelve  in  the  Scripttires, 
because  he  had  entered  on  the  twelfth,  Omri  died  in  the  year  93]  B.  C,  being  the 
thirty-ninth  year  of  Asa  king  of  Judah. 

JUDAH,  FROM  B.  c.  990  to  e.  c.  929. 

Except  in  its  first  act,  the  commencement  of  Rehoboam's  reign  was  not  blame- 
worthy, nor,  as  it  respects  his  separate  kingdom,  unprosperous.  In  those  days  the 
wealth  and  welfare  of  a  state  were  deemed  to  consist  in  a  numerous  population;  and 
of  this  kind  of  strength  the  kingdom  of  Judah  received  large  additions  by  migration 
from  that  of  Israel,  through  the  defection  of  the  Levitical  body,  and  the  discontent  with 
which  a  large  and  valuable  portion  of  the  population  regarded  the  arbitrary  innova- 
tions of  Jeroboam.  It  may  indeed  be,  in  a  great  degree,  imputed  to  this  cause,  that, 
although  so  much  inferior  in  territorial  extent,  the  kingdom  of  Judah  appears 
throughout  the  history  of  the  two  kingdoms  to  be  at  least  equal  to  that  of  Israel. 

Rehoboam,  seeing  that  he  had  an  adverse  kingdom  so  near  at  hand,  employed  the 
first  years  of  his  reign  in  putting  his  dominions  in  a  condition  of  defence.  He  built  and 
fortified  a  considerable  number  of  places  in  Judah  and  Benjamin,  which  he  stored 
well  with  arms  and  victuals,  and  in  which  he  placed  strong  garrisons.  For  three 
years  he  remained  faithful  to  the  principles  of  the  theocracy,  and  received  a  full 
.measure  of  the  prosperity  which  had  been  promised  to  such  obedience.  But  when 
he  beheld  himself,  as  he  deemed,  secure  and  prosperous  in  his  kingdom,  his  rectitude, 

*  Samaria. — The  text  to  which  this  note  is  appended  sufficiently  indicates  the  origin  of  Samaria.  It 
remained  the  capital  of  Israel  until  the  ruin  of  that  kmgdom  by  the  Assyrians,  after  which  it  became  the 
chief  seat  of  the  people  whom  the  king  of  Assyria  planted  in  the  desolated  country,  and  who  are  hence,  in 
the  subsequent  history,  known  by  the  name  of  Samaritans.  Between  them  and  the  restored  Jews  there 
was  always  a  bitter  and  not  always  bloodless  enmity,  which  subsisted  down  to  the  extinction  of  the 
Hebrew  commonwealth.  The  town  was  utterly  destroyed  by  Hyrcanu.s,  the  king-priest  of  the  Jews,  in  the 
year  129  B.  i'.  ;  and  in  this  state  it  remained  until  the  time  of  Herod  the  Great,  who,  being  much  pleased 
with  its  situation,  rebuilt  it  in  a  very  beautiful  manner,  and  gave  it  the  name  of  Sebaste,  a  Greek  word 
equivalent  to  t!ie  Latin  Augusta,  in  honor  of  the  Emperor  Augustus.  Under  this  name  it  continued  to 
flourish  until  tlie  Jews  were  finally  expelled  from  Palestine  by  the  Emperor  Adrian,  after  which  the  place 
went  gradually  to  decay  ;  and  at  present  the  inhabited  part  of  the  site  forms  a  mean  and  miserably  poor 
village,  named  Subusta,  containing  not  more  than  thirty  dwellings. 

"  The  situation,"  says  Dr.  Richardson,  "  is  exceedingly  beautiful,  and  strong  by  nature— more  so,  I  think, 
than  Jerusalem.  It  stands  on  a  fine  large  insulated  hill,  compassed  all  round  by  a  broad  deep  valley  ;  and 
when  fortified,  as  it  is  stated  to  have  been,  by  Herod,  one  would  have  imagined  that  in  the  ancient  system 
of  warfare  nothing  but  famine  could  have  reduced  such  a  place.  The  valley  is  surrounded  by  four  hills, 
one  on  each  side,  which  are  cultivated  in  terraces  to  the  top,  sown  with  grain,  and  planted  with  fig  and 
olive  trees,  as  is  also  the  valley.  The  hill  of  Samaria  itself,  likewise,  rises  in  terraces  to  a  height  equal  to 
any  of  the  adjoining  mountains." 

The  first  view  i)f  the  place,  even  in  its  present  state,  is  highly  imposing.  And  there  are  sufficient  remains 
of  Herod's  city  to  enforce  the  impressions  which  the  history  of  the  site  has  prepared  tl>e  mind  to  receive. 
These,  however,  consist  chiefly  of  numerous  limestone  columns,  still  standing,  on  the  upper  part  of  the 
hill,  but  without  their  capitals.  Hardy  counted  eighty  that  were  standing,  besides  many  that  lay  prostrate. 
There  are  also  some  remains  of  fortifications  ;  but  the  most  conspicuous  ruin  is  that  which  appears  in  the 
cut  »n  page  315.  This  was  a  large  church,  attributed  to  tlie  Emperess  Helena,  and  said  to  have  been  built 
over  the  dungeon  in  which  John  the  Baptist  was  confined  and  afterward  beheaded  by  order  of  Herod. 
This  cave  or  dungeon  is  still  pointed  out ;  besides  which  there  are  under  the  church  several  vaults,  which 
probably  opened  into  the  sides  of  the  hill.  The  building  itself  is  in  a  very  elaborate  but  fantastic  style  of 
architecture  ;  the  columns  used  in  which  are  of  no  known  order,  although  the  capitals  approach  nearer  to 
the  Corinthian  than  to  any  other.  The  east  end,  with  its  pentagonal  projection,  is  nearly  perfect,  con 
firming  a  remark  of  Maundrell,  that  if  any  portion  of  a  church  is  left  standing  in  these  parts  il  is  sure  to  be 
the  eastern  end. 


fflSTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


317 


318  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

which  appears  never  to  have  been  founded  on  very  strong  principles,  gave  way.  It 
was  not  long  before  the  acts  which  stained  the  later  years  of  his  father  were  more 
than  equalled  by  him.  Not  only  was  idolatry  openly  tolerated  and  practised,  but  also 
the  abominable  acts,  outrageous  even  to  the  mere  instincts  of  morality,  v/hich  some 
of  these  idolatries  sanctioned  or  required.  Thus  the  abominations  of  Judah  very 
soon  exceeded  those  of  Israel.  And  we  shall,  throughout  the  historical  period  on 
which  we  have  entered,  observe  one  very  important  distinction  in  the  religious 
(which,  according  to  the  spirit  of  the  Hebrew  institutions,  means  also  the  political) 
condition  of  the  two  kingdoms.  Israel  rested  with  tolerable  uniformity  in  a  sort  of 
intermediate  system  between  the  true  religion  and  idolatry,  with  enough  of  elementary 
truth  to  preserve  some  show  of  fidelity  to  the  system,  and  enough  of  idolatry  and 
human  invention  to  satisfy  the  corrupt  tendencies  of  the  age  and  comitry.  Hence, 
while  on  the  one  hand  it  never,  under  its  best  kings,  reached  that  purity  oi  adherence 
to  the  Mosaical  system  which  was  sometimes  exemplified  in  the  sister  kingdom,  so, 
on  the  other,  it  never,  or  very  rarely,  fell  to  those  depths  of  iniquity  to  which  Judah 
sometimes  sunk  under  its  more  wicked  and  weak  kings.  For  Judah,  resting  on  no 
such  intermediate  point  as  had  been  found  in  Israel,  was  in  a  state  of  constant  oscil- 
lation between  the  extremes  of  good  and  evil. 

In  the  case  of  Rehoboam,  the  loose  principles  which  prevailed  at  the  latter  end  of 
his  father's  reign,  together  with  the  fact  that  the  mother,  from  whom  his  first  ideas 
had  been  imbibed,  was  an  Ammonitess,  may  partly  account  for  the  extreme  facility 
of  his  fall.  Indeed,  with  reference  to  the  latter  fact,  it  may  be  observed  that  among 
the  kings  there  is  scarcely  one  known  to  be  the  son  of  a  foreign  and  consequently 
idolatrous  mother,  who  did  not  fall  into  idolatry ;  a  circumstance  which  is  sufficient 
alone  to  explain  and  justify  the  policy  by  which  such  connexions  were  forbidden. 

The  chastisement  of  Rehoboam  and  his  people  was  not  long  delayed.  It  was 
mflicted  by  the  Egyptians,  who,  in  the  fifth  year  of  Rehoboam,  invaded  the  land 
under  Shishak  their  king,  in  such  strong  force  as  intimated  the  expectation  of  a  more 
formidable  resistance  than  was  encountered ;  or  rather,  perhaps,  was  designed  to 
shorten  the  war  by  overawing  opposition.  There  were  twelve  hundred  chariots, 
sixty  thousand  horsemen,  and  a  vast  body  of  infantry,  the  latter  composed  chiefly 
from  the  subject  nations  of  Lybia  and  Ethiopia.  Shishak  took  with  ease  the  fenced 
cities  on  which  Rehoboam  had  placed  so  much  reliance ;  and  when  he  appeared 
before  Jerusalem,  that  city  appears  to  have  opened  its  gates  to  him.  Here  he  reaped 
the  first-fruits  of  that  rich  spoil,  from  the  gold  of  the  temple  and  of  the  palace,  which 
supplied  so  many  subsequent  demands.  In  the  extremity  of  distress,  while  the  city 
was  in  the  hands  of  an  insulting  conqueror,  who  stripped  the  most  sacred  places  of 
their  costly  ornaments  and  wealth,  the  king  of  Judah  and  his  people  turned  repent- 
ingly  to  God,  and  implored  deliverance  from  his  hand.  He  heard  them,  and  inclined 
Shishak  to  withdraw  with  the  rich  spoil  he  had  gained,  without  attempting  to  retain 
permanent  possession  of  his  conquest.  Astonished  himself  at  the  facility  with  which 
that  conquest  had  been  made,  this  king  despised  the  people  who  had  submitted  so 
unresistingly  to  his  arms,  and,  according  to  the  testimony  of  Herodotus,*  cited  by 
Josephus  himself,  he  erected,  at  different  points  on  his  march  home,  triumphal 
columns,  charged-Avith  emblems  very  little  to  the  honor  of  the  nation  which  had  not 
opposed  him. 

Although  it  is  difficult  to  assign  a  specific  reason,  beyond  a  conqueror's  thirst  for 
spoil,  for  this  invasion  of  the  dominions  of  the  son  by  a  power  which  had  been  so 
friendly  to  the  father,  it  does  not  strike  us,  as  it  does  some  writers,  that  the  difficulty 
is  increased  by  the  fact  of  the  matrimonial  alliance  which  Solomon  had  formed  with 
the  royal  family  of  Egypt.  Rehoboam  was  born  before  that  alliance  was  contracted, 
and  he  and  his  mother  were  not  likely  to  be  regarded  with  much  favor  by  the  Egyp- 
tian princess  or  her  family.  Indeed  it  would  seem  that  she  had  died,  or  her  influence 
had  declined,  or  her  friends  deemed  her  wrong,  before  the  latter  end  of  Solomon's 
reign;  for  it  is  evident  that  the  king  of  Egypt,  this  very  Shishak,  was  not  on  the 
most  friendly  terms  with  Solomon,  since  he  granted  his  favor  and  protection  to  the 
fugitive  Jeroboam,  whose  prospective  pretensions  to  divide  the  kingdom  with  the  son 
of  Solomon  forms  the  only  apparent  ground  of  the  distinction  with  which  he  was 
treated.     This  circumstance  may  direct  attention  to  what  appears  to  us  the  greater 

•  Herodotus,  \.  105. 


fflSTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  319 

probability,  that  the  expedition  was  undertaken  at  the  suggestion  of  Jeroboam,  who 
Lad  much  cause  to  be  alarmed  at  the  defection  of  his  subjects  to  Rehoboam,  and  at 
the  diligence  which  that  king  employed  in  strengthening  his  kingdom.  The  rich 
plunder  which  was  to  be  obtained  would,  when  pointed  out,  be  an  adequate  induce- 
ment TO  the  enterprise. 

The  severe  lesson  administered  by  this  invasion  to  Rehoboam  and  his  people  was 
not  in  vaiu,  for  we  read  no  more  of  idolatrous  abominations  during  the  eleven  remain- 
ing years  of  this  reign.  In  consequence,  these  were  rather  prosperous  years  for  the 
kingdom  ;  and,  save  a  few  skirmishes  with  the  king  of  Israel,  we  learn  of  no  troables 
by  which  it  was,  during  these  years,  disturbed.  But,  like  his  father,  Rehoboam  "  de- 
sired many  wives."  His  harem  contained  eighteen  wives  and  sixty  concubines, — a 
number  which,  we  can  not  doubt,  was  much  opposed  to  the  notions  of  the  Hebrew 
people,  although  it  seems  rather  moderate  as  compared  with  the  establishment  of 
Solomon,  or  those  which  we  still  find  among  the  kings  of  the  East.  Of  all  his  wives, 
the  one  Rehoboam  loved  the  most  was  Maachah,  a  daughter  (or  grand-daughter*)  of 
Absalom.  Her  son,  Abijah,  he  designed  for  his  successor  in  the  throne :  to  ensure 
which  object,  he  made  adequate  provision  for  his  other  sons  while  he  lived,  and  pru 
dently  separated  them  from  each  other,  by  dispersing  them  through  his  dominions  as 
governors  of  the  principal  towns.  This  policy  was  successful ;  for  although  this  king 
had  twenty-eight  sons,  besides  three-score  daughters,  his  settlement  of  the  crown  was 
not  disputed  at  his  death.  This  event  took  place  in  the  year  973  B.  C,  in  the  eigh- 
teenth year  of  his  reign. 

Abijah,  otherwise  called  Abijam,  succeeded  his  father,  and  the  first  public  act  of  his 
short  reign  appears  to  justify  the  preference  which  had  been  given  to  him.  Jeroboam, 
whose  policy  it  was  to  harass  and  weaken  the  house  of  David,  and  to  render  the  two 
kingdoms  as  inimical  to  each  other  as  possible,  thought  the  succession  of  the  new  king, 
young  and  inexperienced,  a  favorable  opportunity  for  an  aggressive  movement.  He 
seems  therefore  to  have  made  a  general  military  levy,  which  amounted  to  the  pro- 
digious number  of  eight  hundred  thousand  men.  Abijah  when  he  heard  of  this  for- 
midable muster  was  not  discouraged,  but,  although  he  could  raise  only  half  the  number 
of  men,  took  the  field  against  his  opponent.  They  met  near  Mount  Zemarim,  on  the 
borders  of  Ephraim.  The  armies  were  drawn  out  in  battle  array,  when  Abijah,  who 
was  posted  on  an  elevated  spot,  finding  the  opportunity  favorable,  beckoned  with  his 
hand,  and  began  to  harangue  Jeroboam  and  the  hostile  army.  His  speech  was  good, 
and  to  the  purpose ;  but  it  does  not  seem  to  us  entitled  to  the  unqualified  praise  which 
it  has  generally  received.  He  began  with  affirming  the  divine  right  of  the  house  of 
David  to  reign  over  all  Israel,  by  virtue  of  the  immutable  covenant  by  which  Jehovah 
had  promised  to  David  that  his  posterity  should  reign  for  ever.  Consequently  he 
treated  the  secession  of  the  ten  tribes  as  an  unprincipled  act  of  rebellion  against  the 
royal  dynasty  of  David,  and  against  God — an  act  whereby  the  crafty  Jeroboam,  with 
a  number  of  vain  and  lawless  associates,  had  availed  themselves  of  the  weakness  and 
inexperience  of  Rehoboam  to  deprive  the  chosen  house  of  its  just  rights.  This  state- 
ment doubtless  imbodies  the  view  which  the  house  of  David,  and  the  parly  attached 
to  its  interests,  took  of  the  recent  event.  They  regarded  as  a  rebellion  what  was  truly 
a  revolution  ;  and  which,  although,  like  other  revolutions,  it  had  its  secret  springs  (as 
in  the  jealousy  between  the  tribes  of  Ephraim  and  Judah),  was  not  only  justifiable  in 
its  abstract  principles,  but  on  the  peculiar  theory  of  the  Hebrew  constitution  :  for  it 
had  the  previous  sanction  and  appointment  of  Jehovah,  as  declared  to  both  parties; 
and,  in  its  immediate  cause,  sprung  from  a  most  insulting  refusal  of  the  representative 
of  the  dynasty  to  concede  that  redress  of  grievances  which  ten  twelfths  of  the  whole 
nation  demanded,  and  which  it  had  a  right  to  demand  and  obtain  before  it  recognised 
him  as  king.  However,  a  king  of  Judah  could  not  well  be  expected  to  take  any  other 
than  a  dynastic  and  party  view  of  this  great  question :  and  that  such,  necessarily,  was 
the  view  of  Abijah  is  what  we  have  desired  to  explain,  as  the  generally  good  spiri-t 

*  This  lady  is  mentioned  in  three  places,  and  in  all  of  them  the  name  of  her  father  is  differently  given. 
In  1  Kings  xv.  2,  it  is  "  Maachah,  the  daughter  of  Abishalom  ;"  in  2  Chron.  xi.  20,  "Maaciiah,  the  daughter 
of  Absalom  ;"  and  in  2  Chron.  xiii.,  "  Michaiah,  tlie  daughter  of  Uriel  o'f  Gibeah."  The  .Tews  believe  that 
Absalom  the  son  of  David  is  intended.  Tliis  does  not  appear  quite  certain  ;  but  if  so  we  may  talve  their 
explanation  that  Maachah  was  the  daughter  of  Tamar,  the  daughter  of  Absalom  ;  in  which  case,  the  com- 
parison of  texts  will  intimate  tliat  Tiriel  married  Tamar,  and  Maachah  was  their  daughter,  which  conse- 
quently makes  her  the  grand-daughter  of  Absalom  and  dauglitei  of  Uriel.  This,  upon  the  whole,  seems 
more  probable  than  that  the  several  names,  Abishalom,  Absalom,  and  Uriel,  all  point  to  tlie  same  person  as 
thK  father  of  Maaciiah. 


320  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

of  his  harangue  has  disposed  hasty  thinkers  to  take  the  impression  which  he  intended 
w  convey. 

With  more  justice,  Abijah  proceeded  to  animadvert  on  the  measures — the  corrup- 
tions and  arbitrary  changes — by  which  Jeroboam  had  endeavored  to  secure  his  king- 
dom ;  and,  with  becoming  pride,  contrasted  this  with  the  beautiful  order  in  which, 
according  to  the  law  of  Moses,  and  the  institutions  of  David  and  Solomon,  the  worship 
of  Jehovah  was  conducted  by  the  Levitical  priesthood  in  that  "  holy  and  beautiful 
house"  which  the  Great  King  honored  with  the  visible  symbol  of  his  inhabitance. 
He  coocluded  :  "  We  keep  the  charge  of  Jehovah  our  God  ;  but  ye  have  forsaken  him. 
And,  behold,  God  himself  is  with  us  for  our  captain,  and  his  priests  with  sounding 
trumpets  to  cry  alarm  against  you.  0  children  of  Israel,  fight  not  against  Jehovah  the 
God  of  your  fathers  ;  for  ye  shall  not  prosper."     (2  Chron.  xiii.  11,  12.) 

By  Jeroboam  this  harangue  was  only  viewed  as  an  opportunity  for  executing  a  really 
clever  military  operation.  He  secretly  ordered  a  body  of  men  to  file  round  the  hill, 
and  attack  the  Judaliites  in  the  rear,  while  he  assailed  them  in  front.  This  manoeuvre 
was  so  well  executed,  that  Abijah,  by  the  time  he  had  finished  his  speech,  perceived 
that  he  Avas  surrounded  by  the  enemy.  The  army  of  Judah  raised  a  cry  of  astonish- 
ment and  alarm,  and  a  universal  panic  would  in  all  likelihood  have  ensued.  But  the 
priests  at  that  instant  sounded  their  silver  trumpets,  at  which  well-known  and  inspir- 
iting signal  the  more  stout-hearted  raised  a  cry  for  help  to  Jehovah,  and  rushed  upon 
the  enemy  ;  and  their  spirited  example  raised  the  courage  and  faith  of  the  more  timid 
and  wavering.  The  host  of  Israel  could  not  withstand  the  force  which  this  divine 
impulse  gave  to  the  arm  of  Judah.  Their  dense  mass  was  broken  and  fled,  and  of 
the  whole  number  it  is  said  not  fewer  than  five  hundred  thousand  were  slain,- — a 
slaughter,  as  Josephus  (Antiq.  viii.  2,  3)  remarks,  such  as  never  occurred  in  any  other 
war,  v/hether  it  were  of  the  Greeks  or  the  barbarians.*  This  Avould  still  be  true  i/ 
the  number  had  been  much  smaller.  "  In  numbers  so  large,"  Jahn  (book  v.,  sect.  36) 
remarks,  "  there  may  be  some  error  of  the  transcribers;  but  it  is  certain  that  after  this 
defeat  the  kingdom  of  Israel  was  considerably  Aveakened,  while  that  of  Judah  made 
constant  progress  in  power  and  importance.  We  must  here  mention,  once  for  all,  that, 
OAving  to  the  mistakes  of  transcribers  in  copying  numerals,  Ave  can  not  ansAver  for  the 
correctness  of  the  great  numbers  of  men  Avhich  ar,e  mentioned  here  and  in  the  sequel. 
When  there  are  no  means  of  rectifying  these  numbers,  we  set  them  down  as  they  occuj 
in  the  books."     Such  also  is  our  oAvn  practice. 

This  great  victory  Avas  pursued  by  Abijah,  in  the  re-taking  and  annexation  to  his 
dominion  of  some  border  toAvns  and  districts,  some  of  which  had  originally  belonged 
to  Judah  and  Benjamin,  but  Avhich  the  Israelites  had  found  means  to  include  in  their 
portion  of  the  divided  kingdom.  Among  these  towns  Avas  Bethel;  and  this  being  the 
seat  of  one  of  the  golden  calves,  the  loss  of  it  must  have  been  a  matter  of  peculiar 
mortification  to  Jeroboam,  and  of  triumph  to  Abijah. 

The  reign  of  Abijah  Avas  not  by  any  means  answerable  to  the  expectations  Avhich 
his  speech  and  his  victory  are  calculated  to  excite.  We  are  told  that  "he  Avalked  in 
all  the  sins  of  bis  father,"  and  that  "  his  heart  was  not  perfect  with  Jehovah  liis  God  ;" 
by  Avhich  it  Avould  a]>pcar  that  he  did  not  take  sufficient  heed  to  avoid  and  remove  the 
idolatries  and  abominations  which  Solomon  and  Rehoboam  had  introduced  or  tolerated. 
He  died  in  970  B.  C,  after  a  reign  of  three  years,  leaving  behind  him  tAventy-tAvo  sons 
and  sixteen  daughters,  Avhom  he  had  by  fourteen  Avives. 

The  son  Avho  succeeded  him  was  named  Asa.  He  was  still  very  young,  and  the 
aflTairs  of  the  kingdom  appear  for  sometime  to  have  been  administered  by  his  <rrand- 
molher,  Maachah,  Avbose  name  has  already  been  mentioned.  Asa,  for  his  virtues, 
his  fidelity  to  the  principles  of  the  theocracy,  and  the  prosperity  and  victory  with 
which  he  Avas  in  consequence  favored,  takes  place  in  the  first  rank  f)f  the  kings  of 
Judah.  He  enjoys  the  high  character  that  "  his  heart  Avas  perfect  with  Jehovah  all 
his  days:  and  he  did  that  Avliich  was  right  with  Jehovah,  as  did  his  father  David." 
His  first  cares  Avere  directed  toAvard  the  utter  uprooting  of  the  idolatries  and  abomina- 

*  AVith  reference  to  the  liigh  numbers  wliich  occur  tiore,  Dr.  Hales  observes  :  "  The  numbers  in  this  won- 
derful battle  are  probably  corrupt,  and  should  be  reduced  to  forty  thousand,  eighty  thousand,  and  fifty  thou- 
sand (slain),  as  in  the  Latin  A'ulgate  of  Sixtus  C^uintus,  and  many  earlier  editions,  and  in  the  old  Latin 
translation  of  Josephus  ;  and  that  such  were  the  readings  in  the  Greek  text  of  tliat  author  originally,  A'ig- 
noles  judiciously  collects  from  Abarbanel's  charge  against  Josephus  of  having  maae  Jeroboam's  loss  no 
more  than  fifty  thousand  men,  amirarij  to  the  Hebrew  text."  See  ICennicott's  "Dissertations,'  vol.  i..  p.  633, 
and  voL  ii.,  p.  201,  <fec.,  564.    To  tliis  we  may  add  the  remark  of  Jahn.  in  which  we  more  entirely  concur. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  33.1 

iinns  which  had  beea  suffered  to  creep  in  during  the  preceding  reigns.  He  drove  from 
hi  stltes  the  corrupters  of  youth,  and  with  an  unsparing  hand  he  purged  Jerusalern 
Ke'Sf^SieswlSchhad^^^^^^^ 

I'^^Zl  ?m  drn :   '^Ifl^ZZi'lti  MLchah,  he  deprived  of  the  authority 
atiy  were  cut  "^^^^  ■  P     nnopn     which  she  had  abused  to  the  encouragement  of  idol- 
Sranl   h:  dTs  wSTe"h7d"ettpt  utterly  destroyed.     By  thus^cleari.^  them 
from  defilit  admxTures,  the  pure  and  grand  doctrines  and  practices  of  the  Mosaical 
svs^em  shone  fo^i^lr  with  a  iust^^  seemed  new  m  that  cormp    age.     Agam  the 

S  estTof  Jehova  were  held  in  honor  by  the  people;  and  agam  the  temple,  is  pas 
priests  01  J  enovdii  .   munificence,  was  provided  with  all  that 

ultSS"nirf  he  spinlid  ritual  service  there  rendered  to  God ;  for  Asa  was 
Sed  torepkclwith  silver  and  gold  a  portion  of  the  precious  things  which  Shishak 
had  taken  from  the  temple,  and  which  Rehoboam  had  supplied  with  brass. 

tS  vear  °S  prosperfty  and  peace  rewarded  the  pious  zeal  of  the  kmg  of  Judah. 
Inlhese^vears  much  was  done  by  him  to  strengthen  and  improve  his  kingdom,  espe- 
cL llv  L  rSrirand  strengthening  the  fortified  towns  and  in  surroundmg  with  strong 
w^  s  Sid  towerl  many  whi^h  had  not  previously  been  fortified.  We  are  also  informed 
^i  ''  AsaTad  an  arnw  of  hree  hundred  thousand  out  of  Judah,  who  bore  shields 
Ind  spears  and  of  two' hundred  and  eighty  thousand  out  of  Benjamm,  who  bore 
Shields  and  spears :  all  these  were  men  of  valor."  This  and  other  passages  of  the 
^me  nature  describing  the  immense  military  force  of  the  smal  kmgdoms  of  Judah 
fnTlsrae   (eve^^^  those  which  labor  under  the  suspicion  of  having  been 

autedbv  the  copyists),  appear  to  intimate  that  the  general  enrolment  for  mditary 
service  which  Da?[d  contemplated,  but  was  prevented  from  completely  executing,  was 
rccompUshed  by  later  kings  It  is  always  important  to  remember,  however,  hat  the 
SSn  Europeln  sense  oT  the  word  army,  as  applied  to  a  body  of  men  exclusively 
Tvoted  to  a  Sary  profession,  is  unknown  to  the  history  of  this  period ;  and  in  the 
Sement  before  us  we  are  to  see  no  more  than  that  the  men  thus  numbered  were 
nrovSwUh  weapons  (or  that  the  king  had  weapons  to  arm  them),  and  were,  the 
Ee  or  Inv  plrt  of  them,  bound  to  obey  any  call  from  the  king  mto  actual  service. 
An  occaJ^oiAor  such  a  call  occurred  to  Asa  after  ten  years  of  prosperity  and  peace 
Hit  dominions  were  then  exposed  to  a  most  formidable  invasion  from  '' Zerah  the 
Cushite!^'  whh  a  mUlion  of  men  and  three  hundred  chariots.* .  It  is  beyond  the  ran^e 
of  probabiUtv,  from  the  state  of  Egypt  at  this  time,  in  the  reign  of  Osorkon  I.,t  who 
sucSed  Sh^shonk  (or  Shishak),  that  an  army  under  Zerah  should  have  marched 
through  E-ypt  from  the  Ethiopia  south  of  the  cataracts  of  the  Nile.  It  must  there- 
fore  be  concluded  that  the  army  was  composed  of  the  Cushites  (or  Ethiopians)  of 
A  abia  the  ori<.inal  seat  of  all  the  Cushites;  and  as  the  army  was  partly  composed 
of  Lybians,  whi.,  if  this  supposition  be  correct,  could  not  well  have  passed  from  Africa 
?hrou 'h  th;  breadth  of  Egypt  on  this  occasion,  it  may,  with  very  sufficient  probability 
be  ?oniectm-ed  that  they  formed  a  portion  of  the  Libyan  auxiliaries  in  the  army  with 
which  SlShak  invaded  Palestine,  twenty-five  years  before,  and  who  mstead  of  re- 
mrniL  to  their  own  deserts,  deemed  it  quite  as  well  to  remain  m  those  of  Arabia 
•  PetrSf  and  n  the  country  between  Egypt  and  Palestine.  And  this  explanation  seems 
fo  be  confim  ed  by  the  fact,  which  appears  in  the  sequel,  that  they  held  some  border 
lowns  (S  as  rirar)  in  this  district.  The  flocks  and  herds,  and  the  tents  of  the  m- 
vadino-  host,  sufficiently  intimate  the  nomade  character  of  the  invasion. 

TMs  er^erlency  was  met  by  Asa  in  the  true  spirit  of  the  theocracy.  Fully  con- 
scious  of  the 'physical  inadequacy  of  his  force  to  meet  the  enemy,  he  nevertheless 
went  forth  boldly  to  give  them  battle,  trusting  in  Jehovah,  who  had  so  often  given  his 

*  Tn.=pnhns  o-ives  nine  hundred  thousand  infantry  and  one  hundred  thousand  cavalry,  which  some  would 

A        vf  Trik  nt  o  ra  ciDher  fro     each  number.    A  merely  conjectural  emendation  is,  however,  so  difli- 

,  reduce  by  striking  o^  *  c'P^er  irorn  eacn  nui^^^^        original  numbers,  even  when  doubtful.     In  the  present 

cult  and  l>=^^.^fdous   that  U       ^f^*"^\\'3^3^^'^,  ^  J^X  d  stTnctio'n  between  the  armies  of  that  time  and 

instance  we  may  refer  tf^f^^^tVartU  territory  was  able  to  call  out  above  five  hundred  thousand  men, 

InTthat  of  his  anUgonist  Bajazet  to  one  million  four  hundred  thousand.     Laomc.  Chalcocond.  de  rebus  Turc 
'■  t  ms  name^s  so  given  in  the  monuments,  but  in  ancient  writers  it  is  Osorthon. 


322  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

people  the  victory  against  far  greater  odds,  and  to  whom  he  made  the  public  and  be- 
coming appeal: — "O  Jehovah,  it  is  nothing  with  thee  to  help,  whether  with  many 
or  with  them  that  have  no  power:  Help  us,  0  Jehovah,  our  God  ;  for  we  rest  on  thee, 
and  in  thy  name  we  go  against  this  multitude.  0  Jehovah,  thou  art  our  God  ;  let  not 
man  prevail  against  thee."  The  consequence  of  this  proper  manifestation  of  reliance 
upon  their  Omnipotent  King  was  a  very  splendid  victory  over  the  Cushites.  They 
were  defeated  hi  the  great  battle  of  Mareshah,*  in  the  valley  of  Zephathali,  and  fled 
before  the  army  of  Judah,  which  ocmmenced  a  vigorous  pursuit,  attended  with  great 
slaughter.  The  Ethiopians  and  Lybians  fled  toward  their  tents  and  to  Gerar  and  other 
towns,  which  some  of  them  (we  have  supposed  the  Lybians)  occupied  on  the  border 
land  toward  Philistia.  Here  the  conquerors  found  a  rich  spoil  of  cattle  from  the  camps 
of  the  nomades,  and  of  goods  from  the  towns.  On  their  triumphal  return,  they  were 
mpt  by  the  prophet  Obed,  who  excited  the  piety  and  gratitude  of  the  king  and  his  army 
by  reminding  them  to  whom  the  victory  was  really  due,  even  to  Jehovah  ;  and  he 
called  to  their  remembrance  the  privilege  they  enjoyed,  as  contrasted  with  the  kingdom 
of  Israel,  in  the  marked  and  beneficent  protection  and  care  of  their  Great  King,  and 
hinted  at  the  duties  which  resulted  from  the  enjoyment  of  such  privileges.  This  was 
attended  with  veiy  good  effects ;  and  in  the  warmth  of  his  gratitude  for  the  deliver- 
ance with  which  he  had  been  favored,  Asa  prosecuted  his  reforms  with  new  vigor. 
He  rooted  out  every  remnant  of  idolatry,  and  engaged  the  whole  people  to  renew  their 
covenant  with  Jehovah. 

It  appears  that  the  eff'ect  of  the  manifest  tokens  of  the  divine  favor  which  Asa  're- 
ceived, especially  in  the  great  victory  over  Zerah,  was  felt  in  the  neighbormg  kingdom, 
and  induced  large  numbers  of  the  subjects  of  Baasha  to  migrate  mto  his  dominions. 
A  constant  and  large  accession  of  men,  induced  by  such  considerations,  and  by  revived 
attachment  to  the  theocracy,  was  calculated  to  give,  and  did  give,  a  vast  superiority 
of  moral  character  to  the  kingdom  of  Judah.     It  was  probably,  as  intimated  in  the 
last  chapter,  this  tendency  of  his  most  valuable  subjects  to  migrate  into  Judah,  which 
induced  Baasha  to  take  the  town  of  Ramah,  and  fortify  it  for  a  frontier  barrier.     The 
measure  which  Asa  took  on  this  occasion,  of  hiring  the  king  of  Syria  to  forego  his 
previous  alliance  with  Baasha,  and  cause  a  diversion  in  his  own  favor  by  invading  the 
kingdom  of  Israel,  was  effectual  as  to  the  recovery  of  Ramah  ;  for  the  death  of  Baasha, 
the  following  year,  prevented  him  from  resuming  his  designs.     Asa  availed  himself 
of  the  materials  which  Baasha  had  brought  together  for  the  fortification  of  Ramah, 
to  fortify  the  towns  of  Geba  and  Mizpeli.     This  advantage  was,  however,  dearly  pur- 
chased by  the  treasure  of  the  temple  and  the  palace  which  he  was  obliged  to  squan- 
der, to  secure  the  assistance  of  the  Syrians  ;  and  still  more,  by  the  displeasure  of  God, 
who  denounced  this  proceeding  as  not  only  wrong  in  itself,  but  as  indicating  a  want 
of  that  confidence  in  him  through  which  he  had  been  enabled  to  overthrow  the  vast 
host  which  the  Cushites  brought  against  him.     This  intimation  of  the  Divine  dis- 
pleasure was  conveyed  to  the  king  by  the  prophet  Hanani,  and  was  received  by  Asa 
with  such  resentment  that  he  put  the  messenger  in  prison.     Indeed,  he  appears  to 
have  grown  increasingly  irritable  in  the  later  years  of  his  reign,  in  consequence  of 
which  he  was  led  to  commit  many  acts  of  severity  and  injustice.     But  for  this  some 
allowance  may  be  made  in  consideration  of  his  suff"erings  from  a  disease  m  his  feet, 
which  appears  to  have  been  the  gout.     With  reference  to  this  disease,  Asa  incurs 
some  blame  in  the  Scriptural  narrative  for  his  resort  to  "  the  physicians  instead  of 
relying  upon  God;"  the  cause  of  which  rather  extraordinary  censure  is  probably  to 
be  found  in  the  fact  that  those  physicians  who  were  not  priests  or  Levites  (in  whose 
hands  the  medical  science  of  the  Hebrews  chiefly  rested)  were  foreigners  and  idola- 
ters, who  trusted  more  to  superstitious  rites  and  incantations  than  to  the  simple 
remedies  which  nature  ofl'ered.     With  all  these  defects,  for  which  much  allowance 
may  be  made,  Asa  bears  a  good  character  in   the  Scriptural  narrative,  on  account  of 
the  general  rectitude  of  his  conduct,  and  of  his  zealous  services  in  upholding  the  great** 
principles  of  the  theocracy. 

Asa  died  in  the  year  929  B.  C,  in  the  second  year  of  Ahab,  king  of  Israel,  and  after 
a  long  and,  upon  the  whole,  prosperous  reign  of  forty-one  years.  He  was  sincerely 
lamented  by  all  his  subjects,  who,  according  to  their  mode  of  testifying  their  final 
approbation,  honored  his  remains  with  a  magnificent  funeral.  His  body,  laid  on  a 
bed  of  state,  was  burned  with  vast  quantities  of  aromatic  substances  :  and  the  ashes, 
•  This  was  a  town  fortified  by  Rehoboam  (2  Chron.  xi.  8).    It  was  the  birthplace  of  the  prophet  Micah 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  323 

collected  with  care,  were  afterward  deposited  in  the  sepulchre  which  he  had  pre- 
pared for  himself  on  Mount  Zion.  The  burning  of  the  dead,  as  a  rite  of  sepulmre, 
had  originally  been  regarded  with  dislike  by  the  Hebrews.  But  a  change  of  feeling 
in  this  matter  had  by  this  time  taken  place ;  for  the  practice  is  not  now  mentioned  as 
a  new  thing,  and  had  probably  been  some  time  previously  introduced.  Afterward 
burning  was  considered  the  most  distinguished  honor  which  could  be  rendered  to  the 
dead,  and  the  omission  of  it,  in  the  case  of  royal  personages,  a  disgrace.  (See  2 
Chron.  xvi.  14,  xxi.  19;  Jer.  xxxiv.  5;  Amos  vi.  10.)  But  in  later  days  the  Jews 
conceived  a  dislike  to  this  rite ;  and  their  doctors  endeavored,  in  consequence,  to  per- 
vert the  passages  of  Scripture  which  refer  to  it,  so  as  to  induce  a  belief  that  the 
aromatic  substances  alone,  and  not  the  body,  were  burnt. ' 

ISRAEL,  FROM  B.  c.  931  to  b.  c.  895. 

Ahab,  the  son  of  Omri,  mounted  the  throne  of  Israel  in  the  year  931  B.  C.,  being 
the  thirty-eighth  year  of  As-a,  king  of  Judah.  This  king  was,  throughout  his  reign 
of  twenty-two  years,  entirely  under  the  influence  of  his  idolatrous  and  unprincipled 
wife,  Jezebel,  a  daughter  of  Ethbaal,  or  Iihobalus,  king  of  Tyre.  Hitherto  the  irreg- 
ularities connected  with  the  service  before  the  golden  calves,  as  symbols  of  Jehovah, 
had  formed  the  chief  offence  of  Israel.  But  uow  Ahab  and  Jezebel  united  their 
authority  to  introduce  the  gods  of  other  nations.  The  king  built  a  temple  in  Samaria, 
erected  an  image,  and  consecrated  a  grove  to  Baal,  the  god  of  the  Sidonians.  Jeze- 
bel, earnest  in  promoting  the  worship  of  her  own  god,  maintained  a  multitude  of 
priests  and  prophets  of  Baal.  In  a  few  years  idolatry  became  the  predominant  re- 
ligion of  the  land  ;  and  Jehovah,  and  the  golden  calves  as  representations  of  him, 
were  viewed  with  no  more  reverence  than  Baal  and  his  image.  It  now  appeaTed  as 
if  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God  was  for  ever  lost  to  the  Israelites;  but  Elijah  the 
prophet  boldly  stood  up,  and  opposed  himself  to  the  authority  of  the  king,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  retaining  many  of  his  countrymen  in  the  worship  of  Jehovah.  The  greater 
the  power  was  which  supported  idolatry,  so  much  the  more  striking  were  the  prophe- 
cies and  miracles  which  directed  the  attention  of  the  Israelites  to  Jehovah,  and 
brought  disgrace  upon  the  idols,  and  confusion  on  their  worshippers.  The  history  of 
this  great  and  memorable  struggle  gives  to  the  narrative  of  Ahab's  reign  an  unusual 
prominence  and  extent  in  the  Hebrew  annals ;  and  although  a  writer  studious  of 
brevity  might  at  the  first  view  be  disposed  to  omit,  as  episodical,  much  of  the  history 
of  Elijah  the  Tishbite,*  a  little  reflection  will  render  it  manifest  that  the  prominence 
given  to  the  history  of  this  illustrious  champion  for  the  truth,  was  a  designed  and 
necessary  result  from  the  fact  that  the  history  of  the  Hebrew  nation  is  the  history  of 
a  church ;  and  that  although  the  history  of  this  great  controversy  might  be  omitted 
or  overlooked  by  those  who  erroneously  regard  the  history  of  the  Hebrews  inerely 
as  a  political  history,  in  the  other  point  of  view  it  becomes  of  the  most  vital  im- 
portance. 

The  first  appearance  of  Elijah  is  with  great  abruptness  to  annotince  a  drought,  and 
consequent  famine,  for  the  punishment  of  the  idolatry  into  which  the  nation  had 
fallen;  and  that  this  calamity  should  only  be  removed  at  his  own  intercession.  He 
apprehended  that  the  iniquities  of  the  land  would  bring  down  upon  it  destruction 
from  God ;  and  he  therefore  prayed  for  this  lesser  visitation,  which  might  possibly 
bring  the  king  and  people  to  repentance. 

After  such  a  denunciation,  it  was  necessary  that  the  prophet  should  withdraw 
himself  from  the  presence  and  solicitations  of  the  king,  when  the  drought  should 
commence,  which  it  did,  probably  about  the  sixth  year  of  Ahab.  Accordingly, 
obeying  the  directions  of  the  divine  oracle,  he  withdrew  lo  his  native  district  beyond 
Jordan,  and  hid  himself  in  a  cave  by  the  brook  Cherith  ;  where  the  providence  of 
God  secured  his  support  by  putting  it  into  the  hearts  of  the  Arabs  encamped  in  the 
neighborhood,  to  send  him  bread  and  meat  every  morning  and  evening;  and  the 
brook  furnished  him  with  drink,  until  "the  end  of  the  year,"  or  beginning  of  spring, 
when  it  was  dried  up  from  the  continued  drought. 

It  was  probably  under  the  irritation  produced  by  the  first  pressure  of  the  calamity, 
that  Jezebel  induced  the  king   o  issue  orders  for  the  destruction  of  all  the  prophets 

*  He  is  introduced  as  "  Elijah  the  '  ishbite,  of  the  inhabitants  of  Gilead."  It  is  probable  therefore  tha*. 
the  designation  of  "  Tishbite"  is  from   some  town  in  Gilead,  wliich  can  not  now  be  clearly  ascertained 


m 


A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 


of  Jehovah.*    Many  of  them  perished :  but  a  good  and  devout  man,  even  in  the 
palace  of  Ahab, — Obadiah,  the  steward  of  his  household, — managed  to  save  a  hundred 
of  the  number  by  sheltering  them  m  caverns,  where  he  provided  for  their  maintenance 
until;  probably,  an  opportunity  was  found  for  their  escape  into  the  kmgdom  of  Judah. 
When  the  brook  of  Cherith  was  dried  up,  the  prophet  was  then  directed  by  ihe 
Divine  Voice  to  proceed  Avestward  to  Sarepta,t  a  town  of  Sidon,  under  the  dominion 
of  Jezebel's  father ;  where  he  lodged  with  a  poor  widow,  and  was  miraculously  sup- 
j)orted  with  her  and  her  family  for  a  considerable  time,  according  to  his  own  predic- 
tion— •"  that  her  single  barrel  of  meal  should  not  waste,  nor  her  single  cruse  of  oil 
fail,  until  that  day  when  Jehovah  should  send  rain  upon  the  earth."     While  he  re- 
mained at  this  place,  the  prophet,  by  his  prayers  to  God,  restored  to  life  the  son  of 
the  widow  with  whom  he  lodged.     Here  he  stayed  until  the  end  of  three  years  from 
the  commencement  of  the  drought,  when  he  was  commanded  to  go  and  show  him- 
self to  Ahab.     That  king  had  meanwhile  caused  the  most  diligent  search  to  be  made 
for  him  in  every  quarter,  doubtless  with  the  view  of  inducing  him  to  offer  up  those 
intercessions  through  which  alone  the  present  grievous  calamity  could  terminate. 
But  at  this  time,  having  probably  relinquished  this  search  as  hopeless,  the  attention 
of  the  king  was  directed  to  the  discovery  of  any  remaining  supplies  of  water  which 
might  still  exist  in  the  laffd.     He  had,  therefore,  for  the  purji<i|j|l|s  of  this  exploration, 
divided  the  country  between  himself  and  Obadiah;  and  both  proceeded  personally  to 
visit  all  the  brooks  and  fountains  of  the  land.     Obadiah  was  journeying  on  this  mis- 
sion, when  Elijah,  who  was  returning  from  Sarepta,  met  him,  and  commissioned  him 
to  announce  his  arrival  to  Ahab.     The  king,  when  he  saw  the  prophet,  reproached 
him  as  the  cause  of  the  national  calamities — "  Art  thou  he  that  troubleth  Israel  ?" 
But  the  prophet  boldly  retorted  the  charge  upon  himself  and  his  father's  house,  be- 
cause they  had  forsaken  Jehovah  and  followed  Baal.     He  then  secured  the  attention 
of  the  king  by  intimating  an  intention  of  interceding  for  rain ;  and  required  him  to 
call  a  general  assembly  of  all  the  people  at  Mount  Carmel,  and  also  to  bring  all  the 
prophets  or  priests  of  Baal,t  and  of  the  groves. 

There,  in  the  audience  of  that  vast  assembly,  Elijah  reproached  the  people  with 
the  destruction  of  the  prophets  of  Jehovah,  of  whom,  he  alleged,  that  he  alone  re- 
mained, while  the  prophets  of  Baal  alone  were  four  hundred  and  fifty,  fed  at  the  ta- 
ble of  Jezebel ;  and  then  he  called  them  to  account  for  their  divided  worship — "  How 
long  halt  ye  between  two  opinions  ?  If  Jehovah  be  the  God,  follow  him ;  but  if 
Baal,  then  follow  him."  The  people  intimated  their  uncertainty  by  their  silence  to 
this  appeal ;  on  which  the  prophet,  fully  conscious  of  his  unlimited  commission,  pro- 
posed a  solemn  sacrifice  to  each,  and  "  the  God  that  answereth  by  fire  (to  consume 
his  sacrifice)  let  him  be  the  God."  As  this  was  a  fair  trial  of  Baal's  supposed  power 
in  his  own  element,  the  most  zealous  of  his  worshippers  could  make  no  objection  to 
it,  and  the  proposal  was  approved  by  all  the  people.  Accordingly,  when  Baal  an- 
swered not  the  earnest  and  ultimately  maddened  invocations  of  his  prophets — but 
Jehovah  instantly  answered  the  prayer  of  Elijah,  by  sending  fire  (as  on  former  occa- 
sions) to  consume  the  victim  on  the  altar,  although  it  had  previously  been  inundated 
with  water  by  the  direction  of  the  prophet — then  the  poople,  yielding  to  one  mighty 
impulse  of  conviction,  fell  upon  their  faces,  and  cried,  "  Jkhovah,  he  is  the  God! 
Jehovah,  he  is  the  God  !" — thus  also  expressing  that  Baal  was  7iot.  ihe  God,  and  re- 
jecting him.  To  ratify  this  abjuration  of  Baal,  Elijah  commanded  them  to  destroy 
his  priests;  and  this,  in  the  enthusiasm  of  their  re-kindled  zeal  for  Jehovah,  they  im- 
mediately did,  at  the  brook  Kishon,  which  had  been  the  scene  of  Barak's  victory  over 
the  Canaanitcs. 

Immediately  after  this  sublime  national  act  of  acknowledgment  of  Jehovah  and  re- 
jection of  Baal,  the  prophet  went  up  to  the  top  of  Carmel,  and  prayed  fervently  for 
rain  seven  times;  the  promise  of  which  (speedily  followed  by  fulfilment)  at  last  ap- 
peared in  the  form  of  "  a  little  cloud  like  a  man's  hand,"  rising  out  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean sea — a  phenomenon  which,  in  warm  maritime  climates,  is  not  the  unusual 
harbinger  of  rain. 

This  remarkable  transaction  may  be  ascribed  to  the  tenth  year  of  Ahab's  reign. 
Elijah  was  now  compelled  to  fly  for  his  life,  to  avoid  the  threatened  vengeance  of 
Jezebel  for  the  destruction  of  her  prophets.     He  fled  southward,  and  when  he  had 

♦  Tliere  were  probably  "students  in  the  schools  of  the  prophets,"  or  persons  who  devoted  themselves  to 
the  study  of  the  divine  law,  and  on  whom  the  spirit  of  prophecy  occasionally  came, 
t  Now  called  Sa'phan,  about  three  honrs'  journey  from  Sidon  on  the  way  to  Tyre, 
t  It  may  assist  the  comprehension  of  tlie  narrative  to  know  that  Baal  was  an  impersonation  of  the  sun. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  325 

travelled  nearly  100  miles,  from  Samaria  to  Beersheba,  he  left  his  servant  and  went 
alone  a  day's  journey  into  the  wilderness.  There  he  sat,  for  rest  and  shelter,  under 
the  scanty  shade  which  a  broom-tree  offered,  the  mighty  spirit  by  which  he  had 
hitherto  been  sustained,  gave  way,  and  he  prayed  for  death  to  end  his  troubles.  "  It 
is  enough  :"  he  cried,  "  now,  O  Jehovah,  take  away  my  life  ;  for  I  am  not  better  than 
my  fathers !"  To  strengthen  his  now  sinkmg  faith,  and  reward  his  sufferings  in  the 
cause  of  the  God  of  Israel,  whose  honor  he  had  so  zealously  vindicated,  the  prophet 
was  encouraged  by  an  angel  to  undertake  a  long  journey  to  "  the  mount  of  God," 
Horeb,  where  the  Divine  presence  had  been  manifested  to  Moses,  the  founder  of  the 
law ;  and  of  which  a  further  manifestation  was  now  probably  promised  to  this  great 
champion  and  restorer  of  the  same  law.  On  this  mysterious  occasion  the  angel 
touched  him  twice,  to  rouse  him  from  his  sleep,  and  twice  made  him  eat  of  food 
which  he  found  prepared  for  him.  In  the  strength  which  that  food  gave,  the  prophet 
journeyed  (doubtless  by  a  circuitous  route)  forty  days,  until  he  came,  it  is  supposed, 
to  the  cave  where  Moses  was  stationed,  when  he  saw  the  glory  of  j'ehovah  in  "  the 
cleft  of  the  rock." 

There  he  heard  the  voice  of  Jehovah  calling  to  him,  "  What  doest  thou  here,  Eli- 
jah V  The  prophet,  evidently  recognising  that  voice,  said,  "  I  have  been  very  zealous 
for  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Hosts  ;  for  the  children  of  Israel  have  forsaken  thy  covenant, 
thrown  down  thy  altars,  and  slain  thy  prophets  with  the  sword,  and  I  only  am  left ; 
and  they  seek  my  life  to  take  it  away."  Then  the  voice  commanded  him  to  go  forth, 
for  Jehovah  was  about  to  pass  by.  The  first  harbinger  of  the  Divine  presence  was 
a  great-and  strong  wind,  which  rent  the  motmtain  and  brake  the  rock  in  pieces ;  but  Je- 
hovah was  not  in  that  wind.  Then  followed  an  earthquake  ;  but  Jehovah  was  not 
ix\  the  earthquake.  This  was  succeeded  by  a  fire  ;  but  Jehovah  was  not  in  the  fire. 
After  this,  came  "  a  still,  small  Voice  ;"  and  when  the  prophet  heard  it,  he  knew  the 
Voice  of  God,  and,  reverently  hiding  his  face  in  his  mantle,  he  stood  forth  in  the 
.  entrance  of  the  cave.  The  Voice  repeated  the  former  question,  "  What  doest  thou 
here,  Elijah  ?"  to  which  the  same  answer  as  before  was  returned.  The  Voice,  in  re- 
ply, gently  rebuked  the  prophet  for  his  crimination  of  the  whole  people  of  Israel, 
and  his  discouraging  representation  of  himself  as  the  only  prophet  left.  "  I  have  yet 
left  to  me  seven  thousand  men,  in  Israel,  who  have  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal."  He 
was  further  instructed  to  return  by  a  different  route,  by  the  way  of  Damascus ;  and, 
by  the  way  to  anoint  or  .appoint  Elisha  to  be  his  own  successor,  and  (either  by  him- 
self or  Elisha),  Hazael  to  be  king  of  Damascene-Syria,  and  Jehu  to  be  king  of  Israel 
— as  the  chosen  ministers  of  Divine  vengeance  upon  the  house  and  people  of  Ahab. 

Of  the  three,  Elisha  was  the  only  one  to  whom  Elijah  himself  made  known  this 
appointment.  Elisha  was  the  son  of  Shaphat,  an  opulent  man  of  Abel-maholah,  in 
the  half-tribe  of  Manasseh,  west  of  the  Jordan.  The  prophet  found  him  ploughing 
with  twelve  yoke  of  oxen,  when,  by  a  significant  action,  still  well  understood  in  the 
East,  that  of  throwmg  his  own  mantle  upon  him,  he  conveyed  the  intimation  of  his 
prophetic  call.  That  call  was  understood  and  obeyed  by  Elisha  ;  and  after  having, 
with  the  prophet's  permission,  taken  leave  of  his  parents,  he  hastened  to  follow  Eli- 
jah, to  whom  he  ever  after  remained  attached. 

It  is  singular  that  the  first  formal  alliance  between  the  kingdoms  of  Israel  and 
Judah  took  place  during  the  reigns  of  two  princes  of  such  opposite  characters  as 
Ahab  in  Israel,  and  Jehoshaphat  in  Judah.  But  it  was  so  :  and  in  forming  it,  and  in 
cementing  it  by  the  marriage  of  his  eldest  son  Jehoram  to  Athaliah  the  daughter  of 
Ahab  and  Jezebel,  he  doubtless  acted  from  very  ill-considered  policy,  and  laid  in  a 
great  store  of  disasters  for  himself  and  his  house.  It  is  unfortunate  that  we  are  Tin- 
acquainted  with  the  motives  which  led  to  this  most  unhappy  connexion.  A  close 
and  intimate  union  between  the  two  kingdoms  could  not  but  be,  t«  itself,  a  political 
good ;  and  the  error  of  Jehoshaphat  probably  lay  in  considering  this  fact  by  itself, 
without  taking  due  account  of  that  evil  character  of  Ahab  and  his  house,  and  that 
alienation  of  his  people  from  God,  which  were  calculated  to  neutralize,  and  actually 
did  far  more  than  neutralize,  the  natural  advantages  of  such  alliance.  The  marriage 
took  place  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  Ahab's,  and  the  thirteenth  of  Jehoshaphat's  reign. 

Not  long  after  this,  Ahab  had  cause  to  be  alarmed  at  the  designs  of  Ben-hadad,  the 
king  of  Damascene-Syria,  which  kingdom  had  been  gathering  such  strength,  while 
that  of  the  Hebrews  had  been  weakened  by  divisions  and  by  misconduct,  that  even 
the  subjugation  of  Israel  did  not  seem  to  Ben-hadad  an  enterprise  to  which  his  am- 


326  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

bition  might  not  aspire.  To  this  end  he  made  immense  preparations  :  he  claimed 
the  united  aid  of  all  his  tributary  princes,  thirty-two  in  number,  and  ultimately  ap- 
peared with  all  his  forces  before  Samaria,  to  which  he  laid  seige.  He  first  summon- 
ed Ahab  to  deliver  up  all  his  most  precious  things;  and,  compelled  by  dire  necessity, 
the  king  of  Israel  consented.  But  Ben-hadad  was  only  induced  by  this  readiness  of 
yielding,  to  enhance  his  terms,  and  sent  further  demands,  which  were  so  very  hard 
and  insulting,  that  the  spirit  of  Ahab  was  at  last  roused,  and,  supported  by  the  advice 
of  his  council,  he  determined  to  act  on  the  defensive.  Soon  after  a  prophet  came  with 
the  promise  of  victory  over  the  vast  host  of  the  Syrians,  by  means  of  a  mere  hand- 
ful of  spirited  young  men  who  were  particularly  indicated. 

The  confidence  of  the  Syrians  was  so  great  that  they  led  a  careless  and  jovial  life, 
thinking  of  little  but  of  indulgence  in  wine  and  good  cheer,  of  which  the  king  him- 
self set  the  example.  In  the  midst  of  these  feasts,  a  body  of  two  hundred  and  thirty- 
two  men  was  seen  to  leave  the  city,  and  advance  toward  the  camp.  Ben-hadad, 
when  he  heard  of  it,  quietly  ordered  them  to  be  taken  alive,  whether  they  came  for 
peace  or  for  war.  But  suddenly  these  men  fell  upon  the  advanced  sentinels,  and  upon 
all  who  were  near  them ;  and  the  cries  and  confusion  of  so  many  persons,  taken  as 
it  were  by  surprise,  were  instrumental  in  creating  a  general  panic  among  the  vast 
Syrian  host.  Drawn  himself  by  the  irresistible  movement,  Ben-hadad  fled  on  horse- 
back, with  all  his  army ;  and  the  troops  of  Israel  (7,000  in  number),  which  attended 
the  motions  and  watched  the  effect  of  the  sally  of  the  brave  two  hundred  and  thirty- 
wo,  closely  pursued  the  flying  Syrians,  and  rendered  the  victory  complete. 

The  prophet  who  foretold  this  victory  now  apprized  Ahab  that  Ben-hadad  would 
renew  his  attempt  the  ensuing  year.  This  took  place  accordingly.  The  Syrians 
came  in  equal  force  as  before,  and,  as  they  thought,  with  wiser  counsek.  The  king- 
dom of  Damascene-Syria  was  mostly  a  plain ;  whereas  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  and 
the  site  of  Samaria,  in  particular,  was  mountainous.  Rightly  attributing  their  defeat 
to  the  God  (or,  as  they  chose  in  their  idolatrous  ignorance,  to  say  the  gods)  of  Israel, 
they  reasoned  that  he  was  a  god  of  the  hills,  and  therefore  among  the  hills  more 
powerful  than  their  gods,  who  were  gods  of  the  valleys  and  the  plains.  Instead 
therefore  of  going  among  the  hills  as  before,  they  would  naw  fight  in  the  plains, 
where  they  could  not  doubt  of  success.  This  reasoning,  however  absurd  it  now  seems 
to  us  and  did  then  seem  (such  were  their  privileges)  to  all  enlightened  Israelites,  was 
in  strict  and  philosophical  accordance  with  the  first  principles  of  idolatry,  and  the 
general  system  of  national  and  local  deities.  But  such  a  view  being  taken  by  them, 
it  became  necessary  to  Jehovah  to  vindicate  his  own  honor  and  assert  his  omnipor 
tence  by  their  overthrow.  For  this  reason  he  delivered  this  vast  host  that  covered 
the  land  into  the  hands  of  the  comparatively  small  and  feeble  host  of  Israel.  The 
Syrians  were  cut  in  pieces ;  100,000  of  their  number  were  left  dead  upon  the  field  of 
battle,  and  the  rest  were  entirely  dispersed.  Ben-hadad,  with  a  large  number  of  the 
fugitives,  sought  refuge  in  Aphek  ;  but  by  the  sudden  fall  of  the  wall  of  that  fortified 
town,  27,000  of  his  men  were  crushed  to  death,  and  the  place  was  rendered  defence- 
less. Nothing  was  now  left  to  him  but  to  yield  himself  up  to  Ahab.  That  monarch, 
weak  and  criminal  by  turns,  received  the  Syrian  king  into  his  friendship,  and  formed 
an  impious  alliance  with  him,  regardless  not  only  of  the  law,  but  of  the  honor  of 
God,  who  had  given  him  the  victory,  and  had  delivered  for  punishment  into  his  hands 
this  blasphemer  and  enemy  of  his  Great  Name.  For  this  he  was,  in  the  name  of  Je- 
hovah, severely  rebuked  and  threatened  by  one  of  "  the  sons  of  the  prophets,"  by 
the  way-side;  in  consequence  he  withdrew  to  his  palace  "  heavy  and  displeased." 

The  history  of  Ahab  affords  one  more,  and  the  last,  interview  between  hira  and 
Elijah.  This  was  about  nine  years  after  the  grand  solemnity  at  Mount  Carmel,  and 
the  nineteenth  of  Ahab's  reign. 

At  that  time  the  king  took  a  fancy  to  enlarge  his  own  garden  by  taking  into  it  an 
adjoining  vineyard  which  formed  part  of  the  patrimonial  estate  of  a  person  named 
Naboth.  He  made  him  the  fair  offer  of  its  value  in  money,  or  to  give  him  some 
other  piece  of  land  of  equal  value.  But  Naboth,  considering  it  a  religious  duty  to 
preserve  "  the  inheritance  of  his  fathers,"  declined  on  any  terms  to  alienate  it.  The 
reason  was  good,  and  ought  to  have  satisfied  the  king.  But  he  received  the  refusal 
like  a  spoiled  child  ;  he  lay  down  upon  his  bed,  and  turned  away  his  face  to  the  wall, 
and  refused  to  take  his  food.  When  his  wife  heard  this  she  came  to  him,  and  hav- 
ing learned  the  cause  of  his  grief,  she  said  indignantly,  "  Dost  thou  not  now  govern  the 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


327 


828  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

kingdom  of  Israel ;  Arise,  eat  food,  and  let  thine  heart  be  cheerful ;  the  vineyard  of 
Naboth,  the  Jezreelite,  /  ivill  pve  to  thee.''''  Accordingly,  she  procured  Naboth  to  bt? 
put  to  death  under  the  form  of  law.  At  a  public  feast  he  was  accused  by  suborned 
witnesses  of  blasphemy,  for  which  he  was  stoned  to  death,  and  his  estates  confisca- 
ted to  the  king.  Jezebel  then  went  to  Ahab,  apprized  him  of  what  had  happened, 
and  told  him  to  go  down  and  take  possession  of  the  vineyard.  It  is  clear  that  if  he 
did  not  suggest,  he  approved  of  the  crime,  and  proceeded  with  joy  to  reap  the  fruits 
•  of  it.  But  in  the  vineyard  of  Naboth,  the  unexpected  and  unwelcome  sight  of  Eli- 
jah the  prophet  met  his  view.  Struck  by  his  own  conscience,  he  cried,  "  Hast  thou 
found  me,  X)  mine  enemy  ?"  To  which  Elijah  replied,  "  I  have  foimd  thee,  because 
thou  hast  sold  thyself  to  work  evil  in  the  eyes  of  .Tehovah."  He  then  proceeded  to 
denounce  the  doom  of  utter  extermination  upon  himself  and  his  house  for  his  mani- 
fold iniquities ;  and  then,  with  reference  to  the  immediate  offence,  he  said,  "  Hast 
thou  slain  and  also  taken  possession  ?  Thus  saith  Jehovah,  In  whatsoever  pl/ice 
the  dogs  licked  up  the  blood  of  Naboth,  shall  dogs  lick  up  thy  blood,  even  thine 
And  concerning  Jezebel,  Jehovah  hath  also  spoken,  saying,  The  dogs  shall  eat  Jeze- 
bel under  the  wall  of  Jezreel.  Him  who  dielh  of  Ahab  in  the  city  shall  the  dogs 
eat ;  and  him  that  dieth  in  the  fields  shall  the  fowls  of  the  air  eat."  We  are  imme- 
diately reminded,  however,  that  this  terrible  doom,  although  now  denounced,  as  fol- 
lowing this  crowning  deed  of  guUt,  was  really  a  consequence  of  this  and  all  the  other 
iniquities  of  Ahab's  reign;  for  it  is  added,  "Now  there  had  been  none  like  to  Ahab, 
who,  stirred  up  by  Jezebel  his  wife,  sold  himself  to  work  wickedness  in  the  eyes  of 
Jehovah.  And  he  committed  great  abominations  by  going  after  vile  idols,  according 
to  all  that  the  Amorites  did,  whom  Jehovah  cast  out  before  the  Israelites." 

When  Ahab  heard  the  heavy  doom  pronounced  against  him  by  the  prophet,  "  he 
rent  his  clothes  (in  token  of  extreme  grief),  and  put  sackcloth  upon  his  flesh,  and 
fasted,  and  lay  in  sackcloth,  and  went  mournfully."  This  conduct  found  some  accept- 
ance with  God,  who  said  to  Elijah,  Seest  thou  how  Ahab  humbleth  himself  before 
me  ?  Because  he  humbleth  himself  before  me,  I  will  not  bring  the  evil  in  his  days, 
but  in  his  son's  days  will  I  bring  this  evil  upon  his  house."  From  the  judicial  sen- 
tence specially  applicable  to  the  case  of  Naboth,  there  was,  however,  no  dispensa- 
tion ;  as  it  behooved  the  Divine  king  to  demonstrate  that  he  still  possessed  and  exer- 
cised the  authority  of  supreme  civil  governor,  and  that  the  kings  were  responsible  to 
him  and  punishable  by  him.     This  was  signally  shown  in  the  sequel. 

Israel  was  now  at  peace  with  Syria,  but  it  had  not  recovered  possession  of  all  the 
places  which  had  at  different  times  been  lost  to  that  power.  Of  these,  Ramoth  Gilead, 
beyond  Jordan,  was  one  which,  from  its  proximity  and  importance,  Ahab  was  partic- 
ularly anxious  to  regain  possession.  He  therefore  »esolved  to  expel  the  Syrian  gar- 
rison from  that  place  ;  and  as  he  Avas  aware  that  the  attempt  would  be  opposed  by 
the  whole  power  of  the  Syrian  kingdom,  he  claimed  the  assistance  of  Jehoshaphat, 
the  king  of  Judah,  which  that  prince,  with  the  facility  of  disposition  which  formed 
the  chief  defect  of  his  excellent  character,  very  readily  granted.  Nevertheless,  when 
the  preparations  were  completed,  Jehoshaphat,  unsatisfied  by  the  assurances  of  suc- 
cess which  Ahab's  own  "  prophets"  had  given,  desired  that  some  other  prophet  of 
Jehovah  should  be  consulted.  This  request  was  more  distasteful  to  Ahab  than  he 
liked  to  avow.  "  There  is  yet  one  man,"  he  said,  "  Micaiah,*  the  son  of  Imlah,  but 
him  I  hate,  because  he  prophesieth  not  good  concerning  me,  but  evil."  He  was, 
however,  sent  for ;  and  although  the  messenger  had  strongly  inculcated  upon  him  the 
necessity  of  making  his  counsel  conformable  to  the  wishes  of  the  king  and  the  pre- 
dictions of  his  own  prophets,  the  undaunted  Micaiah  boldly  foretold  the  fatal  result 
of  the  expedition.  At  this  the  kins:  was  so  much  enraged,  that  he  ordered  liim  to  be 
kept  in  confinement,  and  fed  with  the  bread  and  the  water  of  affliction  until  he  re- 
turned in  peace.  "  If  thou  return  at  all  in  peace,"  rejoined  the  faithful  prophet, 
"  then  Jehovah  hath  not  spoken  by  me." 

_  Ben-hadad,  the  king  of  Syria,  repaid  the  misplaced  kindness  of  Ahab  by  the  most 
bitter  enmity  against  his  person ;  and  he  gave  strict  orders  to  his  troops  that  their 

Jtrincipal  object  should  be  his  destruction.     Ahab  seems  to  have  had  some  private  in- 
brmation  of  this ;  for  he  went,  himself,  disguised  to  the  battle,  and  treacherously 
persuaded  Jehoshaphat  to  appear  in  all  the  ensigns  of  his  high  rank.f  In  consequence  of 

*  Joseplius  and  other  ancient  Jews  understood  thai  this  Micaiah  was  the  same  prophet  who  had  rebuked 
Ahab  for  his  alliance  with  Ben-hadad. 
T  Josephus,  supported  by  the  Septuagint,  says  he  wore  the  royal  robes  of  Ahab. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  329 

this  the  king  of  Judah  was  nearly  slain,  being  surrounded  by  the  Syrians,  who  press- 
ed toward  the  point  in  which  one  royally  arrayed  appeared.  But  they  discovered 
their  mistake  in  time,  and  turned  their  attention  in  another  direction.  Ahab,  with  all 
his  contrivance,  could  not  avoid  his  doom.  A  Syrian  archer*  sent  forth  from  his  bow 
an  arrow  at  random.  Guided  by  the  unseen  Power  which  had  numbered  the  days  of 
Ahab,  that  arrow  found  the  disguised  king,  penetrated  between  the  joints  of  his  strong 
armor,  and  gave  him  his  death-wound.  He  directed  his  charioteer  to  drive  him  out 
of  the  battle ;  but  perceiving  that  a  general  action  was  coming  on,  he  remained,  and 
was  held  up  in  his  chariot  until  the  evening,  animating  his  friends  by  his  voice  and 
presence.  After  the  fall  of  night  had  terminated  the  combat,  the  king  died,  and  the 
army  Avas  directed  to  disperse.  The  body  of  Ahab  was  taken  to  Samaria,  to  be  de- 
posited in  the  family  sepulchre ;  and  to  mark  the  literal  fulfilment  of  Elijah's  prophecy, 
the  historian  acquaints  us  that  his  chariot  was  washed,  and  his  armor  rinsed  in  the 
pool  of  Samaria,  where  the  dogs  licked  up  the  blood  that  he  had  lost.  Thus  signal- 
ly, in  the  mysterious  dispensations  of  Divine  providence,  were  reconciled  the  seem- 
ingly discordant  declarations  of  the  two  prophets,  one  of  whom  had  foretold  his  death 
at  Ramoth  Gilead,  and  the  other  that  dogs  should  claim  his  blood  in  Samaria. 

The  history  of  Ahab  is  almost  exclusively  occupied  with  the  record  of  his  guilt, 
and  we  are  referred  for  information  concerning  his  other  public  acts  to  a  chronicle 
which  no  longer  exists.  But  it  transpires  that  he  built  several  cities  in  Israel,  and 
also  a  palace,  which,  from  the  quantities  of  ivory  with  which  it  was  ornamented, 
was  distinguished  as  "  the  ivory  palace." 

Ahab's  death  took  place  in  the  year  909  B.  C,  after  a  reign  of  twenty-two  years. 

He  Avas  succeeded  in  his  throne  and  in  his  sin  by  his  son  Ahaziah.  The  chief 
event  of  his  short  reign  was  the  revolt  of  the  Moabites,  who,  since  their  subjection 
by  David,  had  continued  to  supply  Israel  with  a  rich  tribute  of  flocks  and  fleeces.f 
Ahaziah  himself  having  received  serious  injuries  by  a  fall  through  a  lattice  in  an  up- 
per chamber  of  his  palace,  sent  messengers  uito  the  land  of  the  Philistines,  to  con- 
sult Baal-zebub,  the  fly-god  of  Ekron,  whether  he  should  recover.  But  they  were 
met  on  the  way  by  the  prophet  Elijah,  who  sent  them  back  to  the  king  with  a  de- 
nunciation of  death,  for  his  impiety  in  forsaking  the  God  of  Israel  and  resorting  to 
strange  gods.  The  messengers  knew  not  the  prophet ;  but  when  they  described  him 
to  the  king  as  a  man  clad  with  a  hairy  garment,  and  with  a  leathern  girdle  about  his 
loms,  he  recognised  Elijah,  and  sent  an  officer  with  fifty  men  to  apprehend  him.  But 
the  prophet,  whom  they  found  sitting  upon  a  hill,  called  down  fire  from  heaven, 
which  consumed  this  party,  and  also  a  second;  but  he  went  voluntarily  with  the 
third,  the  officer  in  command  of  which  humbled  himself  before  him,  and  besought 
him.  The  prophet  confirmed  to  the  king  himself  his  former  denunciation  of  speedy 
death  ;  and,  accordingly,  Ahaziah  died,  after  a  short  reign  of  two  years,  leaving  no 
son  to  succeed  him.  This  king  maintained  the  alliance  which  his  father  had  estab- 
lished with  King  Jehoshaphat,  and  even  persuaded  that  monarch  to  admit  him  to 
share  in  his  contemplated  maritime  expedition  to  the  regions  of  Ophir,  of  which 
there  will  be  occasion  to  speak  in  the  next  chapter. 

Ahaziah  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  Jehoram.  This  king,  like  his  predecessors, 
"  did  evil  in  the  sight  of  Jehovah,"  yet  not  to  the  same  extent  of  enormity  as  they; 
for  although  the  loose  and  irregular  service  of  the  golden  calves  was  maintained  by 
him,  he  overthrew  the  images  of  Baal,  and  discouraged  the  grosser  idolatries  which 
his  father  and  brother  had  introduced. 

The  first  and  most  urgent  care  of  the  new  king  was  to  reduce  to  obedience  the 
Moabites,  who,  as  just  mentioned,  had  revolted  on  the  death  of  Ahab.  As  the  king 
of  Judah  had  himself  been  troubled  by  the  Moabites,  he  readily  undertook  to  take  a 
very  prominent  part  in  this  enterprise,  to  which  he  also  brought  the  support  of  his 
own  tributary,  the  king  of  Edom.  The  plan  of  the  campaign  was,  that  the  allied 
army  should  invade  the  land  of  Moab  in  its  least  defensible  quarter,  by  going  round 
by  "the  wilderness  of  Edom,"  southward  of  the  Dead  sea;  which  also  offered  the 
advantage  that  the  forces  of  the  king  of  Israel  could  be  successively  joined  by  those 
of  the  kings  of  Judah  and  Edom  on  the  march.  This  circuitous  march  occupied 
seven  days ;  and  toward  the  end  of  it  the  army  and  the  horses  suffered  greatly  from 

*  Josephus  says  this  was  Naaman,  who  will  soon  come  again  before  us. 

t  The  annual  tribute  rendered  by  the  Moabites  had  been  100,000  lambs  and  100,000  wethers  with  thjeir 
wool. 


330  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

thirst,  probably  occasioned  by  the  failure  of  the  wells  and  brooks,  from  which  an 
adequate  supply  of  water  had  been  expected.  Much  loss  had  already  been  incurred 
througti  this  unexpected  drought,  and  nothing  less  than  utter  ruin  seemed  to  impend 
over  the  allies  when  they  lay  on  the  borders  of  Moab,  within  view  of  the  enemy, 
which  had  advanced  to  meet  them.  In  this  emergency  the  very  proper  course  oc- 
curred to  Jehoshaphat  of  consulting  a  prophet  of  Jehovah.  On  inquiry  it  was  discovered 
that  Elisha,  "  who  had  poured  water  on  the  hands  of  Elijah" — a  proverbial  expression 
from  the  most  conspicuous  act  of  service  in  a  personal  attendant — was  the  only  prophet 
to  be  found  in  that  neighborhood.  Full  of  the  faith  of  his  illustrious  master,  this 
faithful  disciple  of  Elijah  had  beheld  the  Jordan  divide  before  that  prophet,  and  had 
been  with  him  when,  upborne  by  the  whirlwind,  he  was  taken  gloriously  away  from 
the  earth,  in  the  chariot  and  horses  which  glowed  like  fire,  and  who  had  substituted 
himself  in  his  mission  to  work  marvels  and  reprove  kings  in  the  name  of  Jehovah. 
Already  had  the  "  spirit  and  power  of  Elias,"  which  abode  in  him,  been  manifested 
to  all  Israel  by  the  prodigies  he  had  wrought.  The  waters  of  the  Jordan  had  di- 
vided before  him,  the  second  time,  when  smote  by  the  fallen  mantle  of  Elijah ; — the 
bad  waters  of  Jericho  had  become  permanently  wholesome  at  his  word ; — and  to 
evince  the  power  of  his  curse,  bears  from  the  woods  had  destroyed  forty-two  young 
men  belonging  to  idolatrous  Bethel,  who,  joining  unbelief  to  insult,  held  bade  him,  in 
terras  of  mockery  and  derision, — "  Go  up,  thou  bald  head  !  Go  up,  thou  bald  head  !" 
— ascend  after  his  master. 

The  prophet,  thus  already  distinguished,  was  sought  in  his  retreat  by  the  three 
kings.  His  greeting  of  Jehoram  was  severe,  "What  have  I  to  do  with  thee  ?  Get 
thee  to  the  prophets  of  thy  father  and  to  the  prophets  of  thy  mother."  Nevertheless, 
but  avowedly  on  the  sole  account  of  the  good  Jehoshaphat,  he  interested  himself  for 
the  salvation  of  the  army,  which  was  in  such  imminent  danger :  and,  having  con- 
sulted the  Lord,  he  promised  that  on  the  morrow  there  should  be  such  an  abundance 
of  water,  that  the  bed  of  the  torrent,  near  which  the  army  was  encamped,  should  not 
be  able  to  contain  it;  and,  more  than  this,  he  also  indicated  that  this  should  be  but 
the  prelude  of  a  signal  victory  over  and  complete  ruin  of  the  enemy. 

All  things  happened  as  he  had  said.  In  the  morning,  at  the  time  of  offering 
sacrifice,  the  waters  descended  in  such  full-flood  from  the  heights  of  Edom,  that  the 
camp  would  have  been  submerged,  had  not  the  army,  by  the  direction  of  the  prophet, 
previously  dug  large  ditches  to  receive  the  redundant  waters.  All  this  was  unknown 
to  the  Moabites,  who,  when  they  arose  in  the  morning,  and,  on  looking  toward  the 
camp  of  the  allies,  beheld  the  lurid  rays  of  the  rising  sun  reflected  from  the  waters, 
which  now  covered  the  arid  sands  of  yesterday,  doubted  not  that  it  was  blood  which 
they  saw,  and  farmed  the  not  by  any  means  improbable  conclusion  that  the  armies 
of  Israel  and  Judah  had  quarrelled  with  and  destroyed  each  other.  They  therefore 
rushed  without  the  least  care  or  order  to  the  pillage  of  the  camp;  but  so  far  from 
finding  it  deserted,  they  were  surrounded  and  cut  in  pieces  by  the  armed  and  now 
invigorated  allies.  The  remnant  of  the  army  was  pursued  into  the  interior  of  the 
country  by  the  conquerors,  whose  course  was  blackened  by  the  fire  and  crimsoned 
by  the  sword.  Ultimately  they  invested  the  metropolitan  city  of  Kir-haraseth,* 
in  which  the  king,  Mesha,  had  taken  refuge.  One  part  of  the  walls  had  already 
been  destroyed,  and  the  king,  seeing  he  could  no  longer  defend  the  place,  attempted 
to  break  through  the  besieging  host  at  the  head  of  seven  hundred  sAvordsmen.  But 
failing  in  this  desperate  effort,  he  sought  to  propitiate  his  cruel  gods  by  offering  up 
the  frightful  sacrifice  of  his  eldest  son,  the  heir  of  his  throne,  in  the  breach.  Seized 
with  horror  at  this  spectacle,  the  conquering  kings  abandoned  the  siege,  withdrew 
from  the  country,  and  returned  to  their  own  states.  In  taking  this  step  they  did  not 
consider,  or,  perhaps,  not  care,  that  they  gave  to  the  horrible  act  of  the  Moabite  the 
very  effect  which  he  desired,  and  enabled  him  to  delude  himself  with  the  persuasion 
that  his  sacrifice  had  been  successful,  and  well-pleasing  to  the  powers  of  Heaven. 

In  the  remaining  history  of  Jehoram's  reign,  the  prophet  Elisha  occupies  nearly 
as  conspicuous  a  place  as  Elijah  did  in  that  of  Ahab.  The  wonders  wrought  by  his 
hands  were  numerous;  but  they  were  less  signal,  and  less  attended  with  public  and 
important  results — less  designed  to  effect  public  objects,  than  those  of  his  master. 
Indeed  his  national  acts  were  less  considerable  than  those  of  Elijah ;  and  although 
he  possessed  great  influence,  and  was  undoubtedly  the  foremost  man  of  his  age,  he 
*  The  same  place  which  is  otherwise  called  Rabbath-Moab,  and,  classically,  Areopolis. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  331 

wanted  those  energies  of  character,  and  that  consuming  zeal  which  his  predecessor 
manifested  ;  or,  perhaps  more  correctly,  the  exigencies  of  the  times  were  not  such  as 
to  call  for  the  exercise  of  such  endowments  as  had  been  possessed  by  Elijah.  But 
although  those  of  his  successor  were  different  in  their  kind,  we  know  not  that,  with 
regard  to  the  differing  time,  they  were  less  useful  or  eminent.  In  this,  and  in  a 
thousand  other  historical  examples,— more  especially  in  the  history  of  the  Hebrews, — 
we  see  men  raised  up  for,  and  proportioned  to,  the  times  in  which  they  live,  and  the 
occasions  which  call  for  them.  The  most  eminent  of  the  prophets,  since  Moses,  was 
given  to  the  most  corrupt  time ;  in  which  only  a  man  of  his  indomitable,  ardent,  and 
almost  fierce  spirit,  could  have  been  equal  to  the  fiery  and  almost  single-handed 
struggle  for  God  against  principalities  and  powers.  Elisha  fell  in  milder  times,  and 
was  correspondingly  of  a  milder  character,  although  he  was  not  found  unequal  to 
any  of  the  more  trying  circumstances  which  arose  during  the  period  of  his  prophetic 
administration.  Indeed  his  conduct  on  such  occasions  was  such  as  to  suggest  that  it 
was  only  the  milder  spirit  of  the  time  on  which  he  fell,  precluding  occasion  for  their 
exercise,  that  prevented  the  manifestation  in  him  of  that  grander  class  of  endowments 
which  his  predecessor  displayed.  As  it  was,  Elisha,  instead  of  being  like  his  master, 
driven  by  persecution  from  the  haunts  of  men  to  the  deserts  and  the  mountains,  and 
reduced  to  a  state  of  dependance  on  the  special  providence  of  God,  for  the  bread  he 
ate,  and  the  water  he  drank, — enjoyed  a  sufficiency  of  all  things,  and  lived  in  honor 
and  esteem  among  his  countrymen ;  and  even  among  the  purple  and  fine  linen  of 
king's  courts,  the  rough  mantle  of  the  prophet  was  regarded  with  respect. 

In  such  a  history-  as  the  present  it  is  only  necessary  to  report  those  of  his  acts  which 
were  comiected  with,  or  bore  upon,  the  public  history  of  the  nation;  yet  his  more 
private  acts  may  be  also  briefly  indicated  for  the  sake  of  the  illustration  which  they 
afford  of  the  spirit  aud  manners  of  the  time. 

The  first  of  his  operations  which  we  read  of,  after  that  which  connected  him  with 
the  deliverance  of  Israel  and  the  defeat  of  the  Moabites,  was  an  act  of  benevolence 
toward  the  widow  of  one  of  those  "  sons  of  the  prophets"  who  had  now  come  under 
his  supervision.  He  had  died  without  having  the  means  of  satisfying  a  debt  he  had 
incurred,*  in  consequence  of  which  the  creditor  was  disposed  to  indemnify  himself  by 
making  bondsmen  of  her  two  sons ;  but  on  her  complaint  to  Elisha,  he  multiplied  a 
small  quantity  of  oil  which  she  possessed,  until  the  price  it  brought  more  than  suf- 
ficed to  pay  the  implacable  creditor. 

The  occasions  of  the  prophet  frequently  led  him  to  visit  the  city  of  Shunem,  which 
being  observed  by  a  benevolent  woman,  she  suggested  to  her  husband  that  they  should 
prepare  a  small  separate  apartment,!  and  furnish  it  with  a  bed,  a  table,  a  seat,  and  a 
lamp ;  and  that  this  should  be  reserved  for  his  use  when  he  visited  Shunem.  This 
was  accordingly  done,  and  the  prophet  accepted  the  hospitalities  of  these  good  Shu- 
nemites.  Elisha  was  very  sensible  of  their  kind  attention,  and  wished  to  repay  it  by 
some  substantial  benefit.  He  sent  for  the  woman,  and  offered  to  speak  to  the  king  or 
to  the  captain  of  the  host  on  her  behalf  This  she  declined;  and  the  prophet  felt  at 
a  loss  what  to  do  for  them,  until  it  was  suggested  by  his  servant  Gehazi  that  the  wo- 
man had  long  been  childless,  on  which  Elisha  again  sent  for  her,  and  as  she  stood  re- 
spectfully at  the  door,  he  conveyed  to  her  the  astonishing  intimation  that,  nine 
months  thence,  her  arms  should  embrace  a  son.  Accordingly,  the  child  was  born,  and 
had  grown  up,  when  one  day  he  received  a  stroke  of  the  sun  on  his  head,  and  died 
very  soon.  The  mother  laid  him  on  the  prophet's  bed,  and  actuated  by  an  undefinable, 
but  intelligible  impulse,  sought  and  obtained  the  permission  of  her  husband  to  go  to 
Elisha,  who  was  known  to  be  then  at  Carmel.  Accordingly  an  ass  was  saddled,  oa 
which,  driven  by  a  servant  on  foot,|  she  sped  to  that  place.  Elisha  saw  her  afar  off, 
and  said  to  Gehazi,  "  Behold,  yonder  is  the  Shunamite  !  Run  now,  I  pray  thee,  and 
say  to  her, — Is  it  well  with  thee  ?  well  with  thy  husband  ?  well  with  the  child  ?" 
The  bereaved  mother  answered,  "  Well,"  but  pressed  on  toward  the  man  of  God.  Oa 
approaching  him  she  alighted  from  her  beast,  and  threw  herself  at  his  feet,  on  which 

*  The  Jews  think  the  person  was  Obadiah,  and  that  his  debt  was  contracted  on  account  of  the  expense 
of  maiutaiiiiiig  the  hundred  prophets  whom  he  concealed  in  caverns. 

t  Called  in  our  version  "  a  little  chamber  in  the  wall."  It  denotes  doubtless  what  the  Arabs  still  call  by 
the  same  name  (Oleah),  which  is  a  small  building,  generally  at  some  distance  from  the  house,  like  a  sum- 
mer-house in  our  gardens. 

t  It  is  still  the  usual  practice  in  the  East  for  a  man  on  foot  to  lead  or  drive  the  ass  on  which  a  woman 
rides. 


532  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

she  laid  hold.  The  officious  Gehazi  drew  nigh  to  thrust  her  away,  but  Elisha  checked 
him,—"  Let  her  alone  ;  for  her  soul  is  troubled  within  her :  although  Jehovah  hath 
hidden  from  me  the  cause,  and  hath  not  told  me  of  it."  When,  in  a  few  broken  ex- 
clamations, she  had  made  known  the  cause  of  her  grief,  the  prophet  gave  his  staff  to 
Gehazi,  with  instructions  to  go  and  lay  it  on  the  face  of  the  child.  But  the  mother 
refused  to  leave  the  prophet,  and  he  was  induced  to  rise  and  return  with  her.  They 
met  Gehazi  on  his  way  back,  who  told  them,  "  The  child  is  not  awaked  !"  They 
hasted  on,  and  the  prophet  shut  himself  up  with  the  child.  It  was  not  long  before  he 
directed  the  mother  to  be  called,  and  presented  to  her  the  living  boy. 

Another  time,  when  there  was  a  dearth  in  the  land,  Elisha  was  at  the  school  of  the 
prophets  at  Gilgal ;  and  at  the  proper  time,  gave  the  order  to  the  servants,  "  Set  on 
the  great  pot,  and  seeth  pottage  for  the  sons  of  the  prophets."  When  this  was 
dressed,  it  was  found  that  a  wild  and  bitter  gourd  had  been  gathered  and  shred  into 
the  pot  by  mistake.  "  0  man  of  God  !  there  is  death  in  the  pot !"  cried  the  sons  of 
the  prophets,  when  they  began  to  eat.  But  Elisha  directed  a  handful  of  meal  to  be 
cast  into  the  pot,  and  it  was  found  that  all  the  poisonous  qualities  of  the  pottage  had 
disappeared. 

In  the  kingdom  of  Damascene-Syria,  the  chief  captain  of  the  host,  high  hi  the  fa- 
vor and  confidence  of  the  king,  was  a  person  called  Naaman,  who  had  the  misfortune 
of  being  a  leper.  This,  which  would  have  been  a  disqualification  for  all  employment 
and  society  in  Israel,  could  not  but  be  a  great  annoyance  and  distress  to  a  public  man 
in  Syria.  When  therefore  a  little  Hebrew  girl,  who  in  a  former  war  had  been  taken 
captive,  and  was  now  a  slave  in  the  household  of  this  personage,  was  heard  to  say, 
"  Would  to  God  my  lord  were  with  the  prophet,  that  is  in  Samaria,  for  he  would  re- 
cover him  of  his  leprosy  !"  she  was  eagerly  questioned  on  the  matter,  and  the  result 
was  that  the  king  of  Syria  sent  Naaman,  with  a  splendid  retinue  and  camels  laden 
with  presents*  to  Samaria,  with  a  sufficiently  laconic  letter  to  the  King  Jehoram. 
"  When  this  letter  cometh  to  thee,  thou  must  recover  from  his  leprosy  Naaman,  my 
servant.  Behold,  I  have  sent  him  with  it."  The  king  of  Israel  was  utterly  con 
founded  when  he  read  this  epistle.  He  rent  his  clothes,  and  cried,  "  Am  I  a  god,  to 
kill  and  to  make  alive,  that  this  man  sendeth  to  me  to  recover  a  man  of  his  leprosy? 
Consider,  I  pray  you,  and  see  how  he  seeketh  an  occasion  of  quarrelling  with  me." 
Intelligence  of  this  affiiir,  and  of  the  king'g  vexation,  was  brought  to  Elisha,  who  de- 
sired that  the  Syrian  stranger  might  be  sent  to  him.  Accordingly  Naaman  came  with 
his  chariot  and  horses  and  imposing  retinue,  and  stood  before  the  door  of  Elisha's 
house.  The  prophet  did  not  make  his  appearance  ;  but  sent  out  a  message  directing 
him  to  go  and  bathe  seven  times  in  the  river  Jordan.  The  self-esteem  of  the  distin- 
guished leper  was  much  hurt  at  this  treatment.  He  expected  that  Elisha  would  have 
paid  him  personal  attention  and  respect,  and  would  have  healed  him  by  an  appeal  to 
his  God,  Jehovah,  and  by  the  stroking  of  his  hand.  He  therefore  turned  and  went 
away  in  a  rage,  exclaiming,  "  Are  not  Abana  and  Pharpar,  rivers  of  Damascus,  better 
than  all  the  waters  of  Israel  ?  May  I  not  wash  in  them  and  be  clean  V  His  attend- 
ants, however,  succeeded  in  soothing  him,  and  persuaded  him  to  follow  the  prophet's 
directions;  and  when  he  rose,  perfectly  cleansed,  from  the  Jordan,  his  feelings  turned 
to  conviction  and  gratitude;  he  returned  to  Samaria,  and  presented  himself  to  the 
prophet,  declaring  his  belief  that  Jehovah  was  the  true  and  only  God,  and  that  hence- 
forin  he  would  otfer  burnt-offerings  and  sacrifices  to  no  other.  He  would  also  have 
pressed  upon  his  acceptance  a  valuable  present,  but  this  was  firmly  declined  by  Elisha; 
and  when  his  covetous  servant  Gehazi,  compromised  the  honor  of  God  and  of  his  oAvn 
master,  by  following  the  Syrian,  to  ask  a  gift  in  the  name  of  the  prophet,  the  leprosy 
from  which  Naaman  had  been  cleansed  was  declared  by  the  prophet  to  be  the  abiding 
portion  of  him  and  of  his  race. 

These  and  other  miracles  wrought  by  this  prophet,  fixed  upon  him  personnJh/  the 
regard  and  veneration  of  the  people;  and  while  there  is  reason  to  think  that  the  state 
of  manners  and  of  religion  was  not  altpgether  so  bad  as  ii  had  been  under  Ahab,  the 
practices  and  ideas  of  their  corrupt  system  of  religion  was  now  too  closely  interwoven 
with  their  habits  of  life  and  mind  to  be  easily  shaken  off.  They  rested  on  their  inter- 
mediate system.  Habit  had  reconciled  even  their  consciences  to  it ;  and  in  general,  to 
fall  bick  upon  it,  after  having  strayed  inio  foreign  idolatries,  was  in  their  sight  a  com- 

*  The  presents  included  ten  talents  of  silver,  equal  to  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  six  thousand  shekels  a* 
gold,  o^ual  to  sixty  thousand  doUars,  and  ten  dresses  of  honor. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  333 

plete  and  perfect  reformation.  And  as  to  the  race  of  Ahab,  thai  was  hastening  with 
rapid  strides  to  its  doom.  The  famine  which  about  this  time  desolated  the  land,  and 
the  new  war  with  the  Syrians,  which  was  carried  on  under  the  very  walls  of  the  cap- 
ital, was  met  by  the  kmg  Avithout  any  fixed  faith,  or  any  determinate  rule  of  conduct; 
sometimes  he  attributed  his  calamities  to  Elisha,  and  vowed  his  destruction;  and  at 
others  he  resorted  to  that  same  prophet  as  to  his  only  friend  and  deliverer. 

In  this  war  the  Syrians  had  laid  an  ambuscade,  in  which  the  king  would  undoubt- 
edly have  perished  had  not  Elisha  ensured  his  safety  by  discovering  the  plan  of  the 
enemy  to  him.  This  happened  more  than  once ;  and  the  Syrian  king  at  first  suspected 
treachery  in  his  own  camp ;  but  being  assured  that  it  was  owing  to  Elisha,  "  who 
could  teil  the  king  of  Israel  the  words  he  spoke  in  his  bed-chamber,"  he  was  much 
irritated,  and,  with  singular  infatuation,  despatched  a  column  of  his  best  troops  to  in- 
vest the  town  of  Dothan,  where  the  prophet  then  abode,  in  such  a  manner  that  his 
escape  seemed  impossible  to  his  own  terrified  servant.  "Fear not,"  said  Elisha,  "for 
they  that  are  with  us  are  more  than  they  that  are  with  them  ;"  and  then,  praying 
that  his  eyes  might  be  opened  to  the  view  of  "things  invisible  to  mortal  sight,"  he 
beheld  the  mountain  full  of  chariots  and  horses,  glowing  like  fire,  round  about  the 
prophet.  At  his  request,  the  Syrian  troop  Avas  then  smitten  with  blindness,  and  in 
that  condition  he  went  among  them,  and  conducted  them  to  the  very  gates  of  the 
hostile  metropolis,  Samaria,  where  their  eyes  were  opened,  and  he  dismissed  them  in 
peace,  after  inducing  Jehoram  to  give  them  refreshment,  instead  of  slaying  them,  as 
was  his  own  wish.  This  generous  conduct  seems  to  have  had  such  good'effect  that 
the  Syrian  hordes  for  the  present  abandoned  their  enterprise,  and  returned  to  their 
own  country. 

After  this  came  on  a  severe  famine,  of  seven  years'  continuance,  and  the  evils  of  it 
were  aggravatedby  war,  for  the  Syrian  king  deemed  this  season  of  weakness  and  ex- 
haustion too  favorable  for  his  designs  to  be  neglected.  He  marched  directly  to  Sa- 
maria, and  formally  invested  that  strong  place,  which,  seemingly,  he  hoped  less  to 
gain  by  force  of  arms  than  by  so  blockading  it  as  ultimately  to  starve  it  into  a  surren- 
der ;  which  work,  he  knew,  was  already  more  than  half  accomplished  to  his  hands. 
The  siege  was  protracted  until  the  inhabitants  were  driven  to  the  most  horrible  shifts 
to  prolong  their  miserable  existence.  "We  are  told  that  an  ass's  head  was  sold  for 
eighty  silver  shekels,  equal  to  thirty  dollars  of  our  money,  and  the  fourth  part  of  a 
cab*  of  vetches  for  five  shekels,  equal  to  three  dollars  of  our  money.  In  this  case  the 
extremity  of  the  famine  is  shown  not  merely  by  the  cost  of  the  articles,  but  by  the 
fact  that  the  flesh  of  an  ass,  for  which  such  an  enormous  price  was  now  paid,  was 
forbidden  by  the  law,t  and  could  not  be  touched  by  a  Hebrew  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances. 

One  day  as  the  king  was  passing  along  the  ramparts,  two  women  importunately 
demanded  justice  at  his  hands.  They  had  between  them  slain,  boiled,  and  eaten  the 
son  of  one  of  them,  with  the  understanding  that  the  son  of  the  other  was  next  to  be 
sacrificed  to  satisfy  their  wants.  But  the  mother  of  the  living  son  relented,  and  re- 
fused to  yield  him  to  so  horrible  a  fate.  This  was  the  injustice  of  which  the  mother 
of  the  slaughtered  child  complained,  and  for  which  she  clamored  for  redress.  When 
the  king  heard  this  shocking  case,  he  rent  his  clothes,  which  gave  the  people  present 
occasion  to  observe  that  his  inner  dress  was  the  sackcloth  of  a  mourner.  He  might 
have  remembered  that  such  calamities  had  been  threatened,  ages  back,  by  Moses,  as 
the  suitable  punishment  of  such  iniquities  as  those  into  which  Israel  had  actually  fallen 
(Deut.  xxviii.  52-57).  His  indignation,  however,  turned  against  Elisha  (who  had, 
perhaps,  encouraged  him  to  hold  out  by  promises  of  deliverance),  and  he  swore  that 
he  should  lose  his  head  that  day,  and  instantly  despatched  an  officer  to  execute  an  in- 
tention so  worthy  of  the  son  of  Jezebel.  But  the  messenger  was  no  sooner  gone  than 
he  relented,  and  went  hastily  after  him,  to  revoke  the  order,  and  to  excuse  himself  to 
Elisha.  This  moment  of  right  feeling  was  the  moment  in  which  deliverance  was  an- 
notmced.  "  Thus  saith  Jehovah,"  said  the  prophet,  when  the  king  stood  in  his  pres- 
ence, "  to-morrow  about  this  time  shall  a  seahj  of  fine  flour  be  sold  for  a  shekel,  and 
two  seahs  of  barley  for  a  shekel,  in  the  gate  of  Samaria."     This  appeared  so  utterly 

*  The  fourth  part  of  a  cat>  was  less  than  a  pint  of  our  measure. 

t  No  animal  food  was  allowed  but  that  of  animals  which  ruminate  and  divide  the  hoof.  The  ass  does 
neither  ;  and  was  therefore  for  food  more  unclean  than  even  the  hog,  which  does  divide  the  hoof  although 
it  does  not  ruminate. 

t  Somewhat  more  than  a  peck. 


334  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

incredible  to  the  courtier  "  on  whose  arm  the  king  leaned,"  that  he  said,  "  Behold, 
were  Jehovah  to  open  windows  in  heaven,  then  this  thing  might  be."  To  which  the 
prophet  severely  retorted,  "  Behold,  thou  shalt  see  it  with  thine  eyes,  biit  shalt  not  eat 
thereof." 

In  fact,  during  the  following  night,  Jehovah  caused  the  Syrians  to  hear  a  great 
noise  of  chariots  and  horses,  which  led  them  to  conclude  that  Jehoram  had  contrived 
to  obtain  assistance  from  the  king  of  Egypt  and  other  neighboring  princes ;  and  this 
infused  into  them  such  a  panic  terror,  that  they  precipitately  raised  the  siege ;  and, 
in  the  belief  that  they  were  pursued  by  a  puissant  army  come  to  the  relief  of  Israel, 
they  abandoned  the  camp  with  all  their  baggage  and  provisions.  Toward  the 
morning,  some  lepers,  who,  as  such,  abode  without  the  town,  made  up  their  minds  to 
go  to  the  camp  of  the  Syrians  seeking  food;  for  they  concluded  that  it  was  better  to 
risk  death  by  the  Syrian  sword  than  to  die  of  famine  where  they  were.'  On  reaching 
the  camp  they  found  it  deserted ;  and  after  satisfying  their  present  wants,  and  appro- 
priating to  their  own  use  some  good  things  from  the  spoil,  they  proceeded  to  bear 
their  glad  tidings  to  the  city.  The  kingAvas  slow  to  believe  them,  and  suspected  the 
whole  to  be  a  stratagem  of  the  Syrians.  Men  were  therefore  mounted  on  two  of  the 
five  only  horses  now  remaining,  and  sent  to  make  observations.  The  report  with 
which  they  returned  was  quite  conformable  to  that  of  the  lepers.  The  people  then 
left  the  city,  and  hastened  to  pillage  the  camp  of  the  Syrians,  in  which  provisions 
were  found  in  such  abundance  that  a  market  was  established  at  the  gate  of  Samaria,* 
where,  as  the  prophet  had  predicted,  a  seah  of  wheat  was  sold  for  a  shekel,  and  two 
seahs  of  barley  for  the  same.  The  officer  who  refused  to  believe  this  prediction  was 
placed  by  the  king  to  preserve  order  at  the  gate ;  but  so  great  was  the  press  of  the 
famishing  multitude  to  obtain  corn,  that  he  was  thrown  down  and  trodden  to  death. 
Thus  was  accomplished  the  other  prediction,  that  he  should  see  the  truth  of  the  first 
prophecy  without  enjoying  its  benefits. 

We  know  not  precisely  how  long  after  this  the  seven  years  of  famine  terminated. 
Of  these  years  the  hospitable  Shunemite  had  been  warned  by  Elisha,  and  had  with- 
drawn to  a  neighboring  country ;  on  which  the  state  assumed  the  possession  of  her 
lands.  After  the  famine  was  over,  she  returned,  and  came  before  the  king  to  petition 
for  the  restoration  of  the  property.  At  that  time  the  servant  of  Elisha  was  engaged 
in  giving  the  king  an  account  of  the  various  miracles  wrought  by  his  master,  and 
when  the  woman  appeared,  he  was  relating  how  her  son  had  been  restored  to  life. 
The  relater  then  said,  "  My  lord,  this  is  the  woman,  and  this  is  her  son  whom  Elisha 
restored  to  life."  The  king  was  struck  by  this  coincidence,  and  proceeded  to  ques- 
tion her  on  the  subject,  and  ended  with  directing  that  not  only  should  the  lands  be 
restored  to  her,  but  the  value  of  their  produce  during  the  years  of  her  absence.  This 
was  a  very  becoming  act,  and,  like  several  other  recorded  acts  of  Jehoram,  worthy 
of  commendation;  but  it  is  not  by  particular  acts,  however  laudable,  that  the  sins  of 
a  criminal  life  can  be  covered :  and  the  fulfilment  of  the  doom  pronounced  upon  the 
house  of  Ahab  was  now  near  at  hand. 

Jehoram  was  desirous  of  pursuing  his  recent  advantage  over  the  Syrians  to  the 
extent  of  taking  from  them  the  city  of  Ramoth  in  Gilead,  which  still  remained  in 
their  possession.  Fortified  by  an  alliance  with  his  nephew  Ahaziah,  king  of  Judah, 
he  therefore  declared  war  against  Hazael,  whom  a  revolution,  predicted  by  Elisha, 
had  placed  upon  the  throne  of  Damascene-Syria,  in  the  room  of  Ben-hadad.  Ramoth 
was  invested  by  the  two  kings  ;  and  before  that  place,  where  Ahab  had  received  his 
death-wound,  Jehoram  was  also  Avounded  by  an  arrow— not  mortally,  but  so  seriously 
that  he  withdrew  to  Jezrcel  to  be  healed,  leaving  the  conduct  of  the  siege  to  Jehu, 
the  son  of  Nimshi.  The  king  of  Judah  also  returned  to  Jerusalem,  but  afterward 
proceeded  to  Jezreel  to  visit  his  wounded  relative. 

At  this  juncture  Elisha  sent  one  of  the  sons  of  the  prophet  to  execute  the  com- 
mission, long  since  intrusted  to  Elijah,  of  anointing  Jehu  as  king  of  Israel.  He 
arrived  at  the  time  when  the  chief  officers  of  the  army  besieging  Ramoth  were 
too-ether.  He  called  out  Jehu,  and  anointed  him  in  an  inner  chamber,  delivering  at 
the  same  time  the  announcement  of  his  call  to  the  throne  of  Israel,  and  to  be  Jeho- 
vah's avenger  upon  the  house  of  Ahab.     No  sooner  had  he  done  this  than  he  opened 

♦  It  is  still  not  unusual  in  the  East  for  the  wholesale  market  for  country  produce  and  cattle  to  be  held 
(for  a  short  time  in  the  early  morning)  at  the  gates  of  towns.  Manufactured  goods  are  sold  and  fruits 
retailed  in  the  bazars  witliin  the  towns. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  S39 

the  door  and  fled.  Jehu  returned  to  his  companions,  as  if  nothins];  had  happened. 
But  they  had  noticed  the  prophetic  garb  of  the  person  who  had  called  him  out,  and 
it  being  the  fashion  of  those  days  to  speak  contemptuously  of  the  prophetic  calling, 
they  asked,  "On  what  business  came  this  mad  fellow  to  thee?"  Jehu  affected 
some  reluctance  to  tell  them ;  but  this  made  them  the  more  urgent ;  and  when  he 
made  the  fact  known  to  them,  it  was  so  agreeable  to  their  own  wishes,  that  they 
fnstantly  tendered  him  their  homage,  and  proclaimed  him  king  by  sound  of  trumpet, 
and  \vith  cries  of  "Jehu  is  king  I"  At  his  desire,  measures  were  taken  to  prevent 
this  intelligence  from  spreading  for  the  present ;  inconsequence  of  which,  Ring 
Jehoram  and  King  Ahaziah  remained  at  Jezreel,  quite  unsuspicious  of  Avhat  had 
occurred.  But  one  day  the  watchman  announced  the  distant  approach  of  a  large 
party  ;  and  the  king  of  Israel  sent,  successively,  two  messengers  to  ascertain  whether 
it  came  Ayith  peaceable  designs  or  not.  But  as  they  did  not  return,  and  the  watch- 
man having  in  the  meantime  ascertained,  from  his  mianner  of  driving  his  chariot,  that 
the  principal  person  was  Jehu,  the  two  kings  went  forth^themseltes  to  meet  him. 
They  met  in  the  fatal  field  of  Naboth.  "  Is  it  peace,  Jehu  ?"  the  king  inquired  of 
the  general ;  who  answered,  "  What  peace  as  lon^  as  the  idolatries  of  thy  mother 
Jezebel  and  her  sorceries  are  so  many  ?"  On  hearing  which,  Jehoram  cried  to  the 
king  of  Judah,  "  There  is  treachery,  0  Ahaziah  !"  and  turned  his  chariot  to  escape. 
But  Jehu  drew  his  bow  with  all  his  force,  and  the  arrow  which  he  discharged  smote 
the  king  between  the  shoulders,  and  went  through  his  heart.  Jehu  directed  the 
body  to  be  taken  from  the  chariot  and  left  on  that  ground,  reminding  Bidkar,  his  cap- 
tain, to  whom  he  gave  this  order,  that  they  were  together  in  attendance  upon  Ahab 
in  that  very  place,  when  the  prophet  Elijah  appeared  and  denounced  that  doom  upon 
his  house,  and  the  bloody  requital  in  that  spot,  which  was  now  being  accomplished. 

Ahaziah  also  attempted  to  escape;  but  Jehu  directed  some  of  hisYollowers  to  pur- 
sue and  smite  him  in  his  chariot.  They  did  so,  and  wounded  him  :  but  he  continued 
his  flight  till  he  reached  Megiddo,  where  he  died  of  his  wounds.  His  body  was 
removed  to  Jerusalem  for  sepulture.* 

Jehu  entered  Jezreel.  The  news  of  what  had  happened  preceded  him:  and 
Jezebel  tired  her  head  and  painted  her  eyes,  and  looked  out  of  a  window  ;  and  this 
she  did,  Ave  should  imagine,  not  with  any  view  of  trying  the  power  of  her  allure- 
ments upon  Jehu— for  she  was  by  this  time  an  aged  woman — but  for  state,  and  to 
manifest  to  the  last  the  pride  and  royalty  of  her  spirit.  As  Jehu  drew  nigh,  she 
called  to  him,  "  Had  Zimri  peace,  who  slew  his  master?"  But  this  was  the  day  of 
vengeance  and  of  punishment,  and  not  of  relentings ;  and  Jehu  looked  up  and  cried, 
"  Who  is  on  my  side,  who  ?"  On  which  two  or  three  eunuchs  of  the  harem  looked 
out  to  him.  "  Throw  her  down  !"  was  the  unflinching  command  of  Jehu.  So  they 
threw  her  down,  and  some  of  her  blood  was  sprinkled  upon  the  wall,  and  upon  the 
horses  that  trod  upon  her.  After  this,  Jehu  went  into  the  palace,  and  ate  and  drank ; 
and  he  then  said,  "  Go,  look  after  this  accursed  woman,  and  bury  her;  for  she  was 
a  king's  daughter."  But  it  was  then  found  that  all  the  body,  except  the  scull,  the  feet, 
and  the  palms  of  her  hands,  had  been  devoured  by  such  ravenous  dogs  as  those  by 
which  eastern  cities  are  still  infested.  "  This,"  said  Jehu,  "is  the  word  of  Jehovah, 
which  he  spake  by  the  mouth  of  Elijah  the  Tishbite,  saying.  In  the  district  of 
Jezreel  shall  dogs  eat  the  flesh  of  Jezebel ;  and  the  carcass  of  Jezebel  shall  be  as 
dung  upon  the  face  of  the  field  in  the  district  of  Jezreel ;  so  that  thev  shall  not  sav. 
This  is  Jezebel."  ^  • 

Ahab  had  left  not  fewer  than  seventy  sons,  and  these  Avere  all  in  Samaria, t  which 
was  not  only  the  metropolis  but  one  of  the  strongest  places  in  the  kingdom ;  and 
Jehu,  reflecting,  probably,  on  what  happened  after  the  death  of  Zimri,— when  two 
kings  reigned,  one   like   himself,  a  military  leader  upheld   by   the   arm,  whom  a 

*  This  is  the  account  given  in  the  Book  of  Kings  (2  Kings  ix.  27-29)  ;  but  another  account  (2  fhron  xxii 
9)  says  he  hid  himself  in  Samaria,  where  he  was  discovered  and  put  to  death.  From  this  difference  it- 
may  seem  that  some  circumstances  are  omitted,  by  which  the  two  accounts  miglit  be  reconciled  But  as 
we  do  not  know  witli  certainty  how  to  reconcile  them,  we  have  given  one  of  the  accounts  only  in  the 
text,  and  have  preferred  that  in  Kings,  solely  because  it  is  that  which  Josephus  has  followed. 

t  From  the  expression  that  they  were  "  with  the  great  men  of  the  city,  who  brought  tliem  up  "  we  infer 
that,  as  IS  still  usual  in  some  eastern  countries,  the  king  relieved  himself  from  the  chartre  of  their  main- 
tenance, by  consignmg  one  young  prince  to  this  great  person,  and  another  to  anotiier,  to  be  maintained 
and  educated  as  became  their  station.  This  charge  is  to  be  received  as  an  honor  and  distinction  and  is 
sometimes  of  ultimate  benefit ;  but  on  account  of  the  great  expense  and  inconvenience  it  is  often 
received  with  dissatisfaction,  and  many  would  decline  it  if  they  dared.  ' 


336  ,  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

portion  of  the  nation  refused  to  acknowledge,  avid  adhered  to  another. — appre- 
hended  that  something  similar  might  again  occur.  He  therefore  wrote  t6  the  chief 
persons  of  Samaria,  and  to  those  who  had  the  charge  of  Ahab's  children,  to  sound 
their  intentions.  He  told  them  that  they  were  in  a  well-fortified  city,  with  troops, 
chariots,  and  arms ;  and  that,  being  thus  circumstanced,  they  had  better  set  up  one 
of  Ahab's  sons  for  king,  and  fight  for  him,  letting  the  crown  be  the  prize  of  the 
conqueror.  And  this,  really,  was  the  only  course  which  men  faithful  and  attached  to 
the  dynasty  of  Omri  could  have  taken.  This  the  chief  persons  and  guardians  of  the 
princes  in  Samaria  were  not, — or  not  to  the  extent  of  risking  the  consequences  of  ci^ai 
war,  and  of  opposition  to  Jehu.  In  fact,  they  were  intimidated  by  his  promptitude 
in  action,  and  at  the  manner  in  which  the  two  kings  and  Jezebel  had  been  disposed 
of;  and  there  was  something  calculated  to  damp  their  spirits  (if  they  had  any)  in  a 
message  which  showed  that  Jehu  was  prepared  for  the  most  resolute  course  they 
could  take.  They  replied,  "We  are  thy  servants,  and  will  do  all  that  thou  shalt  bid 
us;  we  will  no^make  a^iy  man  king:  do  thou  what  is  good  in  thine  eyes."  Jehu's 
reply  was  prompt  and  horribly  decisive :  "  If  ye  be  for  me,  and  will  hearken  to  my 
voice,  take  off  the  heads  of  your  master's  sons,  and  come  to  me  to  Jezreel  by  this 
time  to-morrow."  When  this  letter  arrived,  the  seventy  pruaces  were  instantly 
decapitated,  and  their  heads  sent  in  baskets  to  Jezreeh  When  Jehu  heard  of  their 
arrival,  he,  according  to  a  barbarous  eastern  custom  not  yet  extinct,  directed  them  to 
be  piled  up  in  two  heaps  at  the  entrance  of  the  city-gate  until  the  morning.  In  the 
morning  he  went  out  to  the  assembled  people,  and  with  the  evident  design  of  point- 
ing out  the  extent  to  which  the  house  of  Ahab  wanted  any  hearty  adherents,  even 
among  those  who  might  be  supposed  most  attached  to  its  interests,  he  said,  "  Ye  are 
righteous.  Behold,  I  conspired  against  my  master,  and  slew  him :  but  who  hath 
slain  all  these  ?  Now  know,  that  nothing  of  the  word  of  Jehovah,  which  he  spoke 
concerning  the  house  of  Ahab,  shall  fall  to  the  ground ;  for  Jehovah  will  do  what 
he  spoke  by  his  servant  Elijah." 

Jehu  delayed  not  to  go  to  Samaria,  and  in  his  Avay  encountered  some  of  the  brothers 
of  Ahaziah,  the  king  of  Judah,  who,  ignorant  of  the  late  occurrences,  were  on  their 
way  to  visit  the  sons  of  Ahab.  Regarding  their  connexion  by  blood  and  friendship 
with  the  house  of  Ahab,  Jehu  considered  them  included  in  his  commission  to  exter- 
minate that  house  root  and  branch.  He  therefore  commanded  them  to  be  arrested 
and  slain.     Their  number  was  forty-two. 

In  his  further  progress,  Jehu  met  with  Jonadab,  the  son  of  Rechab,  a  pastoral 
religionist  held  in  high  esteem  by  the  people,  and  whose  influence  with  them  was 
very  great.  Jehu,  with  his  usual  tact,  at  once  felt  the  advantage  which  the  counte- 
nance of  this  person  might  be  to  his  cause.  He  therefore  accosted  him :  "  Is  thy 
heart  as  right  with  my  heart,  as  my  heart  is  with  thine  ?"  Jonadab  answered,  "  It 
is." — "  If  it  be,"  said  Jehu,  "  give  to  me  thy  hand."  And  he  gave  him  his  hand, 
and  Jehu  took  him  up  into  his  chariot,  saying,  "  Come  and  see  my  zeal  for  Jehovah !" 
They  thus  entered  Samaria  together,  where  Jehu  completed  the  destruction  of  the 
house  of  Ahab  by  cutting  oil"  all  its  remaining  members. 

In  Samaria  Ahab  had  erected  a  celebrated  temple  to  the  idol  Baal.  On  entering 
the  town  Jehu  declared  an  intention  to  aggrandize  the  worship  of  that  god,  and  ren- 
der to  him  higher  honors  than  he  had  yet  received  in  Israel.  He  Avas  therefore 
determined  to  celebrate  a  great  feast  in  honor  of  Baal,  to  which  he  convoked  all  the 
priests,  pr()[)hets,  and  votaries  of  that  idol.  The  concourse  was  so  great  that  the 
temple  was  filled  from  one  end  to  another ;  and  while  they  were  in  the  midst  of  their 
idolatrous  worship,  Jehu  sent  in  a  body  of  armed  men  who  put  them  all  to  the  sword. 
The  idols,  and  the  implements  and  ornaments  of  idol  worship,  were  then  over- 
throv^ni,  broken,  or  reduced  to  ashes ;  and  the  temple  itself  was  demolished  and 
turned  into  a  common  jakes.  But  the  worship  of  Baal  was  far  from  being  confined 
to  Samaria,  and  Jehu  sought  for  it  in  all  quarters  of  the  land,  and  rooted  it  out 
wherever  it  was  found.  His  conduct  in  this  matter  was  so  well  pleasing  to  God,  that 
the  throne  of  Israel  was,  by  a  special  promise,  assured  to  his  posterity  unto  the 
fourth  generation. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


337 


Defile  in  Idumea  (Mount  Seir),  in  the  road  from  Palestine  to  Egypt. 


22 


338  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

CHAPTER   XX. 
JXJDAH,  FROM  B.  c.  929  to  b.  c.  725. 

Jehoshaphat,  the  son  of  Asa,  began  to  reign  over  Judah  in  the  year  929  B.C.,  being 
the  second  vear  of  Ahab  in  Israel.  The  alliance  which  he  formed  with  Ahab  has 
brought  him  forward,  in  the  preceding  chapter,  sufficiently  to  intimate  to  the  reader 
the  excellent  character  Avhich  he  bore.  He  indeed  takes  rank  among  the  most  faith- 
ful, f^nd  therefore  most  illustrious  and  wise  of  the  Hebrew  kings.  Direct  idolatry  had 
been  put  down  by  his  father,  and  the  first  acts  of  his  own  reign  were  to  root  out 
the  remoter  incentives  thereto  and  instruments  tiiereof.  He  destroyed  the  high 
places  and  the  groves  which  his  father  had  spared.  Other  kings  before  him  had 
been  satisfied  with  external  operations;  but  to  his  enlightened  mind  it  appeared  that 
effects  more  deep  and  permanent  might  be  secured  by  aciing  upon  the  inner  sense  of 
the  people,  by  instructing  them  fully  in  the  principles  and  distinguishing  privileges 
of  their  theocratical  system,  and  by  rendering  those  principles  operative,  as  the  stand- 
ards of  public  and  judicial  action,  throughout  the  land.  The  land  had  already  been 
purged,  as  by  fire,  from  the  noxious  weeds  by  which  it  had  been  overgrown;  and 
now  the  king  made  it  his  business  to  occupy  the  cleared  soil  with  corn — the  stall  of 
life — and  with  fruits  "  pleasant  to  the  eye,  and  good  for  food." 

To  these  ends  the  king  sent  out  a  number  of  "  princes,"  whose  rank  and  influence 
secured  attention  and  respect  to  the  priests  and  Levites  who  were  with  them  to  in- 
struct the  people.  They  had  with  them  copies  of  the  law  :  and,  in  their  several 
bands,  visited  all  the  towns  of  the  country — thus  bearing  instruction  to  the  very 
doors  of  a  people  who  had  become  too  indolent  or  too  inditferent  themselves  to  seek 
for  it.  So  earnest  was  the  king  in  this  object,  that  he  went  himself  throughout  the 
land  to  see  that  his  orders  were  duly  executed. 

The  attention  of  this  able  king  was  also  directed  to  the  reform  of  abuses  in  other 
departments  of  the  state,  and  to  the  cultivation  of  the  financial  and  military  resour- 
ces of  his  kingdom.  The  people,  rendered  happy  by  his  cares,  grew  prosperous,  and 
increased  in  numbers;  in  the  same  degree  the  real  power  of  the  government  was 
strengthened,  and  was  such  as  inspired  the  people  with  confidence,  and  their  ene- 
mies with  fear.  Edom  continued  firm  m  its  obedience,  Philistia  regularly  remitted 
Its  presents  and  tribute-silver,  and  several  of  the  Arabian  tribes  sousrht  his  favor,  or 
acknowledged  his  power,  by  large  yearly  tributes  of  sheep  and  goals  from  their  flocks. 
The  men  enrolled  as  fit  to  bear  arms,  and  liable  to  be  called  into  action,  was  not  less 
than  1,160,000,  which  is  not  far  short  of  the  number  in  the  united  kingdom  in  the 
time  of  David.  Of  these  a  certain  proportion  were  kept  in  service.  The  best  of 
the  troops  were  stationed  at  Jerusalem,  and  the  remainder  distributed  into  the  for- 
tress and  walled  towns  ;  and  a  strong  force  was  concentrated  on  the  northern  frontier, 
especially  in  those  lands  of  Ephraim  which  Asa  had  taken  from  Baasha.  New  for- 
tresses were  constructed  in  dilferent  parts  of  the  country,  and  were  well  garrisoned 
and  supplied  with  all  the  munitions  of  war. 

The  capital  error  of  this  monarch,  the  alliance  he  contracted  Avith  Ahab  in  the 
thirteenth  year  of  his  reign,  has  already  been  noticed  in  the  preceding  chapter,  as  well 
as  th^part  he  took  in  the  battle  of  Ramolh  Gilead,  in  which  Ahab  was  slain,  but  his 
own  life  was  preserved,  notwithstanding  the  very  imminent  danger  into  which  he  had 
fallen.  On  his  return  to  Jerusalem  after  this  escape,  the  Divme  di'^satisfaction  at  his 
conduct  was  announced  to  him  by  the  prophet  Jehu. 

After  this  he  engaged  himself  in  his  former  peaceful  and  honorable  undertakings ; 
and  gave  particular  attention  to  the  administration  of  justice  in  his  dominions.  He 
established  a  supreme  tribunal  (of  appeal  probably)  at  Jerusalem,  and  placed  judges 
in  all  the  principal  cities  of  the  country.  This  great  improvement  relieved  the  king 
from  the  fatigue  and  great  attention  which  the  exercise  of  the  judicial  functions  of 
royalty  had  exacted  from  the  earlier  kings,  while  it  secured  to  the  suiters  more  prompt 
attention  than  they  could  by  any  other  means  receive.  The  king  was  very  sensible 
of  the  importance  of  this  step ;  and,  in  his  anxiety  that  it  should  work  Avell,  gave  an 
admirable  charge  to  the  judges;  the  force  of  which  can  only  be  well  appreciated  by 
those  who  perceive  that  the  counteracting  evils  which  he  feared  were  precisely  those 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  339 

by  which  the  administration  of  justice  in  the  East  is  at  this  day  corrupted  and  dis- 
graced. "  Take  heed  what  ye  do  :  for  ye  judge  not  for  man,  but  for  Jehovah,  who  is 
with  you  in  the  judgment.  Wherefore  now,  let  the  fear  of  Jehovah  be  upon  you; 
take  heed  and  act  uprightly ;  for  with  Jehovah  our  God  there  is  no  injustice,  no  re- 
spect of  persons,  no  taking  of  bribes."  This  was  addressed  to  the  judges  appointed 
to  the  cities.  In  the  address  to  the  judges  of  the  supreme  tribunal  at  Jerusalem,  it 
is  not  supposed,  by  any  implication,  that  they  could  be  partial  or  corrupt ;  and  they 
are  only  reminded  of  the  duty  of  judging  according  to  the  Divine  law,  the  causes 
that  came  before  them.  This  tribunal  was  composed  of  the  most  distinguished  men 
among  the  priests,  the  Levites,  and  the  family  chiefs.  In  matters  })ertaining  to  reli- 
gion, this  tribunal  was  presided  over  by  the  high-priest  Amariah,  but  in  civil  matters, 
or  those  in  which  the  crown  was  interested,  by  Zebadiah,  "  the  ruler,"  or  hereditary 
vhief,  of  the  tribe  of  Judah— an  interesting  indication  that  the  forms  of  the  patriar- 
chal were  not,  even  yet,  entirely  lost  in  those  of  the  regal  government. 

About  the  same  time  the  king  made  another  tour  through  his  dominions,  from 
Beersheba  in  the  south,  to  Mount  Ephraim  in  the  north,  seeking  to  bring  back  the 
people  more  entirely  "  to  Jehovah  the  God  of  their  fathers."  In  the  northern  districts 
which  had  been  recovered  or  taken  from  Israel,  the  high  places  of  the  Ephraimites 
were  not  taken  away,  because  they  had  not  as  yet  "  prepared  their  hearts  unto  the 
God  of  their  fathers,"  as  had  the  Judahites,  whose  high  places  had  been  taken  away 
at  the  beginning  of  this  reign. 

The  unfortunate  expedition  with  Ahab  agamst  Ramoth  Gilead  being  unsuccessful, 
tended  much  to  lower  Jehoshaphat  in  the  estimation  of  the  neighboring  nations ;  and 
thus  the  alliance  with  the  king  of  Israel  brought  its  own  punishment.  The  Ammon- 
ites and  Moabites,  who  had  been  brought  into  a  state  of  subjection  by  David,  now 
began  to  conceive  hopes  of  deliverance  from  the  yoke  under  which  they  lay.  It  was 
their  policy,  however,  not  in  the  first  instance  to  revolt  from  the  kingdom  to  which 
they  were  immediately  subject— that  of  Israel,  but  first  to  try  their  strength  against 
the  lesser  kingdom  of  Judah.  They  therefore  invaded  that  country  from  the  south, 
by  the  way  of  Edom,  supported  by  some  Arabian  hordes,  Avhich  they  had  engaged  in. 
their  cause,  and  who  indeed  are  seldom  loath  to  engage  in  any  cause  by  which  good 
prospects  of  spoil  are  offered.  The  expedition  assumed  the  character  of  an  Arabian 
invasion,  and,  as  such,  was  so  expeditious  that  the  invaders  had  rounded  the  southern 
extremity  of  the  Dead  sea,  and  came  to  a  halt  in  the  famous  valley  of  Engedi,  before 
Jehoshaphat  had  the  least  intimation  of  their  design.  Taken  thus  by  surprise,  he 
was  much  alarmed  in  the  first  instance ;  but  by  throwing  himself  unreservedly  upon 
the  protection  and  help  of  the  Divine  King,  he  ensured  the  safety  of  his  kingdom, 
and  took  the  most  becoming  step  which  it  was  possible  that  a  king  of  the  chosen 
nation  could  take.  He  proclaimed  a  general  fast  throughout  Judah,  and  the  people 
gathered  together  from  all  quarters  to  Jerusalem,  and  stood  there  in  and  around  the 
temple,  to  cry  to  God  for  help.  And  he  heard  them  :  for  the  spirit  of  prophecy  fell 
upon  one  of  the  Levites,  named  Jahaziel,  and  in  the  name  of  Jehovah  he  directed 
that  they  should  march  to  meet  the  enemy,  whose  station  he  indicated,  not  to  fight, 
but  to  witness  their  extirpation  and  to  seize  the  spoil.  As  they  went  forth  early  in 
the  morning  toward  the  wilderness  of  Tekoah,  Jehoshaphat  exerted  himself  to  keep 
up  the  confidence  of  the  people  in  the  suflficiency  of  the  Divine  protection ;  and  as 
they  proceeded,  he  directed  that  the  Levitical  singers  should  march  in  front,  and  "  m 
the  beauty  of  holiness"  (or  in  the  same  habits,  and  after  the  same  manner  as  in  the 
temple-service),  should  sing  the  praises  of  God,  saying,  "Praise  Jehovah  I  for  he  is 
good  ;  for  his  mercy  endureih  for  ever."  Surely  never,  from  the  beginning  of  the 
world,  was  there  such  a  march  as  this  against  an  army  of  hostile  invaders.  The 
event  was  such  as  tlie  prophet  had  foreshown.  It  seems  that  the  children  of  Lot 
had  quarrelled  and  fought  with  their  Arabian  allies ;  and  when  they  had  succeeded 
in  destroying  them,  they  turned  their  arms  against  each  other,  and  fought  with  un- 
extinguishable  fury  until  none  remained  alive  on  the  battle-field.  So  that  when  the 
Hebrews  arrived  at  the  place  which  the  prophet  had  indicated,  many  a  beating  heart 
among  them  was  relieved,  and  all  were  inconceivably  astonished,  to  see  the  wilder- 
ness covered  with  the  bodies  of  the  slain — not  one  had  escaped.  The  Judahites  were 
three  days  in  collecting  an  immense  spoil  of  precious  metals  and  stones,  and  valuable 
arms  and  raiment;  and  in  the  end  it  was  found  that  more  was  collected  than  could 
be  taken  away.     On  the  fourth  day  they  returned  home  to  Jerusalem,  before  enieriug 


340  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

which  they  held  a  solemn  thanksgiving  in  the  valley  of  Shaveh,  or  the  King's  dale, 
hence  called  the  valley  of  Berachah  {blessing),  and  also  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat. 
After  this  ihey  entered  the  city  in  triumphal  procession,  with  music  and  with  singing. 
The  neii,dil)oring  nations  rightly  ascribed  this  signal  deliverance  to  the  God  of  the 
Hebrews;  and  were  for  some  time  inspired  with  a  salutary  fear  of  molesting  a  peo- 
ple so  highly  favored. 

The  next  undertaking  of  Jehoshaphat  was  an  attempt  to  revive  the  ancient  traffic 
of  Solomon,  by  the  Red  sea,  to  the  region  of  gold.  For  this  putpose  he  built  a  navy 
at  his  port  of  Ezion-geber,  at  the  head  of  the  Elanitic  gulf.  But,  in  an  evil  day,  he 
consented  to  allow  Ahaziah,  the  king  of  Israel,  to  take  part  in  the  enterprise,  in  con- 
sequence of  which,  as  a  prophet  forewarned  him,  his  ships  were  wrecked  soon  after 
they  left  the  port.  Another  expedition  was  proposed  by  the  king  of  Israel :  but  Je- 
hoshaphat declined,  and  appears  to  have  relinquished  all  further  designs  of  this  nature. 
Josephus  informs  us  that  the  ships  which  had  been  built  were  too  large  and  un- 
wieldy ;  and  we  may  mfer  that  Jehoshaphat  discovered  that  he  could  not  accom- 
plish an  enterprise  of  this  nature  in  the  want  of  such  skilful  shipwrights  and  able 
mariners  as  those  with  which  the  Phccnicians  had  constructed  and  manned  the  ships 
of  Solomon. 

One  of  the  last  public  acts  of  Jehoshaphat's  reign  was  that  of  taking  part  Avith  Je- 
horam,  king  of  Israel,  in  an  expedition  against  the  Moabites,  who  had  revolted  after 
the  death  of  Ahab.  Jehoshaphat  was  probably  the  more  induced  to  lend  his  as- 
sistance by  the  consideration  of  the  recent  invasion  of  his  own  dominions  by  the  same 
people.  The  circumstances  and  result  of  this  expedition  have  been  related  in  the 
preceding  chapter.  The  success  which  was  granted  to  it  is  entirely  ascribed  to  the 
Divine  favor  toward  the  king  of  Judah. 

Soon  after  this  Jehoshaphat  "  slept  with  his  fathers,"  after  he  had  lived  sixty  years, 
and  reigned  twenty-five. 

His  eldest  son.  Tehoram,  ascended  the  throne  of  Judah  in  the  year  904  B.  C,  in  the 
thirty-second  year  of  his  own  age,  and  in  the  third  year  of  the  reign  of  his  namesake 
and  relative,  Jehoram,  the  son  of  Ahab,  in  Israel.  This,  it  will  be  remembered,  was 
the  prince  who  was  married  to  Athaliah,  the  daughter  of  Ahab  and  Jezebel.  The 
evil  effects  of  this  connexion  began  now  very  manifestly  to  appear,  and  preponder- 
ated over  the  good  example  which  the  reign  of  Jehoshaphat  had  offered.  In  fact, 
Athaliah  proved  her  descent  by  rivalling  her  mother,  Jezebel,  in  idolatry,  in  pride, 
and  in  the  part  she  took  in  public  affairs  after  the  death  of  Jehoshaphat.  And,  to 
complete  the  resemblance,  she  appears  to  have  rendered  her  husband,  as  the  mere 
instrument  of  her  will  and  purposes,  quite  as  effectual  as  Jezebel  rendered  Ahab. 

It  was  undoubtedly  through  her  influence  that  the  first  act  of  Jehoram's  reign  was 
to  destroy  his  six  brothers,  whom  Jehoshaphat  had  amply  provided  for,  and  stationed 
(as  governors,  probably)  in  as  many  fenced  cities  of  Judah.  With  them  perished 
several  of  the  first  persons  in  the  state,  who  had  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  the  late 
king,  and  had  been  active  in  promoting  his  laudable  designs.  This  evidence  of  her 
power  redoubled  the  audacity  of  the  proud  queen  ;  and  soon  after,  idolatry,  which  had 
been  banished  from  Judah  during  the  two  preceding  reigns,  was  restored,  by  public 
authority,  to  honor  ;  and  the  sedulous  endeavors  made  in  the  two  former  reigns  to  re- 
form tlie  religion  and  morals  of  the  people  gave  place  to  the  efforts  of  new  men  to 
corrupt  and  ruin  all.  High  places,  similar  to  those  in  Israel,  again  appeared  upon  the 
hills  of  Judah  ;  and  the  people  were  seduced  and  urged  into  idolatry  and  it* concomi- 
tant abominations. 

For  these  things  heavy  calamities  were  denounced  against  Jehoram,  early  in  his 
reign,  by  the  prophet  Elisha*  in  a  letter:  and  thus  did  that  great  prophet  take  cogni- 
zance of  the  affairs  of  Judah  also.     The  evils  that  he  threatened  followed  soon. 

The  king  of  Edom,  who  assisted  the  kings  of  Judah  and  Israel  in  the  war  against 
Moab,  had,  according  to  Josephus,  been  slain  by  his  revolted  subjects,  and  the  new 
sovereign  desired  to  signalize  Iiis  accession,  and  to  propitiate  his  subjects,  by  freeing 
them  from  the  tribute  to  which  his  father  had  submitted.  This  essay  was  not  at  first 
successful;  but  although  once  defeated  by  Jehoram,  who  still  had  his  father's  army 
'  under  his  command,  the  Edomites  succeeded  in  throwing  the  yoke  of  Judah  from  oQ 

*  The  Masorete  text  here  reads  EUjnh  (2  Chron.  xxi.  12)  instead  of  Elisha  :  for  Elijah  had  been  translated 
tB  the  time  of  Jehoshaphat.    2  Kings  in   II.  ^ 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  341 

iheir  necks,  according  to  the  prophecy  of  Isaac  to  the  founder  of  that  nation.*  Em- 
boldened by  this,  the  Philistines  also  rebelled,  and,  assisted  by  the  Arabs  who  bor- 
dered on  the  Cushites,  they  invaded  Judah,  plundered  and  ravaged  the  whole  country, 
and  even  Jerusalem  and  the  royal  palace.  They  led  away  into  slavery  all  the  women 
of  the  king's  harem,  except  Athaiiah,  who  was  spared  in  anger,  and  made  captive  all 
the  royal  princes,  except  Ahaziah,  otherwise  called  Jehoahaz,  the  youngest  of  them 
all.  To  consummate  all,  the  king  himself  was  smitten  with  an  incurable  disease  in 
the  bowels,  from  which  he  suffered  for  two  years  the  most  horrible  torments,  and  at 
last,  after  a  reign  of  eight  years,  died  without  being  regretted.  The  voice  of  the 
people  denied  to  his  remains  the  honors  of  a  royal  burial,  and  a  place  in  the  sepulchre 
of  the  kings. 

Ahaziah,  his  youngest  son,  was  twenty-two  years  old  when  he  succeeded  his  father. 
He  reigned  only  one  year  ;  for  following  the  evil  counsels  of  his  mother  and  the  house 
of  Ahab,  he  foolishly  joined  Jehoram  of  Israel  in  the  war  against  Hazael  king  of 
Syria,  the  result  of  which,  with  his  death,  inflicted  by  Jehu,  has  been  recorded  in  the 
preceding  chapter. 

Not  Jehu  in  Israel  thirsted  more  after  the  blood  of  Ahab's  house,  than  did  Athaiiah, 
in  Judah,  for  the  blood  of  her  own  children.  She  had  long  been  the  virtual  possessor 
of  the  supreme  power  in  Judah  ;  but  now  she  disdained  an  authority  so  precarious 
and  indirect,  and  would  reign  alone.  As  even  the  most  wicked  persons  seldom  shed 
blood  from  absolute  wantonness  of  cruelty,  it  may  be  considered  that  her  spirit  may 
have  been  rendered  unusually  savage  at  this  time  by  the  sanguinary  proceedings  of 
Jehu  in  Israel  against  the  house  to  which  she  herself  belonged,  and  in  which  she  had 
lost,  at  one  fell  swoop,  a  mother,  a  brother,  and  a  son,  with  many  other  of  her  near 
relatives.  It  must  also  have  appeared  to  her  that  the  sort  of  authority  she  had  hith- 
erto exercised,  first  as  queen-consort  and  then  as  queen-mother,  was  now  in  very  great 
danger ;  as  it  might  be  expected  that  whichever  of  her  grandsons  succeeded  to  the 
throne,  he  would  prefer  the  counsels  and  guidance  of  his  mother  to  her  own.  Here 
then  were  two  powerful  motives, — dread  of  losing  her  power,  and  jealousy  of  being 
superseded  by  another  woman, — bringing  her  to  the  atrocious  resolution  of  destroying 
all  the  children  of  her  own  son  Ahaziah.  She  little  considered  that  by  this  she  was 
fulfilling  a  part  of  the  mission  against  the  house  of  Ahab  which  Jehu  himself  could 
not  execute  ;  for  through  herself  the  taint  of  Ahab's  blood  had  been  given  to  the  house 
of  David.  Her  fell  purpose  was  promptly  executed.  All  her  grandsons  were  slain 
in  one  day,  with  the  exception  of  Joash,  an  infant,  who  was  stolen  away  by  his  aunt 
Jehoshebad,  the  wife  of  the  high-priest  Jehoiada  and  daughter  of  the  late  king  Aha- 
ziah, and  hidden  with  his  nurse  in  one  of  the  chambers  of  the  temple.  Thus,  in  the 
providence  of  God,  the  royal  line  of  the  house  of  David  was  preserved  from  utter  ex- 
tinction. No  retreat  could  have  been  more  secure  than  that  which  was  chosen  for  the 
mfant  prince  ;  for  not  only  were  the  apartments  of  the  temple  under  the  sole  direction 
of  the  priests,  and  to  the  innermost  of  which  no  others  had  access ;  but  Athaiiah  had 
put  herself  out  of  the  way  of  obtaining  information  of  the  fact  by  her  entire  neglect 
of  the  temple  and  the  institutions  connected  with  it.  And  although  she  did  not,  in- 
deed could  not,  actually  put  down  the  temple-worship,  her  preference  and  favor  was 
given  to  the  temple  of  Baal,  and  his  high-priest,  Mattan,  was  upheld  by  her  as  of 
equal  rank  and  importance  Avith  the  high-priest  of  Jehovah. 

Now  although  the  Judahites  were  but  too  prone  to  fall  into  idolatry,  the  good  effects 
of  the  reforms  of  Asa  and  Jehoshaphat,  and  of  the  principles  Avhich  the  latter  had 
been  so  careful  to  inculcate,  did  not  so  soon  evaporate  as  to  dispose  the  people  gener- 
ally to  approve  or  concur  in  the  rapid  and  decisive  measures  which  Athaiiah  had  taken 
in  establishing  the  worship  of  Baal ;  and  when  to  this  was  added  their  natural  ab- 
horrence of  the  barbarous  massacre  which  rooted  her  throne  in  blood,  and  their  dis« 
like,  in  common  with  all  orientals,  at  the  public  rule  of  a  woman,  we  have  a  sufficient 
explanation  of  the  fact  that  the  public  feeling  was  not  with  queen  Athaiiah,  and  that, 
indeed,  her  rule  was  regarded  with  such  disgust  as  disposed  the  people  to  hail  with 
joy  the  advent  of  their  hidden  king. 

Joash  remained  six  years  concealed  in  the  secret  chambers  of  the  temple,  his  ex- 
istence even,  much  more  his  presence  there,  being  unknown  and  unsuspected  by  Atha- 
iiah and  others,  as  it  was  supposed  he  had  perished  in  the  slaughter  of  his  father's 

*  To  Esau  Isaac  said, — "  Thou  shalt  serve  thy  brother  :  and  it  shall  come  to  pass  when  thou  shalt  have 
the  dominion,  that  thou  shalt  break  liis  yoke  from  off  thy  neck."    Gen  xxvii  40. 


342  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE  ^ 

sons.  In  the  seventh  year  the  high-priest  Jehoiada  judged  that  the  fit  time  nad  ar- 
rived for  th--'  disclosure.  He  therefore  made  known  the  secret  to  some  of  the  chiefs 
and  military  commanders  on  whom  he  could  depend,  and  received  from  them  the 
promise  to  concur  in  the  bold  act  of  proclaiming  and  crowning  the  rightful  king.  Jo- 
ash  was  now  only  seven  years  of  age;  but  good  reason  was  seen  to  prefer  the  regency 
of  such  a  man  as  Jehoiada  to  the  reign  of  such  a  woman  as  Athaliah.  The  persons 
whom  Jehoiada  had  admitted  to  his  confidence  went  about  the  country,gaining  over 
the  paternal  chiefs,  and  inducing  them,  as  well  as  the  Levites  not  on  duty,  to  repair 
to  Jerusalem.  When  all  the  adherents  thus  acquired  had  come  to  the  metropolis,  the 
high-priest  concerted  with  them  the  plan  of  operations.  According  to  this  it  was  de- 
termined that  the  partisans  of  the  young  prince  should  be  divided  into  three  bodies, 
one  of  which  was  to  guard  the  prince  in  the  temple,  the  second  to  keep  all  the  ave- 
nues, and  the  third  was  placed  at  the  gate  leading  to  the  royal  palace.  The  people 
were  to  be  admitted  as  usual  to  the  outer  courts.  Then  the  armories  of  the  temple 
were  opened,  and  the  spears,  bucklers,  and  shields  of  King  David  were  distributed  to 
these  parties,  as  well  as  to  the  Levites,  who  were  to  form  an  impenetrable  barrier 
around  the  king  during  the  ceremony.  When  all  was  disposed  in  this  order,  the  high- 
priest  appeared,  leading  by  the  hand  the  last  scion  of  the  royal  house  of  David.  He 
placed  him  by  the  pillar  where  the  kings  were  usually  stationed,  and  having  anointed 
him  with  the  sacred  oil,  he  placed  the  crown  upon  his  head,  arrayed  him  in  royal 
robes,  and  gave  into  his  hands  the  book  of  the  law,  on  which  the  usual  oaths  were 
administered  to  him.  He  was  then  seated  on  a  throne  which  had  been  provided,  in 
doing  which  he  was  hailed  and  recognised  by  the  acclamations  of  "  Long  live  the 
king." 

By  this  time  Athaliah  had  observed  some  indications  of  an  extraordinary  movement 
in  the  temple;  and  when  these  rejoicing  clamors  broke  upon  her  ear,  she  hastened 
thither,  and  penetrated  even  to  ihe  court  of  the  priests,  where  the  sight  met  her  view 
of  the  enthroned  boy,  crowned,  and  royally  arrayed,  while  the  hereditary  chiefs,  the 
military  commanders  and  the  Levites,  stood  at  their  several  stations  as  in  attendance 
on  their  king, — the  latter,  as  was  their  wont  in  the  temple,  blowing  their  trumpets, 
and  playing  on  their  various  instruments  of  music.  No  sooner  did  Athaliah  behold 
this,  than  she  rent  her  clothes,  crying,  "  Treason  !  treason  !"  Jehoiada  fearing  that 
the  guards  would  kill  her  on  the  spot,  and  thus  pollute  the  holy  place  with  human 
blood,  which  was  most  abhorrent  to  God,  directed  them  to  take  her  outside  the  tem- 
ple courts,  and  there  she  was  put  to  death.  The  king  was  then  conducted  with  great 
pomp  to  the  palace,  escorted  by  all  his  guard,  and  there  took  possession  of  the  throne 
of  his  fathers. 

Jehoiada,  without  any  formal  appointment,  appears  to  have  been  recognised,  with 
one  consent,  as  the  guardian  of  the  king  and  regent  of  the  kingdom.  He  availed 
himself  of  the  favorable  dispositions  which  now  existed,  to  induce  the  people  to  re- 
new their  ancient  covenant  with  Jehovah.  This  precaution  had  become  necessary 
from  the  long  continuance  of  an  idolatrous  government.  Actuated  by  the  impulse  thus 
received  and  the  enthusiasm  thus  excited,  and  led  by  the  priests  and  Levites  of  Je-* 
hovah,  the  people  proceeded  once  more  to  extirpate  the  idolatries  of  Baal.  They 
hastened  to  his  temple,  Avhere  they  slew  the  high-priest  Mattan  before  the  altars,  and 
then  pulled  the  whole  fabric  to  the  ground.  And  not  only  at  Jerusalem,  but  every- 
where throughout  the  land,  the  temples,  altars  and  monuments  of  Baal  were  utterly 
destroyed. 

Jehoiada,  being  now  at  the  head  of  aff'airs,  both  religious  and  civil,  applied  him- 
self with  great  diligence  in  bringing  into  an  orderly  and  efficient  condition  the 
administrations  of  both  the  court  and  temple.  Those  who  had  signalized  their  zeal 
in  the  restoration  of  the  king,  or  were  otherwise  distinguished  for  their  abilities, 
were  appointed  to  high  posts  in  the  state,  while  the  services  of  the  temple  w?ro 
brought  back  to  the  models  of  David  and  Solomon.  The  glory  of  restoring  t^i^ 
fabric  of  the  temple  he  reserved  for  the  king,  who  accordingly,  in  the  twenty-hird 
vear  of  his  reign,  thoroughly  repaired  that  famous  structure,  after  it  had  beta  built 
nearly  one  hundred  and  sixty  years  ;  and  made  numerous  vessels  of  gold  aui  siivcr 
for  the  sacred  services,  and  presented  burnt-off'erings  continually  during  the  lifetime 
of  Jehoiada,  who  died  at  the  great  age  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  years.  He 
was  honored  with  a  sepulchre  among  the  kings  of  the  family  of  David,  "because  he 
had  done  good  in  Israel." 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  "  343 

We  may  estimate  the  merits  of  Jehoiada's  administration  from  the  evil  conse- 
quences that  followed  his  death.  It  then  appeared  that  the  good  qualities  which  the 
kin^  had  seemed  to  manifest  were  the  effects  rather  of  the  right  counsels  under 
which  he  had  acted,  than  of  any  solid  principles  of  good.  As  we  have  before  seen 
stronger  and  older  men  than  Joash  yielding  to  the  witcheries  of  idolatry,  which  seem 
so  strange  to  us,  we  are  the  less  surprised  at  the  fall  of  this  king.  It  now  appeared 
what  deep  root  idolatry  had  taken  in  the  land  during  the  years  of  its  predominance 
under  Jehoram,  Ahaziah,  and  Athaliah:  and  the  men  of  station  who  had  imbibed  or 
had  been  brought  up  in  its  principles,  now  reared  themselves  on  high,  as  soon  as  the 
repressive  power  of  God's  high-priest  was  Avithdrawn.  They  repaired  to  the  royal 
court,  and  by  their  attentions  and  flatteries  so  won  upon  the  king  that  he  was  at 
length  induced  to  give  first  his  tolerance,  and  then  his  sanction,  to  the  rank  idolatries 
by  which  the  two  k'ingdoms  had  often  been  brought  very  low.  Against  this,  Zecha- 
riah,  the  son  of  the  late  high-priest  and  a  near  relation  to  the  king,  raised  his  voice, 
and  predicted  the  national  calamities  which  would  too  surely  follow  ;  on  which  the 
people  rose  upon  him,  and,  having  received  a  consenting  intimation  from  the  king, 
stoned  him  to  death  in  the  very  court  of  the  temple.  Thus  did  Joash  repay  the  deep 
obligations,  for  his  life  and  throne,  which  he  owed  to  the  house  of  Jehoiada.  •"  The 
Lord  look  upon  it  and  require  it  !"*  was  the  prayer  of  the  dying  martyr.  And  He 
did  require  it.  That  very  year,  Hazael  of  Syria,  who  was  then  in  "possession  of 
Gilead,  advanced  against  Jerusalem,  and,  although  his  force  was  but  small,  defeated 
a  large  army  which  opposed  him,  and  entered  the  city,  from  which  he  returned  with 
abundant  plunder  to  his  own  country.  The  chiefs  who  had  seduced  Joash  were 
slain  in  the  battle;  and  the  king  himself,  who  had  been  grievously  wounded,  was 
soon  after  murdered  by  his  own  servants,  and  the  public  voice  refused  the  honors  of 
a  royal  burial  to  his  remains.     He  reigned  forty  years. 

Joash  was  succeeded  on  the  throne  by  his  son  Abiaziah,  then  twenty-five  years  of 
age.  The  first  act  of  his  reign  was  to  punish  the  murderers  of  his  father:  but  it  is 
mentioned  that  he  respected  the  law  of  Moses  by  not  including  their  children  in  their 
doom  ;  and  this  seems  to  show  that  a  contrary  practice  had  previously  prevailed. 

About  the  twelfth  year  of  his  reign,  Amaziah  took  measures  for  reducing  to  their 
former  subjection  the  Edomites,  who  had  revolted  in  the  time  of  Jehoram.  Not 
satisfied  with  the  strength  he  could  raise  in  his  own  kingdom,  the  king  of  Judah 
hired  a  hundred  thousand  auxiliaries  out  of  Israel  for  a  hundred  talents  of  silver. 
But  these  were  tainted  with  idolatry :  on  which  account  a  prophet  was  commissioned 
to  exhort  Amaziah  to  forego  their  assistance,  and  dismiss  them.  By  a  memorable 
act  of  faith,  the  king  at  once  yielded  to  this  hard  demand,  and  sent  home  the  Israel- 
ites, for  whose  services  he  had  already  paid.  He  then  gained  a  decisive  victory  over 
the  Edomites  in  the  Salt  valley,  at  the  southern  extremity  of  the  Dead  sea.  Ten 
thousand  of  the  Edomites  fell;  and  ten  thousand  more  were  cast  down  from  the 
cliflTs  of  their  native  mountains,  and  dashed  in  pieces.! 

This  viciory  was  the  ruin  of  Amaziah,  whose  conduct  had  been  hitherto  praise- 
worthy. The  idols  of  Edom,  which  he  brought  home  among  the  spoil,  proved  a 
snare  to  him  ;  and,  in  the  end,  he  fell  to  the  worship  of  "  the  gods  who  could  not 
deliver  their  own  people  :"  for  which  he  was,  without  effect,  upbraided  by  a  prophet, 
and  threatened  with  destructions  from  God. 

The  Israelites  whom  the  king  of  Judah  had  dismissed  from  his  army  were  filled 
with  resentment  at  the  indignity  cast  upon  them,  and  probably  disappointed  in  their 
hope  of  a  share  in  the  spoils  of  Edom.  To  testify  their  resentment,  and  to  obtam 
compensation,  they  smote  and  plundered  several  of  the  toAvns  of  Judah,  on  their 
homeward  niarcii,  and  destroyed  many  of  the  inhabitants.  It  was  probably  on  this 
account  that  Amaziah,  elated  by  his  victory  over  the  Edomites,  determined  to  make 
war  upon  Israel.  It  is  singular  that,  instead  of  commencing,  as  usual,  by  some 
aggressive  movement  or  overt  act  of  warfare,  Amaziah  sent  a  formal  challenge  to 
the  king  of  Israel,  inviting  a  pitched  battle,  in  the  phrase,  "  Come,  and  let  us  look 
one  another  in  the  face."  The  truly  oriental  answer  of  Joash  seemed  designed  to 
dissuade  him  from  this  undertaking,  but  was  conceived  in  terms  not  well  calculated 

*  May  not  one  of  tlie  essentiial  differences  of  the  Jewish  and  Christian  dispensations  be  illustrated  by 
tlie  last  words  of  two  men  respectively  eminent  in  each,  and  dying  under  very  similar  circumstances  ' 
"  Lord,  lay  not  tliis  sin  to.tlieir  charge  I"  was  the  last  cry  of  tlie  dying  Stephen. 

t  This  was  probably  at  or  in  the  neighborhuud  of  Petra,  of  Mount  Seir,  of  wliich  see  our  engraving,  p.  75 


344  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

to  accomplish  the  object:  "A  thistle  that  was  in  Lebanon,  sent  to  the  cedar  of 
Lebanon,  saying,  '  Give  thy  daughter  to  my  son  to  wife:'  and  a  wild  beast  of  Leba- 
non passed  by  and  trod  down  the  thistle.  Thou  sayest,  'Lo!  I  have  smitten  the 
Edomites,'  and  thy  heart  is  lifted  up.  Abide  now  at  home:  why  shouldst  thou 
meddle  to  thy  htif",  so  that  thou  shouldst  fall,  and  Judah  with  thee  ?" 

But  Amazia.i  was  not  to  be  thus  deterred.  The  two  kings  met  in  battle.  Ama- 
ziah  was  defeated  and  taken  prisoner,  and  his  army  routed  at  Beth-shemesh.  Joash 
then  pursued  his  triumphant  march  to  Jerusalem,  which  he  plundered,  and  spared 
not  to  lay  his  hands  upon  the  sacred  things  of  the  temple.  He  also  broke  down  four 
huudred' cubits  of  the  city  wall.  He  however  restored  Amaziah  to  his  throne,  but 
took  hostages  with  him  on  his  return  to  Samaria. 

The  life  of  Amaziah  ended  in  a  conspiracy,  which  may  have  been  induced  by  the 
diso-race  which  he  had  brought  upon  the  nation.  This  conspiracy  was  discovered  by 
hira,  and  he  hastened  to  the  fortified  town  of  Lachish.  But  he  was  pursued  and 
slain  by  the  conspirators,  who  brought  back  his  body  "  upon  horses  lo  Jerusalem," 
where  a  place  in  the  sepulchres  of  his  fathers  was  not  denied  hira.  He  reigned 
twenty-nine  years. — B.  C.  809. 

Uzziah,  otherwise  called  Azariah,  was  only  five  years  old  when  his  father  was 
slain.  The  Judahites  were  in  no  haste  to  tender  their  allegiance  to  an  infant.  They 
waited  until  he  was  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  he  was  then  formally  called  to  the 
throne.*  Much  favorable  influence  upon  the  character  of  Uzziah  is  attributed  to  the 
earlv  instruction  and  subsequent  influence  of  the  wise  and  holy  Zechariah.f  His 
adhesion  to  the  principles  of  the  theocracy  secured  him  prosperity  and  honor.  He 
paid  equal  attention  to  the  arts  of  peace  and  of  war;  and  he  throve  in  all  the  under- 
takings, whether  of  war  or  peace,  to  which  he  put  his  hand.  In  the  arts  which 
belong  to  both,  he  encouraged  and  promoted  various  improvements  ;  and  it  may  be 
pardoned  in  an  oriental  king,  if,  in  his  improvements  and  undertakings,  his  ow 
mterest  and  glory  was  the  inciting  motive.  It  is  rare,  and  in  fact  difiicult,  for  an 
oriental  monarch  (considering  the  institutions  by  which  he  is  surrounded,  and  the 
ideas  which  press  upon  him)  to  contemplate  the  interests  of  his  people  otherwise 
than  as  a  contingent  eff'ect  of  undertakings  in  which  his  oum  interests  and  glory  are 
the  primary  motives.  So  Uzziah  performed  the  good  deed  of  building  towers  and 
digging  wells  in  the  desert;  but  the  reason  immediately  follows:  "■For  he  had 
many  cattle  both  in  the  valleys  and  in  the  plains."  He  also  "loved  husbandry,"  and 
planted  vineyards  ;  and,  accordingly,  "  he  had  ground-tillers  and  vine-dressersj  in  the 
mountains  and  in  Carmel."  These  were  laudable  things ;  for  the  people  could  not 
but  be  benefited  by  them,  even  though  their  benefit  were  less  the  immediate  inten- 
tion than  the  indirect  eff'ect. 

The  same  may  even  less  doubtfully  be  said  of  this  king's  military  organizations  and 
improvements.  New  fortifications  were  built  and  the  old  repaired.  At  Jerusalem 
not  only  were  the  injuries  which  the  walls  had  sustained  repaired,  but  the  gates  and 
angles  were  strengthened  with  towers;  and  on  these  were  mounted  engines  invented 
by  skilful  men,  and  made  under  the  king's  encouragement  and  direction,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  discharging  arrows  and  great  stones.  It  may  be  doubtful  whether  these 
engines  were  invented  by  Hebrew  engineers,  or  successfully  copied  by  them  from 
foreigners.  We  have  certainly  no  opinion  that  the  Hebrews  had  much  genius  for 
mechanical  invention  ;  but  we  are  bound  to  say  the  antiquities  of  Egypt,  in  the  nu- 
merous warlike  scenes  which  they  represent,  do  not,  as  far  as  we  know,  contain  any 
examples  of  projectile  engines :  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  in  the  art  of  icar  many 
ingenious  devices  originate  with  nations  not  otherwise  distinguished  for  their  inven- 
tive faculties. 

Uzziah  provided  ample  stores  of  weapons  and  armor — spear!^,  shields,  helmets, 
breastplates,  bows,  and  stone-slings — for  the  numerous  body  which  he  enrolled  as 
ready  to  be  called  into  action,  and  which  consisted  of  not  less  than  307,500  men  un- 

♦"Tliis  naturally  accounts  for  tlie  length  of  the  interreenum.  (2  Kings  xv.  1,  2;  2  Chron.  xxvi  1.) 
Amaziah  was  .slain  fifteen  years  curreiii  after  the  cVeath  of  .leuoash,  king  bf  Israel  (2  Kings  xiv.  17),  or 
fourteen  years  complete  from  the  accession  of  Jeroboam  II.,  his  son  ;  and  Azariah,  or  Uzziah,  did  not  begin 
to  reign  till  the  twenty-fifth  of  .Jeroboam  (according  to  the  foreioing  correction,  instead  of  the  twenty- 
seventh  year,  2  Kings  xv.  i.),  which  gives  the  length  ol  me  mrerrcgnum  eleven  years  complete." — Halei. 

t  No  one  will,  of  course,  confound  this  person  with  the  prophet  of  the  same  name,  who  lived  long  after. 
It  is  not,  in  fact,  known  who  he  was.  Some  conjecture  that  he  was  tlie  son  of  the  Zechariah  who  was 
slam  m  the  time  of  Joash.  But  we  know  of  no  other  foundation  for  this  but  the  name.  The  distance  of 
wne  docs  not  favor  the  conjecture  which  identifies  him  with  the  Zechariah  of  Isaiah  viii.  2. 

t  See  page  345. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


345 


Egyptian  Vintage  and  Vine-dressers 

der  2,600  paternal  chiefs.  This  form- 
ed a  sort  of  militia,  divided  into  bands, 
liable  to  be  called  into  actual  service 
by  rotation,  according  to  the  number 
required. 

With  this  force,  and  under  these 
arrangements,  Uzziah  was  enabled  to 
establish  and  extend  his  power.  He 
recovered  possession  of  the  port  of 
Elath  on  the  Red  sea ;  he  got  posses- 
sion of  the  principal  Philistine  towns, 
Gath,  Jabneh,  and  Ashdod.  The  Arab 
hordes  on  the  borders  were  subdued ; 
and  the  Ammonites  were  reduced  to 
tribute. 

Elated  by  all  this  prosperity ,  the 
king  of  Juaah  saw  not  why  he  should 
be  precluded  from  a  distinction  which 
other  monarchs  enjoyed,  and  which 
his  neighbor  of  Israel  probably  exer- 
cised— that  of  officiating  on  particular 
occasions  at  the  incense-altar,  as  high- 
priest.  He  made  the  attempt.  He 
went  into  the  holy  place,  which  none 
but  the  priests  might  lawfully  enter, 
to  offer  incense  on  the  altar  there  ;  but 
was  followed  by  the  high-priest,  Aza- 
riah,  and  by  eighty  other  priests,  who 
opposed  his  design,  and  warned  him 
of  his  trespass.  The  king,  made 
wrathful  by  this  opposition,  seized 
tlie  censer  to  offer  incense  ;  but  in  that 
moment  he  was  smitten  with  leprosy, 
the  marks  of  which  appeared  visibly 
on  his  forehead.  On  perceiving  this, 
the  priests  thrust  him  forth  as  a  pel- 


346'-'  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

lUtion  ;  nay,  confounded  and  conscience-smitten,  he  hastened  to  leave  the  place.* 
From  that  day  he  was  obliged  to  live  apart  as  a  leper,  and  his  son  Jotham  administered 
the  affairs  of  the  government  in  his  father's  name.  The  year  in  which  this  happened 
is  not  well  determined  ;  but  the  whole  duration  of  his  reign  was  fifty-two  years.  This 
is  the  longest  reign  of  any  king  of  Jiidah,  with  the  sole  exception  oi  Mariasseh.  Isaiah 
received  his  appointment  to  the  prophetic  office  in  the  year  that  King  Uzziah  died 
(B.C.  757) ;  and  Amos,  Hoshea,  and  probably  Joel,  began  to  prophecy  in  his  reign. 

The  death  of  Uzziah  left  the  kingdom  under  the  same  actual  ruler,  but  exchanged 
his  regency  for  the  sovereignty.  Jotham  was  twenty-five  years  old  when  he  began 
to  reign.  He  was  a  good  and  prosperous  prince,  and  during  the  sixteen  years  of  his 
separate  reign  continued  the  improvements  and  plans  of  his  father.  He  built  seve- 
ral fortresses,  and  confirmed  the  subjection  of  the  Ammonites  to  his  sceptre.  It  was 
in  this  reignf  that  the  city  of  Rome  Avas  founded,  with  the  destinies  of  which  the 
Hebrews  were  in  the  end  to  be  so  intimately  connected.  Jotham  died  in  the  year 
B.  C.  741. 

Ahaz  succeeded  Jotham  when  he  was  twenty  years  of  age.  He  proved  the  most 
corrupt  monarch  that  the  house  of  David  had  as  yet  produced.  He  respected  neither 
Jehovah,  the  law,  nor  the  prophets  ;  he  broke  through  all  the  salutary  restraints 
which  law  and  usage  imposed  upon  the  Hebrew  kings,  and  regarded  nothing  but  his 
own  depraved  inclinations.  He  introduced  the  Syrian  idolatry  into  Jerusalem,  erect- 
ed altars  to  the  Syrian  gods,  altered  the  temple  in  many  respects,  according  to  the 
Syrian  model,  and  finally  caused  it  to  be  entirely  shut  up.  For  these  things,  adver- 
sities and  punishments  came  soon  upon  him. 

Pekah  king  of  Israel,  and  Rezin  king  of  Syria,  had  formed  an  alliance  against  Ju- 
dah  in  the  last  year  of  Jotham,  which  began  to  take  effect  as  soon  as  Ahaz  had 
evinced  the  unworthiness  of  his  character.  The  object  of  this  alliance  appears  to 
have  been  no  less  than  to  dethrone  the  house  of  David,  and  to  make  "  the  son  of 
Tabeal"  king  in  the  room  of  Ahaz.t 

In  this  war  Elath  was  taken  from  Judah  by  the  king  of  Syria,  who  restored  it  to 
the  Edomites.  E.e  also  defeated  Ahaz  in  battle  and  carried  away  large  numbers  of 
his  subjects  as  captives  to  Damascus.  Pekah  on  his  part  was  equally  successful.  He 
slew  in  one  day  120,000  men  of  Judah,  and  carried  away  captives  not  fewer  than 
200,000  women  and  children,  together  with  much  spoil,  to  Samaria.  But  on  his 
arrival  there  he  was  met  by  the  prophet  Obed,  and  by  some  of  the  chiefs  of  Ephraim. 
The  former  awakened  the  king's  apprehensions  for  the  consequences  of  the  Divine 
anger  on  account  of  the  evil  already  committed  against  the  house  of  Judah,  and  ex- 
horted him  not  to  add  to  this  evil  and  to  their  danger,  by  reducing  the  women  and 
children  of  that  kindred  state  to  bondage.  The  prophet  was  vigorously  seconded  by 
the  chiefs,  who  positively  declared  to  the  troops,  "  Ye  shall  nothrmg  iii  hither  these 
captives  to  increase  our  guilt  before  Jehovah.  Intend  ye  to  add  to  our  sin  and  to  our 
trespass?  for  our  trespass  is  great,  and  fierce  is  the  wrath  of  Jehovah  against  Israel." 
On  hearing  this  the  warriors  abandoned  their  captives,  and  left  them  in  the  hands  of 
the  chiefs,  who,  with  the  concurrence  and  help  of  the  people,  "  took  the  captives,  and 
from  the  spoil  clothed  all  that  were  naked  among  them,  and  arrayed  and  shod  them,  and 
gave  them  to  eat  and  drink,  and  anointed  them,  and  carried  all  the  feeble  of  them  upon 
asses,  and  brought  them  to  Jericho,  the  city  of  palm-trees,  to  their  brethren."  This 
beautiful  incident  comes  over  our  sense  as  might  some  strain  of  soft  and  happy  music 
imid  the  bray  of  trumpets  and  the  the  alarms  of  war.  It  also  proves  that,  even  in 
he  worst  of  tirnes,  a  righteous  few  were  found,  even  in  Israel,  who  honored  the  God 
of  their  fathers  and  stood  in  dread  of  his  judgments. 

The  narrative  in  Isaiah  records  an  unsuccessful  attempt  of  the  confederates  against 
Jerusalem,  the  proper  place  of  which  in  the  history  is  not  easily  found,  but  which 
may  appear  to  have  been  posterior  to  the  occurrences  which  have  been  related.  At 
tne  same  time,  the  Edomites  and  Philistines  invaded  the  south  of  Judah,  and  took 
possession  of  several  cities  of  the  low  country,  with  their  villages,  and  occupied 

«  To  this  prodigy  Joscphus  adds  an  earthqtiake,  which,  he  says,  shook  the  earth  witli  such  violence  that 
the  roof  of  the  temple  was  rent ;  and  one  half  of  a  mountain  on  the  west  of  Jerusalem  fell,  or  rather 
slipped,  into  the  valley  below,  covering  the  royal  gardens. 

t  B.C.  748,  or  according  toothers,  750  or 752,  all  which  dates  fell  in  this  reign. 

i  Isa.  vii.  5,  6.  Of  this  "  son  of  Tabeal"  nothing  is  known,  although  much  has  been  conjectured.  Some 
make  it  to  be  Pekah  himself,  but  the  interpretation  on  which  it  is  founded  is  not  very  sound,  although  the 
thing  itself  might  not  be  unUkely. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE,  347 

Jiem.  Thus  harassed  on  every  hand,  the  besotted  king  rejected  a  token  of  deliver- 
ance which  Isaiah  was  commissioned  to  offer  him  from  God,  under  the  pretext  that 
he  "  would  not  tempt  Jehovah,"  but  in  reality,  because  he  had  already  chosen  another 
alternative.  This  was  to  induce  Tiglath-Pileser,  the  king  of  Assyria,  to  make  a  di- 
version in  his  favor  by  invading  the  kingdoms  of  Syria  and  Israel. 

Pul,  the  father  of  this  king,  was  the  first  Assyrian  monarch  who  took  part  in  the 
affairs  of  the  West.  By  invading  Israel,  he  had  made  known  the  power  of  that  mon- 
archy to  Syria  and  Palestine.  Tiglath-Pileser,  for  his  own  objects,  lent  a  willing 
ear  to  the  suit  of  Ahaz,  who  professed  himself" his  vassal,  and  sent  him  a  subsidy 
of  all  the  sacred  and  royal  treasures.  He  marched  an  army  westward,  defeated  and 
slew  Rezin  the  king  of  Syria,  took  Damascus,  and  sent  the  inhabitants  away  into 
Assyria — thus  putting  an  end  to  that  monarchy  of  Dainascene-Syria,  which  has  so 
often  come  under  our  notice.  At  the  same  time  he  carried  away  the  tribes  beyond 
Jordan — Reuben,  Gad,  and  half  Manasseh— captives  to  Media,  where  they  were 
planted  in  Halah,  Habor,  and  on  the  River  Gozan ;  and  to  them  he  added  the  other 
half  of  the  tribe  of  Manasseh  Avhich  was  seated  in  Galilee. 

Syria,  with  the  countries  of  Gilead  and  Bashan,  were  thus  annexed  to  the  dominions 
of  the  Assyrian  king,  who  remained  some  time  at  Damascus,  settling  his  conquests. 
Ahaz  had  small  cause  to  rejoice  in  this  alteration,  for  although  he  was  delivered  from 
his  immediate  fears,  the  formidable  Assyrian  had  now  become  his  near  neighbor,  and 
was  not  likely  to  treat  him  with  much  consideration ;  and  in  fact  the  result  was  that 
"he  distressed  Ahaz,  and  strengthened  him  not."  The  king  of  Judah,  however, 
found  it  prudent  to  visit  Tiglath-Pileser  at  Damascus,  to  congratulate  him  on  his  vic- 
tories, and  to  tender  his  homage.  This  visit  only  taught  him  new  fashions  of  idolatry 
and  sin ;  which  on  his  return  home  he  continued  to  practise  apparently  until  his  death, 
which  took  place  in  B.C.  725,  after  a  disgraceful  reign  of  sixteen  years.  He  was 
allowed  a  grave  in  Jerusalem ;  but  no  place  in  the  sepulchre  of  the  tings  was  grant- 
ed to  him. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 
ISRAEL,  FROM  B.  c.  895,  to  b.  c.  719. 

Jehx;,  having  executed  his  avenging  mission  upon  the  house  of  Ahab,  and  over- 
thrown the  idolatries  of  Baal,  ascended  the  throne  of  Israel  in  the  year  B.  C.  S95. 

There  was  a  point  beyond  which  Jehu  was  not  prepared  to  go  in  his  boasted  zeal 
for  Jehovah.  He  was  ready  to  punish  and  discountenance  all  foreign  Avorship  ;  but  it 
was  no  part  of  his  policy  to  heal  the  schism  between  Judah  and  Israel,  by  abolishing 
the  separate  and  highly  irregular  establishment,  for  the  worship  of  Jehovah,  before 
the  symbolic  golden  calves,  Avhich  Jeroboam  had  established,  and  which  all  his  suc- 
cessors had  maintained.  The  vital  root  therefore  remained  in  the  ground,  although 
the  branches  had  been  lopped  off.  It  also  appeared,  ere  long,  that  the  foreign  idofa- 
tries  of  Ahab  and  Jezebel  had  acquired  too  much  prevalence  to  be  entirely  extirpated 
by  any  coercive  reformation.  As  soon  as  the  heat  of  that  reformation  had  cooled,  such 
idolatries  again  gradually  stole  into  use,  although  no  longer  with  the  sanction  or  fa- 
vor of  the  government. 

For  these  things  the  kingdom  of  Israel  was  in  the  latter  days  of  Jehu  allowed  to 
be  shorn  of  the  provinces  beyond  Jordan.  That  fair  country  was  ravaged,  and  its 
fortresses  seized  by  Hazael,  king  of  Syria,  who,  without  any  recorded  opposition  from 
the  king  of  Israel,  appears  to  have  annexed  it  to  his  own  dominions. 

Jehu  died  in  B.  C.  867,  after  a  reign  of  twenty-eight  years. 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Jehoahaz,  who  reigned  seventeen  inglorious  years.  He 
followed  the  latter  course  of  his  father,  and  the  people  followed  their  own  course.  The 
same  kind  of  punishment  was  therefore  continued.  The  Syrians  were  still  permitted 
to  prevail  over  Israel,  until,  at  length,  Jehoahaz  had  only  left,  of  all  his  forces,  ten 
chariots,  fifty  horsemen,  and  ten  thousand  infantrv ;  for  "  the  king  of  Syria  had  de- 
stroyed the  rest,  and  trampled  on  them  like  dust."  By  these  calamities  the  king  was 
at  last  awakened  to  a  sense  of  his  position  and  his  danger :  lie  made  supplication  to 


348  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

A 

Jehovah  with  tears;  and  therefore  his  latter  days  were  favored  with  peace.  He  died 
in  850  B.  C. 

Joash,  his  son,  began  to  reign  in  the  thirty-seventh  year  of  his  namesake,  Joash  king 
of  Judah.  Josephus  gives  this  king  a  good  character,  Avhich  the  sacred  historian  docs 
Qot  confirm.  From  looking  at  the  lew  incidents  of  his  life  which  it  has  been  deemed 
worth  while  to  preserve,  we  may  reconcile  these  statements  by  discovering  that  he 
was  in  his  private  character  a  well-disposed,  although  weak  man ;  while  as  a  king 
he  made  no  efforts  to  discourage  idolatry  or  heal  the  schism  which  the  establishment 
of  the  golden  calves  had  produced.  In  his  days  Elisha  the  prophet  fell  sick  of  that 
illness  of  which  he  died.  When  the  king  heard  of  his  danger,  he  went  to  visit  his 
dying  bed,  and  wept  over  him,  crying,  "  0  my  father  !  my  father ! — the  chariot  of  Is- 
rael, and  the  horsemen  thereof  I"  As  the  idolatrous  generation  was  now  becoming 
extinct,  and  the  good  dispositions  of  Joash  himself  Avere  recognised,  the  dying  prophet 
was  enr^bled  to  assure  him,  by  a  significant  symbol,  of  three  victories  over  the  Syrians. 
Accordingly,  Joasli  was  enabled  to  keep  them  in  check,  and  in  the  end  to  gain  the  as- 
cendency over  them,  so  as  to  recover  from  Ben-hadad  the  possessions  of  which  his 
own  father  had  been  deprived  by  the  father  of  that  Syrian  king. 

Joash  reigned  seventeen  years. 

In  the  year  234  B.  C,  Jeroboam  II.  succeeded  his  father,  whom  he  appears  to  have 
much  resembled  in  character  and  proceedings.  He  began  badly ;  and  Josephus  says 
that  he  engaged  in  various  absurd  foreign  undertakings  which  proved  very  injurious 
to  the  nation.  He  was  probably  improved  by  ripening  years;  for  the  prophet  Jonah 
was  commissioned  to  promise  him  the  complete  recovery  of  the  former  dominions  of 
the  state.  A  great  victory  over  the  Syrians  accordingly  restored  to  him  all  the  ancient 
divisions  of  Israel,  from  Haraath  to  the  borders  of  the  Dead  sea.  His  signal  success 
over  Amaziah  the  king  of  Judah  has  been  recorded  in  the  preceding  chapter.  Upon 
the  whole,  the  reign  of  Jeroboam  II.  may  be  regarded  as  a  brilliant  one,  considering 
the  evil  days  on  which  the  history  has  now  fallen.  In  fact,  it  would  not  be  easy  to 
point  to  any  king  of  the  separate  kingdom  of  Israel  whose  reign  was  more  prosperous. 

The  prophet  Jonah,  named  in  the  preceding  paragraph,  is  the  same  whose  reluctant 
mission  to  Nineveh,  the  capital  of  the  Assyrian  empire,  is  related  in  the  book  which 
bears  his  name.  "  The  king  of  Nineveh,"  whose  humiliation  with  that  of  his  people 
averted  the  doom  impending  over  "  that  exceeding  great  city,"  is  supposed  to  have 
been  the  predecessor  of  Pul,  whom  the  history  will  speedily  bring  before  us.  Jonah's 
remarkable  mission  appears  to  have  taken  place  about  the  year  SOO  B.  C,  at  the  latter 
end  of  the  reign  of  Jeroboam,  who  died  in  793  B.  C,  after  a  reign  of  forty-one  years. 

There  was  a  delay  in  calling  his  son  Zechariah  to  the  throne.  Jeroboam  II.  began 
to  reigu  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  Amaziah  king  of  Judah,  and  reigned  forty-one  years 
(2  Kings  xiv.  43) ;  he  died,  therefore,  in  the  sixteenth  year  of  Uzziah  king  of  Judah ; 
but  his  son  Zechariah  did  not  succeed  him  until  the  thirty-eighth  of  Uzziah  (2  Kings 
XV.  8),  which  produces  an  interregnum  of  not  less  than  twenty-two  years.  Daring 
this  period  great  internal  commotions  prevailed,  which  more  than  compensated  tlie 
absence  of  foreign  war.  Kings  were  suddenly  raised  to  the  throne,  and  as  suddenly 
removed,  agreeably  to  the  representation  which  the  prophet  Hoshea  gives  of  the  state 
of  the  kingdom.  The  same  representation  also  proves  that  at  this  period  very  gross 
corruptions  of  religion  and  of  morals  prevailed.  Even  the  ultimate  call  of  Zechariah 
to  the  throne  had  scarcely  ax\y  effect  in  allaying  these  disturbances,  and  he  was  him- 
self slain  by  Shallum  in  the  sixtii  month  of  his  reign.  He  was  the  last  king  of  the 
house  of  Jehu  :  and  thus  was  fulfilled  the  prediction  that  the  family  of  Jehu  should 
only  retain  the  throne  to  the  fourth  generation. 

Shallum,  whose  deed  in  slaying  Zechariah  was  performed  with  the  sanction  and  in 
the  presence  of  the  people,  ascended  the  vacant  throne  in  the  year  771  B.  C.  But  on 
receiving  intelligence  of  this  event,  Menahem,  the  general  of  the  army,  marched 
against  the  new  king,  and  having  defeated  and  slain  him  in  battle,  after  a  reign  of  but 
thirty  days,  mounted  the  throne  himself:  and  through  his  influence  with  the  array, 
he  was  enabled  not  only  to  retain  his  post,  but  to  subdue  the  disturbances  by  which 
the  country  had  of  late  years  been  distracted.  In  doing  this  he  proceeded  with  a  de- 
gree of  barbarity  which  would  have  been  scarcely  excusable  in  even  a  foreign  con- 
queror (Joseph.  Anliq.  ix.  11,  sec.  1). 

It  was  in  the  time  of  Menahem  that  the  Assyrians  under  Pul  made  their  first  ap- 
pearance in  Syria.    Their  formidable  force  precluded  even  the  show  of  opposuioii  from 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  349 

the  king  of  Israel,  who  deemed  it  the  wiser  course  to  purchase  peace  from  the  As- 
syrian king  at  the  price  of  a  thousand  talents  of  silver.*  This  sum  he  raised  by  the 
unpopular  measure  of  a  poll  tax  of  fifty  shekels  each  upoii  sixty  thousand  of  his 
wealthiest  subjects.  This  is  the  first  instance  in  either  kingdom  of  money  raised  by 
taxation  for  a  public  object.  In  the  kingdom  of  Judah  such  exigencies  were  met  from 
the  treasury  of  the  temple,  or  of  the  crown;  and  probably  there  were,  in  ordinary 
times,  analogous  resources  in  Israel,  but  which  we  may  readily  conclude  to  have  been 
exhausted  in  the  recent  troubles  and  confusions  in  that  kingdom.  Professor  Jahn  con- 
siders that  the  government  of  Israel  had  by  this  time  become  wholly  military,  in 
which  conclusion  Ave  are  disposed  to  acquiesce,  although  from  other  intimations  than 
those  to  which  he  adverts. 

After  a  reign  of  ten  years  Menahem  died  in  760  B.  C,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
son  Pekahiah,  who,  after  a  short  and  undistinguished  reign  of  two  years,  was  slain 
by  Pekah,  the  commander  of  the  forces,  who  placed  himself  on  the  throne. 

The  alliance  of  Pekah  with  Rezin  the  king  of  Syria,  against  the  house  of  David, 
has  been  recorded  in  the  preceding  chapter,  as  well  as  the  consequences  which  resulted 
from  the  resort  of  Ahaz  king  of  Judah  to  the  protection  of  Tiglath-pileser,  the  new 
king  of  Assyria,  who  overran  Gilead  and  Galilee,  and  removed  the  inhabitants  to  As- 
syria and  Media.  After  a  reign  of  twenty  years,  Pekah  received  from  Hoshea  the 
same  doom  which  he  had  himself  inflicted  upon  his  predecessor.  This  was  in  738 
B.  C,  being  in  the  third  year  of  the  reign  of  Ahaz  in  Judah. 

It  appears  that  although  Hoshea  is  counted  as  the  next  king,  he  was  not  immedi- 
ately able  to  establish  himself  on  the  throne,  but  that  an  interregnum,  or  period  of 
anarchy,  of  ten  years'  duration,  followed  the  murder  of  Pekah. f  Thus,  although  the 
kingdom  of  Israel  was  now  enclosed  within  very  narrow  boundaries,  and  surrounded 
on  the  north  and  east  by  the  powerful  Assyrians,  it  could  not  remain  quiet,  but  was 
continually  exhausting  its  strength  in  domestic  conspiracies  and  broils. 

From  this  struggle  the  regicide  Ploshea  emerged  as  kin^.  He  proved  a  better  ruler 
than  most  of  his  predecessors.  He  allowed  the  king  of  Judah  (Hezekiah)  to  send 
messengers  through  the  country  inviting  the  people  to  a  great  passover  which  he  in- 
tended to  celebrate  at  Jerusalem,  nor  did  he  throw  any  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the 
persons  disposed  to  accept  the  invitation.  He  had  a  spirit  which  might  have  enabled 
him  to  advance  the  power  and  interests  of  the  counti"y  under  ordinary  circuuistances; 
but  now,  doomed  of  God,  the  kingdom  was  too  much  weakened  to  make  the  least  ef- 
fort against  the  Assyrian  power.  When  therefore  Shalmaneser,  the  new  Assyrian 
king,  invaded  the  country,  he  bowed  his  neck  to  receive  the  yoke  of  a  tributary.  This 
yoke,  however,  he  found  so  galling  that  ere  long  he  took  measures  for  shaking  it  off. 
He  made  a  treaty  with  "  So,"  or  Sabacot  king  of  Egypt,  and  on  the  strength  of  it  ven- 
tured to  seize  and  imprison  the  Assyrian  officer  appointed  to  collect  the  tribute.  Upon 
this,  Shalmaneser  laid  siege  to  Samaria,  and  after  three  years  gained  possession  of 
that  city  and  destroyed  it.  During  all  this  time  the  king  of  Egypt  made  no  attempt 
to  come  to  the  assistance  of  Israel,  as  Isaiah  had  from  the  beginning  predicted,  in  lan- 
guage of  strong  reprehension  against  this  alliance  (Isaiah  xxx.  1-7).  The  fall  of  Sa- 
maria consummated  the  conquest  of  the  country  by  the  Assyrians.  Hoshea  was  him- 
self among  the  captives,  and  was  sent  in  chains  to  Nineveh ;  but  what  afterward  be- 
came of  him  is  not  known.  Considerable  numbers  of  the  principal  Israelites,  during 
the  war,  and  at  its  disastrous  conclusion,  fled  the  country,  some  to  Egypt,  but  more 
into  Judea,  where  they  settled  down  as  subjects  of  Hezekiah,  whose  kingdom  must 
have  been  considerably  strengthened  by  this  means. 

According  to  a  piece  of  oriental  policy  of  which  modern  examples  have  been 
offered,  Shalmaneser  removed  from  the  land  the  principal  inhabitants,  the  soldiers 
and  the  artisans  to  Halab,  to  the  river  Habor  (Chebar  in  Ezekiel),  to  Gozan,  and  to 

*  Almost  one  million  eight  hundred  thousand  dollars,  by  the  present  value  of  this  quantity  of  silver. 

t  "  Pekah,  king  of  Israel,  began  to  reign  in  the  fifty-second  year  of  Uzziah  (2  Icings  xv.  27  ;  2  Chron 
xxvi.  3) ;  and  in  the  twentieth  year  of  his  reign  was  slain  by  Hoshea  (xv.  30)  in  the  third  year  of  the  reign 
of  Ahaz  king  of  Judali  (2  Kings  xvi.  1) ;  but  Hoshea  did  not  begin  to  reign  until  the  twelfth  year  of  Ahaz 
(xvii.  1),  or  the  thirteenth  current  (2  Kings  xvi.  10)  ;  consequently  the  second  interregnum  in  Israel  lasted 
13—3=10  years."— Hales. 

t  This  So,  or  Sabaco  of  profane  authors, — Sabakoph  on  the  monuments, — was  an  Ethiopian  who  ruled  in 
Egypt,  and  whose  right  to  the  crown  of  which  may  have  been  (in  part,  at  least)  derived  !rom  marriage,  al- 
though Herodotus  represents  him  solely  as  an  intrusive  conqueror.  His  name  occurs  at  Abydus  ;  and  the 
respect  paid  to  liis  monuments  by  his  successors  may  be  considered  to  imply  that  his  reign  was  not  a  wrong- 
ful 'isurpation. 


350  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

the  cities  of  the  Medes.  On  the  other  hand,  colonists  were  brought  from  Babylon, 
Cuthah,  Ava,  Hamath,  and  Sepharvaim,  and  seated  in  Samaria.  It  appears  also  that 
other  colonists  were  afterward  sent  into  the  country  by  Esarhaddon.  These  people 
mingled  with  the  Israelites,  who  still  abode  in  the  land,  and  were  all  comprehended 
under  the  general  name  of  Samaritans,  which  was  derived  from  the  city  of  Samaria. 
At  first  all  of  them  were  worshippers  of  idols ;  but  as  wild  beasts  increased  in  their 
depopulated  country,  they  were  much  disturbed  by  lions.  According  to  the  notions 
respecting  national  and  local  gods  which  then  prevailed  in  the  world,  it  is  not  strange 
that  they  attributed  this  calamity  to  the  anger  of  the  god  of  the  country  on  account 
of  their  neglect  of  his  worship.  Accordingly,  au  Israelitish  priest  was  recalled  from 
exile,  in  order  to  instruct  these  idolaters  in  the  worship  of  Jehovah  as  a  national 
Deity.  He  settled  at  Bethel,  where  one  of  the  golden  calves  had  formerly  stood  ;  and 
afterward  the  Samaritans  united  the  worship  of  Jehovah  with  the  worship  of  their 
own  gods. 

We  will  follow  the  expatriated  Israelites  into  the  places  of  their  captivity ;  but, 
first,  it  is  necessary  that  our  attention  should  be  turned  to  the  affairs  of  Judah,  which 
the  mercy  and  long-suffering  of  God  still  continue  to  spare. 

JUDAH,  FROM  B.  c.  725,  to  b.  c.  586. 

Hezekiah  was  twenty-five  years  of  age  when  he  succeeded  his  father,  Ahaz,  in  the 
kingdom  of  Judah.  He  was  a  most  pious  prince,  and  thoroughly  imbued  with  the 
principles  of  the  theocracy.  He  testified  the  most  lively  zeal  for  .the  service  and 
honor  of  Jehovah ;  while,  as  a  king,  he  was  disposed  to  manifest  the  most  unre- 
served reliance  on  him,  and  subservience  to  him,  as  Sovereign  Lord  of  the  Hebrew 
people.  He  therefore  won  the  high  eulogium  that  "  there  was  none  like  him  among 
all  the  kings  of  Judah  after  him,  nor  any  that  were  before  him."* 

*  2  Kings  xviii.  1-5.  Such,  however,  must  be  understood  as  popular  forms  of  describing  superior  charac- 
ter ;  for  the  same  is  said,  in  the  same  terms,  of  his  own  great  grandson,  Josiah. 

t  The  Sepulchre  of  the  Kinos. — It  would  be  rather  difficult  to  prove  that  the  ancient  sepulchre  which 
now  bears  this  name  is  really  that  to  which  there  are  such  frequent  allusions  in  the  history  of  the  king- 
dom of  Judah.  But  it  would  be  equally  difficult  to  disprove  it.  The  situation  is  not  unsuitable,  nor  the 
internal  arrangements  unbecoming  such  a  distinction.  And  if  any  difficulty  were  to  be  started  with  refer- 
ence to  the  architectural  character  of  the  sculptured  exterior,  it  might  very  easily  be  answered  that  this  was 
added  at  a  period  long  subsequent  to  the  original  construction  of  the  tomb.  It  might  also  be  added,  that 
if  this  be  not  the  Sepulchre  of  the  Kings,  no  other  sepulchre  now  existing  near  Jerusalem  is  entitled  to 
compete  that  distinction  with  it.  Upon  the  whole,  this  is  a  matter  on  which  one  would  not  like  to  give  a 
decided  opinion  ;  but  apart  from  this  matter,  the  sepulchre  in  question  is  of  great  interest  from  the  very 
complete  example  which  it  offers  of  the  ancient  sepulchres. 

The  Sepulchre  of  the  Kings,  so  called,  is  situated  nearly  a  mile  to  the  north  of  the  northwestern  gate 
(Damascus-gate)  of  the  present  city,  but  appears  to  have  been  only  just  outside  the  northwestern  angle 
of  tlie  ancient  wall. 

These  splendid  remains  differ  from  most  other  rock-carved  sepulchres  in  not  being  cut  in  the  side  of  a 
hill,  but  beneath  a  level  spot  of  ground  approached  by  a  narrow  path,  which  leads  to  a  square  enclosure, 
hewn  out  of  the  limestone  stratum,  of  about  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  deep.  A  wall  of  the  natural  rock 
separates  this  from  an  inner  square  court,  which  opens  into  it  by  a  round  arch.  On  the  southern  side  of 
this  court  (which  is  covered  witli  rubbish  and  brambles)  is  a  very  handsome  square  portico,  with  a  beauti- 
fully-carved architrave — forming  probably  the  most  complete  specimen  of  Hebrew  sculpture  that  now 
exists.  The  frieze  is  adorned  with  a  regulus,  trigliphs,  vine-leaves,  and  other  floral  embellishments,  while 
the  centre  is  charged  with  an  immense  cluster  of  grapes.  A  pilaster  at  either  end  still  remains,  and  in  all 
probability  there  were  anciently  two  columns  in  the  centre,  now  destroyed.  The  face  of  the  rock  within 
tlie  portico  is  smooth,  and  presents  no  appearance  of  openings,  but  a  low  doorway  on  the  left  hand  leads 
into  a  large  square  antechamber,  hewn  out  of  the  solid  rock.  There  are  no  niches,  or  places  for  sarco- 
phagi in  this  apartment,  but  a  series  of  small  chambers  branch  off  on  each  of  its  three  sides.  These  are, 
for  the  most  part,  oblong  crypt.T,  with  ledges  on  either  side  for  holding  the  bodies  or  coffins. 

The  doors  of  those  chambers  have  attracted  much  and  deserved  attention  ;  they  are  made  of  single 
stones  or  slabs,  seven  inches  thirk,  sculptured  in  panels,  so  as  exactly  to  resemble  doors  made  by  a  carpen 
ter  at  the  present  day,  the  whol  ■  being  completely  smoothed  and  polished,  and  of  the  most  accurate  proper 
tions.     These  doors  turned  on  pivots,  of  the  same  stone,  which  were  inserted  in  sockets  above  and  below 

There  are  no  troughs  or  soroi  in  any  of  the  chambers,  but  simply  ledges  on  the  sides,  for  bodies  or  coffins. 

A  low  <loor  and  a  (light  of  stei'<  lead  down  into  another  suite  of  chambers,  of  similar  form  and  construc- 
tion. In  these  are  found  some  ilne  sarcophagi  of  unsurpassed  elegance  in  form  and  ornament.  Each  of 
them  consists  of  two  half  cylinders  of  white  marble,  excavated  within,  and  which,  when  placed  together 
resemble  the  shaft  of  a  beautiful  pillar.  The  bottom  part  is  comparatively  plain  ;  but  the  lid,  or  upper 
part,  is  covered  with  the  most  elaborately  carved  foliage  in  basso  relievo,  traced  in  vines,  roses,  and  lily 
work.  The  groove,  or  cavity,  for  the  body,  which  is  principally  hollowed  out  from  the  bottom  part,  is 
about  two  feet  broad,  and  a  foot  deep— a  sufficiently  large  space  to  contain  the  body  of  an  ordinary-sized 
person.  The  ends  also  of  these  sarcophagi  are  carved  ;  and  the  general  form  and  appearance  might 
suggest  a  resemblance  to  the  large  carriage-trunks  of  former  days.  The  niches  for  the  sarcophagi  form 
the  segment  of  a  dome,  being  somewliat  differently  shaped  from  some  of  those  in  the  upper  chambers. 
Above  the  place  of  each  coffin  is  a  small  niche,  apparently  designed  to  contain  a  lamp. 

This  account  of  the  Royal  Sepulchres  is  abridged  and  slightly  altered  from  a  longer  description  in  Dr. 
Wilde's  "Narrative,"  ii.  298-301.  The  Rev.  J.  U.  Paxton  is  another  recent  traveller,  who  has  given  a 
very  clear  description  of  these  sepulchres,  the  exterior  of  which  is  represented  in  our  engraving,  at  page 
351.  from  a  drawing  by  Mr.  ArundaJe. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


351 


352  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

He.began  his  reign  b)'  the  restoration  of  the  true  religion  and  the  abolishment  of 
idolatrj^  throughout  his  dominions.  ]n  the  very  first  month  he  opened  the  doors  of 
the  temple,  which  his  father  had  closed,  and  restored  the  worship  and  service  of  God 
in  proper  order  and  beauty.  In  extirpating  idolatry  he  was  not  content,  with  the  ab- 
olition of  its  grosser  forms,  but  sought  out  the  more  native  and  intimate  superstitions 
which  were  incentives  thereto.  The  altars  illegally  erected  to  Jehovah,  which  former 
kinsfs  had  spared,  were  by  him  overthrown.  The  brazen  serpent,  which  Moses  had 
made  in  the  Avildemess,  and  which  was  preserved  in  the  temple,  came  in  time  to  be 
regarded  as  a  holy  relic,  to  which  at  last  a  sort  of  superstitious  worship  was  paid,  and 
incense  burned  before  it.  This  was  nor  unnatural,  considering  the  history  of  this  relic, 
combined  wiih  the  fact  that  ophiolatry  was  then,  and  before  and  after,  a  very  common 
superstition  in  Egypt  and  other  countries.  It  nobly  illustrates  the  vigor  of  Hezekiah's 
character,  and  of  an  entire  freedom  from  superstition,  of  which  it  is  difficult  now  to 
appreciate  the  full  merit,  that  he  spared  not  even  this  certainly  interesting  relic,  but 
broke  it  in  pieces,  and  instead  of  nahash,  "a  serpent,"  called  it  contemptuously  ne- 
hushlan,  "  a  brazen  bauble." 

Much  attention  was  also  paid  by  Hezekiah  to  the  dignified  and  orderly  celebration 
of  the  festivals,  which  formed  so  conspicuous  a  feature  in  the  ritual  system  of  the  He- 
brews. The  passover  in  particular,  which  had  fallen  into  neglect,  was  revived  with 
great  splendor,  and,  as  noticed  in  the  last  chapter,  Hezekiah  sent  couriers  through  the 
kingdom  of  Israel  to  invite  the  attendance  of  the  Israelites.  His  object  was  so  obvi- 
ously religious  only,  without  any  political  motives,  that  the  last  king  of  Israel  offered 
no  opposition  :  and  indeed  a  kingdom  so  nearly  on  the  point  of  being  absorbed  into  the 
great  Assyrian  empire,  had  small  occasion  to  concern  itself  respecting  any  possible  de- 
signs of  Hezekiah.  The  Israelites  were  therefore  left  to  act  as  their  own  dispositions 
might  determine.  Tlie  couriers  went  on  from  city  to  city  proclaiming  the  message, 
and  delivering  the  letters  with  which  they  were  charged.  In  these  the  kingof  Judah 
manifested  great  anxiety  to  induce  the  Israelites — "  the  remnant  who  had  escaped  out 
of  the  hands  of  the  kings  of  Assyria" — to  return  to  Jehovah,  and  by  that  return  avert 
that  utter  destruction  which  seemed  to  impend  over  them.  The  great  body  of  the 
Israelites  received  the  invitation  with  laughter  and  derision ;  but  in  Zebulon  and  Asher 
some  were  found  "  who  humbled  themselves  and  came  to  Jerusalem." 

Like  David,  his  great  model,  Hezekiah  made  provision  for  the  instruction  and  moral 
improvement  of  the  people,  by  the  public  singing  of  the  Psalms  in  the  temple,  and  by 
a  new  collection  of  the  moral  maxims  of  Solomon. 

For  his  righteous  doings  the' Lord  was  with  Hezekiah,  and  prospered  him  in  all  his 
reasonable  undertakings.  He  extended  the  fortifications  and  magazines  throughout 
the  country  ;  he  supplied  Jerusalem  more  plentifully  Avith  water  hy  means  of  a  new 
aqueduct;  and  the  Philistines,  who  had  penetrated  into  the  southern  parts  of  Judea 
m  the  reign  of  his  father,  were  conquered  by  his  arms. 

The  possession  of  the  kingdom  of  Damascene-Syria,  and  the  entire  conquest  of  Is- 
rael, rendered  the  kings  of  Assyria  all-powerful  in  those  countries.  Phoenicia  was  the 
next  to  experience  the  force  of  their  arms.  The  Tyrians  only  (according  to  the  cita- 
tion which  Joseplius  adduces  from  their  own  historian  Mcnander)  refused  to  receive 
the  Assyrian  yoke.  They  fought  and  dispersed  the  fleet  which  the  subjugated  Phoe- 
nicians had  furnished  for  the  ulterior  objects  and  remoter  enterprises  of  Shalmaneser. 
To  avenge  this  act,  the  Assyrian  king  left  his  troops  for  five  years  in  the  Tyrian  ter- 
ritory, where  they  grievously  distressed  the  citizens  of  Tyre,  by  cutting  off"  all  access 
to  the  river  and  aqueduct  from  which  the  town  obtained  its  water.  It  was  the  death 
of  Shalmaneser,  apparently,  which  induced  the  Assyrians  to  abandon  the  siege. 

It  was  probably  the  same  occasion,  together  with  an  undue  reliance  upon  his  forti- 
fications, and  too  much  confidence  derived  from  the  success  which  had  attended  the 
small  wars  in  which  he  had  been  engaged,  which  led  Hezekiah  into  the  same  temerity 
which  had  l)een  the  ruin  of  Hoshea.  He  discontinued  the  tribute  to  the  Assyrians 
which  hail  been  imposed  upon  his  father,  and  by  that  act  threw  ofi'  the  yoke  which 
Ahaz  had  voluntarily  taken  on  himself. 

In  the  fourteenth  year  of  Hezekiah,  the  new  king  of  Assyria,  named  Sennacherib, 
came  a  large  army  to  reduce  the  kingdom  ol  Judah  to  obedience,  as  well  as  to  invade 
Egypt,  on  account  of  the  encouragement  which  "So,"  the  king  of  tliat  country,  had 
given  to  Hoshea  to  revolt,  by  promises  of  assistance,  wliicii  he  ])roved  unable  to  ren- 
der.    Such  promises  appear  to  have  been  renewed  to  Hezekiah,  to  induce  him  to  give 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  353 

trouble  and  employment  to  a  power  of  which  the  Egyptians  had  good  cause  to  be 
jealous.  But  the  new  king  Sethos  (Se-pthah,  priest  of  Pthah),  who  had  been  a  priest, 
considermg  the  services  of  the  soldiers  unnecessary  to  the  security  of  a  kingdom  in- 
trusted tolhe  protection  of  the  gods,  treated  the  military  caste  Avith  much  indignity, 
and  much  abridged  their  privileges,  in  consequence  of  which  they  refused,  when  re- 
quired, to  march  against  the  Assyrians.  ,.,,,,  ,  .        ,.         .       , 

Hezekiah,  disappointed  of  the  assistance  which  he  had  expected  from  t>gypt,=^  and 
observiiio-  the  overwhelming  nature  of  the  force  put  in  action,  delayed  not  to  make  his 
submissions  to  Sennacherib,  humbly  acknowledging  his  offence,  and  offering  to  sub- 
mit to  any  tribute  which  the  king  might  impose  upon  him.  The  desire  of  the  As- 
syrian not  to  delay  his  more  important  operations  against  Egypt,  seems  to  have  in- 
clined him  to  listen  favorably  to  this  overture.  He  demanded  three  hundred  talents 
of  silver,  and  thirty  talents  of  gold  ;  and  this  was  paid  by  Hezekiah,  although  to  raise 
it  he  was  compelled  to  exhaust  the  royal  and  sacred  treasures,  and  even  to  strip  off 
the  "-old  with  which  the  doors  and  pillars  of  the  temple  were  overlaid. 

Sennacherib  received  the  silver  and  gold;  but  after  he  had  taken  Ashdod,  one  of  the 
keys  of  E^-ypt,  he  began  to  think  it  would  be  unsafe  in  his  invasion  of  that  country  to 
leave  the  kingdom  of  Judah  unsubdued  in  his  rear.  He  therefore  determined  to  com- 
plete the  subjugation  of  Judah  in  the  first  place,— the  rather  as  his  recent  observa- 
tions, and  the  humble  submission  of  Hezekiah,  left  him  little  reason  to  expect  much 
delay  or  difficulty  in  this  enterprise.  He  soon  reduced  all  the  cities  to  his  power  ex- 
cept Libnah  and  Lachish,  to  which  he  laid  siege,  and  Jerusalem,  to  which  he  sent  his 
general  Rabshakeh  with  a  verv  haughty  summons  to  surrender.  Many  blasphemous 
and  disparaging  expressions  were  applied  to  Jehovah  by  the  heathen  general.  By  this 
he  was,  as  It  were,  bound  to  vindicate  his  own  honor  and  power;  and,  accordingly, 
the  prophet  Isaiah  was  commissioned  to  promise  the  king  deliverance,  and  to  foreiell 
the  destruction  of  the  Assyrian  host :  "  Lo  !  I  will  send  a  blast  upon  him,  and  he  shall 
hear  a  rumor,  and  shall  return  to  his  own  land,  and  I  will  cause  him  to  fall  by  the 
sword  in  his  own  land."     2  Kings  xix.  7. 

The  rumor  by  which  Sennacherib  was  alarmed  and  interrupted,  was  no  other  than 
the  report  which  was  spread  abroad  that  Tirhakah  the  Ethiopian,  king  of  Upper 
Egypt,  was  marching  wilh  an  immense  army  to  cut  off  his  retreat.  He  then  deter- 
mined'to  withdraw  :  \\M  first  sent  a  boasting  letter  to  Hezekiah,  defying  the  God  of 
Israel,  and  threatening  what  destructions  he  would  execute  upon  the  nation  on  his 
return.  But  that  very  night  an  immense  proportion  of  the  Assyrian  host,  even  one 
hundred  and  eighty  thousand  men,  were  struck  dead  by  "  the  blast"  which  the 
prophet  had  predicted,  and  which  has,  with  great  probability,  been  ascribed  to  the 
agency  of  the  simoom,  or  hot  pestilential  south  wind,  which  we  may  have  another 

occasion  to  notice.  ,.,  •rjrii-i.j 

Sennacherib  returned  to  Nineveh,  and  in  the  exasperation  oi  deieat  he  behaved 
with  great  severity  to  the  captive  Israelites.  But  his  career  was  soon  closed.  Fifty- 
two  days  after  his  return  he  was  slain,  while  worshipping  in  the  temple  of  the  god 
Nisroc,  by  his  two  eldest  sons.  Thus  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah  was  in  every  point 
accomplished.  The  parricides  fled  into  Armenia,  leaving  the  steps  of  the  throne 
clear  for  the  ascent  of  the  third  son,  whose  name  was  Esarhaddon.  This  great 
blow  so  weakened  the  Assyrian  monarchy  as  not  only  to  free  the  king  of  Judah 
from  his  apprehensions,  but  enabled  the  Medes  and  Babylonians  to  assert  their 
bdependence. 

The  same  year  Hezekiah  f?ll  sick — apparently  of  the  plague,— and  he  was  warned 
by  the  prophet  Isaiah  to  prepare  for  death.  The  king  was  afflicted  at  these  tidings; 
and  turning  his  face  to  the  wall  (as  he  lay  in  his  bed),  to  be  unnoticed  by  his  atten- 
dants, he  besought  the  Lord,  with  tears,  to  remember  him  with  favor.  His  prayer 
was  heard  ;  and^the  prophet,  who  had  not  yet  left  the  palace,  was  charged  to  return  and 
acquaint  Hezekiah  that,  on  the  third  following  day,  he  should  resume  his  customary 
attendance  at  the  temple;  and  not  only  that,  but  that  fifteen  years  should  be  added 
to  his  life.  In  confirmation  of  this  extraordinary  communication,  the  king  desired 
some  miraculous  sign ;  and  accordingly  the  shadow  of  the  style  upon  the  dial  of 
Ahaz  went  backward  ten  degrees.     The  event  corresponded  to  these  intimations. 

*  Tliat  he  had  expectations  from  that  quarter,  and  that  such  expectations  were  known  to  the  Syrians,  ap 
pears  from  Rabshakeh's  advice  to  him,—"  Not  to  trust  upon  the  staff  o(  that  bruised  reed,  Egypt  (upon 
which  if  a  man  lean  it  will  break  and  pierce  his  hand)  ;"  2  Kings  xviii.  17-35 

23 


354  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

The  i^rolongation  ol  life  was  the  more  important  and  desirable  to  Hezekiah.  as  a 
that  time  there  was  no  direct  heir  to  the  crown.  These  circumstances,  together  with 
the  signal  deliverance  from  Sennacherib,  not  only  cured  the  people  of  the  idolatry 
which  Ahaz  had  introduced,  and  retained  them  for  some  time  in  their  fidelity  to 
Jehovah,  but  excited  the  curiosity  and  admiration  of  the  neighboring  nations.  Mero- 
dach-Baladan,  the  king  of  Babylon,  sent  an  embassy  to  congratulate  the  king  on  his 
deliverance  from  the  Assyrians  (through  which  Merodach  himself  had  been  enabled 
to  establish  his  independence  in  Babylon),  and  upon  his  recovery  from  his  illness,  as 
well  as  to  make  particular  inquiries  respecting  the  miracle  by  which  it  was  accom- 
panied, and  which  must  have  been  of  peculiar  interest  to  a  scientific  people  like  the 
Babylonians.  Hezekiah  appears  to  have  been  highly  flattered  by  this  embassy  from 
so  distant  a  quarter.  The  embassadors  were  treated  with  much  attention  and 
respect,  and  the  king  himself  took  pleasure  in  showing  them  the  curiosities  and 
treasures  of  his  kingdom.  That  he  had  treasures  to  show,  seems  to  signify  that  he 
had  recovered  his  wealth  from  the  Assyrians,  or  had  enriched  himself  by  their  spoil. 

The  sacred  historian  attributes  Hezekiah's  conduct  on  this  occasion  to  "  his  pride 
of  heart,"  involving  an  appropriation  to  himself  of  that  glory  which  belonged  only 
to  Jehovah.  Although,  therefore,  his  conduct  did  not  occasion  the  doom,  it  gave  the 
prophet  Isaiah  occasion  to  make  known  to  him  that  the  treasures  of  his  kingdom 
were  the  destined  spoil,  and  his  posterity  the  destined  captives  of  the  very  nation 
whose  present  embassage  had  produced  in  him  so  much  unseemly  pride.  This  was 
in  every  way  a  most  remarkable  prediction  ;  for  Babylon  was  then  an  inconsiderable 
kinffdom,  and  the  people  almost  unknown  by  whom  the  prediction  was  to  be  fulfilled. 
Hezekiah  received  this  announcement  with  true  oriental  submission — satisfied,  he 
said,  if  there  were  but  peace  and  truth  in  his  own  days. 

The  remainder  of  Hezekiah's  reign,  through  the  years  of  prolonged  life  which  had 
been  granted  to  him,  appears  to  have  been  prosperous  and  happy.  To  no  other  man 
was  it  ever  granted  to  view  the  approach  of  death  with  certain  knowledge,  through 
the  long,  but  constantly  shortening,  vista  of  years  that  lay  before  him.  At  the  time 
long  before  appointed,  Hezekiah  died,  after  a  reign  of  twenty-nine  years,  B.  C.  725. 

Manasseh  was  but  twelve  years  of  age  when  he  lost  his  father,  and  began  to 
reit^n.  The  temptations  which  surrounded  him,  and  the  evil  counsels  which  were 
pressed  upon  him,  were  too  strong  for  his  youth.  He  was  corrupted  ;  and  it  seemed 
the  special  object  of  his  reign  to  overthrow  all  the  good  his  father  had  wrought  in 
Judah.  The  crimes  of  all  former  kings  seem  light  in  comparison  with  those  which 
disgraced  his  reign.  He  upheld  idolatry  with  ail  the  influence  of  the  regal  power, 
and  that  with  such  inconceivable  boldness,  that  the  pure  and  holy  ceremonies  of  the 
temple  service  were  superseded  by  obscene  rites  of  an  idol  image  set  up  in  the  very 
sanctuary  ;  while  the  courts  of  God's  house  were  occupied  by  altars  to  "  the  host  of 
heaven,"  or  the  heavenly  bodies.  He  maintained  herds  of  necromancers,  astrologers, 
and  soothsayers  of  various  kinds.  The  practice  which  was,  of  all  others,  the  most 
abhorrent  to  Jehovah,  the  king  sanctioned  by  his  own  atrocious  example;  for  he  de- 
voted his  own  children,  by  fire,  to  strange  gods,  in  the  blood-stamed  valley  of  Ben- 
Hiiniom.  Wickedness  now  reigned  on  high,  and  as  usual  persecuted  righteousness 
and  truth ;  so  that,  by  a  strong  but  significant  hyperbole,  we  are  told  that  innocent 
blood  flowed  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem  like  water. 

While  these  things  were  transacting  in  Judah,  Esarhaddon,  the  king  of  Assyria, 
was  consolidating  his  power,  and  endeavoring  to  reunite  the  broken  fragments  of  his 
father's  empire.  It  was  not  until  the  thirtieth  year^f  his  reign  that  he  recovered 
Babylon,  the  affairs  of  which  appear  to  have  fallen  into  great  disorder  after  the 
death  of  Merodach-Baladan,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  occurrence  of  five  reigns  and 
two  interregnums  of  ten  years,  all  in  the  course  of  the  twenty-nine  years  which  pre- 
ceded its  re'duction  again  under  the  Assyrian  yoke. 

When  Esarhaddon  had  sufficiently  re-established  his  authority,  and  settled  his 
affairs  in  the  east,  he  turned  his  attention  westward,  and  determined  to  restore  his 
authority  in  that  quarter,  and  to  avenge  the  disgrace  and  loss  which  the  Assyrians 
had  sustained  in  Palestine.  This  intention  constituted  him  Jehovah's  avenger  upon 
the  kin"-  and  nation  of  Judah,  for  the  manifold  iniquities  into  which  they  had  by  this 
time  fallen. 

Esarhaddon  entered  Judah  in  great  force,  defeated  Manasseh  in  battle,  took  him 
alive,  and  sent  hira  in  chains  to  Babylon,  together  with  niany  of  his  nobles  and 


mSTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  355 

ol  the  people.     They  were  sent  to  Bahylon  probably  because  Esarhaddon,  to  prevent 

another  defection,  made  that  city  his  chief  residence  during  the  last  thirteen  years  of 

his  reign.     It  was  probably  on  the  same  occasion  that  he  removed   the  principal 

emaining  inhabitants  of  Israel,  and  replaced  them  by  more  colonists  from  the  East. 

In  the  solitude  of  his  prison  at  Babylon,  Manasseh  became  an  altered  and  a  better 
man.  The  sins  of  his  past  life,  and  the  grievous  errors  of  his  government  were 
brought  vividly  before  him;  and  humbling  himself  before  the  God  of  his  fathers,  he 
cried  earnestly  for  pardon,  and  besought  an  opportunity  of  evincing  the  sincerity  of 
his  repentance.  The  history  makes  mention  of  liis  prayer,  as  having  been  preserved ; 
and  the  Apocrypha  contains  a  prayer  which  purports  to  be  that  which  he  used  on  this 
occasion.  This  it  would  be  difficult  to  prove;  but  the  prayer  itself  is  a  good  one, 
and  suitable  to  the  occasion. 

His  prayer  was  heard,  and  the  opportunity  which  he  sought  was  granted  to  him. 
Esarhaddon  gave  way  to  the  suggestions  of  a  more  generous  policy  than  that  by  which 
he  had  been  at  first  actuated.  He  released  the  captive  from  his  prison,  and  after 
having,  we  may  presume,  won  him  over  to  the  interests  of  Assyria,  and  weaned  from 
the  national  bias  in  favor  of  an  Egyptian  alliance,  sent  him  home  with  honor.  Un- 
questionably, he  remained  tributary  to  the  Assyrian  monarch,  and  his  territory  was 
probably  considered  as  forming  a  useful  barrier  between  the  territories  of  Assyria  and 
of  Egypt.  On  his  return,  Manasseh  applied  himslf  with  great  diligence  to  the  cor- 
rection of  the  abuses  of  his  former  reign.  He  also  fortified  the  city  of  Zion  on  the 
west  side  by  a  second  high  wall  (or,  perhaps,  he  only  rebuilt  and  carried  to  a  greater 
height  the  wall  which  the  Assyrians  had  thrown  down),  and  endeavored  as  far  as 
possible  to  restore  the  weakened  kingdom  to  a  better  state.  He  died  in  B.  C.  696, 
after  a  protracted  reign  of  fifty-five  years ;  and,  mindful  of  the  first  iniquities  of  his 
reign,  a  place  in  the  Sepulchre  of  the  Kings  was  denied  him,  but  he  was  buried  in  his 
own  garden. 

Amon  the  son  of  Manasseh  was  twenty-five  years  of  age  when  he  ascended  the 
throne  of  Judah.  He  had  been  born  after  the  repentance  and  restoration  of  his  father ; 
yet  the  first  ways  of  Manasseh,  and  not  the  last,  were  those  which  he  chose  to  follow. 
He  revived  the  idolatries  which  had  been  suppressed;  but  the  full  development  of  his 
plans  and  character  was  interrupted  by  a  conspiracy,  in  which  he  perished  after  a 
short  reign  of  two  years.     B.  C.  639. 

Josiah  was  but  eight  years  old  at  the  death  of  his  father ;  and  during  his  minority 
the  affairs  of  ihe  government  were  administered  by  the  high-priest  Joachim  and  a 
council  of  elders  at  Jerusalem.  The  young  king  profited  well  by  the  excellent  educa- 
tion he  received  under  the  tutelage  of  the  high-priest.  After  a  minority  of  eight  years 
he  assumed  the  government,  and  proceeded  to  act  with  far  greater  vigor  against  the 
idolatries  of  the  land  than  the  regent  had  ventured  to  exercise.  He  not  only  destroy- 
ed every  form  of  idolatry  which  he  was  able  to  detect,  but  overthrew  the  altars  ille- 
gally erected  to  Jehovah,  and  corrected  the  other  irregularities  which  had  in  previous 
times  been  tolerated.  In  the  course  of  these  purgations,  which  were  conducted  by 
the  king  in  person,  he  came  to  Bethel,  and  there  (according  to  the  prediction  made 
nearly  four  centuries  before,  which  had  mentioned  him  hy  name)  he  defiled  the  altar 
which  Jeroboam  had  erected  before  the  golden  calf  in  that  place,  by  burning  thereon 
the  disinterred  bones  of  dead  men — the  bones  of  the  worshippers.  And  it  was  thus 
that  the  idolatrous  altars  were  defiled  by  him  throughout  the  land. 

The  zeal  of  the  king  took  him  beyond  the  limits  of  his  own  kingdom  into  the  land 
of  Israel,  which  he  traversed  even  to  its  remoter  parts,  uprooting  idolatry  and  all  its 
adjuncts,  wherever  he  came.  For  this  rather  remarkable.proceeding  out  of  his  own 
kingdom  there  are  different  ways  of  accounting.  The  most  probable  seems  to  be  that 
in  restoring  Manasseh  to  his  throne,  the  king  of  Assyria  had  extended  his  authority 
(for  the  purpose  of  internal  government)  over  the  neighboring  territory.  His  favor 
and  confidence,  continued  to  Josiah,  agrees  with  and  helps  to  explain  some  other  cir- 
cumstances. 

When  these  operations  were.completed,  measures  were  taken  for  a  thorough  repair 
of  the  temple.  While  this  was  in  progress,  the  high-priest,  Hilkiah,  discovered  the 
autograph  copy  of  the  Law,  written  by  the  hand  of  Moses,  which  had  been  deposit- 
ed in  or  beside  the  ark  of  the  covenant  in  the  sanctuary.  By  his  direction  Shaphan, 
the  chief  scribe,  read  therefrom  in  the  audience  of  the  king,  who  no  sooner  heard 
that  part  which  contams  the  prophecies  of  Moses  against  the  nation,  foretelling  the 


?56  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

captivities  and  destructions  which  should  befall  it  for  its  iniquities,  than  Josiah  kne\? 
by  signs  not  to  be  mistaken,  that  the  predicted  calamities  were  imminent,  for  the  in- 
iquities had  been  rife,  and  the  doom  could  not  but  soon  follow  ;  already,  indeed,  by 
the  captivity  of  Israel,  it  had  been  half  accomplished.  It  was  for  this  that  the  king 
rent  his  garments.*  He  delayed  not  to  send  to  Huldah  the  prophetess,  "  who  dwelt 
HI  the  college  at  Jerusalem,"  to  learn  from  her  the  real  intentions  of  Jehovah,  and  the 
sense  in  which  these  alarming  denunciations  were  to  be  understood.  She  confirmed 
the  obvious  interpretation — that  tha  unquenchable  wrath  of  God  would  ere  long  be 
poured  out  upon  Judah  and  Jerusalem,  consuming,  or  bringing  into  bondage,  the  land, 
the  city,  the  temple,  the  people,  the  king: — but  adding,  for  the  king  himself,  that  be- 
cause of  the  righteousness  which  had  been  found  in  him,  he  should  be  gathered  to 
his  grave  before  those  evil  days  arrived. 

By  these  disclosures  new  zeal  for  the  Law  was  kindled  in  the  heart  of  Josiah 
The  very  same  year,  he  caused  the  passover  to  be  celebrated  with  great  solemnity,  i. 
which  not  only  the  people  of  Judah,  but  the  remnant  of  the  Hebrew  race  which  the 
Assyrians  had  left  in  the  land  of  Israel,  joined.  There  had  been  no  such  passover 
shice  the  foundation  of  the  kingdom. 

To  understand  the  circumstances  which  led  to  the  death  of  King  Josiah,  it  is  ne- 
cessary to  view  correctly  the  position  of  his  kingdom,  as  a  frontier  barrier  between 
the  two  great  kingdoms  of  Assyria  and  Egypt,  wliose  borders,  by  the  conquests  of  th« 
former  power  were,  and  had  for  some  time  been,  in  close  and  dangerous  approxima- 
tion. It  is  obvious  that,  from  the  first,  the  political  game  of  Western  Asia  in  that 
age  lay  between  Egypt  and  Assyria,  the  former  power  being  the  only  power  west  of 
the  Euphrates  which  could  for  an  instant  be  expected  to  resist  or  retaliate  the  aggres- 
sive movements  of  the  latter.  There  was  little  question  that  the  rich  and  fertile  val- 
ley of  the  Kile  might  tempt  the  cupidity  or  the  ambition  of  the  Assyrians.  It  was 
therefore  the  obvious  policy  of  the  kings  of  Egypt  to  maintain  the  kingdoms  of  Israel 
and  Judah,  as  a  barrier  between  their  country  and  the  Assyrians,  and  it  was  the 
equally  obvious  policy  of  the  latter  to  break  that  barrier  down.  Hence  Hoshea  in 
Israel  had  been  encouraged  by  Sahaco  to  assert  his  independence,  with  a  promise  of 
support,  Avhich  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  Egyptian  king  was  less  unwilling 
than  unable  to  render.  The  fall  of  Israel,  as  it  weakened  the  barrier,  could  not  but 
be  a  matter  of  regret  to  the  Egyptians,  and  it  would  still  be  their  desire  to  strengthen 
the  hands  of  the  kings  of  Judah.  In  this  position  it  became  a  question  at  Jerusalem, 
as  it  had  been  in  Samaria,  whether  the  forbearance  of  the  Assyrians  should  be  pur- 
chased by  submission,  or  that  reliance  should  be  reposed  on  the  support  of  Egypt  in 
opposition  to  that  great  i)ower.  The  kings  and  people  seem  to  have  been  generally 
well  disposed  "  to  lean  upon  Egypt,"  not  more  from  habit  and  ancient  intercourse, 
than  from  the  perception  that  it  was  clearly  the  interest  of  that  country  (o  supjiort 
them  against  the  Assyrians.  But  when  it  had  happened  more  than  once  that  Egypt, 
after  having  encouraged  them  to  shake  off  the  Assyrian  yoke,  was  unable  (we  can 
not  believe  unwilling)  to  render  the  stipulated  assistance  at  the  time  it  Avas  most 
needed,  and  left  them  exposed  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  provoked  Assyrians,  the 
prophets  raised  their  voice  against  a  confidence  and  an  alliance  by  which  nothing  but 
calamity  had  been  produced,  and  encouraged  unreserved  and  quiet  submission  to  the 
Assyrian  yoke.  Even  Hezekiah  however,  as  wc  have  seen,  was  induced  by  the  pros- 
pect of  supi)ort  from  Egypt,  to  throw  off  his  dependance  on  Assyria.  The  conse- 
quent invasion  of  Judah  by  Sennacherib  was  so  obviouslv  threatening  to  Egypt,  that 
Seihos  (the  king  who  then  reigned  in  Lower  Egypt)  couid  only  have  been  prevented 
by  the  state  of  affairs  in  his  own  dominion  from  rendering  the  assistance  wiiidi  he 
had  led  the  king  of  Judah  to  expect.  But,  as  already  stated,  this  very  unwarlike 
person — a  priest  by  education  and  habit — had  so  offended  the  powerful  military  caste 
by  abridgments  of  their  privileges,  that  they  refused  to  act,  even  in  defence  Of  the 
country.     But  when  Tirhakah,  the  Ethiopian,  who  ruled  in  Upper  Egypt,  heard  of 

»  It  is  quite  evident  tliat  the  l<ing  had  never  before  read  or  heard  those  denunciations  of  tlie  law,  whicli 
seems  hard  to  account  for,  wlien  we  consider  that  copies  of  llie  law  do  not  appear  to  have  been  scarce, 
the  rather  as,  no  great  while  l)cfore,  many  copies  liad  been  made  under  the  direction  of  Hezel<iah.  It  has 
been  sui;gestcd  lliat  the  book  in  common  use,  and  even  that  used  by  l<ings  and  priests,  WaS  sonic  abstract, 
hl<e  our  abndpinent  ol  the  statutes,  which  contained  only  matters  of  positive  law,  omitting  the  promises 
and  threateniiigs.  The  king  being  impatient  to  know  the  contents,  the  scribe  oegins  to  read  immedialny  ; 
and  as  the  iiooks  of  the  limes  were  written  upon  long  scrolls,  and  rolled  upon  a  stick,  the  latter  part  of 
Deuteronomy  would  cotne  first  in  course  ;  and  there  the  scribe  would  find  those  terrible  tlueateitinj^s 
whereby  the  king  was  «o  strongly  aflected.     See  Deut,  xxviii. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  357 

ihe  threatened  invasion  by  Sennacherib,  he  marched  against  him  ;  and  the  Siriptural 
account  would  imply  that  the  mere  rumor  of  his  approach  sufficed  to  induce  the 
Assyrians  to  contemplate  a  retreat,  which  was  hastened  by  the  singular  destruction 
in  iiis  army  by  the  pestilential  simoom.*  This  solitary  example  of  assistance  from 
Egypt,  although  from  an  unexpected  quarter,  may  be  supposed  to  have  strengthened 
the  predilection  of  the  king  and  people  of  Judah  toward  the  Egyptian  alliance; 
and  it  was  almost  certainly  with  the  concurrence  of  Egypt  that  Manasseh  allowed 
himself  to  incur  the  wrath  of  the  Assyrians.  But  during  his  imprisonment  at  Babylon 
lie  would  seem  to  iiave  acquired  the  conviction  that  it  was  his  best  policy  to  adhere 
to  his  Assyrian  vassalage  ;  and  we  may  conclude  he  was  not  released  without  such 
oaths  and  covenants  as  his  awakened  conscience  bound  him  to  observe.  He  was 
probably  restored  to  his  throne  as  a  sworn  tributary,  or  as  being  bound  to  keep  the 
country  as  a  frontier  against  Egypt.  The  conduct  of  Josiah  renders  this  the  most 
probable  conclusion. 

The  Assyrian  power  got  involved  in  wars  with  the  Medes  and  Chaldeans,  by 
which  its  attention  was  fully  engaged  and  its  energies  weakened.  Egypt,  on  the 
other  hand,  united  under  one  king,  had  been  consolidating  its  strength.  Pharaoh- 
Necho,  the  king  of  that  country,  thought  the  opportunity  favorable  to  act  aggressively 
agiinst  the  Assyrians,  and  to  that  end  resolved  to  march  and  attack  this  old  enemy 
'oa  his  old  frontier.  Carchemish,  an  important  post  on  the  Euphrates,  and  the  key  of 
Assyria  on  the  western  side,  was  the  point  to  which  his  march  was  directed.  He 
passed  along  the  seacoast  of  Palestine,  northward,  the  route  usually  followed  by  the 
Egyptian  kings  Avhen  they  entered  Asia.  Josiah  being  apprized  of  this,  and  mindful 
of  his  relation  to  Assyria,  and  of  his  obligation  to  defend  the  frontier  against  the 
Egyptians,  assembled  his  forces  and  determined  to  impede,  if  he  could  not  prevent, 
the  march  of  Necho  through  his  territories.  When  the  Egyptian  king  heard  that 
Josiah  had  posted  himself  on  the  skirls  of  the  plain  of  Esdraelon — that  great  battle- 
field of  nations — to  oppose  his  progress,  he  sent  messengers  to  engage  him  to  desist 
from  his  interference,  alleging  that  he  had  no  hosiile  fntentions  against  Judah,  but 
against  an  enemy  with  whom  he  was  at  war,  and  warning  Josiah  that  his  imprudent 
interference  might  prove  fatal  to  himself  and  his  people.  But  these  considerations 
had  no  weight  with  Josiah,  against  what  appeared  to  him  a  clear  case  of  duty.  He 
resisted  the  progress  of  the  Egyptian  army  with  great  spirit,  considering  the  dispro- 
portion of  numbers.  He  himself  fought  in  disguise  ;  but  a  commissioned  arrow  found 
him  out,  and  inflicted  a  mortal  wound  in  the  neck.  He  directed  his  attendants  to  re- 
move him  from  the  battle-field.  Escaping  from  the  heavy  shower  of  arrows  with 
which  their  broken  ranks  were  overwhelmed,  they  removed  him  from  the  chariot  in 
which  he  was  wounded,  and  placing  him  in  "  a  second  one  that  he  had,"  they  con- 
veyed him  to  Jerusalem,  Avhere  he  died.  Thus  prematurely  perished,  at  the  age  of 
thirty-nine,  one  of  the  best  and  most  zealous  kings  who  ever  sat  upon  the  throne  of 
David.  His  zeal  in  his  vocation,  as  the  overturner  of  idolatry,  must  have  been  much 
stimulated  by  the  knowledge  that  he  had  been  pre-ordained,  by  name,  to  this  service, 
many  centuries  before  his  birth.  We  know  not  why  the  last  act  of  his  life  should  be 
deemed  blameworthy  by  many  who  in  other  respects  think  highly  of  his  character 
and  reign.  Was  it  not  rather  noble  and  heroic  in  him  to  oppose  the  vast  host  of 
Necho,  in  obedience  to  the  obligation  which  his  family  had  incurred  to  the  Assyrian 
kings,  and  in  consideration  of  which  his  grandfather,  his  father,  and  himself,  had 

♦  Sir  J.  G.  Willsinson  alleges,  we  know  not  on  what  authority,  that  Sennacherib  was  fought  and  beaten  by 
Tirbakah,  and  attributes  to  the  jealousy  of  the  Meinphites  the  version  of  the  affair  given  to  Herodotus,  by 
which  he  considers  the  truth  to  be  disguised  and  the  glory  of  Tirbakah  obscured.  This  version  is,  that  the 
Assyrians  actually  invaded  Egypt ;  and  Sethos  being  unsupported  by  the  military,  was  induced  by  a  dream 
to  march  against  the  enemy  at  the  head  of  an  undisciplined  rabble  of  artisans  and  laborers.  While  the  two 
parties  were  encamped  opposite  each  other,  near  Pelusium,  a  piodigious  number  of  field  mice  visited  the 
Assyrian  camp  by  mght  and  gnawed  to  pieces  their  quivers  and  bows,  as  well  as  the  handles  of  their  shields  ; 
so  that,  in  the  morning,  finding  themselves  without  arms,  they  tied  in  confusion,  losing  great  numbers  of 
their  men.  This  is  the  story  which  Sir  J.  G.  Wilkinson  regards  as  mventedbythe  Memphites  to  withdraw 
from  Tirhakah  the  credit  of  the  Assyrian  overthrow,  which  was  really  his  work.  But  from  the  cast  given 
to  the  story,  we  are  very  much  more  disposed  to  believe  that  it  is  rather  a  version  of  the  extraordinary 
overthrow  which  the  Assyrians  sustained  Ay  mght  in  Palestine,  and  which  the  Egyptians  desired  to  appro- 
priate to  their  own  country  and  their  own  gods.  Or  may  it  not  be  that,  seeing  the  Hebrews  alleged  their 
God  to  be  the  Creator  of  the  world,  the  F.gyptians  considered  him  the  same  as  Phtah,  the  creator  in 
their  mythology,  and  whose  priest  Sethos  had  been  ?  This  seems  to  us  very  likely,  the  rather  as  it  is  dif 
ficult  without  this  supposed  identity  to  account  for  a  circumstance  in  a  following  reign,  when  Necho 
expected  to  influence  ihe  pious  Jjsiah  bv  telling  mat  God  had  sent  him  (Necho)  to  war  against  the 
Assyrians 


358  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

been  permitted  to  exercise  the  sovereign  authority  in  the  land?  The  death  of  Josiah 
was  lamented  by  the  prophet  Jeremiah  in  an  elegiac  ode,  which  has  noi  been  pre- 
served. 

Intent  upon  his  original  design,  Necho  paused  not  to  avenge  himself  upon  the  Ju- 
dahiies  fur  the  opposition  he  had  encountered,  but  continued  his  march  to  the 
Euplirates. 

Three  months  had  scarcely  elapsed,  when,  returning  victorious  from  the  capture  of 
Carchemish  and  the  defeat  of  the  Assyrians,  he  learned  that  the  people  had  called  a 
younger  son  of  Josiah,  named  Jfhoahaz  or  Shallum,  twenty-three  years  old,  to  the 
throne,  overlooking  his  elder  brother.  Displeased  that  such  a  step  had  been  taken 
without  any  reference  to  the  will  of  their  now  paramount  lord  and  conqueror,  he  sent 
and  summoned  Jehoahaz  to  attend  on  him  at  Riblah,  in  the  land  of  Hamath  ;  and 
having  deposed  him  and  condemned  the  land  to  pay  in  tribute  a  hundred  talents  of 
silver  and  a  talent  of  gold,  he  took  him  as  a  prisoner  to  Jerusalem.  On  arriving 
there,  IN  echo  made  Eliakim,  the  eldest  son  of  Josiah,  king  in  the  room  of  his  father, 
changing  his  name  to  Jehoiakim,  according  to  a  custom  frequently  practised  by  lords 
paramount  and  masters  toward  subject  princes  and  slaves.  The  altered  name  was 
a  mark  of  subjection.  Then  taking  the  silver  and  gold  which  he  had  levied  upon 
the  people,  Necho  departed  for  Egypt,  taking  with  him  the  captive  Jehoahaz,  who 
there  terminated  his  short  and  inglorious  career,  according  to  the  prophecy  of  Jere- 
miah.— Jer.  xxii.  10-12. 

Jehoiakim,  the  eldest  son  of  Josiah,  was  twenty-five  years  old  when  he  began  to 
reign.  He  reigned  eleven  years,  and  by  his  idolatries  and  misgovernment  proved  him- 
self worthy  of  the  throne  of  Ahaz  and  Manasseh.  Early  in  his  reign  he  was  called 
to  repentance  by  the  prophet  Jeremiah,  who  publicly,  at  the  feast  of  tabernacles,  in 
the  ears  of  the  assembled  nation,  denounced,  in  the  name  of  Jehovah,  the  severest 
judgments  against  king  and  people,  including  the  destruction  of  the  city  and  the  tem- 
ple. For  this  he  was  seized  as  a  seditious  person,  worthy  of  death  ;  but  he  was 
acquitted  by  the  nobles,  and  on  this  and  other  occasions  screened  by  some  persons  of 
influence,  who  had  been  in  power  in  the  good  times  of  Josiah. 

Meanwhile  the  war  in  the  east  approached  its  termination.  The  allied  Medes  and 
Babylonians — the  former  under  Cyaxares,  and  the  latter  under  Nabopolassar — be- 
sieged the  last  Assyrian  king  in  Nineveh.  'J'he  siege  was  turned  into  a  blockade; 
and  Nabopolassar,  already  assuming  the  government  of  the  empire  which  had  fallen 
from  the  enfeebled  hands  of  the  Assyrians,  despatched  his  son  Nebuchadnezzar  west- 
ward, Avith  an  adequate  force,  to  chastise  the  Egyptians  for  their  late  proceedings, 
and  to  restore  the  revolted  Syrians  and  Phoenicians  to  their  obedience.  In  these  dif- 
ferent objects  he  completely  succeeded.*  Carchemish  (Jer.  xlvii.  2)  he  recovered 
from  the  Egyptians,  and  Jehoiakim  was  compelled  to  transfer  his  allegiance  from 
Necho  to  the  Babylonian.  This  was  in  the  first  year  of  his  reign  ;  in  the  second  Min- 
eveh  was  taken  and  destroyed  by  the  allies.  The  conquering  Medes  were  content  to 
have  secured  their  independence  and  avenged  their  wrongs,  and  left  to  the  conquering 
Chaldeans  the  lion's  share  of  the  spoil.  Babylon  now  became  the  imperial  capital; 
but  Nabopolassar  himself,  the  founder  of  the  great  Chaldae-Babylonian  empire,  died 
almost  immediately  after  the  fall  of  Nineveh,  and  the  young  hero  in  the  west  was 
called  to  fill  the  glorious  throne  which  his  father  had  set  up. 

The  absence  of  Nebuchadnezzar  in  another  quarter  seemed  to  the  king  of  Egypt 
a  favorable  opportunity  of  recovering  his  foreign  conquests.  He  therefore  undercook 
another  expedition  against  Carchemish  (Jer.  xlvi.  2) ;  and  as  Jehoiakim,  in  Judea, 
renounced,  about  the  same  time,  his  sworn  allegiance  to  Nebuchadnezzar,  there  is 
iTUich  reason  to  conclude  that  he  was  encouraged  to  this  step  by  the  Egyptian  king. 
This  measure  was  earnestly  but  ineffectually  reprobated  by  the  prophet  Jeremiah, 
who  foretold  the  consequences  A\hich  actually  followed. 

Nebuchadnezzar,  who  was  certainly  the  greatest  general  of  that  age,  did  not  allow 
the  Egyptian  king  to  surprise  him.  He  met  and  defeated  him  at  Carchemish,  and 
then,  pursuing  his  victory,  stripped  the  Egyptian  of  all  his  northern  possessions,  from 
the  river  Euphrates  to  the  Nile,  and  this  by  so  strong  an  act  of  repression  that  he 
dared  "  come  no  more  out  of  his  own  land." 

The  king  of  Judah  now  lay  at  the  mercy  of  the  hero  whose  anger  he  had  so  unad- 
visedly provoked.     ISebuchadnezzar  laid  siege  to  Jerusalem,  and  took  it.     He  com- 

*  Berosus  in  Egypt.     '  Antiq.'  x.  11,  1. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  3f-  * 

mitted  no  destructions  but  such  as  were  the  direct  effect  of  his  military  operations; 
and,  with  a  leniency  very  rare  in  those  days,  he  refrained  from  displacing  Jekoiakiui 
from  liis  throne.  He  was  content  to  indemnify  himself  by  the  spoils  of  the  temple, 
part  of  the  golden  ornaments  a  ad  vessels  of  which  he  took  away ;  and  with  removing 
to  Babylon  some  members  of  the  royal  family,  and  sons  of  the  principal  nobles. 
These  would  serve  as  hosiages,  and  at  the  same  time  help  to  swell  the  pomp  and 
ostentation  of  the  Babylonian  court.  Among  the  persons  thus  removed  was  Daniel 
and  his  three  friends,  whose  condition  and  conduct  will  soon  engage  our  notice,  as 
part  of  the  history  of  the  captivity.  It  must  be  evident  that  the  leniency  exhibited 
on  this  occasion  by  Nebui'hadnczzar,  may  be  ascribed  to  his  desire  to  maintain  the 
kingdom  of  Judah  as  a  barrier  between  his  Syrian  dominions  and  Egypt;  for  since 
Egypt  had  become  aggressive,  it  was  no  longer  his  interest  that  this  barrier  should 
be  destroyed. 

The  court  at  Jerusalem  soon  again  fell  into  much  disorder.  The  king  turned  a 
deaf  ear  to  all  wise  counsel  and  all  truth,  as  delivered  by  the  prophet  Jeremiah,  and 
listened  only  to  the  false  prophet*,  Avho  won  his  favor  by  the  flattering  prospects 
which  they  drew,  and  by  the  chimerical  hopes  which  they  created.  The  final  result 
was,  that  this  prince  again  had  the  temerity  lo  renounce  his  allegiance  to  the  Baby- 
lonian, to  whose  clemency  he  owed  his  life  and  throne. 

This  occurred  in  the  fourth  year  of  Jehoiakim,  B.  C.  601,  which  it  is  important  to 
note,  as  it  is  from  this  date  that  the  "seventy  years"  of  the  Babylonish  captivity  is 
with  the  greatest  apparent  propriety  dated.  (Jer.  xxv.  11  ;  2  Chron.  xxxvi.  21-23.) 
This  period  of  seventy  years  of  exile  was  foretold  by  Jeremiah;*  and  it  is  most 
remarkable,  that,  from  whichever  of  the  more  marked  points  these  seventy  years  be 
commenced,  we  are  brought  at  the  termination  to  some  one  equally  marked  point  in 
the  history  of  the  restoration  and  re-settlement  of  the  nation. 

Jehoiakim  was  not  at  all  reformed  by  the  calamity  which  had  befallen  his  house 
and  country.  It  only  served  to  increase  the  ferocity  of  his  spirit.  This  reign,  there- 
fore, continued  to  be  cruel,  tyrannical,  and  oppressive,  and,  still  more  and  more,  "his 
eyes  and  his  heart  were  intent  on  covetousness,  oppression,  and  the  shedding  of  inno- 
cent blood."  Of  this  an  instance  is  found  in  the  case  of  the  prophet  Urijah,  "  whom 
he  slew  with  the  sword,  and  cast  his  dead  body  into  the  graves  of  the  cominoa 
people,"  because  he  prophesied  of  the  impending  calamities  of  Judah  and  Jerusalem. 
(Jer.  xxii.  13-16,  xxvi.  20-23.)  For  these  things  the  personal  doom  of  Jehoiakim 
was  thus  pronounced  by  Jeremiah  : — 

" Tlius  saith  Jehovah,  , 

Concern  ng  Jehoiatvim,  son  of  Josirili,  king  of  Israel, — 

Tliey  shall  not  lament  for  liiin,  saying, 

Ah,  my  brotlier  !  nor  [for  the  queen].  Ah,  sister! 

Tliey  shall  not  lament  for  him,  saying. 

All,  I.iird  I  nor  [for  her].  Ah,  he.r  glory  I 

With  tlie  burial  of  an  ass  shall  he  be  buried, 

Drawn  forth  and  cast  beyond  the  gates  of  .lerusalem." — (Jer.  xxii.  18,  !9.) 

For  this  prophecy  the  prophet  was  cast  into  pri.son,  in  the  fourth  year  of  Jehoiakim. 
The  following  year,  acted  upon  by  that  strong  conxtraint  to  deliver  the  word 
intrusted   to    him,  which   he   himself  so  forcibly   describes,!  Jeremiah   dictated  to 

-  Dated  from  this  point,  the  seventy  years  expired  in  B.  V,.  536,  the  year  that  Cyrus  took  Babylon,  and 
issued  a  decree  for  tlie  return  of  such  of  the  Jews  as  chose,  throughout  his  dominions,  to  their  own  land 
(Ezra  iii.  1,  v.  i:i) ;  and  this  agrees  with  the  account  of  Josephus,  "in  the  first  year  of  Cyrus,  which  was 
the  seventieth  (■()£>.'  /jn-'i'mj-)  from  the  day  of  the  removal  of  our  people  from  their  native  land  to 
Babylon,"  <fcc.  (Ant.  xi.  1,  1)  ;  for  from  B.  C.  titlj  to  B.  C.  5SG  was  sixty-nine  years  complete,  or  seventy 
years  current.  Hales,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  this  conclusion,  thinks  that  it  affords  a  satisfactory 
adjustment  of  the  chronology  of  this  most  intricate  and  disputed  period  of  tlie  captivity,  and  that  in  it 
"  all  the  varying  reports  of  sacred  and  profane  chronology  are  reconciled  and  brought  into  harmony  wilii 
each  otliej."  , 

t  "  Thnu  didst  persuade  me,  Jehovah,  and  1  was  persuaded  ; 

Thou  wast  stronger  than  I,  and  didst  prevail. 

I  am  every  day  the  object  of  laughter  ; 

Every  one  of  them  holdeth  me  in  derision. 

For  whensoever  I  speak,— 

If  I  cry  out  of  violence,  and  proclaim  devastation, 

The  word  of  Jehovah  is  turned  against  me, 
«  Into  reproach  and  disgrace  continually. 

But  when  I  say,  I  will  not  make  mention  of  it, 

Neither  will  1  speak  any  more  in  his  name  ; 

Then  it  becomes  in  my  heart  as  a  burning  fire. 

Being  pent  up  in  my  bone? 

J  ini  weary  witli  relraining,  ana  can  not  [6e  silent]." — Jci   sz.  7-9. 


3ti0  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

his  friend  and  follower,  the  scribe  Baruch,  another  prophecy,  to  the  same  effect  as 
the  former,  but  couched  in  stronger  language,  declaring  the  ruin  which  impended, 
'.hrough  the  Babylonian  king,  unless  speedy  and  strong  repentance  intervened  to  avert 
the  doom.  The  roll,  thus  written,  Baruch  was  sent  to  read  publicly  to  the  people 
assembled  from  all  the  country  on  account  of  a  solemn  fast  for  which  public  opinion 
had  called.  Baruch  accordingly  read  it  in  the  court  of  the  temple,  in  the  audience 
of  all  the  people  assembled  there.  He  afterward,  at  their  request,  read  it  more  pvi- 
v«tely  to  the  princes.  They  heard  it  with  consternation,  and  determined  to  make  its 
contents  known  to  the  king.  Baruch  was  directed  to  go  and  conceal  himself,  and  the 
roll  was  taken  and  read  to  the  king,  who  was  then  sitting  in  his  winter  apartment, 
with  a  brazier  of  burning  charcoal  before  him.  When  he  had  heard  three  or  four 
sections,  tiie  king  kmdled  into  rage,  and-  taking  the  roll  from  the  reader,  he  cut  it 
with  the  scribe's  knife,  and  threw  it  into  the  fire,  where  it  Avas  consumed.  He  also 
ordered  the  prophet  and  his  friend  to  be  put  to  death ;  but  this  was  averted  by  the 
kind  providence  of  the  Almighty  Master  whom  they  served. 

The  undaunted  prophet  directed  Baruch  to  rewrite  the  prophecy  which  had  been 
burnt,  with  additional  matter  of  the  same  purport;  while  to  Jehoiakim  himself  the 
terrible  message  was  sent : 

"  Thus  saith  Jehovah, 
Coiicernin;,'  Jehoiakim,  king  of  Judah, — 
He  sliall  have  none  to  sit  upon  tlie  throne  of  David ; 
And  his  dead  body  shall  be  cast  out, 
In  the  day  to  the  heat,  and  in  the  night  to  the  frost." — Jar.  xxxvi.  30. 

The  end  of  this  miserable  man  doubtless  corresponded  with  these  predictions, 
although  the  historical  narrative  of  that  event  is  involved  in  some  obscurity  and 
apparent  contradiction.  The  statement  we  shall  now  give  appears  to  be  the  only 
one  by  which,  as  it  appears  to  us,  all  these  difficulties  can  be  reconciled.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  if  Jehoiakim  did  not  again  revolt,  his  conduct  was  at  least  so  unsatisfactory 
to  the  king  of  Babylon,  that  he  sent  an  army  against  Jerusalem,  containing  some 
Chaldean  troops,  but  composed  chiefly  from  the  surrounding  subject  nations,  as  the 
Syrians,  Moabites,  and  Ammonites.  In  what  manner  they  performed  their  mission 
we  know  not,  but  according  to  the  figurative  description  which  Ezekiel  (ix.  5-9) 
gives  of  Jehoiakmi  as  a  rapacious  "  lion's  whelp,"  we  learn  that  "  the  nations  from 
the  provinces  set  about  him  on  every  side,  and  spread  their  net  over  him,  and  h'e 
was  taken  in  their  pit;  and  they  secured  him  with  chains,  and  brought  him  to  the 
king  of  Babylon."  Nebuchadnezzar  was  then  probably  at  Riblah,  at  which  place 
the  eastern  conquerors  appear  to  have  usually  held  their  court  when  in  Syria.  He 
bound  the  captive  king  "  with  fetters  [intending]  to  carry  him  to  Babylon"  (2  Chron. 
xxxvi.  6)  ;  but  took  him  first  to  Jerusalem,  where  he  appears  to  have  died  before 
this  intention  could  be  execuied  ;  and  the  prophecies  require  us  to  conclude  that  his 
body  was  cast  forth  with  indignity,  and  lay  exposed  to  the  elements  and  beasts  of 
prey,  which  is  what  is  intended  by  "  the  burial  of  an  ass." 

The  preceding  invaders  appear  to  have  been  contented  with  securing  the  person  ol 
Jehoiakim,  and  taking  him  to  Nebuchadnezzar ;  for  when  they  had  departed  with 
their  royal  captive,  the  people  made  his  son  Jeconiah  (otherwise  Jehoiachim  and 
Coniah)  king  in  the  room  of  his  father.  He  was  then  (B.  C.  597)  eighteen  years  of 
age,  and  had  barely  time  to  manifest  his  bad  disposition,  when  Nebuchadnezzer  him- 
self, who  was  displeased  at  this  appointment,  appeared  before  Jerusalem.  It  would 
seem  that  he  was  admitted  without  opposition  ;  but  Jeconiah  Avas,  nevertheless,  held 
a  close  prisoner.  The  money  which  remained  in  the  royal  treasury,  and  the  golden 
utensils  of  the  temple,  were  collected  and  sent  as  spoil  to  Babylon  ;  and  the  deposed 
king,  and  his  whole  court,  seven  thousand  soldiers,  one  thousand  artisans,  and  two 
thousand  nobles  and  men  of  wealth,  altogether,  with  wives  and  children,  amounting 
probably  to  40,000  persons,  were  sent  away  into  captivity  to  the  river  Chebar  (Cha- 
boras)  in  Mesopotamia.  Thus  only  the  lower  class  of  citizens  and  peasantry  were 
left  behind.  The  future  prophet,  Eze'^'el,  was  among  the  captives  ;  and  Mattaniah, 
the  remaining  son  of  Josiah,  and  brother  of  Jehoiakim,  was  made  king  of  the  enipov- 
erished  land  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  who,  according  to  the  custom  in  such  cases,  changed 
his  name  to  Zedekiah,  and  bound  him  by  strong  and  solemn  oaths  of  allegiance. 

The  Hebrews  who  remained  in  Judah  continued  however  to  cherish  dreams  of  in- 
dependence from  the  Chaldeans — impossible  under  the  circumstances  in  which  West- 


Sidon. 


362  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

♦ 

em  Asia  was  then  placed,  or  possible  only  through  such  special  interventions  of 
Providence  as  had  glorified  their  early  history,  but  all  further  claim  to  which  they 
had  long  since  forfeited.  Even  the  captives  in  Mesopotamia  and  Chaldea  were  look- 
ing forward  to  a  speedy  return  to  their  own  land.  These  extravagant  expectations 
were  strongly  discouraged  by  Jeremiah  in  Jerusalem,  and  by  Ezekiel  in  Mesopotamia; 
but  their  reproofs  were  not  heeded,  nor  their  prophecies  believed.  Accordingly,  Zede- 
kiah,  who  seems  not  to  have  been  ill-disposed,  otherwise  than  as  influenced  by  evil 
counsellors,  was  led  openly  to  renounce  his  allegiance,  in  the  ninth  year  of  his  reign. 
Tbe  temerity  of  this  act  would  be  astonishing  and  unaccountable,  were  it  not  that,  as 
usual,  the  renunciation  was  attended  by  an  alliance  with  the  king  of  Egypt,  Pharaoh- 
Hophra — the  Apries  and  Vaphres  of  profane  authors — who  indeed  had  acquired  a 
prominence  in  this  quarter  which  might  make  the  preference  of  his  alliance  seem  a 
comparatively  safe  speculation.  Apries,  in  the  early  part  of  his  reign,  was  a  very 
prosperous  king.  He  sent  an  expedition  against  the  Isle  of  Cyprus ;  besieged  and 
took  Gaza  (Jer.  xlvii.  1)  and  the  city  of  Sidon;  engaged  and  vanquished  the  king  of 
Tyre ;  and,  being  uniformly  successful,  he  made  himself  master  of  Phoenicia,  and 
part  of  Palestine;  thus  recovering  much  of  that  influence  in  Syria  which  had  been 
taken  from  Egypt  by  the  Assyrians  and  Babylonians. 

From  the  result  it  is  evident  that,  on  receiving  the  news  of  this  revolt  of  one  who 
pwed  his  throne  to  him,  and  whose  fidelity  to  him  had  been  pledged  by  the  most 
solemn  vows,  Nebuchadnezzar  resolved  no  longer  to  attempt  to  maintain  the  separate 
existence  of  Judah  as  a  royal  state,  but4o  incorporate  it  absolutely,  as  a  province,  with 
his  empire.  An  army  was,  with  little  delay,  marched  into  Judea,  and  laid  immediate 
siege  to  Jerusalem.  Jeremiah  continued  to  counsel  the  king  to  save  the  city  and 
temple  by  unreserved  submission  to  the  Chaldeans,  and  abandonment  of  the  Egyptian 
alliance  ;  but  his  auditors,  trusting  that  the  Egyptians  would  march  to  the  relief  of 
the  place,  determined  to  protract  the  defence  of  the  city  to  the  utmost.  The  Egypt- 
ians did,  in  fact,  march  to  their  assistance;  but  when  Nebuchadnezzar  raised  the 
siege  of  Jerusalem  and  advanced  to  meet  them,  they  retreated  before  him  into  Egypt, 
without  hazarding  a  battle. 

The  wiihdrawl  of  the  Chaldean  forces  from  Jerusalem,  with  the  confident  expecta- 
tion that  they  would  be  defeated  by  the  Egyptians,  filled  the  inhabitants  with  the 
most  extravagant  joy,  and  quite  reversed — and  so  evinced  the  hollowness  of — the 
slight  acts  of  repentance  and  reformation  which  the  apparent  urgency  of  danger  had 
produced.  Their  short-lived  joy  was  terminated  by  the  reappearance  of  the  Chal- 
deans before  the  city.  They  prepared,  however,  to  make  a  vigorous,  or  at  least  a  pro- 
tracted defence,  for  they  well  knew  that,  after  so  many  provocations,  little  mercy  was 
to  be  expected  from  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  they  were  probaljly  acquainted  with  the  fell 
purpose  which  that  great  monarch  appears  to  have  formed. 

In  the  account  of  this  siege  much  notice  is  taken  of  the  respective  Avorks,  the  forts, 
the  towers,  &c.,  of  the  besiegers  and  the  besieged.  This  may  throw  some  light  on 
the  state  to  which  the  art  of  attacking  and  defending  towns  had  then  attained. 

The  siege  was  continued  until  the  eleventh  year  of  Zedekiah  (B.  C.  586),  eighteea 
months  from  the  beginning,  when  the  Chaldeans  stormed  the  city  about  midnight, 
and  put  the  inhabitants  to  the  sword,  young  and  old,  many  of  them  in  the  very  courts 
of  the  temple.  The  king  himself,  with  his  sons,  his  officers,  and  the  remnant  of  the 
army,  escaped  from  the  city,  but  were  pursued  by  the  Chaldeans,  and  overtaken  ia 
the  plain  of  Jericho,  and  carried  as  prisoners  to  Nebuchadnezzar,  who  was  then  at 
Riblah  in  the  province  of  Haraah.  The  Babylonian  king  upbraided  Zedekiah  for  his 
ingratitude  and  breach  of  faith,  and  ordered  a  terrible  punishment  to  be  inflicted  on 
him.  To  cut  off  all  future  hope  of  reigning  in  his  race,  he  ordered  his  sons  to  be  slain 
before  his  eyes;  and  then,  to  exclude  him  from  all  hope  of  ever  again  reigning  in  his 
own  person,  he  ordered  that  the  last  throes  of  his  murdered  children  should  be  his  last 
sight  in  this  world.  His  eyes  were  put  out — a  barbarous  mode  of  disqualifying  a  maa 
for  political  good  or  evil,  with  which  the  governments  of  the  East  still  continue  to 
visit  those  whose  offences  excite  displeasure,  or  whose  pretensions  create  fear.  The 
blind  king  was  then  led  in  fetters  of  brass  to  Babylon,  where  he  died.  Thus  were 
fulfilled  two  prophecies,  by  different  and  distant  prophets,  which  by  their  apparent 
dissonance  had  created  mirth  and  derision  in  Jerusalem.  Jeremiah  had  told  the  king, 
after  the  return  of  the  Chaldean  army  to  the  siege,  that  he  should  surely  be  taken 
prisoner  ;  that  his  eyes  should  see  the  king  of  Babylon,  and  that  he  should  be  carried 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  3B3 

captive  to  Babylon,  and  that  he  should  die  there,  not  by  the  sword,  but  in  peace,  and 
with  the  same  honorable  "  burnings"  with  which  his  lathers  had  been  interred  ;* 
while  Ezekiel  had  predicted  that  he  should  be  biought  captive  to  Babylon,  yet  should 
never  see  that  city,  although  he  should  die  therein. t 

JMebuchadnezzar  appears  to  have  been  dissatisfied  at  the  only  partial  manner  in 
which  his  purposes  against  Judah  had  been  executed.  He  therefoie  sent  ISebuzar- 
adan,  the  captain  of  his  guard,  with  an  army  of  Chaldeans  to  Jerusalem.  The  tem- 
ple and  the  city  were  then  burnt  to  the  ground,  and  all  the  walls  demolished,  while 
all  the  vessels  of  brass,  silver,  and  gold,  which  had  been  left  before,  and  all  the  trea- 
sure of  the  temple,  the  palace,  and  the  houses  of  the  nobles,  were  taken  for  spoil; 
and  of  the  people  none  were  left  but  the  poor  of  the  land  to  be  vine-dressers  and  hus- 
bandmen.    This  was  about  a  month  after  the  city  was  first  taken. 

Thus  was  the  land  made  desolate,  that  "  she  might  enjoy  her  sabbaths,"  or  the  ar- 
rearage of  sabbatic  years,  of  which  she  had  been  defrauded  by  the  avarice  and  diso- 
bedience of  the  people.  That  these  sabbatic  years,  being  the  celebration  of  every 
seventh  year  as  a  season  of  rest,  even  to  the  soil  which  then  lay  fallow,  amounted  to 
not  less  than  seventy,  shows  how  soon,  and  how  long,  that  important  and  faith-testing 
institution  had  been  neglected  by  the  nation.  The  early  predictions  of  Moses, f  and 
the  later  one  of  Jeremiah,^  that  the  land  should  enjoy  the  rest  of  which  it  had  been 
defrauded,  is  very  remarkable,  when  we  consider  that,  as  exemplified  in  Israel,  it  was 
not  the  general  policy  of  the  conquerors  to  leave  the  conquered  country  in  desolation, 
but  to  replenish  it  by  foreign  colonists,  by  whom  it  might  be  cultivated. 

Nebuchadnezzar  made  Gedaliah,  a  Hebrew  of  distinction,  governor  of  the  poor 
remnant  which  was  left  in  the  land.  Gedaliah  was  a  well-disposed  man,  of  a  gene- 
rous and  unsuspecting  nature,  who  was  anxious  to  promote  the  well-being  of  the  people 
by  reconciling  them  to  the  Babylonian  government.  In  this  design  he  was  assisted 
by  Jeremiah,  who  had  been  released  from  prison  when  the  city  was  taken,  and  was 
treated  with  much  consideration  by  the  Babylonian  general,  to  whose  care  he  had 
been  recommended  by  Nebuchadnezzar  himself  Nebuzaradan  indeed  offered  to  take 
him  to  Babylon  and  provide  for  him  there ;  but  the  prophet  chose  rather  to  remain 
with  his  friend  Gedaliah,  who  fixed  his  residence  at  Mizpeh  beyond  Jordan. 

As  soon  as  the  Babylonian  army  had  withdrawn,  those  nobles  and  warriors  returned 
who  had  saved  themselves  by  flight  hi  the  first  instance.  Among  these  was  Ishmael, 
a  prince  of  the  royal  family,  who,  jealous  of  the  possession  by  Gedaliah  of  the  gov- 
ernment to  which  he  considered  that  his  birth  gave  him  the  best  right,  formed  a  con- 
spiracy to  take  away  his  life.  'Jhis  was  intimated  to  the  governor,  but  he  treaied  it 
as  an  infamous  calumny  upon  Ishmael,  which  generous  confidence  was  rewarded  by 
his  being  murdered,  with  all  the  Hebrews  and  Chaldeans  at  Mizpeh  who  were  attach- 
ed to  him,  by  that  bad  man  and  his  dependants.  The  vengeance  of  the  Chaldeans 
was  now  to  be  dreaded,  and  therefore  Ishmael  and  all  his  followers  fled  toward  the 
country  of  the  Ammonites  (who  had  promoted  the  designs  of  Ishmael).  They  at- 
tempted to  take  with  them  the  king's  daughter  and  the  residue  of  the  people ;  but 
these  were  recovered  by  Johanan  and  other  oflicers,  who  pursued  them,  so  that  Ish- 
mael escaped  with  only  eight  men  to  the  Ammonites.  Johanan  and  the  others  were 
fearful  of  the  eff'ects  of  the  resentment  of  the  Chaldeans  for  the  massacre  of  which 
Ishmael  had  been  guilty.  They  therefore  determined  to  take  refuge  in  Egypt  with  all 
the  people.  This  intention  was  earnestly  opposed  by  Jeremiah,  who,  in  the  name  of 
Jehovah,  promised  them  peace  and  safety  if  they  remained  ;  but  threatened  death  by 
pestilence,  famine,  and  sword,  if  they  went  down  to  Egypt.  They  went,  however, 
and  compelled  Jeremiah  himself  to  go  with  thern  ;  and  it  is  alleged  by  tradition  that 
they  put  him  to  death  in  that  country  for  the  ominous  prophecies  he  continued  to  ut- 
ter there. 

Nebuzaradan  soon  after  arrived  in  the  country  with  the  view  of  avenging  the  mur- 
der of  Gedaliah  and  the  massacre  of  the  Chaldeans  who  were  with  him  :  but  the 
country  was  so  thin  of  inhabitants,  in  consequence  of  the  secession  to  Egypt,  tiiat  he 
could  find  no  more  than  seven  hundred  and  forty-five  persons  m  the  land,  whom  he 
sent  into  captivity  beyond  the  Euphrates.  Thus  signally  was  the  long  predicted  de- 
population of  the  land  completed;  and  although  nomadic  tribes  wandered  liirough  the 
country,  and  the  Edomites  settled  in  some  of  its  southern  parts,  yet  the  land  remained, 

•  Jer.  xxiii.  4.  5;  xxxiv.  3,  5.  tEzek.  xii.  13.  t  Lev.  xxvi.  34.  4  2  Chron.  xxrvi.  3X. 


J64  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

on  the  Avhole,  uninhabited,  and  ready  for  the  Hebrews,  whose  return  had  as  much 
been  the  subject  of  prophecy  as  their  captivity  had  been. 

For  the  clearer  appreliension  of  the  facts  which  have  been  stated,  it  will  be  desi- 
rable to  trace  the  further  operations  of  the  Babylonians  in  those  quarters. 

The  year  after  the  conquest  of  Judea,  Nebuchadnezzar  resolved  to  take  a  severe 
revenge  upon  all  the  surrounding  nations  which  had  solicited  the  Judahites  to  a  con- 
federacy against  hira,  or  had  encouraged  them  to  rebel,  although  they  now,  for  the 
most  part,  rejoiced  in  their  destruction.  These  were  the  Ammo  liies,  Moabiies,  Edum- 
ites,  Arabians,  the  Sidonians,  Tyrians,  and  Philistines;  nor  did  he  forget  the  Egyp- 
tians, who  had  taken  a  foremost  part  in  action  or  intrigue  against  him.  This  had  been 
foretold  by  the  prophets.  It  had  been  foretold  that  all  these  nations  were  to  be  sub- 
dued by  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  were  assigned  to  share  with  the  Hebrews  the  bondage 
of  seventy  years  to  that  power.  Some  of  them  were  conquered  sooner  and  some  later  ; 
but  ilie  end  of  this  period  was  the  common  term  for  the  deliverance  of  them  all  from 
their  bondage  to  Babylon. 

After  Nebuchadnezzar  had  subdued  the  eastern  and  western  states  in  his  first  cam- 
paign, he  commenced  the  siege  of  the  strong  city  of  old  Tyre,  on  the  continent,  in  the 
year  B.  C.  584,  being  two  years  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  This  siege  occu- 
pied thirteen  years,  a  fact  which  illustrates,  perhaps,  not  so  much  the  slrengih  of  the 
place  as  the  vitality  of  a  commercial  state.*  This  is,  however,  only  to  intimaie  that 
during  this  period  the  city  Avas  invested  by  a  Chaldean  army;  for  many  other  impor- 
tant enterprises  were  undertaken  and  accomplished  during  the  same  period.  It  was 
daring  the  siege  that  Nebuzaradan  marched  into  Judea  to  avenge  the  murder  of  Ge- 
daliah  and  the  Chaldeans,  as  was  just  related. 

Before  Tyre  was  taken,  the  inhabitants,  having  the  command  of  the  sea,  fled  with 
all  their  effects  to  the  insular  Tyre  in  its  neighborhood  ;  so  that  the  Chaldean  army 
found  but  little  spoil  to  reward  their  long  toil  and  patience  in  the  siege.  This  had 
been  foretold  by  the  prophet  Ezekiel  (Ezek.  xxix.  18-20),  but  although  Nebuchad- 
nezzar and  his  army  were  to  obtain  "no  wages  for  the  great  service  they  had  served 
against  Tyre,"  in  the  long  course  of  which  "  every  head  was  made  bald  and  every 
shoulder  peeled,"  yet  as  a  compensation  they  were  promised  the  plunder  of '■  the  land 
of  Egypt,  her  multitude,  her  spoil,  and  her  prey."  Accordingly,  in  the  spring  of  the 
year  B.  C.  570,  after  the  war  with  Tyre  was  finished,  Nebuchadnezzar  invaded  Egypt, 
and,  from  a  concurrence  of  weakening  circumstances  in  that  country,  was  enabled  to 
overrun  the  whole  country  from  Migdol,  its  northern  extremity,  near  the  Red  sea,  to 
Syene,  the  southern,  bordering  upon  Ethiopia.  This  he  also  subdued,  together  with 
the  other  auxiliaries  of  the  Egyptians.  The  reigning  king  was  the  same  Pharaoh- 
Hophra,  or  Apries,  who  was  on  the  throne  at  the  time  Jerusalem  was  besieged,  and 
whose  faint  and  abortive  motion  to  relieve  his  allies  has  been  recorded.  This  proud 
and  haughty  tyrant  was  reduced  to  vassalage ;  and  so  wasted  and  depopulated  was 
the  land  by  the  invaders,  that  it  lay  comparatively  desolate  for  forty  years.  The  king 
was  himself  soon  after  defeated  and  captured  by  his  discontented  and  revolted  sub- 
jects, under  Amasis,  who  was  made  king,  and  who  was  reluctantly  compelled  by  the 
clamors  of  the  soldiers  to  inflict  death  upon  his  predecessor.  Amasis  was  confirmed 
iu  the  throne  by  the  Assyrian  king. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

THE    CAPTIVITY. 

Before  we  enter  upon  the  historical  details  of  the  period  which  now  opens,  u  s 
proper  to  take  a  rapid  survey  of  the  principles  developed  in  the  history  through  which 
we  have  passed,  and  to  indicate  the  consequences  Avhich  are  exhibited  in  the  portion 
that  lies  before  us. 

In  the  commencement  of  the  work,  we  have  stated,  in  general  terms,  the  leading 
design  of  the  selection  of  the  Hebrew  race,  and  of  their  settlement  in  the  land  of  Ca- 
naan as  a  distinct  and  peculiar  people,  and  separated  from  all  other  nations  by  the  pe- 
culiar institutions  which  were  given  to  them.  That  they  were  appointed  to  be  "stew- 
ards of  the  mysteries  of  God,"  is  the  substance  of  the  considerations  stated  there  and 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


365 


r- 


.iiM^ 


366  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

enforced  in  suosequent  passages.  The  history  itself  shows  under  wha  forms  and  ob- 
ligations the  stewardship  was  imposed,  and  how  unfaithfully  its  duues  were  dis- 
cliarfjed  ;  and  we  are  come  to  the  punishments  which  that  unfaithfulness  incurred. 

And  did  that  unfailhfulness  render  the  promises  and  designs  of  God  of  no  effect? 
Nay,  much  otherwise  ;  but  rather  tended  to  illustrate  the  more  strongly  his  Almighti- 
ness,  by  the  accomplishment  of  all  his  designs,  in  spite  of,  and  even  through,  the  re- 
luctance, the  improbity,  and  the  treachery  of  the  instruments  he  employed.  They 
might  have  worked  his  high  will  with  great  happiness  and  honor  to  themselves;  biit 
since  they  did  not  choose  this,  they  were  compelled  to  work  that  will  even  by  their 
misery  and  dishonor.  It  was  not  in  the  power  of  the  instruments  to  frustrate  the  in- 
tentions of  Jehovah  ;  they  only  had  power  to  determine  whether  that  will  should  be 
accomplished  with  happiness"  or  with  misery  to  themselves,  and,  in  consequence, 
somewhat  to  vary  the  mode  in  which  those  designs  were  exhibited  and  fulfilled. 

The  main  cause  of  the  personal  and  national  failure  of  the  Israelites,  as  instru- 
ments of  a  design  which  was  accomplished  notwithstanding  their  misdoings,  is  by 
no  means  of  difficult  detection.  Politically  considered,  it  may  be  resolved  into  what 
has  been  in  all  ages  and  countries  the  leading  cause  of  calamity  and  miscarriage — a 
reliance  upon  men  and  upon  individual  character,  which  at  best  is  but  temporary  and 
fluctuating,  rather  than  upon  institutions  which  are  permanent  and  unchanging.  la 
these,  every  needful  amelioration  is  an  abiding  good  ;  whereas  the  existenci  of  a  good 
king,  or  judge,  or  priest,  is  at  the  most  but  "  a  fortunate  accident,"  contingf  nt  on  that  " 
most  feeble  thing,  the  breath  of  man.  Nothing  had  been  wanting  to  fortify  their  pe- 
culiar position  by  institutions  adinirably  suited  to  their  destined  object,  and  made  more 
impregnable  by  numerous  sanctions  and  obligations  than  any  other  institutions  ever 
were,  or  ever  can,  indeed,  with  any  propriety,  be  made,  by  any  authority  short  of  that 
infinite  wisdom  by  which  the  Hebrew  institutions  were  established.  Thus  the  nation 
was  placed  in  the  peculiarly  advantageous  position — which  many  enlightened  nations 
have  struggled  for  and  sought  after  in  vain — that  their  happiness,  their  prosperity, 
their  liberties,  were  not  dependant  on  the  will  of  any  men  or  set  of  men,  but  rested 
on  firm  institutions  which  were  as  obligatory  upon  the  chiefs  of  the  land  as  upon  the 
meanest  of  the  people. 

But  this  was  a  new  thing  on  the  earth,  and  the  Hebrew  nation  seemed  utterly  in- 
capable of  appreciating  its  value;  and,  indeed,  what  oriental  nation  is  there,  at  this 
advanced  day,  by  which  the  value  of  so  precious  a  gift  would  be  duly  appreciated  ? 
They  rested  always  on  men  ;  they  always  wanted  leaders.  And  as  they  were  led 
they  followed:  if  their  leaders  were  good  and  just  men,  they  did  well;  if  evil  men, 
not  well.  They  turned  their  back  upon  institutions,  and  threw  themselves  upon  the 
accidents  of  human  character  : — and  they  fared  accordingly.  This  preference  occurs 
everywhere  in  the  history  of  this  people,  and  is  with  peculiar  prominence  evinced  in 
their  determination  to  have  "  a  king  to  rule  them  like  the  nations ;"  in  the  ease  with 
which  .Jeroboam  was  enabled  to  establish  a  schismatical  worship  in  ten  of  the  tribes; 
and  in  the  facility  with  which,  even  in  Judah,  the  people  followed  the  examples  of- 
fered by  tlu'ir  kings. 

With  reference  to  this  point,  the  character  so  frequently  given  to  Jeroboam  when 
the  sacred  writers  have  occasion  to  mention  his  name,  as  "Jeroboam,  the  son  of  Ne- 
bat,  wbo  sinned,  and  made  Israel  to  sin,"  has  always  seemed  to  us  frightfully  em- 
phatic and  significant. 

Had  the  ancient  Hebrews  adhered  to  their  institutions,  it  was  impossible  for  them, 
as  a  political  bodv,  not  to  have  fulfilled  their  special  vocation  in  the  world.  But  hav- 
ing, by  the  neglect  of  those  institutions  (which,  among  other  benefits,  secured  the  ab- 
sence of  idolatry  and  its  concomitant  vices),  done  all  that  in  them  lay  to  frustrate  the 
very  objects  for  the  promo; ion  of  which  existence  had  been  given  to  them,  they  made 
it  necessary  that  (rod  should  accomplish  his  own  objects,  not,  as  desired,  by  their  wel- 
fare and  by  the  confusion  of  their  enemies,  but  by  their  misery  and  destitution.  It 
was  left  him  to  demonstrate  his  almightiness — his  supreme  power  over  all  the  "  gods" 
which  swarmed  the  world,  not  by  overthrowing  with  his  strong  hand  all  the  enemies 
who  rose  against  them,  and  by  maintaining  them  in  the  land  he  had  given  them, 
against  the  old  conquerors  by  whom  great  empires  were  thrown  down,  but  by  making 
these  very  nations  the  instruments  of  hi?  punishments  upon  the  chosen  people.  And 
this  was  accomplished  under  such  peculiar  circumstances  of  manifest  intention  and  ia- 
struiQeatality,  that  the  conquerors  themselves  were  brought  to  acknowledge  the  su- 


fflSTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  367 

premacy  ot  Jehovah,  and  that  they  had  been  but  the  blini^  agents  of  his  will.  The 
strong  and  marked  interference  to  prevent  "  the  great  kings"  from  engrossing  to  them- 
selves  the  merit  or  glory  of  their  victories,  and  from  despising  the  God  of  the  people 
who,  for  their  sins,  had  been  abased  at  Me?r  footstool,  even  extorted  from  these  proud 
monarchs  the  avowal  that  they  had  received  all  their  crowns  and  all  their  kingdoms 
from  "  the  most  high  God,"  whom  the  Hebrews  worshipped.  Now  this  and  other 
results  of  the  destitution  of  the  Hebrews  as  strongly,  and  perhaps  more  strikingly, 
subserved  the  great  object  of  keeping  alive  in  the  world  the  knowledge  of  a  supreme 
and  universal  governor  and  creator,  as  by  maintaining  the  Hebrews  in  Palestine.  In- 
deed, that  this  great  truth  was  diffused  among,  and  impressed  upon,  the  conquering 
nations  by  the  captivity  of  the  Hebrews, — that  "  the  Lord's  song"  was  not  sung  ut- 
terly in  vain  in  a  strange  land,  by  the  captives  who  wept  when  they  remembered  Zion 
under  the  willows  and  beside  the  waters  of  Babylon, — in  short,  that  they  received 
some  salt  which  kept  them  from  utter  putrefaction,  some  leaven  which  wrought  vi- 
tally in  them  and  prepared  them  for  the  revelations  which  the  "  fulness  of  times"  pro- 
duced—is evinced  by  the  history  of  Daniel,  by  the  edicts  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  of  Da- 
rius, and,  above  all,  of  Cyrus,  and  may  even  ue  traced  in  the  tradition  which  ascribes 
the  doctrines  and  important  reforms  of  Zoroaster  to  his  intercourse  with  the  Jewish 
captives  and  prophets  at  Babylon. 

Thus,  although  they  had  forfeited  the  high  destiny  of  preserving  and  propagating 
certain  truths  as  an  independent  and  sovereign  people,  the  forfeiture  extended  only  to 
their  own  position,  for  the  truths  intrusted  to  them  were  still  preserved  and  diffused 
through  the  instrumentality  of  their  bondage  and  punishment.  This  was  true  even 
in  the  times  posterior  to  their  restoration  to  their  own  land. 

We  have  been  anxious  to  make  these  remarks,  lest  the  facts  of  the  history  should 
seem  to  intimate  that  the  divine  intention  in  the  establishment  of  the  Hebrew  com- 
monwealth was  frustrated  by  the  perversity  of  the  people  which  rendered  the  sub- 
version of  that  commonwealth  necessary.  Having,  as  we  trust,  shown  that  there  is 
no  room  for  this  conclusion,  it  may  seem  better  to  reserve  such  further  remarks  as  may 
lend  to  develop  the  spirit  of  the  ensuing  history,  for  the  natural  connexion  with  the 
record  of  the  circumstances  in  which  they  are  involved.  We  now  therefore  proceed 
to  record  the  captivities  of  Israel  and  of  Judah. 

When  Jerusalem  was  destroyed,  one  hundred  and  ninety-four  years  had  elapsed 
since  the  Israelites  of  Galilee  and  Gilead  had  been  led  away  captive  into  Assyria ; 
one  hundred  and  thirty-three  years  since  Shalmaneser  had  removed  the  ten  tribes  to 
Halah,  and  Habor  by  the  river  Gozan,  and  to  Hara  and  other  cities  of  Media  ;  and  ten 
years  since  Nebuchadnezzar  had  banished  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  to  the 
river  of  Chebar.  The  determination  of  the  sites  to  which  the  Israelites  were  removed 
is  a  matter  of  some  interest,  but  one  which,  in  a  work  like  the  present,  does  not  re- 
quire any  large  investigation.  The  interest  lies  in  the  means  thus  given  of  determining 
the  district  to  which  the  Israelites  were  expatriated  ;  and  it  is  sufficient  for  us  to  stale 
that  all  the  investigations  which  have  yet  been  instituted,  and  all  the  information 
which  has  yet  been  acquired,  concur  in  referring  all  these  names  (excepting,  of  course, 
the  river  Chebar)  to  that  northwestern  part  of  the  present  Persian  empire  which 
formed  the  ancient  Media.  It  is,  indeed,  remarkable  that  the  only  other  cities  whose 
naines  occur  in  the  history  of  the  captivity  of  the  ten  tribes,  are  Rhages  and  Ecbaiana, 
which  we  know  to  have  been  important  cities  of  Media,  in  both  of  which  it  appears 
that  the  expatriated  Israelites  were  settled  in  considerable  numbers. 

Even  this  much  it  is  important  to  learn ;  because  of  itself  it  throws  much  light 
upon  the  policy  of  the  Assyrian  conquerors,  and  upon  the  position  which  the  removed 
Israelites  ultimately  occupied.  Media  was  then  subject  to  the  Assyrian  empire,  al- 
though still  chiefly  occupied  by  the  native  Medes;  it  seems,  therefore,  to  have  been 
the  policy  of  the  iMedes  to  remove  the  inhabitants  of  one  conquered  country  to  an- 
other conquered  country  with  the  view  of  weakening  the  separate  interest  or  nation- 
ality of  both,  and  of  promoting  such  a  fusion  of  races  and  nations  as  might  tend  to 
realize  traiiquillity  and  permanence  to  the  general  empire.  From  this  allocalion  of 
the  expatriated  Israelites  in  Media  results  the  important  fact  that,  whereas  Judah  was 
always  subject  to  the  conquering  nation,  Israel  was  only  so  for  a  short  time,  as  the 
Medes,  among  whom  they  were  placed,  were  not  long  in  asserting  their  independence 
of  Assyria,  which  empire  they  (with  the  Babylonians)  ultimately  subverted,  and  con- 
tinued independent  of  the  great  Babylonian  empire  which  succeedec',  and  to  which 


368  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

'.he  captives  of  Judah  were  subject.  So,  then,  the  relations  of  the  ten  tribes  were 
with  the  Medes,  not  with  the  Assyrians  or  Babylonians;  and  their  relations  wiih  the 
Medes  were  not,  and  Avere  necessarily  far  better  than,  those  between  captives  and 
conquerors.  It  does  not  appear  how  the  Medes  could  regard  iheni,  or  that  they  did 
regard  them,  otherwise  than  as  useful  and  respectable  colonists  whom  the  common 
oppressor  had  placed  among  them,  and  whose  continued  presence  it  was  desirable  to 
solicit  and  retain.  It  is  hard  to  call  this  a  captivity ;  but  since  it  is  usually  so  de- 
scribed, it  is  important  to  remark  that  the  captivity  of  the  ten  tribes  and  that  of  Ju- 
dah was  under  diflerent,  and  independent,  and  not  always  friendly,  slates.  There  is 
a  vague  notion  that  since  the  Babylonians  subverted  and  succeeded  the  Assyrians,  the 
Israelites,  who  had  been  captives  to  the  Assyrians,  became  such  to  the  Babylonians, 
and  were  afterward  joined  in  that  captivity  by  their  brethren  of  Judah;  but  this,  as 
we  have  seen,  was  by  no  means  the  case. 

The  information  we  possess  respecting  the  condition  of  the  ten  tribes,  before  and 
after  the  fall  of  Jerusalem,  is  exceedingly  scanty.  It  is  certain  that  during  the  long 
years  which  passed  before  Judab  also  was  carried  into  captivity,  the  expatriated 
Israelites  fully  participated  in  all  the  extravagant  hopes  of  their  brethren  in  Judah, 
and  were  looking  with  sanguine  expectations  for  a  speedy  restoration  to  their  own 
land;  and  the  adverse  prophecies  and  declarations,  of  Ezekiel  were  as  little  heeded 
by  them  as  those  of  Jeremiah  were  at  Jerusalem. 

The  apocryphal  book  of  Tobit  is  the  only  source  from  which  any  information  can 
be  obtained  as  to  the  social  position  of  the  expatriated  Israelites.  We  are  certainly 
not  among  these  who  would  like  to  repose  much  belief  in  "  the  stupid  story  of  Tobias 
and  his  dog;"  yet  the  framework  of  that  story  is  so  much  in  agreement  with  what 
we  do  know,  and  is  so  probable  and  natural  in  itself,  that  it  would  seem  to  have  been 
"  founded  on  facts,"  and  to  have  been  concocted  by  one  who  was  imimatcly  acquaint- 
ed with  the  condition  and  affairs  of  the  Israelites  under  the  Assyrians. 

From  this  it  would  appear,  that  many  of  the  captives  were  stationed  at  Nineveh 
itself,  where  they  would  seem  to  have  lived  much  like  other  citizens,  and  were  allow- 
ed to  possess  or  acquire  considerable  wealth.  Among  these  was  Tobit,  of  the  town 
and  city  of  Naphtali,  a  man  who  feared  God,  as  doubtless  many  other  of  the  captives 
did,  and  who,  as  far  as  in  his  power,  squared  his  conduct  by  the  rules  and  observances 
of  the  Mosaical  law,  and  acquired  such  a  character  for  probity,  that  the  conqueror 
himself,  Shalmaneser,  took  notice  of  him,  and  appointed  him  his  purveyor.  This 
promotion  of  one  of  the  expatriated  Hebrews  is  significant  m  its  indications,  as  it 
shows  that,  as  afterward  with  their  brethren  in  Babylon,  offices  of  importance  and 
profit  were,  under  the  Assyrians,  open  to  the  ambition,  or  rewarded  the  good  conduct 
of  the  Israelites.  Tobit  availed  himself  of  his  p(jsition  to  visit  his  brother  Israelites 
in  other  cities,  to  cheer  them  and  to  encourage  their  reasonable  hopes  and  enterprises. 
He  must  have  acquired  consideraljle  wealth,  as  he  was  enabled  to  deposiie  ten  talents 
of  silver  in  the  hands  of  Gabel  of  Khages,  in  Media.  That  he  did  this  may  seem  to 
imply  that  the  captives  stationed  in  Media  were  considered  more  securely  circum- 
stanced than  those  directly  under  the  eye  of  the  Assyrians.  When  Sennacherib  re- 
turned from  his  signal  overthrow  in  Palestine,  he  vented  his  ill-humor  upon  the  He- 
brew captives,  and  caused  many  of  ihem  to  be  put  to  death,  and  their  bodies  were  cast 
forth  to  remain  un buried  beyond  the  walls  of  Nineveh.  This  was  very  shocking  to 
tiie  pious  'i'obit,  who  made  it  a  jjractice  to  inter  by  night  the  bodies  of  his  breihren 
whom  he  found  unburied.  The  absence  of  the  bodies  occasioned  inquiry,  and  the 
truth  came  to  the  knowledge  of  the  tyrant,  who  would  have  put  him  to  death  ;  but 
the  good  man  received  timely  warning,  and  made  his  escape  from  Nineveh.  The 
tyrant  himself  was  soon  slain  by  his  own  sons;  and  (another  marked  instance  of  pro- 
rnolion)  his  successor,  Esarhaddon,  appointed  Achiacharus,  Tobit's  nejihew,  to  be  his 
"cupbearer,  and  keeyier  of  the  signet,  and  overseer  of  the  accounts."  Through  this 
person  Tobit  received  permission  to  return  to  Kineveh.  But  he  was  reduced  to  com- 
parative poverty,  and  total  blindness  was  soon  after  added  to  his  misfortunes.  Hi? 
nephew,  Achiacharus,  was  kind  to  the  family  tnider  these  circunisiaiices,  until  Tobit 
thought  proper  to  remove  intoFJymais.  There  poverty  was  still  their  lot  ;  and  they 
were  supported  chiefly  by  the  wife,  Anna,  who  took  in  "  woman's  work,"  and  some- 
times obtained  presents  from  her  employers  above  her  actual  earnings. 

At  last  Tobit,  who  had  returned  to  Nineveh,  bethought  him  of  the  valuable  prop- 
erty lie  had  left  with  Gabel  at  Rhages,  and  he  sent  his  sou  to  reclaim  it,  after  giving 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  ^  369 

mm  such  instructions  as  shows  that  travelling  was  then,  as  almost  ever  since,  dan- 
gerous in  those  countries.  The  romantic  adventures  of  young  Tobias  oa  the  journey 
form  the  most  suspicious  part  of  the  book— perhaps  the  only  suspicious  part ;  for 
which  reason,  as  well  as  because  it  affords  none  of  the  illustration  we  require,  we 
willingly  pass  it  by.  It  may  suffice  to  state  that  Tobias  prospered  in  his  journey. 
Tobit  lived  in  Nineveh  lo  the  good  old  age  of  158  years,  and  before  his  death  foretold 
the  approaching  troubles  of  Assyria  and  the  destruction  of  Nineveh,  and  that  "  for  a 
time  peace  should  rather  be  in  Media,"  to  which  country  he  advised  his  son  to  with- 
draw. Tobias  was  mindful  of  his  counsel,  and  withdrew  to  Ecbatana,  where,  in  due 
time,  he  heard  of  the  destruction  of  Nineveh  by  the  combined  forces  of  the  Medes 
and  Babylonians. 

We  have  already  stated  the  inferences,  as  to  the  condition  of  the  expatriated  Israel- 
ites, which  this  narrative  opens,  although  we  have  no  information  as  to  their  condi- 
tion after  the  fall  of  Nineveh  and  during  ihe  contemporary  captivity  of  Judah.  But 
there  is  every  reason  to  conclude  that  their  position  under  the  Medes,  Avhen  Media 
became  an  independent  and  well-governed  state,  was  even  less  disadvantageous  and 
unequal  than  it  had  been  when  that  country  was  part  of  the  Assyrian  empire. 

We  have  brought  the  history  of  the  kingdom  of  Judah  down  to  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  and  the  desolation  of  the  country.  But  the  history  of  the  captivity  must 
take  us  back  to  an  earlier  date,  even  to  the  time  when  Nebuchadnezzar  spoiled  the 
temple  of  its  costly  utensils,  and  sent  away  to  Babylon  a  number  of  young  princes 
and  nobles  as  hostages  for  the  fidelity  of  the  people  and  their  new  king.  This  was 
•deven  years  before  the  fall  of  Jerusalem. 

Among  these  captives  were  Daniel,  and  his  three  friends,  Hananiah,  Mishael,  and 
Azariah.  These,  as  tokens  of  their  enslaved  condition,  received  Chaldean  names, 
more  familiar  than  their  own  to  the  organs  of  the  conquering  people.  Daniel  was 
called  Belteshazzar ;  Hananiah,  Shadrach  ;  Mishael,  Meshach ;  and  Azariah,  Abed- 
nego.  These  were,  among  others  of  the  most  promising  of  the  youths,  selected  to 
be  educated  in  the  palace  for  three  years,  under  the  charge  of  the  chief  of  the  eunuchs, 
in  the  learning  and  language  of  the  Chaldeans,  to  qualify  them  for  holding  offices  about 
the  court  and  in  the  state.  At  the  end  of  that  time  they  were  brought  before  the 
king  to  be  examined  as  to  their  proficiency,  when  the  young  persons  named  were 
"  found  to  be  ten  times  better  informed  in  all  matters  of  wisdom  and  understanding 
than  all  the  magi  or  astrologers  that  were  in  the  whole  realm."  They  were  accord- 
ingly admitted  to  a  place  in  that  learned  body. 

Seventeen  years  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  second  year  after  the 
devastation  of  Egypt,  when  all  his  enemies  were  subdued  on  every  side,  and  when  his 
rule  extended  over  many  nations,  Nebuchadnezzar  had  a  dream,  which  left  a  profound 
impression  upon  his  mind,  but  the  details  of  which  he  was  unable  to  recover  when  he 
awoke.  He  therefore  sent  for  all  the  magi  and  astrologers,  requiring  that  by  their  occult 
skill  and  pretended  influence  with  the  gods,  they  should  not  only  interpret  but  recover 
the  dream  he  had  lost.  This  they  avowed  themselves  unable  to  do ;  whereupon  the 
enraged  and  disappointed  king  commanded  them  to  be  massacred.  Daniel  and  his 
friends  were  sought  for,  to  be  included  in  this  doom;  but  Daniel,  being  informed  of 
the  cause,  repaired  to  the  royal  presence,  and  promised  that  if  further  time  were 
allowed,  he  would  undertake  that  the  dream  and  an  interpretation  should  be  found. 
To  this  the  king  willingly  agreed  ;  and  the  pious  youths  betook  themselves  to  fasting 
and  prayer,  in  the  hope  that  God  would  enable  them  to  satisfy  the  king's  demand. 
Nor  was  their  expectation  disappointed.  The  matter  was  made  known  to  Daniel  in 
a  vision.  He  was  then  enabled  to  remind  the  kmg  that  he  had  seen  in  his  dream  a 
compound  image,  and  to  inform  him  that  this  image  represented  "  the  things  that 
should  come  to  pass  thereafter."  In  this  compound  unage,  the  head  of  pure  gold 
denoted  Nebuchadnezzar  himself,  and  the  succeeding  kings  of  the  Babylonian  dynasty  i 
the  breast  and  arms  of  silver,  indicated  the  succeeding  but  inferior  empire  of  the 
Medes  and  Persians;  the  belly  and  thighs  of  brass,  the  next  following  empire  of  the 
Macedonians  and  the  Greeks,  Avhose  arms  were  brass ;  the  legs  of  iron,  and  the  toes 
partly  iron  and  partly  clay,  refer  to  the  Roman  empire,  which  should  be  strong  as 
iron,  but  the  kingdoms  into  which  it  would  ultimately  subdivide,  composed  of  hetero- 
geneous materials,  which  should  be  partly  strong  and  partly  weak  ;  and,  lastly,  the 
STONE  smiting  the  image  and  filling  the  trhole  earth,  denoted  the  kingdom  of  Christ, 
which  was  to  be  set  up  upon  the  ruins  of  these  temporal  kingdoms  and  empires,  and 

24 


370  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

was  destined  to  fill  the  whole  earth,  and  to  stand  or  continue  for  ever.  "  Thou  art 
this  head  of  gold,"  said  the  prophet  to  the  king ;  but  he  did  not  indicate  the  names 
and  sources  of  the  succeeding  and  then  non-existing  empires  with  equal  distinctness. 
But  we  know  them,  not  only  from  the  order  in  Avhich  they  succeed,  and  from  the 
characters  ascribed  to  them;  but  from  the  subsequent  visions  of  Daniel  himself,  in 
which  these  empires  are  distinctly  named,  and  by  which  the  meaning  of  this  jirima- 
ry  vision  is  gradually  unfolded,  and  which  form,  together,  one  grand  chain  of  prophecy, 
extending  to  the  end  of  time,  and  so  clear  and  distinct,  that  as  much  of  them  (nearly 
the  whole)  as  is  already  fulfilled,  and  which  was  once  a  shadowing  forih  of  the  future, 
reads  like  a  condensed  history  of  past  ages. 

From  the  lirst,  Daniel  had  disclaimed  any  peculiar  pretensions  to  wisdom. 
"  There  is,"  he  said,  "  a  God  in  heaven  who  revealeth  secrets;"  and  to  him  he  not 
only  referred  all  the  credit  of  the  interpretation,  but  plainly  lold  the  king  that  it  Avas 
to  the  appointments  of  this  "  God  in  heaven,"  who  had  the  supreme  disposal  of  all 
events,  that  he  owed  all  the  kingdoms  which  he  ruled.  Here  was  a  grand  instance 
of  that  testimony  for  Jehovah  to  which,  when  introducing  this  chaj)ter,  we  had  occa- 
sion to  advert.  The  king  was  much  struck  by  it,  so  that,  while  he  prostrated  him- 
self before  Daniel  as  before  a  superior,  he  acknowledged  that  the  God  who  could 
enable  him  to  reveal  this  great  secret  was  indeed  the  God  of  gods  and  Lord  of  kings. 
Who  does  not  see  that  it  was  for  the  purpose  of  impressing  this  conviction  that  the 
dream  was  given  to  him,  the  forgetfulness  inflicted,  and  the  interpretation  bestowed 
on  Daniel  ? 

Nebuchadnezzar  was  not  slow  in  rewarding  the  distinguished  qualities  which  the 
prophet  exhibited.  He  appointed  him  ruler  over  the  whole  province  of  Babylon,  and, 
at  the  same  lime,  "chief  governor  over  all  the  wise  men  of  Babylon"  (Rah-Mag,  or 
Archimagus,  Jer.  xxxii.  3),  two  of  the  highest  civil  and  scientific  offices  in  the  state. 
At  his  request,  also,  his  three  friends  were  appointed  to  conduct  under  him  in  the 
affairs  of  his  provincial  government,  while  he  himself  took  a  high  place,  if  not  the 
first  place,  in  the  civil  councils  of  the  king. 

The  services  of  Daniel  and  his  friends  proved  too  valuable  to  be  dispensed 
with  ;  but  mature  deliberation  disgusted  the  king  at  his  dream  and  its  interpretation  , 
and  his  pride  disposed  him  to  retract  the  acknowledgment  he  had  made  of  the 
supremacy  of  the  God  of  a  conquered  people.  It  was,  as  we  apprehend,  under  this 
influence  that  he  erected  a  great  image,  of  which  not  the  head  only,  but  the  whole 
figure  was  of  gold,*  to  denote  the  continuance  of  his  empire,  in  opposition  to  his 
dream  ;  and  it  was  dedicated  to  the  tutelary  god  Bel,  or  Belus,  whose  power  he  now 
considered  superior  to  that  of  the  God  of  the  Hebrews ;  whereby,  in  the  most  offen- 
sive manner,  he  revoked  his  former  concession.  All  men  were  commanded  to  worship 
this,  and  no  other  god,  on  pain  of  death:  in  consequence  of  which,  the  three  friends 
of  Daniel,  who  continued  their  worship  of  Jehovah,  with  their  faces  turned  toward 
Jerusalem,  and  took  no  notice  of  the  golden  image,  were  seized,  and  cast  into  an 
intensely  heated  furnace.  But  l)y  the  special  and  manifest  interposition  of  the  God 
they  served,  they  were  delivered  without  a  hair  of  their  heads  being  injured :  by 
which  fact  the  king,  who  was  present,  was  constrained  to  confess  that  the  God  of 
the  Hebrews,  who  could  after  this  sort  deliver  his  people,  was  unquestionably  supe- 
rior to  all  others. 

Nebuchadnezzar  manifestly  was  endowed  with  many  great  and  generous  qualities ; 
but  he  was  spoiled  by  prosperity,  while,  by  the  very  aggrandizement  which  exalted 
his  pride,  he  had  been  fixed  into  a  position  which  made  it  necessary  to  the  Divine 
glory  that  he  should  be  brought  to,  and  kept  in,  the  acknowledgment  that  in  all  his 
acts  he  had  been  but  an  instrument  in  the  hands  of  the  God  worshipped  by  one  of 
the  nations  which  had  received  his  yoke,  and  whose  superiority  at  least,  if  not  his 
unity,  he  was  required  to  acknowledge 

In  another  dream  he  was  forewarned  of  the  consequences  of  his  excessive  pride. 
This  dream  Daniel  unflinchingly  interpreted  ;  but  whatever  effect  it  might  produce 
was  )f  no  long  duration.  Twelve  months  after,  while  contemplating  his  extensive 
dominion  and  the  splendor  to  which  he  had  raised  the  great  city  of  Babylon,  his 

*  This  was  probably  the  statue  of  solid  gold,  twelve  cubits  high,  which,  according  to  Herodotus,  stood 
in  the  ternple  of  Belus,  until  it  was  taken  away  by  Xerxes.  The  height  mentioned  by  Daniel,  si.\ty  cubits, 
probably  included  the  pedestal  or  pillars  on  which  it  stood,  as  otherwise  its  height  would  have  been  dis- 
proportionate to  its  breadth,  six  cubits. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  371       *5 

heart  swelled  with  kingly  pride,  and  he  exclaimed,  "  Is  not  this  great  Babylon, 
which  I  have  built  for  the  capital  of  the  kingdom,  by  the  might  of  my  power,  and 
for  the  honor  of  my  majesty  1"  While  these  words  were  in  his  mouth,  there  fell 
a  voice  from  heaven,  saying,  "  O  king  Nebuchadnezzar,  to  thee  it  is  spoken :  The 
kingdom  is  departed  from  thee.  And  they  shall  drive  thee  from  men,  and  thy  dwell- 
ing shall  be  with  the  beasts  of  the  field  ;  they  shall  make  thee  to  eat  grass  as  oxen, 
and  seven  times  [years]  shall  pass  over  thee,  until  thou  know  that  the  Most  High 
ruleth  in  the  kingdom  of  men,  and  giveth  it  to  whomsoever  he  will."  The  thing 
was  accomplished  that  very  hour;  and  in  this  state  he  remained  until  "his  hairs 
were  grown  like  eagles'  feathers,  and  his  nails  like  birds'  claws."  The  meaning  of 
which  seems  to  be  that  his  proud  mind  was  in  that  instant  shattered,  and  fell  into  a 
kind  of  monomania,  which  made  him  fancy  himself  some  animal ;  in  consequence 
of  which  it  was  judged  necessary  by  his  physicians  to  humor  his  fancy  by  treating 
him  as  such,  and  by  allowing  him  within  certain  limits  to  act  as  such.  The  sequel 
can  not  be  more  emphatically  told  than  in  his  own  words,  as  found  in  an  edict, 
recounting  these  circumstances,  which  he  issued  on  his  recovery.  "  At  the  end  of 
the  days,  I,  Nebuchadnezzar,  lifted  up  mine  eyes  unto  heaven,  aiid  mine  understand- 
ing returned  unto  me,  and  I  blessed  the  Most  High,  and  I  praised  and  honored  him 
that  liveth  for  ever  and  ever,  whose  dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion,  and  his 
kingdom  from  generation  to  generation.  And  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  are 
reputed  as  nothing;  and  he  doeth  according  to  his  Avill  in  the  army  of  heaven,  and 
among  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth;  and  none  can  stay  his  hand,  or  say  unto  him, 
What  doest  thou  ?  At  the  same  time  my  reason  returned ;  and  for  the  glory  of  ray 
kingdom,  mine  honor  and  brightness  returned  unto  me  ;  and  my  counsellors  and 
lords  sought  unto  me;  and  I  was  established  in  my  kingdom,  and  excellent  majesty 
was  added  unto  me.  Now  I,  Nebuchadnezzar,  praise,  and  extol,  and  honor  the  King 
of  heaven,  all  whose  works  are  truth,  and  his  ways  judgment ;  and  thoss  that  walk 
m  pride  he  is  able  to  abase."  This  noble  acknowledgment  demonstrates  our  former 
argument,  that  care  was  taken  by  Jebovah  to  maintain  his  own  honor,  and  to  secure 
his  own  great  objects,  notwithstanding,  and  indeed  through,  that  bondage  to  which 
sin  had  reduced  his  people. 

After  a  long  reign  of  forty- three  years,  Nebuchadnezzar  died  in  561,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son,  Evil-Merodach.  A  Jewish  tradition*  reports  that  this  prince 
behaved  so  ili,  by  provoking  a  rupture  with  the  Medes,  during  the  distraction  of  his 
father,  that  Nebuchadnezzar,  on  his  recovery,  threw  him  into  prison ;  and  that  he 
there  became  acquainted  with,  and  interested  in,  Jehoiachim,  the  imprisoned  king 
of  Judah.  However  this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  one  of  the  first  acts  of  his  reign 
was  to  release  Jehoiachim  from  his  long  imprisonment  of  thirty-seven  years  ;  and 
during  the  remainder  of  his  life  he  treated  him  with  much  distinction  and  kindness, 
giving  him  a  place  at  his  court  and  table  above  all  the  other  captive  kings  then  in 
Babylon.  As,  however,  the  text  implies  that  he  died  before  his  benefactor,  who 
himself  survived  but  three  years,  the  Hebrew  king  could  not  long  have  outlived  his 
release.  Evil-Merodach  was  slain  in  a  battle  against  the  united  Medes  and  Persians, 
who  by  this  time  had  become  very  powerful  by  their  junction  and  intermarriages. 
The  combined  force  was  on  this  occasion  commanded  by  young  Cyrus,  who  had 
already  begun  to  distinguish  himself,  and  who  had  been  appointed  to' this  command 
by  his  uncle  and  father-in-law,  Cyaxares — "  Darius  the  Mede"  of  scripture — king 
of  the  Medes.     This  was  in  B.  C.  558. 

Evil-Merodach  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Belshazzar.  The  end  only  of  this 
monarch's  reign  is  noticed  in  scripture  ;  but  Xenophonf  gives  instances  of  his  earlier 
conduct  in  the  throne,  of  which  only  a  barbarous  and  jealous  tyrant  could  have  been 
capable.  His  last  and  most  heinous  off'ence  was  the  profanation  of  the  sacred  vessels 
belonging  to  the  Jerusalem  temple,  which  his  illustrious  grandfather,  and  even  his 
mcapable  father,  had  respected.  Having  made  a  great  feast  "to  a  thousand  of  his 
lords,"  he  ordered  the  sacred  vessels  to  be  brou^jht,  that  he  and  his  wassailers  might 
drink  wine  from  them.  That  there  was  an  intentional  insult  to  the  Most  High  in  this 
act  transpires  in  the  narrative :  "  They  praised  the  gods  of  gold,  silver,  brass,  iron,  and 
stone  ;  but  the  God  in  whose  hand  was  their  breath,  and  Avhose  were  all  their  ways, 
they  praised  or  glorified  not."     Indeed,  to  appreciate  fully  this  act  and  its  conse- 

*  Noticed  by  Jerome  on  isaiah  xiv.  f  Cyrop.  i.  4. 


372  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

quences,  ii  is  indispensably  necessary  that  the  mind  should  revert  to  the  operations 
by  which  the  supremacy  of  Jehovah  was  impressed  upon  Nebuchadnezzar — opera- 
tions not  hid  in  a  comer ;  and  which,  together  Avith  the  public  confessions  and  decla- 
rations of  this  conviction  which  were  extorted  from  that  magnanimous  king,  must 
have  diffused  much  formal  acquaintance  with  the  name  and  claims  of  Jehovah 
among  the  Babylonians,  with  which  also  the  royal  family  must  have  been  in  a  pecu- 
liar degree  familiar,  not  only  through  these  circumstances,  but  through  Daniel,  who 
had  occupied  high  rank  at  court  in  the  still  recent  reign  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  and 
whose  mere  presence  must  constantly  have  suggested  the  means  to  which  his 
advancement  was  owing.  From  this  it  will  be  seen,  that,  on  the  principle  of  opera- 
tion which  we  have  indicated  in  the  early  part  of  this  chapter,  the  time  was  now 
come  for  another  act  whereby  Jehovah  might  vindicate  the  honor  of  his  own  great 
Name,  and  enforce  his  peculiar  and  exclusive  claims  to  the  homage  of  mankind. 

Suddenly  a  mysterious  hand  appeared,  writmg  conspicuously  upon  the  wall  words 
of  ominous  import,  but  which  no  one  could  understand;  for,  although  they  were  in 
the  vernacular  Chaldean  language,  the  character  m  which  they  were  written  was  the 
primitive  old  Hebrew,  which  differed  totally  from  the  Chaldee,  and  was  the  original 
from  which  that  which  is  called  the  Samaritan  character  was  formed.  The  king  him- 
self was  greatly  agitated,  and  commanded  the  instant  attendance  of  the  magi  and  as- 
trologers. They  came,  but  were  utterly  unable  to  divine  the  meaning  of  the  portentous 
words  upon  the  wall.  This  increased  the  terror  of  the  impious  king,  which  was  at 
its  height  when  the  queen-mother,  or  rather  grandmother*  made  her  appearance.  She 
soothed  the  troubled  monarch,  and  reminded  him  of  the  services  and  character  of 
Daniel ;  indicating  him  as  one  "  in  whom  is  the  spirit  of  the  holy  God  ;  and  in  the 
days  of  thy  grandfather  light,  and  understanding,  and  wisdom,  like  the  wisdom  of  the 
gods  was  found  in  him  ;"  and  therefore  one  who  was  likely  to  afford  Belshazzar  the 
satisfaction  which  he  sought.  It  was  probably  the  custom  at  Babylon  (as  with  re- 
spect to  the  corresponding  officer  in  other  oriental  courts)  for  the  archimagus  to  lose 
his  office  on  the  death  of  the  king  to  whose  court  he  was  attached ;  and  that,  conse- 
quently, Daniel  had  withdrawn  into  private  life  on  the  death  of  Nebuchadnezzar. 
This  will  explain  how  the  king  needed  to  be  reminded  of  him,  and  how  the  prophet 
was  in  the  first  instance  absent  from  among  those  who  were  called  to  interpret  the 
writing  on  the  wall. 

Daniel  was  sent  for :  and  when  he  appeared,  the  king  repeated  whai  he  had  heard 
of  him ;  stated  the  inability  of  the  magicians  to  interpret  the  portentous  words ;  and 
promised  him  as  the  reward  of  interpretation,  that  he  should  be  clad  in  scarlet,!  with 
a  chain  of  gold  about  his  neck,  and  that  he  should  rank  as  the  third  person  in  the 
kingdom.  The  venerable  prophet  modestly  waived  the  proffered  honors  and  rewards, 
as  having  no  weight  to  induce  his  compliance  : — "  Thy  gifts  be  to  thyself,  and  give 
thy  rewards  to  another;  nevertheless  I  will  read  the  writing  to  the  king."  But,  first, 
he  undauntedly  reminded  the  king  of  the  experience,  and  resulting  convictions  of  his 
renowned  grandfather — adding,  with  emphasis,  "  And  thou,  his  grandson,  0  Belshaz- 
zar, hast  not  humbled  thy  heart,  although  thou  knewest  all  this."  He  then  read  the 
inscription : — 

"MENE,  MENE,  TEKEL,  [PERES],  UPHAESIN." 

Number,  Number,  Weight,  [Divisio7i]  and  Divisions, 

and  proceeded  to  give  the  interpretation : — 

"  Mene,  God  hath  numbered  thy  reign,  and 

"  [Mene],  hath  finished  it.| 

"  Tekel,  Thou  art  weighed  in  the  balance  and  found  wanting. 

"  Peres,  Thy  kingdom  is  divided. 

"  Upharsin,  And  given  to  the  Mede  and  the  Persian  [Darius  and  Cyrus]." 

The  king  heard  this  terrible  sentence:  but  made  no  remark  further  than  to  com- 
mand that  Daniel  should  be  invested  with  the  promised  scarlet  robe  and  golden  chain, 
and  that  the  third  rank  in  the  kingdom  should  be  assigned  to  him. 

The  sacred  historian  adds,  with  great  conciseness,  "  That  same  night  was  Belshaz. 

*  So  she  is  called  by  .losephus,  (i  /"';'/"'  "I'mu;  indeed,  the  part  she  took  on  this  occasion  is  so  probable 
of  no  one  as  of  tlie  widow  of  Nebuchadnezzar. 

t  It  is  singular  that  in  Persia  scarlet  is  at  this  day  the  distinctive  color  of  nobility.  A  klian,  or  noble,  is 
mown  by  the  scarlet  mantle  which  he  wears  on  occasions  of  ceremony. 

t  The  repetition  merely  giving  empha.sis  to  the  siguilication,  uidicatuig  its  certainty  and  speedy  accom 
oUshment 


fflSTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  373 

zar  kintr  of  the  Chaldeans,  slain."  How,  we  are  not  told:  but  we  may  collect  from 
Xenophon  (Cyrop.  lib.  vii.)  that  he  was  slain  through  the  conspiracy  of  two  nobles, 
on  whom  he  had  inflicted  the  greatest  indignities  which  men  could  receive,  i  his  was 
in  553  B.  C,  in  the  fifth  year  of  his  reign.  ,    :,  ,t        u  a    • 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  a  boy,  named  Laborosoarchod  (Joseph,  cont.  Apion, 
i.  20) ;  but  as  he  was  put  out  of  the  way  in  less  than  a  year,  he  is  passed  overm 
Ptolemy's  Canon,  as  well  as  in  the  sacred  history,  which  relates  that,  as  followinsr  the 
death  of  Belshazzar,  "  Darius  the  Mede  took  the  kingdom.'  In  fact,  the  tamily  ot 
Nebuchadnezzar  being  extinct,  Cvaxares,  or  (to give  him  his  scriptural  name)  Darius, 
who  was  brother  to  the  queen-mother,  and  the  next  of  km  bv  her  side  to  the  crown, 
had  the  most  obvious  right  to  the  vacant  throne;  and  while  his  power  was  so  great 
as  to  overawe  all  competition,  the  express  indication  of  him  by  the  prophet  in  his  in- 
terpretation of  the  inscription  was  calculated  to  have  much  weight  with  all  concerned, 
and  indeed  with  the  whole  nation.  •      u     u  j 

Daniel  naturally,  came  into  high  favor  with  Darius,  to  whose  accession  he  had  so 
materiallV  contributed.     On  making  out  new  appointments  of  the  governors  ot  prov- 
inces the  prophet  Avas  set  over  them  all:  and  the  king  contemplated  a  still  further 
elevation  for  him.     This  excited  the  dislike  and  jealousy  of  the  native  princes  and 
presidents,  who  determined  to  work  his  ruin.     In  his  admmistration,  his  hands  were 
so  pure,  that  no  ground  of  accusation  could  be  found  against  hina.     I  hey  theretore 
devised  a  plan  by  which  Daniel's  known  and  tried  fidelity  to  his  religion  should  work 
his  destruction.     They  procured  from  the  careless  and  vain  king  a  decree,  that  no  one 
should  for  thirty  days  offer  any  prayer  or  petition  to  any  god  or  man  save  the  king 
himself,  under  pain  of  being  cast  into  the  lion's  den.     The  kmg  at  once  became  pain- 
fully conscious  of  his  weak  and  criminal  conduct,  when  his  most  trusted  servant,  Dan- 
iel, was  accused  before  him  as  an  open  transgressor  of  this  decree,  and  his  punishnrent 
demanded.     Among  the  Medes  and  Persians  there  was  a  singular  restraint  upon  des- 
potism—which while  at  the  first  view  it  seemed  to  give  intensity  to  the  exercise  ot 
despotic  power,  really  tended  to  deter  the  kings  from  hasty  and  ill-considered  decisions, 
by  compellincr  them  to  feel  the  evil  consequences  with  which  they  were  attended. 
The  kind's  word  was  irrevocable  law.     He  could  not  himself  dispense  with  the  con- 
sequences  of  his  own  acts.     Of  this  Darius  was  reminded  :  and  he  saw  at  once  that 
he  was  precluded  from  interfering  in  behalf  of  his  friend.     It  is  a  beautiful  illustration 
of  the  o-reat  truth,  which  appears  as  the  main  argument  of  this  chapter,  namely,  that 
the  glory  of  God  was  promoted  among  the  heathen  by  the  captivity  ot  his  people,— 
that  the  king  himself  was  already  so  well  acquainted  with  the  character  and  power 
of  Jehovah,  that  he  spontaneously  rested  himself  upon  the  hope,  that,  although  una- 
ble himself  to  deliver  him  from  this  well-laid  snare,  the  God  whom  Daniel  ^served 
would  certainly  not  suffer  him  to  perish.     The  prophet  was  cast  into  the  lion  s  den  ; 
and  the  mouth  thereof  was  closed  with  a  sealed  stone.     The  king  spent  the  mght 
sleepless  and  in  sorrow.     Impelled  by  his  vague  hopes,  he  hastened  early  in  the  morn- 
ing to  the  cavern,  and  cried  in  a  doleful  voice,  "  0  Daniel,  servant  of  the  livmg  God, 
hath  thy  God,  whom  thou  servest  continually,  been  able  to  deliver  thee  from  the  li- 
ons ?"     To  the  unutterable  joy  and  astonishment  of  the  king,  the  quiet  voice  ot  Dan- 
iel returned  an  affirmative  answer,  assuring  the  king  of  his  perfect  safety.     Instantly 
the  cavern  was  opened,  the  servant  of  God  drawn  forth  ;  and  his  accusers  were  cast 
in,  and  immediately  destroyed  by  the  savage  inmates  of  the  den.     This  striking  in- 
terposition induced  the  king  to  issue  a  proclamation,  to  the  same  ultimate  ettect  as 
that  which  Nebuchadnezzar  had  issued  in  a  former  time.     He  wrote  unto      all  peo- 
pies,  nations,  and  languages,  that  dwell  in  all  the  earth,"  charging  them  to  '  tremble 
and  fear  before  the  God  of  Daniel;  for  he  is  the  God  that  liveth,  and  is  steadfast  tor 
ever,  and  his  kingdom  shall  not  be  destroyed,  and  his  dominion  shall  be  even  unto  the 
end."     It  would  not  be  easy  to  pverrate  the  importance  of  the  diffusion  ot  such  truths 
as  these  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  Median  empire. 

It  was  the  established  policy  of  the  Medes  and  Persians  to  conciliate  the  good  will 
of  the  subject  states,  by  leaving  the  practical  government  m  the  hands  ot  native  prin- 
ces. Darius,  therefore,  as  we  may  collect  from  Berosus,  appointed  Nabonadius,  a 
Babylonian  noble,  unconnected  with  the  royal  family,  to  be  viceroy,  or  kmg  under 
him.  This  appointment  was  confirmed  or  continued  by  Cyrus,  when  he  succeeded  to 
the  general  empire  on  the  death  of  his  uncle,  in  B.  C.  551.  .    ,  .     <•     • 

During  the  first  years  of  his  reign,  Cyrus  was  too  much  occupied  m  to&eign  wars 


374  A  "NEX^  AND  COMPLETE 

to  pay  much  attention  to  Babylon  ;  and  thif=  gave  Nabonadius  an  opportunity  to  asserf 
his  iiideptndence,  and  to  maintain  ii  until  the  hero  was  at  leisure  to  call  him  to  ac- 
count. This  was  not  uniil  B.  C.  538,  when  this  great  prince  marched  against  Baby- 
lon, with  the  determination  to  crown  his  many  victories  by  its  reduction.  Nabona- 
dius, on  his  part,  seems  to  have  been  encouraged  by  his  diviners  (Isa.  xliv.  25),  to  repost 
much  confidence  in  his  own  resources,  and  in  the  stability  of  the  kingdom  he  had" 
established.  He  ventured  to  meet  the  Persian  army  on  its  advance  toward  the  city 
but  was  defeated  in  a  pitched  battle,  and  driven  back  to  abide  a  siege  within  the  walls 
of  Babylon.  Still  all  was  not  lost ;  for  not  only  was  the  city  strongly  fortified,  but  a 
siege  by  blockage  was  likely  to  be  indefinitely  protracted,  as  the  town  not  only  pos 
sessed  immense  stores  of  provisions,  but  the  consumption  of  them  would  be  greatly 
lessened  by  means  of  the  large  open  spaces  within  the  city,  in  which  all  kinds  of  prod- 
uce could  be  raised  to  a  considerable  extent.  In  fact,  the  siege  continued  for  two 
years,  and  Babylon  was  then  only  taken  by  a  remarkable  stratagem.  Cyrus  observed 
that  the  town  lay  the  most  exposed  on  the  side  of  the  river,  and  therefore  he  caused 
a  new  bed  to  be  dug  for  its  waters;  and  at  an  appointed  time,  by  night,  the  dikes 
were  cut,  and  the  Euphrates  rolled  its  humbled  stream  into  this  new  channel ;  and  the 
old  one,  left  dry,  offered  a  free  passage  to  the  exulting  Persians.  Even  yet,  however, 
their  condition,  in  the  bed  of  the  river,  might  have  been  perilous,  and  a  vigilant  enemy 
might  have  surprised  them  as  in  a  net ;  but  that  night  a  public  festival  was  celebra- 
ted in  Babylon,  and  all  there  was  confusion  and  drunkenness.  From  this,  as  well  as 
from  the  little  reason  to  apprehend  danger  on  that  side,  the  gates  leading  from  the 
quays  into  the  city  were  that  night  left  open,  so  that  an  easy  and  unopposed  access  was 
offered  to  the  army  of  Cyrus,  and  the  king  was  horror-struck  and  paralyzed,  as  suc- 
cessive messengers  arrived  in  haste  from  the  various  distant  quarters  of  the  city,  to 
inform  him  that  the  Persians  had  entered  there,  and  thus  to  learn,  that,  at  both  ex- 
tremities at  once,  great  Babylon  was  taken,  B.  C.  536. 

Daniel  was  still  alive,  and  there  is  evidence  that  Cyrus  knew  and  valued  his  char- 
acter. The  apocryphal  history  of  Bel  and  Dragon  says  that  Cyrus  conversed  much  with 
him,  and  honored  him  above  all  his  friends.  But  we  have  better  evidence  in  effects 
which,  seeing  Daniel  still  lived,  may  very  safely  be,  in  some  degree,  referred  to  the 
instruction  and  counsel  which  the  now  very  aged  prophet  was  able  to  give. 

There  "s  an  important  and  most  striking  prophecy  by  Isaiah  (xliv.  24,  to  xlv.  6) 
in  which  Cyrus  is  mentioned  by  name,  and  his  exploits  predicted,  more  than  a  century 
before  his  birth.  To  him  it  is  expressly  addressed,  and  in  terms  of  tenderness  and 
respect,  which  was  never,  in  any  other  instance,  applied  to  a  heathen — if  it  be  just 
to  apply  that  name  to  Cyrus.  In  this  splendid  prophecy  Jehovah  calls  Cyrus  "  my 
shepherd,  who  shall  perform  all  my  pleasure  ;"  and,  "  mine  anointed."  His  victories 
are  foretold,  and  ascribed  to  Jehovah ;  and,  in  a  particular  manner,  the  taking  of 
Babylon  by  him  is  foreshown,  even  to  the  indication  of  the  very  peculiar  manner  in 
which  that  conquest  was  achieved.*  And  the  object  of  all  this — of  his  existence,  of 

*  "  Thus  saith  Jehovah  of  his  anointed, 
Of  Cyrus,  whose  right  hand  I  hold  fast, 
That  I  may  subdue  nations  before  him, 
And  ungird  the  loins  of  kings  ; 
That  I  may  open  before  him  the  valves, 
And  the  gates  shall  not  be  shut : 
I  myself  will  march  on  before  thee, 
And  will  make  the  crooked  places  straight, 
The  valves  cf  brass  will  I  break  asunder, 
And  the  bars  of  iron  will  I  hew  down. 
And  I  will  give  to  thee  the  treasures  of  darkness, 
And  stores  deeply  hid  in  secret  places  ; 
That  thou  mayest  know  that  I,  Jehovah, 
That  call  tliee  by  name,  am  the  God  of  Israel 
For  the  sake  of  Jacob  my  servant, 
And  of  Israel  my  chosen  one, 
1  have  even  called  thee  by  name: 
I  have  surnamcd  thee,  yet  Me  thou  knowest  not. 
I  am  Jehovah,  and  there  is  none  else ; 
There  is  no  God  besides  me. 
I  girded  thee  though  thou  hast  not  known  me  ; 
That  they  may  know,  from  the  rising  of  the  sun, 
And  from  the  west,  that  there  is  none  beside  me. 
I  am  J'CHciVAH.  and  there  is  none  else  : 
I  form  the  light,  and  create  darkness, 
1  make  peace,  and  create  evil 
I,  Jehovah,  do  all  these  things." 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  375 

his  acts,  and  even  of  this  prophecy  concernins:  him  and  them — is  declared,  with  mark- 
ed emphasis,  to  be,  that  he  may  be  in  a  condition  to  restore  the  captivity  of  Judah, 
and  that  such  convictions  might  be  wrought  in  him  as  might  incline  to  fulfil  this  his 
vocation,  and  to  become  acquainted  with  the  supreme  and  sole  power  of  Jehovah. 
And  the  careful  reader  will  not  fail  to  note  in  this  sublime  address  to  one  destined  to 
live  in  a  future  generation,  not  only  a  clear  assertion  of  the  unity  of  God,  and  his  uni- 
versal power  and  providence,  but  a  distinct  blow  at  the  peculiar  superstition  of  Cyrus 
and  his  people — which  consisted  in  the  adoration  of  two  principles — the  good  and  evil, 
represented  by  light  and  darkness.     Hence  the  emphasis  of— 

"  I  form  the  light,  and  create  darkness  ; 
I  make  peace,  and  create  evil." 

We  can  easily  imagine  the  impression  which  the  perusal  of  these  prophecies  would 
make  upon  the  ingenuous  mind  of  this  great  man,  accompanied  by  the  explanations 
which  Daniel  could  pour  into  his  willing  ears,  and  with  the  further  intimation,  col- 
lected from  the  prophecies  of  Jeremiah  respecting  the  seventy  years  of  the  captivity, 
that  the  time  of  the  restoration  was  then  arrived,  and  himself  the  long  pre-determin- 
ed  instrument  of  giving  effect  to  the  Divine  intention.  His  consciousness  of  all  this 
is  evinced  in  the  proclamation,  which  he  issued  the  same  year  that  Babylon  was  taken. 
This  proclamation  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  final  acknowledgment  from  the  conquering 
foreign  kings  ofthesupremacy  of  Jehovah,  and  it  was  most  interesting  from  the  distinct- 
ness with  which  this  acknoAvledgraent  is  conveyed — "  Thus  saith  Cyrus  king  of  Per- 
sia— Jehovah,  the  God  of  the  heavens,  hath  given  me  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth ; 
and  he  hath  charged  me  to  build  for  himself  a  temple  in  Jerusalem,  which  is  in 
Judah."     In  this  he  manifestly  alludes  to  the  charge  conveyed  in  the  prophecy — 

"  Wlio  [Jehovah]  saith  of  Cyrus,  He  is  my  shepherd  ! 
And  he  shall  perform  all  my  pleasures  ; 
Even  saying  to  Jerusalem,  Thou  shalt  be  built ; 
To  the  temple,  Thy  foundation  shall  be  laid." 

Accordingly,  the  proclamation  proceeded  not  only  to  grant  free  permission  for  such 
of  the  seed  of  Abraham  as  thought  proper  to  return  to  their  own  land,  but  also  com- 
manded the  authorities  of  the  places  in  which  they  lived  to  afford  every  facility  to 
their  remigration. 

Before  accompanying  them  on  their  return,  it  may  be  well  to  contemplate  the  re- 
sults of  the  circumstances  which  have  been  related,  as  affecting  the  position  of  the 
captive  Jews  during  the  period  through  which  we  have  passed. 

There  is  certainly  nothing  to  suggest  that  their  condition  was  one  of  abject  wretch- 
edness. This  is  in  some  degree  shown  by  the  high  offices  enjoyed  by  Daniel  and  his 
three  friends ;  and  by  the  distinction  conferred  upon  King  Jehoiachin  by  Evil-Mero- 
dach.  He  not  only  enjoyed  the  first  rank  over  all  the  kings  then  at  Babylon,  but  ate 
at  the  table  of  the  monarch,  and  received  allowances  corresponding  to  his  rank. 
While  these  circumstances  of  honor  must  have  reflected  a  degree  of  dignity  on  the 
exiles,  sufficient  to  protect  them  from  being  ill-treated  or  despised ;  we  see  that  there 
was  always  some  person  of  their  nation  high  in  favor  and  influence  at  court,  able  to 
protect  them  from  wrong,  and  probably  to  secure  for  them  important  and  peculiar 
privileges.  They,  most  likely,  came  to  be  considered  as  respectable  colonists,  enjoy- 
ing the  peculiar  protection  of  the  sovereign.  Although  Jehoiachin  did  not  long  sur- 
vive his  release  from  prison,  his  son  Salathiel,  and  his  grandson  Zerubbabel  undoubted- 
ly partook  in  and  succeeded  to  the  respect  which  he  received.  If  the  story  in  the 
apocryphal  book  of  Esdras  (1  Esd.  iii.,  iv.)  of  the  discussion  before  Darius,  in  which 
Zerubbabel  won  the  prize,  be  a  mere  fiction,  it  is  still  at  least  probable  that  the  young 
prince,  although  he  held  no  office,  had  free  access  to  the  court ;  which  privilege  must 
have  afforded  him  many  opportunities  of  alleviating  the  conditicn  of  his  countrymen. 
It  is  even  not  improbable  that  (as  is  implied  in  the  apocryphal  story  of  Susannah, 
and  as  the  tradition  of  the  Jews  affirm)  the  exiles  had  magistrates  and  a  prince  from 
their  own  number.  Jehoiachin,  and  after  him  Salathiel  and  Zerubbabel,  might  have 
been  regarded  as  their  princes,  in  the  same  manner  as  Jozadak  and  Jeshua  were  as 
their  high-priests. 

At  the  same  time  it  can  not  be  denied  that  their  humiliation,  as  a  people  punished 
by  their  God,  was  always  extremely  painful,  and  frequently  drew  on  them  expressions 


376  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

of  contempt.  The  peculiarities  of  their  religion  afforded  many  opportunities  for  the 
ridicule  and  scorn  of  the  Babylonians  and  Chaldeans, — a  striking  example  of  which 
IS  given  in  the  profanation  of  the  sacred  vessels  by  Belshazzar.  By  such  insults  they 
were  made  to  feel  so  much  the  more  sensibly  the  loss  of  their  houses,  their  gardens, 
and  fruitful  fields;  the  leaving  of  their  capital  and  temple,  and  the  cessation  of  the 
public  solemnities  of  their  religion.  (See  Jahn,  theil  ii.  band  1,  sect.  45,  '  Zustand 
der  Hebraer  in  dem  Exilium.) 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 
THE    RESTORATION. 

We  consider  the. great  argument  of  the  preceding  chapter  to  have  been,  that  the 
honor  of  Jehovah  was  as  adequately  maintained,  and  that  the  knowledge  of  his  claim 
to'  be  the  supreme  and  only  God,  to  have  been  even  more  diffused  by  the  destitution 
of  the  Hebrews,  than  it  would  even  have  been  by  their  continuance  in  their  own  land. 
It  also  appears  very  clearly  to  us,  that  by  a  succession  of  such  operations  as  those 
which  elicited  the  public  acknowledgments  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  Darius  and  Cyrus, 
and  by  acts  which  could  not  but  be  known  to  many  nations,  these  objects  might  have 
been  promoted  as  well  without  as  by  the  restoration  of  the  Hebrew  people  to  their 
own  land,  and  the  re-establishment  of  the  temple  service.  It  may  then  be  asked, 
why  it  was  expedient  that  Judah  should  be  at  all  restored  ;  and,  being  restored,  why 
Israel — the  ten  tribes — were  not  ?  These  interesting  questions  we  can  not  discuss  in 
the  extent  which  they  deserve  ;  but  we  may  suggest,  that  since,  by  immutable  prom- 
ises, the  privilege  had  been  secured  to  the  seedof  Abraham  of  upholding  the  standard 
of  divine  truth  in  the  world,  until  "  the  fulness  of  times,"  and  since  the  nationality  of 
Judah,  until  then,  had  been  anciently  secured  by  the  guarantee  of  the  Lord's  promise- 
it  was  necessary  that  a  restricted  restoration,  after  punishment  and  correction,  should 
for  these  purposes  take  place.  This  was  all  the  more  necessary,  as  it  was  from  Judah 
and  from  the  royal  house  of  David  that,  as  was  well  known,  he  was  to  spring  who  was 
to  enlighten  and  redeem  the  world,  and  to  bring  in  that  new  creation  for  which  the 
moral  universe  groaned  as  the  times  advanced  to  their  completion.  For  his  identity, 
as  the  ransomer  promised  of  old,  it  was  necessary  that  the  dying  struggles  of  the  He- 
brew nationality  should  not  be  yet  permitted  to  terminate.  And  further,  inasmuch  as 
the  bondage  of  the  Hebrews  east  of  the  Euphrates,  had  tended  in  no  small  degree  to 
advance  in  that  quarter  the  knowledge  of  the  great  preparatory  principles  of  which 
the  Jews  were  the  commissioned  conservators,  it  remained  for  the  west  to  be  in  like 
manner  allowed  to  catch  such  glimmerings  of  light,  as  might  make  the  nations  impa- 
tient of  their  blindness,  and  prepare  them  to  hail  with  gladness  the  future  "  day-spring 
from  on  high."  And  this  was,  in  fact,  accomplished  by  the  intercourse  of  the  He- 
brews with  the  western  nations — Egypt,  Syria,  Asia-Minor,  Greece,  Rome — in  sub- 
jection, in  conflicts,  or  in  commerce. 

That  Judah  was  preferred  to  this  vocation,  and  that  the  ten  tribes  were  not  nation- 
ally or  formally  restored,  must  be  accounted  for  by  the  further  development  of  a  con- 
sideration to  which  the  reader's  attention  was  called  in  the  preceding  chapter.  The 
political  sins  of  Judah  were  there  traced  to  the  disposition  to  lean  rather  upon  men 
than  upon  institutions.  The  sin  of  Israel  was  even  greater,  and  merited  greater  se- 
verity of  punishment.  There,  not  only  was  the  same  disposition  exhibited,  but  the 
institutions  themselves  were  corrupted,  alienated,  tortured  from  the  objects  for  which 
they  were  expressly  framed,  and,  with  most  culpable  ingenuity,  made  subservient  to 
the  very  circumstances  against  which  they  were  designed  to  operate.  In  Judah,  the 
building  of  God  was  indeed  often  neglected,  often  allowed  to  run  to  ruin ;  but  it  was 
not,  as  in  Israel,  made  the  abiding  habitation  of  unclean  and  evil  things.  In  Judah, 
a  good  king  could  purge  out  abuses  and  correct  evils  ;  but  in  Israel  the  tampering  with 
institutions' was  so  effective,  that  the  best  kings  were  imable  to  lay  an  improving  fin- 
ger on  them.  For  these  things  Israel  was  thrown  loose  from  the  mercies  of  God, 
much  sooner  than  Judah ;  and  the  evil  had  been  so  heinous  and  deeply  rooted,  that  no 
promise  or  hope  of  restoration  was  held  forth,  nor  did  any  take  place. 

By  the  attention  which,  through  the  captivity  and  consequent  dispersion  of  the  Jews 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  37 

among  what  was  then  (if  we  except  Egypt)  the  most  civilized  nation  of  the  world, 
had  been  directed  to  the  majesty  and  providence  of  Jehovah,  we  consider  that  a  very 
important  part  of  the  mission  confided  to  the  Hebrews  was  accomplished ;  for  an  im- 
pression was  made,  the  effects  of  which  may  without  difficulty  be  traced  to  the  time 
of  Clirist,  and,  therefore,  we  are  thus  brought  to  a  sort  of  end  in  the  national  history 
of  the  Hebrew  people.  Undoubtedly,  the  real  fall  of  Jerusalem  Avas  that  which  was 
wrought  by  the  hand  of  Nebuchadnezzar;  the  real  destruction  was  that  which  the 
Assyrians  worked  in  the  north,  and  the  Babylonians  in  the  south ;  and  the  real  dis- 
persion of  the  race  was  that  which  took  place  in  consequence  of  the  Assyrian  and 
Babylonian  captivities.  A  remnant  only  was  preserved,  as  necessary  for  the  remaining 
objects  which  have  just  been  indicated ;  and  it  is  the  history  of  that  remnant  which 
forms  the  subject  of  the  present  chapters. 

It  is  unquestionable  that  this  remnant  was  highly  fitted  for  its  vocation.  The  large 
mass  of  the  Israelites  were  natives  of  the  land  of  their  exile,  in  which  they  were  for 
the  most  part  so  comfortably  situated  that  only  those  whose  religious  zeal  and  senti- 
ments were  above  the  average  warmth,  would  be  likely,  or  did,  encounter  the  dan- 
gers of  the  desert  and  the  inconveniences  and  anxieties  of  an  unsettled  country.  The 
circumstances  of  the  reraigration  were  in  fact  such  as  to  attract  only  those  who  were 
in  the  soundest  state  of  moral  health.  They  were  also  cured  of  all  danger  of  idola- 
try, and  of  all  disposition  to  make  light  of  their  own  institutions.  That  the  Hebrews 
as  a  body  profited  largely  by  the  correction  which  they  had  received,  is  unquestiona- 
ble— so  largely  indeed  that  under  temptations  as  great  as  any  to  Avhich  they  had  in 
former  times  yielded,  idolatry  was  ever  after  their  abhorrence.  And  indeed  if,  during 
the  period  of  the  captivity,  the  proudest  heathen  were  made  so  seriously  attentive  to 
the  God  of  Israel,  much  more  were  the  Hebrews  likely  to  be  awakened  by  the  same 
events  to  be  true  to  their  own  God.  On  this  point  we  copy  the  remarks  of  Professor 
Jahn : — 

"  Among  the  Hebrews  who,  agreeably  to  the  sanction^  of  the  law,  were  punished 
for  idolatry  by  total  banishment  from  their  native  land,  there  were  certainly  many  who 
did  not  worship  idols  ;  and  probably  not  a  few,  in  consequence  of  this  national  judg- 
ment, so  often  predicted,  were  brought  to  reflect  on  and  to  abhor  the  superstition  which 
had  been  the  cause  of  so  great  a  calamity.  Others,  not  wholly  relinquishing  idolatry, 
still  retained  a  reverence  for  Jehovah.  They  never,  like  other  transplanted  nations, 
intermingled  with  the  people  among  whom  they  Avere  settled,  but  continued  a  pecu- 
liar race.  There  Avere  doubtless  individual  exceptions;  but  the  nation  as  such  re- 
mained distinct.  The  intermingling  Avith  pagans,  and  that  entire  extinction  of  the 
HebrcAvs  as  a  peculiar  people  which  must  have  resulted  from  it,  Avas  promoted  by 
the  rite  of  circumcision,  by  the  prohibition  of  many  kinds  of  food  allowed  among  other 
nations,  by  ceremonial  impurities,  and  by  various  other  institutions,  designed  to  seg- 
regate and  consequently  to  preserve  the  nation.  These  usages  had  by  time  become 
a  second  nature,  so  that  any  intimate  connexion  with  Gentiles  was  a  matter  of  con- 
siderable difficulty.  The  ancient  favors  of  Jehovah,  the  miraculous  deliverances  Avhich 
he  had  vouchsafed  exclusively  to  them,  and  the  promises  he  had  given  them  for  fu- 
turity, were  not  easily  forgotten.  The  fulfilment  of  so  many  prophecies  respecting 
the  fall  of  the  Assyrian  empire  and  of  the  city  of  Nineveh,  respecting  the  Babylonian 
captivity  and  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  must  have  raised  Jehovah  in  their  eyes  far 
above  all  idols ;  and  the  very  punishment  they  Avere  then  suffering  Avas  well  calcu- 
lated to  awaken  reflection,  and  thus  become  a  bitter  but  powerful  antidote  to  their 
propensity  to  idolatry.  Many  Israelites,  therefore,  in  Assyria  and  Media  (as  the  book 
of  Tobit  testifies)  persisted  in  the  sincere  Avorship  of  Jehovah  ;  neither  could  the  Jews 
in  Babylon,  and  those  by  the  river  CJiebar,  fall  easily  into  idolatry,  Avhile  such  men  as 
Ezekiel  and  Daniel  were  constantly  and  earnestly  reminding  them  of  the  God  whom 
they  Avere  bound  to  serve. 

"  The  prophecies  of  Ezekiel,  relating  for  the  most  part  to  events  near  at  hand,  were 
accomplished  before  the  eyes  of  the  unbelieving  exiles;  and  every  fulfilment  was  a 
new  proof  that  Jehovah,  the  author  of  these  predictions,  Avas  the  God  and  ruler  of 
the  Avorld.  Thus  there  Avere  repeated  opportunities  to  remind  this  superstitious  peo- 
ple of  Jehovah  their  God.  The  remarkable  prophecy  respecting  the  conquest  andde- 
ctruction  of  the  powerful  city  Tyre,  which  was  so  speedily  accomplished,  is  particu- 
larly Avorthy  of  notice.  By  such  striking  accomplishments  of  the  prophecies  resoectinff 
occurrences  near  at  hand,  the  belief  of  oredictions  of  more  distant  events  Avas  strength- 
ened, and  the  eyes  of  the  Hebrews  were  easerlv  directed  toward  the  miure. 


378  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

Thus,  and  through  the  deliverance  which  Jehovah  wrought  in  behalf  of  his  perse- 
cuted servants, — and  through  the  acknowledgments  which  were  extorted  from  the 
pagan  monarchs  under  whose  yoke  the  necks  of  Israel  and  Judah  were  placed, — "  God 
pursued  them  (so  to  speak)  with  the  efficacious  dealings  of  his  providence,  with  mir- 
acles and  prophecies,  in  order  to  compel  them  to  preserve  the  true  religion,  and  to 
place  them  in  a  situation  in  which  it  would  hardly  be  possible  for  them  to  exchange 
the  worship  of  the  creator  and  governor  of  the  world  for  the  worship  of  idols.  By 
the  prophet  Ezekiel  (Ezek.  xx.  32-44),  Jehovah  declares  in  so  many  words  that  even 
if  the  Hebrews  desired  to  become  united  with  the  heathen,  it  should  not  be  done;  and 
that  he  would  himself  find  means  effectually  to  prevent  the  execution  of  such  a  de- 
sign" (Jahn,  ii.  1,  sect.  53,  Ruckker  der  zelien  Stamme). 

That  the  restoration  to  Palestine,  which  now  took  place,  is,  at  least  primarily,  that 
of  which  the  prophets  delivered  such  glowing  predictions,  very  few  who  carefully  ex- 
amine- the  subject  will  find  reason  to  doubt.  The  more  closely  the  matter  is  examined, 
the  more  clearly  the  details  of  the  prophecy  will  be  found  to  agree  with  this  fulfilment. 
We  are  quite  aware  that  the  large  terms  and  forcible  expressions  employed  by  the 
prophets  have  led  all  the  Jews  and  many  Christians  into  the  expectation  of  a  more 
brilliant  and  complete  restoration  than  on  this  occasion  took  place.  Our  undertaking 
is  however  to  record  past  events  rather  than  to  undertake  the  development  of  proph- 
ecies which  may  be  deemed  unfulfilled.  That  these  prophecies  have  a  further 
meaning  bftyond  the  literal  and  primary  purport,  we  take  to  be  evinced  not  only  by  the 
glowing  language  employed,  but  by  the  present  condition  of  the  Hebrew  nation,  "like 
a  column  left  standing  amid  the  wreck  of  worlds  and  the  ruins  of  nature"  ('  Trans,  of 
the  Parisian  Sanhedrim,'  p.  68,  1807),  in  which  they  manifestly  remain  awaiting  des- 
tinies yet  to  come ;  but  that  these  destinies  include  the  restoration  and  independent 
and  happy  settlement  of  the  nation  in  Palestine,  we  hold  to  be  considerably  less  cer- 
tain and  less  important  than  has  of  late  years  been  made  to  appear. 

Now,  by  the  decree  of  Cyrus,  the  mountains  were  made  low  and  the  valleys  filled 
for  the  return  of  the  Hebrews  to  their  own  land.  But  seeing  that  only  the  two  tribes 
of  Judah  and  Benjamin — conventionally  regarded  as  one  tribe — formally  returned  to 
Palestine,  it  becomes  an  interesting  question.  What  became  of  the  other  ten  tribes  ? 

As  the  invitation  of  Cyrus  was  directed  to  all  the  people  of  Jehovah,  and  pro- 
claimed throughout  his  empire,  there  is  every  reason  to  conclude  that  not  a  few  of 
the  ten  tribes  returned  to  Palestine.  Those  who  supposed  they  could  improve  their 
condition  by  removing,  would  attach  themselves  here  and  there  to  a  caravan  of  mer- 
chants, and  proceed  to  the  land  of  their  fathers.  But  as  they  arrived  one  after  another, 
and  in  small  companies,  their  return  is  not  particularly  noticed  in  a  history  so  con- 
cise. There  might  even  have  been  many  Israelites  in  the  first  great  caravan  under 
Zerubbabel ;  but,  however  this  may  be,  it  is  highly  probable  that  the  Israelites  re- 
turned in  considerable  numbers,  as  soon  as  they  heard  of  the  settlement  of  the  pros- 
perity of  their  brethren  in  Palestine.  Most  of  these  arrivals  were  probably  subse- 
quent to  the  close  of  the  Old  Testament  canonical  history,  and  when  the  restored 
nation  had  acquired  a  somewhat  settled  form.  But  whether  their  return  were  early 
or  late,  it  is  certain  that  at  least  a  portion  of  them  did  return,  for  the  history  of  later 
periods  mentions  Israelites  as  settled  in  Galilee  and  Persea  (1  Mac.  v.  9-24)  long 
before  the  time  of  Christ.  But  connecting  themselves  with  the  tribe  of  Judah,  they 
finally  lost  the  name  of  Israelites,  and  all  Hebrews  were  indiscriminately  designated 
as  Jews. 

But  since  many  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  chose  to  remain  in  the  land  of  their  exile,  it 
is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  still  greater  numbers  of  the  Israelites  who  had  lived  in 
those  countries  200  years  longer,  would  feel  little  inclination  to  exchange  the  comforts 
they  there  enjoyed  for  the  uncertain  advantages  of  Palestine.  But  as  the  jealousy 
between  Judah  and  Israel  had  now  ceased,  according  to  the  predictions  of  the  proph- 
ets, those  Israelites  also  who  remained  in  exile  joined  themselves  to  the  tribe  of 
Judah,  which  was  in  the  possession  of  the  temple,  and,  consequently,  they  too  re- 
ceived the  denomination  of  Jews. 

On  these  grounds  Professor  Jahn  conceives  that  all  questions  and  investigations  for 
the  purpose  of  ascertaining  what  has  become  of  the  ten  tribes,  and  whether  it  is 
likely  they  will  ever  be  discovered,  are  superfluous  and  idle.  We  are  not  ourselves 
quite  so  clear  that  this  is  the  case.  We  grant  indeed  that  there  is  no  good  reason 
for  expecting  to  find  the  remnant  of  the  ten  tribes  as  distinct  from  the  remnant  of 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  375 

Judah;  but  that  traces  of  the  Hebrews  of  both  captivities,  without  distinction  of 
tribes,  may  be  found  in  the  countries  in  which  they  were  so  long  located,  there  ia 
much  reason  to  concede.  We  say  in  those  countries,  for  the  reasons  which  pre- 
vented them  from  returning  to  Palestine  were  as  operative  in  preventing  their  migra- 
tion in  any  other  direction.  Indeed,  while  the  second  temple  stood,  one  would  expect 
that  such  of  them  as  were  disposed  to  migrate  at  all,  would  return  to  the  land  of  their 
fathers,  as  many  of  them,  no  doubt,  did.  But,  apart  from  this  preference,  there  was 
much  reason  for  their  remaining  in  Media ;  for  the  empire  which  comprehended  that 
country,  continued  long  to  be  possessed  by  a  nation  which  was  quite  able  to  protect 
them  and  make  their  homes  secure ;  while  the  religion  which  it  professed  was  more 
in  agreement  with  that  of  Moses,  and  less  revolting  to  the  peculiar  notions  of  the 
Hebrews,  than  any  other  they  could  find  in  the  world.  It  is  certain  also,  that 
for  a  long  course  of  ages  a  large  remnant  of  the  captivity  of  Judah  remained  in 
Babylonia',  and  this  so  much  composed  of  the  elite  of  the  nation,  as  to  secure  the 
respect  of  the  Jews  who  returned  to  Palestine  and  multiplied  there — all  traces  of 
which  estimation  of  the  Babylonian  Jews  is  not  even  at  this  day  wholly  obliterated; 
and  this  fact  would  suggest  the  probability  of  a  similar  local  fixity  of  the  ten  tribes 
in  Media  and  Assyria.  Indeed  the  probability  is  the  greater,  from  the  fact  that  in 
those  countries,  as  history  proves,  they  would  be  much  less  liable  to  be  disturbed  by 
wars  and  troubles  than  the  Jews  of  Babylonia.  It  is  probably  under  such  a  class  of 
impressions,  that  the  Jews  themselves  have  generally  been  disposed  to  look  for  traces 
of  the  ten  tribes  in  that  direction.  Nor,  as  it  Avould  appear,  has  the  search  been  quite 
abortive. 

In  the  twelfth  century  of  Christ,  the  district  referred  to  at  page  367  was  visited  by 
the  Spanish  Jew,  Benjamin  of  Tudela.  After  speaking  of  large  congregations  of  Jews 
in  this  quarter,  he  comes  to  Amaria  [which  Major  Rawlinson  regards  as  the  same 
as  Halah,  now  Holwan],  where  he  found  25,000  Jews.  "  This  congregation  forms 
part  of  those,"  says  Rabbi  Benjamin,  "  who  live  in  the  mountains  of  Chaphton,  which 
amount  to  more  than  100,  extending  to  the  frontiers  of  Media.  These  Jews  are  de- 
scendants of  those  who  Avere  originally  led  into  captivity  by  King  Shalmaneser. 
They  speak  the  Syriac  language,  and  among  them  are  many  excellent  talmudic 
scholars."*  Benjamin  then  gives  the  history  of  the  false  Messiah,  David  El  Roy,  who 
sprang  from  the  city  of  Amaria,  and  whose  romantic  history  Jias  lately  been  made 
familiar  to  the  English  public. 

Recently,  the  Rabbi  David  D'Beth  Hillel  has  much  obscure  and  dispersed  talk 
about  the  fragments  of  the  tribes  which  he  found  in  the  same  quarter.  But  the  fol- 
lowing statement, by  Major  Rawlinson  will  give  more  satisfaction  to  the  reader: — 

"  If  the  Samaritan  captives  can  be  supposed  to  have  retained  to  the  present  day 
any  distinct  individuality  of  character,  perhaps  the  Kalhurs,  who  are  believed  to  have 
inhabited  from  the  remotest  antiquity  those  regions  around  Mount  Zagros,  preserve 
in  their  name  the  title  of  Calah  [Halah].  They  state  themselves  to  be  descended 
from  Roham,  or  Nebuchadnezzar,  the  conqueror  of  the  Jews, — perhaps  an  obscure 
tradition  of  their  real  origin.  They  have  many  Jewish  names  amon^  them,  and, 
above  all,  their  general  physiognomy  is  strongly  indicative  of  an  Israelitish  descent. 
The  Iliyat  of  this  tribe  now  mostly  profess  Mohammedanism ;  but  a  part  of  them, 
together  with  the  Gurans,  who  acknowledge  themselves  to  be  an  offset  of  the  Kal- 
hurs, and  most  of  the  other  tribes  of  the  neighborhood,  are  still  of  the  'Ali-Ilahi  per- 
suasion— a  faith  which  bears  evident  marks  of  Judaism,  singularly  amalgamated  with 
Sabsean,  Christian,  and  Mohammedan  legends.  The  tomb  of  Baba  Yadgar,  in  the 
pass  of  Zardah,  is  regarded  as  their  holy  place  ;  and  this,  at  the  time  of  the  Arab  ia 
vasion  of  Persia,  was  regarded  as  the  abode  of  Elias.  The  'Ali-Ilahis  believe  in  a 
series  of  successive  incarnations  of  the  godhead,  amounting  to  a  thousand  and  one, 
Benjamin,  Moses,  Elias,  David,  Jesus  Christ,  Ali,  and  his  tutor  Salman,  a  joint  de- 
velopment, the  Imam  Husein,  and  the  Haf-tan  (the  seven  bodies),  are  considered  the 
chief  of  these  incarnations.  The  Haf-tan  were  seven  Pirs,  or  spiritual  guides,  who 
lived  in  the  early  ages  of  Islam,  and  each,  worshipped  as  the  Deity,  is  an  object  of 
adoration  in  some  particular  part  of  Kurdistan — Baba  Yadgar  was  one  of  these.  The 
whole  of  the  incarnations  were  thus  regarded  as  one  and  the  same  person,  the 
bodily  form  of  the  Divine  manifestation  bein^  alone  changed ;  but  the  most  perfect 
development  is  supposed  to  have  taken  place  in  the  persons  of  Benjamin,  David,  and 
*  The  Itinerary  of  Rabbi  Benjamin  of  Tudela.    Translated  and  edited  by  A.  Asher.    Berlin.  1840 


380  A  KEW  AND  COMPLETE 

Ali."  Referring  to  the  passage  already  adduced  from  Rabbi  Benjamin,  the  ma-;oT 
notices  that  he  appears  to  have  considered  the  whole  of  these 'Ali-Ilahis  as  Jews,  and 
remarks,  "  It  is  possible  that  in  his  time  their  religion  was  less  corrupted."* 

Abandoning  this  subject  for  the  present,  we  may  now  be  allowed  to  return  to  the 
historical  narrative. 

All  obstacles  being  removed,  and  ever}'  facility  afforded,  Zerubbabel,  the  grandson 
of  King  Jehoiachim,  and  Jeshua,  a  grandson  of  the  high-priest  Jozadak,  with  ten  of 
the  principal  elders,  prepared  themselves  for  the  journey  home.  The  number  of  the 
remnant  who  joined  these  heads  of  the  nation  was,  in  round  numbers,  50,000,  inclu- 
ding 7,337  male  and  female  servants.!  This  large  body  was  composed  chiefly,  it  would 
seem,  of  members  of  the  tribes  of  Judah,  Benjamin,  and  Levi,  although  the  com- 
paratively high  number  of  the  remigrants  supports  the  probability  that  a  consider- 
able proportion  were  of  the  ten  tribes.  The  prophet  Daniel,  who  must  at  this  time 
have  been  about  ninety  years  old,  remained  at  the  court  of  Cyrus,  where  he  could 
probably  render  much  more  service  to  his  nation  than  by  returning  to  Palestine. 

Those  who  were  to  return  assembled  from  all  quarters  at  an  appointed  place, 
according  to  the  usual  method  of  collecting  a  caravan,  furnished  with  provisions  and 
other  things  necessary  for  the  journey.  Their  camels,  horses,  and  beasts  of  burden, 
amounted  to  eioht  thousand  one  hundred  and  thirty-six.  Zerubbabel,  on  whom 
devolved  the  serious  responsibility  of  direclipg  this  immense  caravan,  received  from 
Cyrus  the  sacred  vessels  of  the  temple,  and  was  intrusted  Avith  the  very  large  con- 
tributions toward  the  rebuilding  of  the  sacred  edifice  made  by  those  of  the  Hebrew 
race  who  chose  to  remain  behind.  Zerubbabel  was  not  only  appointed  leader  or 
sheikh  of  the  caravan,  but  the  office  of  governor  of  Judea  was  intrusted  to  him. 
This  appointment  may  probably  be  attributed  not  more  to  the  circumstance  which 
inclined  Cyrus  to  show  peculiar  favor  to  the  nation,  than  to  the  general  policy  of  the 
Persian  kings  in  leaving  the  governments  of  conquered  provinces  to  native  governors, 
whenever  this  could  be  done  with  safety.  Several  months  were  consumed  in  prepa- 
rations for  the  journey ;  and  encumbered  as  they  were  with  baggage  and  young 
children,  and  therefore  obliged  to  travel  slowly,  the  journey  itself  occupied  four 
months. 

The  "  seventy  years"  of  the  captivity  were  completed  by  the  time  they  arrived ; 
and  they  were  now  to  settle  in  their  own  land,  governed  by  their  own  laws,  and 
forming  a  distinct  commonwealth.  The  Persian  sovereignty  was  not  a  calamity,  but 
■a  benefit,  from  the  protection  and  security  which  it  gave  to  a  colony  as  yet  too  weak 
for  independence. 

The  people  dispersed  themselves  on  their  arrival  in  search  of  their  native  cities 
and  of  necessaries  for  their  families.  But  in  the  following  month,  being  the  seventh 
of  the  Jewish  year,  they  all  assembled  at  Jerusalem  to  celebrate  the  feast  of  taber- 
nacles. On  this  occasion  an  altar  was  reared  upon  the  ruins  of  the  temple,  and  the 
customary  sacrifices  were  offered  ;  and  on  this  altar  the  daily  morning  and  evening 
sacrifices  Avere  afterward  continued. 

In  the  second  month  of  the  second  year  of  their  return,  the  people  again  assembled 
at  Jerusalem,  to  lay  the  foundation  of  the  temple,  the  preparations  for  Avhich,  through 
the  voluntary  contributions  of  the  people  and  the  elders,  were  now  completed.  This 
was  a  most  joyful  occasion  to  all  but  the  old  people ;  and  very  loud  were  the  shouts 
of  gladness  which  were  raised :  but,  loud  as  were  the  sounds  of  rejoicing,  they  were 
neutralized  by  the  wailings  of  the  old  people,  who  had  seen  "  the  holy  and  beautiful 
house"  in  which  their  fathers  praised  Jehovah  ;  and  who  wept  bitterly  and  loudly  at 
the  comparison :  for  thev  could  perceive  that  the  edifice  Avould  neither  be  so  large,  so 
magnificent,  nor  so  richly  ornamented  as  the  temple  of  Solomon.  It  is  true,  as  ap- 
pears from  the  record  found  at  Ecbatana  in  the  time  of  Darius  Hystaspes,  that  Cyrus 
had  directed  that  the  temple  should  be  twice  as  large  as  that  of  Solomon,  and  that 
the  expense  should  be  defrayed  from  the  royal  treasury.  But  either  the  proper 
officers  had  neglected  to  ^ive  effect  to  these  orders,  or  the  Jews  were  backAvard  to 
avail  themselves  of  the  full  extent  of  the  monarch's  bounty,  lest  they  should  aAvaken 
the  envy  of  the  Avorshippers  of  Ormuzd,and  expose  themselves  to  their  persecutions. 
From  whatever  cause,  it  is  certain  that  they  did  not  build  the  temple  so  large  as  the 
decree  of  Cyrus  alloAved.  (Ezra  iv.  1-5.) 

■*  '  Geograpliica.  Journal,'  vol.  ix.  part  1,  p.  36. 

t  The  number  ci  the  congregation  was  42,620,  which,  with  7,337  servants,  makes  49,697. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  381 

The  Persian  governors  of  Syria  and  Palestine  offered  no  opposition  to  the  settle 
ment  of  the  Jews  in  their  own  country  or  to  their  proceedings  there.  No  doubt, 
therefore,  orders  corresponding  to  the  tenor  of  the  decree  under  which  the  restora- 
tion took  place,  had  been  forwarded  to  them.  This  indeed  is  stated  by  Josephus , 
although  such  orders,  being  sent  direct  to  the  Persian  magistrates,  are  not  noticed  by 
Ezra.  But  opposition,  persevering  and  venomous,  came  from  another  and  probably 
unexpected  quarter.  This  was  from  the  colonists  whom  the  Assyrian  kings  had 
planted  in  the  land  of  Israel,  and  who  had  intermarried  with  the  remaining  Israelites, 
and  now  formed  one  people  with  them  under  the  name  of  Samaritans.  It  does  not 
appear  that  the  Samaritans  were,  at  this  time,  completely  purged  of  the  idolatries 
which  their  fathers  had  brought  from  foreign  lands;  yet  the  measures  employed  to 
enlighten  them  with  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God  seem  gradually  to  have  produced 
a  considerable  effect.  The  return  of  the  Jews  from  their  seventy  years'  captivity 
so  clearly  evinced  the  over-ruling  providence  of  Jehovah,  that  the  Samaritans  were 
extremely  desirous  to  join  in  rebuilding  his  temple  and  celebrating  his  worship : 
"  They  said  unto  the  chief  of  the  fathers,  '  Let  us  build  with  you  ;  for  we  seek  your 
God,  as  ye  do;  and  we  have  done  sacrifice  to  him  since  the  days  of  Esarhaddon,  king 
of  Assyria,  who  brought  us  up  hither.'  "  This  proposal  was  steadily  rejected  by 
the  Jews :  and,  whatever  their  motives  may  have  been,  it  is  easy  to  discern  important 
reasons  in  consequeuce  of  which  this  rejection  appears  to  have  been  subservient  to 
the  purposes  of  the  Divine  economy.* 

Finding  they  could  not  prevail,  the  Samaritans  used  every  means  in  their  power  to 
thwart  the  enterprise.  Their  influence  at  the  Persian  court  appears  to  have  been 
considerable,  owing  perhaps,  as  Josephus  suggests,  to  their  claiming  to  be  of  Median 
and  Persian  origin.  Through  this  influence  they  managed,  during  the  latter  days  of 
Cyrus,  Avho  was  either  absent  in  foreign  wars  or  not  at  leisure  to  attend  to  such  pro- 
vincial matters,  to  oppose  such  obstacles  to  the  progress  of  the  work  that  the  people 
got  disheartened,  and  discontinued  the  builduig.  This  discouragement  continued 
during  the  succeedmg  reigns  of  Cambyses  and  of  Smerdis  the  magian;  nor  was  the 
work  resumed  until  the  second  year  of  Darius  Hystaspes. 

The  proceedings  of  the  Samaritans  in  this  matter  naturally  excited  the  enmity  of 
the  Jews ;  and  thus  was  laid  the  foundation  of  the  hatred  between  the  two  nations, 
which  new  provocations  continually  increased,  mitil,  at  last,  all  friendly  intercourse 
between  them  was  entirely  discontinued. 

Cyrus  died  seven  years  after  the  restoration  of  the  Jews.  The  reigns  of  Cam- 
byses his  son,  and  of  the  usurping  magian  Smerdis  (seven  months),  occupied  togethei 
eight  years.  Darius  Hystaspes,  one  of  the  seven  nobles  who  slew  the  intrusive 
magian,  was  elected  king,  B.  C.  521. 

At  Jerusalem,  the  people  had  by  this  time  lost  their  zeal  in  a  work  which  had  been 
so  much  obstructed,  and,  counting  from  the  destruction  of  the  former  temple  instead 
of  from  the  commencement  of  the  captivity,  they  argued  that  the  time  for  the  rebuild- 
ing of  the  sacred  edifice  had  not  yet  arrived.  But  while  they  erected  fine  buildings 
for  their  own  use,  and  bestowed  much  expense  and  labor  on  the  mere  ornanientai 
parts  of  their  own  dwellings,  this  was  obviously  a  mere  pretence,  and  provoked  the 
severe  reproaches  of  the  prophet  Haggai,  who  attributed  to  this  neglect  the  drought, 
and  consequent  failure  of  crops,  which  had  then  occurred ;  and  was  authoriz«.'d  tu 
promise  the  blessings  of  plenty  from  the  time  they  should  recommence  the  building 
of  the  temple.  And,  to  neutralize  the  discouragements  arising  from  the  detractive 
or  sorrowful  comparisons  of  the  old  men  who  had  seen  the  temple  of  Solomou,  he 
was  commissioned  to  deliver  the  celebrated  prophecy : — 

"  Thus  sriith  Ihe  Lord  of  hosts  : 
Yet  once  more,  and  in  a  little  while, 
And  I  will  shake  tlie  heavens  and  tlie  earth, 
And  the  sea  and  the  dry  land ; 

*  "The  intermixture  of  the  Samaritans  with  the  Jews  might  have  rendered  the  accomplishment  ol  the 
prophecies  concerning  the  family  and  birth  of  the  Messiali  less  clear— might  have  reintroduced  idolatry 
among  the  restored  Jews,  now  completely  abhorrent  from  it,  and  in  various  ways  defeated  the  grand 
objects  of  Providence  in  selecting  and  preserving  a  peculiar  people.  In  consequence  of  this  rejection  and 
the  alienation  it  produced,  the  Jews  probably  became  more  vigilant  in  preserving  the  strictness,  and  the 
Samaritans  more  jealous  in  emulating  the  purity,  of  the  Mosaic  ritual.  They  became  hostile,  and  there- 
fore unsuspected  guardians  and  voucliers  of  tlie  integrity  of  the  sacred  text,  particularly  of  the  Penta- 
teuch. And  while  the  Jews  in  general,  blinded  by  tlieir  national  prejudices,  could  see  in  the  promised 
Messiah  only  a  national  and  temporal  deliverer,  the  Samaritans  appear  to  have  judged  of  his  pretensions 
with  more  justice  and  success."— (Dean  Graves's  •'  Lectures  on  the  Pentateuch,"  p.  347.    5th  Ed.    1839. 


•f, 


382  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

And  I  will  shake  all  the  nations, 

And  the  Desire  of  all  nations  shall  come, 

And  I  will  fill  this  house  with  glory,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts. 

The  silver  is  mine,  and  the  gold  is  mine,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts. 

The  glory  of  this  latter  house  shall  be  greater  than  of  the  former,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts. 

And  in  this  place  will  I  give  peace,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts." — Hag.  ii.  6-9. 

The  prophecies  of  Zechariah  tended  to  the  same  objects  as  those  of  Haggai ;  and 
in  consequence  of  their  forcible  representations,  the  building  of  the  temple  was 
resumed  with  relvindled  zeal.  To  this  resumption  of  the  Avork,  after  so  long  a  sus- 
pension, the  Samaritans  succeeded  in  drawing  the  attention  of  Tatnai,  the  Persian 
general-governor  of  Syria,  who,  being  a  man  of  impartial  justice,  determined  to  go 
himself  to  Jerusalem  to  investigate  the  matter.  He  there  demanded  the  authority 
of  the  Jewish  chiefs  for  their  operations,  and  was  referred  by  them  to  the  edict  of 
Cyrus.  Tatnai  sent  a  clear  and  rigidly  unbiased  report  of  the  matter  to  the  king 
and  did  not  deem  it  necessary  to  direct  the  present  suspension  of  the  work.  The 
reference  to  the  Persian  court  could  not  have  been  made  under  more  favorable  cir- 
cumstances;  for  Darius  was  of  a  mild  and  just  character;  and,  still  more,  was  a 
devoted  admirer  of  Cyrus,  and  disposed  to  pay  the  highest  respect  to  his  acts  and 
inientions.*  The  king,  on  receiving  the  report  of  Tatnai,  directed  a  search  to  be 
made  among  the  archives  of  the  kingdom.  It  was  naturally  sought  at  first  among 
the  records  kept  in  the  treasure  house  at  Babylon.  It  was  not  found  there  ;  but  a  roll 
containing  the  edict  was  ultimately  discovered  in  the  record  chamber  of  the  palace 
at  Achmetha  (Ecbatana).  It  directed  not  only  that  the  temple  should  be  rebuilt,  and 
of  larger  dimensions  than  before,  but  that  the  expenses  should  be  defrayed  out  of  the 
royal  treasury.  The  king  directed  a  copy  of  this  edict  to  be  forwarded  to  Tatnai, 
together  with  a  letter,  in  which  he  was  enjoined  not  to  obstruct  the  building,  but 
zealously  to  forward  it,  to  defray  the  expenses  out  of  the  royal  revenues  accruing 
within  his  government,  and  also  to  furnish  the  priests  with  such  animals  as  were 
necessary  for  the  sacrifices,  with  wheat,  salt,  wine,  and  oil,  from  day  to  day,  for  the 
divine  service.  "  That  they  may  offer  sacrifices  of  a  sweet  savor  to  the  God  of 
heaven,  and  pray  for  the  life  of  the  king  and  of  his  sons."  The  letter  concluded  with 
an  order  (apparently  levelled  at  the  Samaritans),  that  whosoever  obstructed  the  exe- 
cution of  the  decree  should  be  hanged,  and  their  houses  demolished:  and  an  impre- 
cation was  added  on  all  kings  and  people  who  should  attempt  to  destroy  the  house 
of  God. 

This  transaction  gives  a  very  favorable  idea  of  the  good  order  and  efficient  adminis- 
tration of  the  Persian  government ;  while  the  concluding  direction  affords  another  and 
very  important  illustration  of  the  honor  which  Jehovah  had  obtained  for  his  name 
among  the  heathen  through  the  eastward  dispersion  of  the  Hebrews.  Indeed,  the 
edict  of  Cyrus,  which  was  on  this  occasion  brought  to  light,  contained  such  a  decla- 
ration of  reverence  for,  and  dependance  on,  Jehovah,  as  alone  could  not  but  have  had 
great  weight  upon  the  mind  of  Darius.  It  may  be  remarked,  indeed,  that  Darius 
himself  was  a  disciple  and  supporter  of  Zoroaster,  the  reformer  of  the  magian  reli- 
gion, who  is  supposed  to  have  profited  largely  by  his  intercourse  with  the  Hebrew 
captives  and  prophets  in  Babylon. 

Under  these  favoring  auspices,  the  work  proceeded  with  renewed  spirit;  and  four 
years  after,  being  the  sixth  of  Darius  (B.  C.  516),  the  temple  was  completed.  It  was 
dedicated  with  great  solemnity,  of  which  there  has  ever  since  been  an  annual  com- 
memoration in  "  The  Feast  of  Dedication."  In  the  following  month  the  Passovei 
was  celebrated  in  a  regulnr  and  solemn  manner,  for  the  first  time  since  the  restoration. 
The  temple  service  was  then  re-established  as  before  the  Captivity  ;  Jeshua,  the  high- 
priest,  encouraging  the  other  priests  and  the  Levites  by  his  example  to  attend  to  their 
peculiar  duties. 

The  Jews  appear  to  have  been  undisturbed  during  the  remainder  of  the  thirty-six 
years  in  which  Darius  reigned.     It  is  possible,  indeed,  that  some  difficulty  arose  in 

»  Ilystaspes,  the  father  of  Darius,  was  high  in  the  confidence  and  favor  of  Cyrus,  and  he  (and  very 
prol)nl)ly  his  son)  could  not  but  have  known  so  eminent  a  person  as  Daniel  when  at  the  court  of  Susa 
indeed,  the  wisdom  of  Daniel  appears  to  have  been  a  proverb  (Ezekiel  xxviii.  3).  It  is  remarkable  that 
Hystaspes  ultimately  succeeded  (under  his  son)  to  the  very  office  of  archimagus,  or  mastc:  of  the  magians 
which  Daniel  had  formerly  occupied. 

t  The  cut  (page  383)  actually  represents  the  library  at  Constantinople,  but  it  is  applicable  to  the  present 
sul)jects,  as  showing  the  manner  in  which  records,  books,  &c.,  are  (and  probably  were  anciently)  kept  by 
the  orientals. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


383 


384  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

the  latter  years  of  that  reign  from  their  relation  to  the  Persian  empire.  Darius,  whose 
whole  reign  was  occupied  in  foreign  and  generally  successful  war,  had  then  extendec 
his  operations  westward.  After  the  Persians  had  lost  the  battle  of  Marathon  in  B.  C. 
490,  Darius  made  immense  preparations  for  renewing  the  war,  which  kept  all  Asia  in 
a  ferment  for  three  years :  in  the  fourth  Egypt  revolted,  which  occasioned  the  division 
of  the  army  into  two,  one  to  act  against  Greece  and  the  other  against  Egypt.  But 
j.ust  as  all  preparations  were  completed,  Darius  died,  B.  C.  485.  Now,  as  the  rendez- 
vous of  the  army  in  this  expedition  against  Egypt  was  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Hebrew  territory,  it  is  in  every  way  likely  that  the  Jews  were  obliged  to  participate 
in  its  operations  ;  or  it  is  possible  that  they  obtained  an  exemption  from  personal  ser- 
vice on  condition  of  suppl-ying  the  army  with  provisions. 

Xerxes  completed  the  intentions  of  his  father  as  to  Egypt,  which  he  succeeded  in 
again  bringing  under  the  Persian  yoke.  His  subsequent  gigantic  plans  and  operations 
against  Greece,  however  important,  claim  no  notice  in  this  place.  As  the  resources 
of  the  empire  were  on  this  occasion  taxed  to  the  uttermost,  there  is  no  reason  to  sup- 
pose that  the  Jews  were  able  to  avoid  contributing  toward  this  vast  undertaking,  either 
by  their  property  or  personal  service,  or  by  both.  At  the  commencement  of  his  reign 
the  Samaritans  made  some  attempt  to  prejudice  him  against  the  inhabitants  of  Judah 
and  Jerusalem.  But  the  king  confirmed  in  every  particular  the  grants  made  by  his 
father.  Xerxes  is  the  Ahasuerus  of  Ezra  iv.  6.  (See  also  Joseph.  Antiq.,  xi.  4,  8; 
xi.  5.  1.) 

He  was  succeeded  in  B.  C.  464  by  his  son  Artaxerxes  Longimanus,  whose  protract- 
ed reign  Avas  replete  with  incidents  most  important  and  interesting  to  the  Jews.  At 
the  beginning  of  it  they  began  regularly  to  rebuild  Jerusalem,  and  to  surround  it  by 
a  wall.  But  they  were  stopped  in  their  work  by  an  order  from  the  king,  in  conse- 
quence of  a  letter  of  complaint  from  the  principal  Samaritan  officers,  who  described 
Jerusalem,  truly  enough,  as  "  a  rebellious  and  bad  city ;"  and  warned  him  that  if  the 
city  were  rebuilt  and  fortified,  the  inhabitants  were  sure  to  prove  seditious  as  in  for- 
mer times,  and  would  be  likely  to  raise  up  troubles,  and  endanger  the  Persian  do- 
minion in  that  quarter.  They  appealed  to  the  archives  of  the  empire  to  prove  that 
the  town  had  been  demolished  and  dismantled  on  account  of  its  rebellion  and  sedi- 
tions. The  records  were  accordingly  consulted,  and  the  fact  being  found  as  thus 
stated,  the  king  delayed  not  to  send  a  letter  authorizing  the  Samaritan  chiefs  to  stop 
the  work  until  further  orders.  This  they  forthwith  did,  and  with  no  gentle  hand.* 
This  opposition  of  the  Samaritans  was  remarkably  well-timed,  and  hence,  in  all  prob- 
ability, its  success.  Immediately  on  the  death  of  Xerxes,  Egypt  had  again  revolted 
from  the  Persian  yoke  (Diod.  lib.  iii.) ;  the  Samaritans  therefore  could  not  have  chosen 
a  fitter  opportunity  to  carry  their  point,  or  a  stronger  argument  to  work  upon  the 
king's  fears,  than  the  danger  that  might  result  from  allowing  the  Jews  to  fortify  their 
city.  For,  strengthen  and  increased  as  they  were  in  the  seventy-two  years  since  their 
return,  it  might  be  apprehended  that,  as  in  former  times,  tbey  Avould  not  only  them- 
selves follow  the  example  of  Egypt  by  refusing  to  pay  tribute,  but  that  they  might 
offer  serious  obstruction  to  the  Persian  army  to  be  employed  in  the  reduction  of 
Egypt,  in  going  or  returning  through  Palestine. 

After  he  had  subdued  all  his  domestic  foes  and  competitors  for  the  crown,  Artax- 
erxes, in  the  third  year  of  his  reign,  celebrated  at  Susa  the  general  and  protracted  re- 
joicing which  usually  attended  the  settlement  of  a  new  king  on  the  throne.  At  a 
public  banquet,  the  king,  in  his  cups  probably,  had  the  folly  to  send  for  the  queen, 
Vashti,  that  the  banqueters  might  be  witnesses  of  her  extreme  beauty.  An  order  so 
repugnant  to  the  customs  of  women,  the  queen  was  under  the  necessity  of  disobey- 
ing, and  disobedience,  whatever  were  the  cause,  could  not  be  allowed  to  pass  un- 
punished. All  the  sages  of  Persia  held  that,  to  prevent  tiie  evil  effects  of  this  exam- 
ple, it  was  necessary  that  the  queen  should  be  deposed,  and  that  the  act  of  deposi- 
tion should  be  accompanied  by  a  decree  that  every  man  should  bear  rule  in  his  oivn 
house!  So  Vashti  was  deposed  ;  and,  ultimately,  a  beautiful  Jewish  damsel  named 
Esther  was  promoted  to  her  place,  in  the  fourth  year  of  Artaxerxes. 

The  king  had  now  leisure  to  turn  his  attention  to  Egypt,  and  in  the  course  of  the 
expedition  to  bring  that  country  back  to  its  subjection,  which  was  happily  concluded 

*  Ezra  iv.  6-23.  The  whole  passage  is  referred  to  this  reign  in  the  text  (after  Howe  and  JIales),  under 
the  impression  that  where  it  stands  in  the  original  narrative  it  is  an  lustorical  anticipation,  and  not  in  its 
proper  chronological  place. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


385 


25 


386  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

m  the  sixih  year  of  his  reign.  He  had  probably  sufficient  opportunity  to  become  ac- 
quainted with  the  present  character  and  position  of  the  Jews,  and  with  the  claims  to 
his  favor  which  they  derived  from  the  edicts  of  Cyrus  and  Darius.  At  all  events,  in 
the  seventh  year  of  his  reign,  he  indicated  his  knowledge  of  those  edicts  and  his  wil- 
lingness to  enforce  them,  by  authorizing  "  Ezra  the  priest,  and  a  scribe  of  the  Law 
of  the  God  of  Heaven"  to  proceed  to  Jerusalem  "  to  beautify  the  house  of  Jehovah," 
and  to  establish  the  ecclesiastical  and  civil  institutions  with  greater  firmness  and  order 
than  they  had  yet  acquired.  His  powers  were  very  large.  He  was  commissioned 
to  appoint  judges,  superior  and  inferior,  to  rectify  abuses,  to  enforce  the  observance 
of  the  law,  to  punish  the  refractory  with  fines,  imprisonment,  banishment,  or  even 
with  death,  according  to  the  degree  of  their  offences.  He  was  also  permitted  to  make 
a  collection  for  the  service  of  the  temple  among  those  Hebrews  who  chose  to  remain 
in  the  land  of  their  exile;  and  the  king  and  his  council  not  only  largely  contributed 
toward  the  same  object,  but  the  ministers  of  the  royal  revenues  west  of  the  Euphrates 
were  charged  to  furnish  Ezra  with  whatever  (within  certain  limits)  of  silver,  corn, 
wine,  oil  and  salt  (without  limit)  which  he  might  require  for  the  service  of  the  tem- 
ple. Such  persons  of  the  Hebrew  race  as  thought  proper  to  return  with  Ezra  to  their 
own  land,  were  permitted  and  invited  to  do  so.  From  the  whole  tenor  of  this  com- 
mission it  is  evident  that  the  God  of  the  Hebrews  was  still  held  in  high  respect  at 
the  Persian  court ;  and,  by  a  new  concession,  all  his  ministers,  even  to  the  lowest 
nethinim,  were  exempted  from  tribute,  and  thus  put  on  an  equality  with  the  Persians 
and  the  Medes.  For  these  favors  some  writers  would  assign  "  the  solicitations  of 
Esther"  as  the  motive.  But  it  is  not  clear  that  the  king  knew  she  was  a  Jewess.  It 
was  certainly  perfectly  competent  for  Esther  to  make  the  king  better  acquainted  with 
the  claims  of  the  God  she  served  and  of  the  people  to  whom  she  belonged  ;  nor  should 
she  be  blamed  for  employing,  or  the  king  for  receiving,  such  influence.  But  there 
were  other  and  adequate  means  through  which  "  the  great  king"  might  acquire  this 
knowledge,  at  which  he  certainly  arrived.  To  the  series  of  splendid  acknowledg- 
ments extracted  from  these  illustrious  monarchs  through  the  captivity  and  vassalage 
of  the  Jews,  let  us  add  that  of  Artaxerxes,  whose  commission  to  Ezra  orders  :  "  What- 
soever is  commanded  by  the  God  of  Heaven  let  it  be  diligently  done  for  the  house 
of  THE  God  of  Heaven  ;  lest  there  be  wrath  [from  Him]  against  the  realm  of  the  king 
and  his  sons." 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  however,  that  the  decree  of  Artaxerxes  was  limited  to  the 
same  object— the  temple — as  the  edicts  of  former  kings;  and  that  no  mention  is 
made  of  the  walls,  from  which  it  appears  that  the  king  was  not  yet  prepared  to  con- 
cede that  Jerusalem  should  be  fortified. 

The  rendezvous  of  the  party  gathering  for  this  second  caravan  was  by  the  river 
Ahava,  where  the  number  assembled  was  found  to  consist  of  sixty  "  houses,"  con- 
taining one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty-four  (adult  ?)  males,  so  that,  with  women 
and  children,  there  were  probably  not  less  than  six  thousand  persons.  When  Ezra 
surveyed  this  party  it  was  with  much  chagrin  that  he  found  not  one  of  the  tribe  of 
Levi  among  them,  notwitlistanding  the  exemption  from  tribute  ;  and  it  was  not  with- 
out difficulty  that  two  families  of  priests  were  induced  to  join  the  emigrants. 

Considering  the  treasure  with  which  they  were  charged,  and  the  number  of  help- 
less women  and  chihlren  of  the  party,  there  was  much  ground  to  apprehend  danger 
from  the  Arabs  infesting  the  desert  over  which  the  caravan  must  pass,  and  who  then, 
as  now,  were  wont  to  assault,  or  at  least  to  levy  large  contributions  on  caravans  too 
weak  or  too  timid  to  resist  them.  Ezra  therefore  appointed  a  special  season  for  fast- 
ing and  prayer  beside  the  river,  that  they  might,  as  it  were,  throw  themselves  upon 
the  special  protection  and  guidance  of  Jehovah :  for,  as  Ezra  ingenuously  confesses, 
"  I  was  ashamed  to  require  of  the  king  a  band  of  soldiers  and  horsemen  to  defend 
us  against  the  enemy  by  the  way  ;  because  we  had  spoken  unto  the  king,  saying, 
'  The  hand  of  our  God  is  upon  all  them  for  good  that  seek  him,  but  his  power  and 
his  wrath  is  against  all  that  forsake  him.' " 

Their  confidence  was  not  in  vain,  for  they  all  arrived  safely  at  Jerusalem  after  a 
journey  of  four  months.  They  set  out  on  the  first  month  of  the  seventh  year  of  the 
king's  reign,  and  reached  their  destination  on  the  first  day  of  the  fifth  month, 
B.  C.  457. 

Of  all  the  improvements  and  regulations  which  Ezra  introduced  into  Judea,  the 
book  which  bears  his  name  onlv  records  his  exertions  in  removing  the  heathen  women 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


387 


^rr-  -K:  :-  ^^-^n- 


38S  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

with  whom  matrimonial  connexions  had  very  generally  been  formed  by  the  Jews — 
to  such  an  extent  indeed  that  even  the  sons  of  the  high-priest  Jeshua,  and  many  of 
the  other  priests,  had  fallen  into  this  grievous  error.  To  annul  these  marriages,  was 
a  measure,  however  harsh  to  the  natural  affections,  indispensably  necessary  as  a  se- 
curity against  a  relapse  into  idolatry. 

While  Ezra  was  thus,  and  by  otlier  means,  laboring  to  raise  the  character  and  im- 
prove the  condition  of  the  Hebrews  in  Judea,  all  the  Jews  in  the  Persian  dominions 
were  suddenly  threatened  with  entire  extermination.  Haman,  an  Amalekite,  and  as 
such,  an  inveterate  foe  of  the  Hebrew  nation,  occupied  the  chief  place  in  the  confi- 
dence and  service  of  the  Persian  king.  His  paltry  pride  being  irritated  by  the  appa- 
rent disrespect  of  a  Jewish  officer,  named  Mordecai  (the  uncle  of  Queen  Esther,  but 
not  known  as  such),  he  laid  a  plot  for  the  massacre  of  the  whole  nation  and  the  spo- 
liation of  their  goods.  The  book  of  Esther,  to  which  we  must  refer  the  reader,  re- 
lates at  large  the  particulars  of  the  plot,  and  shows  how  the  machinations  of  the 
Amalekite  were  defeated  by  the  address  and  piety  of  Queen  Esther,  and  turned  upon 
the  unprincipled  contriver  himself,  who  was  destroyed  with  all  his  family,  and  Mor- 
decai (by  virtue  of  an  old  and  neglected  service)  promoted  to  his  place. 

In  the  narrative  of  this  transaction,  the  attention  is  arrested  by  the  further  illustra- 
tion, offered  in  the  case  of  Haman  and  afterward  of  Mordecai,  of  the  distinction  and 
wealth  which  foreigners  and  captives — or,  at  least,  persons  of  foreign  and  captive 
origin — were  enabled  to  attain.  The  rank  is  obvious  ;  and  as  to  the  ivealth  they  were 
allowed  to  acquire,  no  more  striking  illustration  can  be  afforded  than  by  the  fact  that 
Haman,  to  gratify  his  barbarous  whim,  was  in  a  condition  to  offer  the  king  a  gratuity 
of  ten  thousand  talents  of  silver,  to  defray  the  probable  deficiency  of  the  royal  revenue 
by  the  proscription  of  the  Jews  throughout  the  empire.  This  the  king  declined  ac- 
cepting. The  amount,  computed  by  the  Babylonish  talent,  would  be  upward  of  two 
millions  sterling ;  and  this,  it  appears,  was  considerably  short  of  the  full  amount  of 
the  Jewish  tribute. 

On  this  occasion,  we  also  have  another  example  of  the  mischievous  consequences 
which  might  result  from  the  king  being  unmindful  of  the  heavy  responsibility  of  cau- 
tion, which  Avas  designed  to  be  imposed  by  the  well-meant  law  which  precluded  his 
decrees  from  being  changed  or  repealed.  For  when  Ariaxerxes  became  convinced  of 
the  grievous  wrong  into  Avhich  he  had  been  led  in  decreeing  the  massacre  of  the 
Jews,  it  was  beyond  his  power  to  recall  the  order  he  had  issued.  All  he  could  do 
was  to  despatch  swift  couriers  with  a  counter  decree,  empowering  the  Jews  to  stand 
upon  their  defence  when  assaulted,  with  the  aid  of  whatever  moral  advantage  they 
might  derive  from  this  indication  of  the  present  intentions  of  the  king.  On  the  ap- 
pointed day,  which  had  been  destined  to  sweep  the  race  of  Israel  from  the  face  of  the 
earth,  the  Jews  were  by  no  means  wanting  to  themselves.  They  repelled  their 
assailants  by  force  of  arms,  and  that  with  such  effect,  that  in  Susa  itself  eiarht  hun- 
dred men  fell  by  their  hands,  and  in  the  different  provinces  seventy-five  thousand. 
The  slaugjiter  among  the  Jews  themselves  is  not  stated,  but  must  have  been  con- 
siderable. 

This  great  deliverance  has  ever  since  been  commemorated  by  the  annual  feast  of 
Purim,  or  of  Lots,— so  called  from  the  lots  which  were  superstitiously  cast  by  Haman 
to  find  a  propitious  day  for  the  massacre. 

It  was  not  until  the  twentieth  year  of  his  reign  that  Artaxerxes  granted  the  long- 
delayed  permission  to  build  the  walls  of  Jerusalem.  It  was  then  obtained  at  the  in- 
stance of  a  Jew  named  Nehemiah,  who  held  at  the  Persian  court  the  high  and  confi- 
dential office  of  cup-bearer,  or  butler.  He  had  become  acquainted  with  the  mortifica- 
tions and  insults  to  which  tlie  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  were  exposed  through  the 
defenceless  condition  of  their  city;  and  the  depression  of  his  spirits,  in  consequence, 
was  too  strongly  marked  on  his  countenance  to  pass  unnoticed  by  the  king,  who  de- 
manded the  cause  of  his  sadness.  As  it  was  no  ordinary  misdemeanor  to  exhibit  sad- 
ness in  the  presence  of  "  the  king  of  kings,"  Neherniah  was  much  alarmed,  but 
answered,  "  Let  the  king  live  for  ever  :  why  should  not  my  countenance  be  sad  when 
the  city,  the  place  of  my  fathers'  sepulchres,  lieth  waste,  and  the  gates  thereof  are 
consumed  with  fire  1"  The  king  encouraged  him  to  declare  his  wishes  freelv,  and 
the  result  was  that  Artaxerxes  consented  to  dispense  with  Jiis  services  at  court  for  a 
few  years,  and  gave  him  the  appointment  of  tirsha/a,  or  civil  governor,  of  Judea,  in 
succession  to  Zerubbaoel,  whose  death  about  this  time  might  furnish  an  additional 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


389 


Modern  Oriental  Gate 


■M)  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

reason  lor  the  appointment  (Neh.  xii.  47).  This  would  not  interfere  with  the  com- 
mission of  Ezra,  which  was  chiefl}^  of  an  ecclesiastical  nature,  and  who,  by  the  dis- 
charsre  of  his  proper  function  of  teaching  the  law  to  the  people,  would  give  the  new 
governor  important  co-operation. 

Nehemiah  was  commissioned  to  build  walls  and  gates  to  the  town,  to  erect  a 
palace  for  himself  and  future  governors,  and  afterward  to  rebuild  the  cit}'.  All  this 
he  accomplished  with  singular  zeal,  ability,  and  disinterestedness,  in  the  course  of  his 
administration  of  twelve  years,  to  which  his  leave  of  absence  from  the  Persian  court 
extended.  He  had  to  encounter  much  opposition  and  many  threats  from  the  chiefs 
of  the  surrounding  nations, — Sanballat  the  Samaritan,  Tobiah  the  Ammonite,  the 
Arabians,  and  the  remnant  of  the  Philistines.  But  Nehemiah  piously  encouraged  the 
people  to  rely  on  Jehovah,  and  "  to  fight  for  their  brethren,  their  sons  and  their 
daughters,  their  wives  and  their  homes."  And  he  divided  them  into  two  parts,  one 
to  fight  and  the  other  to  labor  and  build  ;  and  even  the  builders  "  with  one  hand 
wrought  in  the  work,  and  with  the  other  held  a  weapon."  Thus,  by  the  most  noble 
exertions,  the  whole  wall,  which  was  distributed  in  lots  among  the  priests  and  chiefs 
of  the  people,  was  finished,  with  all  the  towers  and  gates,  in  the  short  space  of  fifty- 
two  days. 

On  the  commission  of  Nehemiah,  Hales,  following  the  acute  observations  of  Howes, 
remarks : — 

"  This  change  in  the  conduct  of  Artaxerxes,  respecting  the  Jews,  may  be  accounted 
for  upon  sound  political  principles,  and  not  merely  from  regard  to  the  solicitations  oi 
his  cup-bearer  or  the  influence  of  his  queen. 

"  Four  years  before,  in  the  sixteenth  year  of  his  reign,  Artaxerxes,  who,  after  the 
reduction  of  Egypt,  had  prosecuted  the  war  against  their  auxiliaries,  the  Athenians, 
suffered  a  signal  defeat  of  his  forces  by  sea  and  land,  from  Cimon  the  Athenian  gen- 
eral, which  compelled  him  to  make  an  inglorious  peace  with  them,  upon  the  hu- 
miliating conditions,  1,  that  the  Greek  cities  throughout  Asia  should  be  free  and 
enjoy  their  own  laws;  2,  that  no  Persian  governor  should  come  within  three  days' 
journey  of  any  part  of  the  sea  with  an  army  ;  and  8,  that  no  Persian  ships  of  war  should 
sail  between  the  northern  extremity  of  Asia  Minor  and  the  uoundary  of  Palestine, 
according  to  Diodorus  Siculus  (lib.  xii).  Thus  excluded  from  the  whole  line  of  sea- 
coast,  and  precluded  from  keeping  garrisons  in  any  of  the  maritime  towns,  it  became 
not  only  a  matter  of  prudence  but  of  necessity  to  conciliate  the  Jews  ;  to  attach  them 
to  the  Persian  interest,  and  detach  them  from  the  Grecians  by  further  privileges ; 
that  the  Persians  might  have  the  benefit  of  a  friendly  fortified  town  like  Jerusalem, 
within  three  days' journey  of  the  sea,  and  a  most  important  pass  to  keep  up  the  com- 
munication between  Persia  and  Egypt;  and,  to  confirm  this  conjecture,  we  raay  re- 
mark that  in  all  the  ensuing  Egyptian  wars,  the  Jews  remained  faithful  to  the  Per- 
sians ;  and  even  after  the  Macedonian  invasion  : — and  surely  some  such  powerful 
motive  must  have  been  opposed  in  the  king's  mind  to  the  jealousy  and  displeasure 
this  measure  must  unavoidably  excite  in  the  neighborimj  provinces  hostile  to  the 
Jews,  whose  remonstrances  had  so  much  weight  with  him  formerly.  It  was  ncces- 
sarv.  therefore,  to  intrust  the  important  mission  to  an  officer  high  in  former  trust  and 
confidence,  such  as  Nehemiah,  whose  services  at  court  Artaxerxes  reluctantly  dis- 
pensed Avith,  as  appears  from  his  appointing  a  set  time  for  Nehemiah's  return,  and 
afterward,  from  his  return  again  to  Persia  in  the  thirty-second  y»iar  of  his  reign." 

While  the  city  remained  unwalled  the  mass  of  the  people  had  chosen  rather  to 
dwell  in  the  country  than  in  a  place  so  conspicuous  and  yet  so  insecure.  The  walls 
were  built  on  the  old  foundations ;  and  Nehemiah  found  that  although  as  enclosed 
within  the  walls  "  the  city  was  large  and  great,"  yet  "  the  people  Avere  few  therein, 
and  the  houses  were  not  builded."  He  therefore  caused  the  people  to  be  registered, 
and  required  that  one  family  in  ten  (to  be  chosen  by  loi)  should  come  to  reside  in 
Jerusalem.  Those  who,  without  waiting  the  decision  of  the  lot,  voluntarily  ofiTered 
themselves  to  dwell  in  Jerusalem,  were  received  with  peculiar  favor.  The  city  was 
thus  replenished  with  inhabitants,  and  the  walls  with  defenders.  The  walls  were 
dedicated  with  great  solemnity  and  joy.  And  while  the  governor  was  thus  heedful 
of  the  stone-and-mortar  framework  of  the  social  system  which  he  desired  to  establish. 
he  was  by  no  means  negligent  of  the  inhabiting  and  animating  spirit.  He  applied 
hin/self  diligently  (assisted  by  Ezra)  to  the  organization  of  the  temple-service,  nnd  of 
ihe  "ivil  eovernment ;  while  various 'abuses,  which  the  unsettled  condition  of  affairs 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  391 

nad  engendered,  were  corrected  by  hiin  with  a  firm  and  unsparing  hand.  And  to 
strengthen  his  authority  and  influence,  and  that  he  and  his  government  might  not  be 
burdensome  to  the  people,  this  fine-spirited  man  declined  to  receive  the  usual  dues 
of  a  governor;  but  while  he  travelled  with  a  great  retinue,  maintained  a  large  num- 
ber of  servants,  and  kept  open  table  at  Jerusalem,  the  heavy  charges  were  entirely 
borne  from  his  own  private  fortune,  which  must  have  been  very  considerable.  That 
he,  a  foreigner  and  a  captive,  was  enabled  to  accumulate  such  a  fortune,  affords 
another  illustration  of  the  liberality  of  the  Persian  government;  which  also  was  un- 
questionably, as  far  as  the  Hebrews  at  least  were  concerned,  the  best  and  most  gen- 
erous of  the  foreign  governments,  to  which  they  were  at  any  time  subjected. 

It  was  during  the  government  of  Nehemiah  that  Ezra,  his  ecclesiastical  coadjutor, 
completed  his  collection  and  revisal  of  the  sacred  books.  Traces  of  his  careful  hanU 
may  still  be  detected  throughout  the  historical  books  of  scripture;  and  the  settlement 
of  the  Old  Testament  canon  in  nearly  its  present  shape,  may  be  ascribed  to  him. 
Among  his  labors  was  the  exchange  of  the  old  Hebrew  character  of  writing — with 
which  the  people  had  now  become  unacquainted — for  the  more  shapely  and  generally 
known  Chaldean  character,  with  which  alone  the  people  were  now  familiar.  The 
difference  thus  created  is  not  so  great  as  that  which  would  take  place  were  the  Ger- 
mans to  exchange  their  peculiar  (and  not  very  elegant)  character  of  print  for  that  (the 
E.oman)  which  prevails  among  nearly  all  other  European  nations.  The  Samaritans 
did  not  adopt  or  need  this  change  in  their  copies  of  the  Pentateuch  ;  they  retained  the 
original  character,  which,  therefore,  has  since  been  known  as  the  Samaritan  character. 
It  was  not  alone  the  old  Hebrew  character  oi  writing,  but  the  language  itself,  which 
had  become  unintelligible  to  the  mass  of  the  people,  who  had  been  born  beyond  the 
Euphrates,  and  had  imbibed  the  East-Aramaean  or  Chaldee  dialect  as  a  mother  tongue. 
The  old  Hebrew  was  still  well  known  to,  and  spoken  by,  educated  persons  in  their 
intercourse  with  each  other;  but  the  Chaldee  was  used  in  all  the  common  intercourse 
of  life,  since  that  only  was  understood  by  all.  It  was  not,  however,  until  the  time  of 
the  Maccabees,  that  the  old  Hebrew  was  completely  displaced  by  the  Chaldee.  This 
last  language  is  but  a  dialect  of  the  Hebrew,  which  fact  accounts  for  the  ease  with 
which  the  Jews  fell  into  the  use  of  it  during  the  captivity.  It  however  assigned  to 
words  essentially  the  same  such  additional  or  new  meanings,  and  such  differing  ter- 
minations and  pronunciation,  that  the  old  Hebrew  could  be  but  imperfectly  intelligible 
to  those  who  understood  only  the  Chaldee. 

Accordingly,  when  Ezra  had  finished  his  revision  of  the  sacred  books,  and  the  peo- 
ple thronged  to  Jerusalem  to  hear  the  authentic  law  from  his  lips,  it  was  necessary 
that  some  of  the  Levites  should  interpret  to  the  multitude  what  this  excellent  person 
read  in  Hebrew  from  the  book.  This  was'  a  very  solemn  and  interesting  occasion. 
The  people  assembled  in  the  open  street ;  and  Ezra,  raised  above  the  people  on  a  kind 
of  pulpit  made  for  the  occasion,  read  from  the  book  of  the  law  to  an  immense  audi- 
ence, who  listened  with  most  rapt  attention  to  the  interpretations  which  the  sur- 
rounding Levites  gave.  It  is  manifest  that  the  copies  of  the  law  had  been  scarce,  and 
that  it  had  not  been  publicly  read  to  the  people,  for  it  is  manifest  that  they  heard 
much  on  this  occasion  with  which  they  were  not  previously  acquainted  ;  and  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  extent  to  which  the  injunctions  which  they  heard  had  been  neglected 
by  them,  filled  them  with  grief,  and  occasioned  much  and  loud  lamentation,  which 
the  Levites  allayed  with  difficulty.  Among  other  things,  they  heard  of  the  feast  of 
tabernacles,  and  found  that  the  time  of  its  celebration  was  close  at  hand.  They  there- 
fore proceeded  forthwith  to  manifest  their  obedience  to  this  law,  and  they  celebrated 
the  feast  in  a  manner  so  dis;inguished  that  nothing  like  it  had  been  known  since  the 
time  of  Joshua. 

Nehemiah  and  Ezra  availed  themselves  of  the  favorable  disposition  which  at  this 
time  existed  to  induce  the  people  to  enter  into  one  of  those  solemn  covenants  which 
we  Jiave  had  frequent  occasion  to  notice  in  the  past  history.  This  was,  however, 
more  specific  in  its  obligations;  for  the  people  pledged  themselves:  1,  to  walk  in 
God's  law  as  given  to  Moses;  2,  not  to  intermarry  with  the  people  of  the  land;  3,  to 
observe  the  sabbath  day,  and  not  to  buy  or  to  sell  goods  thereon  ;  4,  to  keep  the  sab- 
batical year,  and  to  remit  all  debts  therein ;  5,  to  pay  a  tax  of  a  third  of  a  shekel 
yearly  for  the  service  of  the  temple;  6,  and  to  render  their  first-fruits  and  tithes  as 
required  by  the  'aw. 


392  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

At  the  expiration  of  his  twelfth  year  of  office,  when  his  leave  of  absence  expired; 
Neheuiiah  relumed  lo  resume  his  station  at  the  Persian  court. 

When  he  departed,  no  person  with  adequate  authority  appears  to  have  been  left  to 
carry  on  or  coraplete  his  measures.  His  salutary  regulations,  and  even  the  solemn 
covenani  inlo  which  ihe  people  had  entered,  were  gradually  infringed  and  violated. 
The  general  laxity  of  principle  and  conduct  may  be  estimated  from  the  proceedings 
of  the  persons  who  might  have  been  expected  to  offer  the  brightest  examples  of 
knowledge  and  faithfulness.  Thus  the  high-priest  himself,  Eliashib,  gave  Tobiah  the 
Ammonite  (the  grand  opponent  of  Nehemiah)  for  lodging,  even  in  the  temple  itself, 
a  lara^e  chamber,  which  had  been  used  as  a  store  room  for  the  tithes  and  offerings. 
This  Tobiah,  as  well  as  his  son  Johanan,  had  married  Jewish  women  and  became  al- 
lied to  the  high-priest.  One  of  the  grandsons  of  Eliashib  was  also  son-in-law  to  San- 
ballat  the  Horonite,  another  of  Nehemiah's  great  adversaries.  The  temple  service 
was  neglected  ;  the  tithes,  appointed  for  the  support  of  the  Levites  and  the  singers, 
were  abstracted  by  the  high-paiest  and  his  agents,  or  withheld  by  the  people;  the 
sabbath  was  profaned  in  every  possible  way  ;*  and  marriages  with  strange  women 
were  frequent  among  the  people.  In  accounting  for  the  demoralization  of  this  period, 
it  may  not  be  improper  to  connect  it  with  the  frequent  march  of  Persian  troops  through 
the  territory  in  passing  to  and  from  Egypt,  which  was  frequently  in  a  state  of  revolt. 
By  this  Judea  was  made  to  share  in  the  evils  of  war,  than  which  nothing  is  more  re- 
laxing of  the  bonds  by  which  the  order  of  civil  society  is  maintained. 

The  tidings  of  this  relapse  occasioned  much  grief  to  Nehemiah  at  the  Persian  court, 
and  he  ultimately  succeeded  in  obtaining  permission  to  return  to  Judea.  He  returned 
in  his  former  (Capacity  as  governor,  and  applied  himself  most  vigorously  to  the  correc- 
tion of  the  evils  which  had  gained  ground  during  his  absence.!  His  exertions  appear 
to  have  been  continued  for  four  years,  or  until  the  third  year  of  Darius  Nothus,  whom 
Nehemiah  designates  as  Darius  the  Persian.  The  end,  therefore,  of  this  eminent  per- 
son's second  reform,  which  may  be  taken  as  the  final  act  in  the  restoration  and  settle- 
ment of  the  Jews  in  their  own  land,  may  be  ascribed  to  the  year  B.  C.  420.  AVith 
this  year,  therefore,  the  canon  of  the  Old  Testament  concludes  ;  for  Malachi,  the  last 
of  the  prophets,  is  alleged  by  tradition,  supported  by  every  probability  of  internal  ev- 
idence, to  iiave  prophesied  during  this  later  administration  of  Nehemiah.  Malachi  is 
supposed  by  many  to  be  the  same  as  Ezra. 

One  of  the  measures  of  Nehemiah  was  to  expel  the  grandson  of  the  high-priest, 
who  had  wedded  the  daughter  of  Sanballat,  from  whom  he  declined  to  separate. 
This  act  was  attended  with  important  consequences.  Josephus  informs  us  that  this 
person's  name  was  Manasseh  ;  and  that,  on  being  expelled  from  Jerusalem,  he  went 
to  his  father-in-law  Sanballat,  who,  by  his  interest  with  the  Persian  king,  obtained 
permission  to  build  a  temjjle  upon  Mount  Gerizim  like  that  at  Jerusalem,  and  hi  which 
Jehovah  was  to  be  worshipped  with  similar  services.  Of  this  establishment  he  made 
-anasseh  the  high-priest.  This,  in  future,  attracted  numbers  of  Jews  who  had  mar- 
ried strange  wives  from  Avhom  they  could  not  bring  themselves  to  part,  or  who  had 
rendered  themselves  amenable  lo  punishment  by  other  transgressions  of  the  law.  And 
this,  while  it  tended  in  a  very  serious  degree  lo  aggravate  the  enmity  between  the 
two  nations,  served  ere  long  to  correct  the  remaining  idolatrous  practices,  and  tenden- 
cies to  idolatry  among  the  Samaritans.  Receiving  the  account  of  these  matters  through 
Josephus,  and  other  prejudiced  writers,  it  behooves  us  lo  be  cautious  of  receivinii'  all 
the  impressions  they  intend  to  convey.  The  temple  of  Gerizim  was  undoubtedly  a 
schismatical  establishment.  Bui  seeing  that,  on  the  one  hand,  the  Samaritans  were 
anxious  to  worship  Jehovah  according  lo  the  regulations  of  Moses,  while,  on  the  other, 
the  Jews,  whether  right  or  wrong,  pertinaciously  refused  to  receive  their  adhesion  to 
the  temple  of  Jerusalem,  it  is  difficult  lo  see  what  other  course  was  left  them  than  to 
build  a  temple  for  themselves.  Besides,  the  obligation  of  adhesion  to  one  temple  was 
imposed  only  on  the  seed  of  Abraham  ,  and  the  law  made  no  provision  for  the  case  of 
a  people  who  desired  lo  worship  Jehovah,  but  were  repelled  by  the  Jews.  And  this 
very  tact  may  suggest  that  this  repulsion  was  in  iiself  not  legal,  whatever  good  effects 
may  ultimately  have  resulted  from  it. 

*  One  of  the  profanations  consisted  in  the  practice  of  the  Tyrians  bringing  fish  to  the  city  for  sale  on  the 
sabbath  day.     A  curious  fact. 

t  The  time  is  uncertain  and  conjectures  vary.  Hales  makes  it  B.  C.  424,  six  years  after  his  return  to 
Persia, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


393 


394  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

CHAPTER    XXIV. 
From  b.  c.  420,  to  b.  c.  163. 

After  Nehemiah,  no  more  separate  governors  of  Judea  were  sent  from  Persia.  The 
territory  was  annexed  to  the  provinceof  Coele-Syria,  and  the  administration  of  Jewish 
affairs  was  left  to  the  high-priests,  subject  to  the  control  of  the  provincial  governors. 
This  raised  the  high-priesthood  to  a  degree  of  temporal  dignity  and  power,  which 
very  soon  made  it  such  an  object  of  worldly  ambition,  as  occasioned  many  violent  and 
disgraceful  contests  among  persons  who  had  had  the  least  possible  regard  for  the  re- 
ligious character  and  obligations  of  the  sacerdotal  office."" 

The  history  of  this  period  is  obscure  and  intricate.  Facts  are  few,  and  some  of 
those  which  we  possess  are  hard  to  reconcile.  But  there  is  enough  to  acquaint  us 
with  the  unholy  violence  and  unprincipled  conduct  of  the  competitors  for  the  priest- 
hood, and  the  sufferings  arising  from  this,  as  well  as  from  the  arbitrary  proceedmgs 
of  those  who  succeeded  in  obtaining  that  high  office. 

Jeshua,  the  high-priest  who  returned  with  Zerubbabel,  was  succeeded  by  his  son 
Joachim,  and  he  by  his  son  Eliashib,  who  obtains  unfavorable  notice  in  the  history  of 
Nehemiah's  second  administration.  He  was  then  old,  and  died  in  B.  C.  413.  He  was 
succeeded  by  his  son  Joiada  or  Judas,  who  held  the  office  for  forty  years,  B.  C.  413-373. 

Artaxerxes,  who  died  in  423  B.  C,  left  one  son  by  his  queen,  and  seventeen  sons 
by  his  concubines.  The  first  was  named  Xerxes,  and,  among  the  latter,  history  only 
knows  Sogdianus,  Ochus,  and  Arsites.  Xerxes,  the  only  legitimate  son,  succeeded ; 
but,  after  forty-five  days,  he  was  slain  by  Sogdianus,  who  mounted  the  throne.  On 
this,  Ochus,  who  Avas  governor  of  Hyrcania,  marched  thence  with  a  powerful  army  to 
avenge  the  deed.  Sogdianus  submitted,  and  was  put  to  death.*  Ochus,  in  ascending 
the  vacant  throne,  took  the  name  of  Darius,  and  was  surnamed  Nothus,  or  "  bastard," 
to  distinguish  him  from  others  of  the  name. 

Of  the  events  of  this  troubled  r^ign,  it  is  perhaps  only  necessary  to  notice  that  the 
Egyptians  again  shook  off  the  Persian  yoke,  and  made  Amyrtaeus  of  Sais  their  king, 
413  B.  C.  With  the  aid  of  the  Arabians,  they  drove  the  Persians  out  of  Egypt,  pur- 
sued them  as  far  as  Phcenicia,  and  maintained  their  independence  sixty-four  years. 
Ochus  sent  an  army  against  thegm  without  success.  The  Persian  forces  marched  to 
Egypt  along  the  coast,  through  Judea.  This  event  could  not  fail  to  act  to  the  serious 
detriment  and  disquiet  of  the  Jews ;  but  we  possess  no  precise  information  on  the 
subject.  The  Persian  army  while  on  its  march  might  have  laid  waste  Idumea,  be- 
cause the  Idumeans  had  perhaps  taken  part  with  those  Arabs,  who,  in  conjunction 
with  the  Egyptians,  had  pursued  the  Persians  into  Phoenicia,  while  the  Jews  con- 
tinued faithful  to  the  Persian  government,  with  which  they  certainly  had  no  reason 
to  be  dissatisfied.  The  prophet  Malachi  appears  to  allude  to  these  circumstances. 
(Mai.  i.  2-5.) 

Darius  Nothus  died  in  404  B.  C,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son  Arsaces, 
who,  on  his  accession,  took  the  name  of  Artaxerxes,  and  was  surnamed  Memnon,  on 
account  of  his  astonishing  "  memory."  The  long  reign  of  this  monarch  was  full  of 
striking  and  important  events  ;  but  our  notice  must  be  confined  to  the  circumstances 
connected  with  Egypt  and  Phcenicia,  with  which  the  Jews  could  not  but  be  in  some 
way  involved. 

Artaxerxes  determined  to  make  a  vigorous  effort  to  restore  the  Persian  power  m 
Egypt,  and  to  this  end  made  most  extensive  preparation,  continued  for  three  years. 
At  last,  in  473  B.  C,  he  had  equipped  a  most  formidable  expedition  by  land  and  sea, 
which,  he  confidently  expected,  would  speedily  reduce  the  strongholds,  and  firmly 
establish  his  authority  throughout  the  country.  But  the  jealousy  between  the  com 
manders  of  the  land  and  sea  forces,  prevented  that  union  of  purpose  and  action  which 
was  essential  to  success.  Pelusium  was  found  to  be  impregnable,  and  all  the  fortified 
lowtis  were  placed  in  a  state  of  defence.  The  Persian  general,  Pharnabazus,  there- 
fore, despaired  of  making  any  impression  upon  ihem,  and  advanced  into  the  interior, 
but  being  opposed  by  the  Egyptian  king  (Nectanebo)  with  a  considerable  force,  and 
in  consequence  of  the  want  of  boats,  being  constantly  impeded  in  his  movements  by 

*  He  was  smothered  in  aslies.     Ochus  had  sworn  not  to  kill  liim  by  sword,  poison,  or  hunger;  and  there 
fore  invented  this  novel  kind  of  death  to  observe  the  letter  while  he  infringed  the  spirit  of  his  oath 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  395 

the  various  channels  of  the  rising  Nile,  he  was  obliged  to  retreat  and  relinquish  the 
hope  of  subjecting  Egypt  to  the  Persian  yoke. 

The  Egyptian  king,  by  whom  the  Persians  were  thus  repelled,  was  succeeded  in 
369  B.  C.  by  Teos  or  Tachos,  who  formed  large  designs,  and  made  extensive  prep- 
arations for  acting  (jfTensively  against  the  Persian  power.  He  made  an  alliance  with 
the  Lacedaemonians,  and  received  from  them  10,000  auxiliaries  under  the  command 
of  Agesilaus  their  king.  Both  the  person  and  counsels  of  this  consummate  general 
were  treated  with  considerable  disrespect ;  and  the  king  persisted  in  leading  his  army 
in  person  into  Phoenicia  against  the  Persians.  But  his  absence  was  immediately  fol- 
lowed by  a  powerful  conspiracy  in  favor  of  his  relative  Nectanebo,  for  whom  the 
army  also  declared,  so  that  the  inflituated  Tacho  had  no  resource  but  to  flee  from  his 
own  people  and  throw  himself  under  the  protection  of  the  great  and  generous  kino-  of 
Persia,  whose  dominions  he  had  invaded. 

The  Idumeans  again  suffered  much  from  being  mixed  up  in  the  contest  between 
the  Persians  and  Egyptians.  Nor  can  it  be  supposed  that  the  Jews  escaped  without 
much  moral,  if  not  physical  injury.  It  will  be  considered  that  they  were  exposed  to 
the  burdens  of  a  military  rendezvous  from  377  to  374  B.  C. ;  for  at  that  time  there 
were  assembled  in  their  vicinity  200,000  barbarian  soldiers,  besides  20,000  Greeks; 
and  300  ships  of  war,  200  galleys  of  thirty  rowers,  and  a  great  number  of  store-ships 
were  collected  at  Acco  (Acre).  The  invading  army  of  Persia,  both  in  going  and  re- 
turning, took  its  route  along  their  coasts,  as  did  afterward  the  Egyptian  army  in  its 
invasion  of  Phoenicia.  These  circumstances  could  not  but  be  attended  with  very  in- 
jurious effects  ;  but  upon  the  whole  the  Jews  maybe  considered  to  have  enjoyed 
peace  and  comfort  during  most  of  the  reign  of  Artaxerxes  Memnon,  who  was  a  prince 
of  mild  and  humane  character,  and  governed  with  much  moderation  and  prudence, 
and  with  considerable  political  wisdom.  However,  in  all  the  provinces,  much  de- 
pended on  the  character  of  the  governor  or  satrap,  whose  powers,  within  his  province, 
were  almost  regal.  Artaxerxes  died  in  358  B.  C,  after  a  long  reign  of  forty-six  years. 
The  pen  of  Xenophon  has  immortalized  the  revolt  of  his  younger  brother  Cyrus,  by 
which  the  "early  part  of  his  reign  was  much  troubled.  The  retreat  of  the  10,000 
Greeks — who  had  fought  for  Cyrus  and  survived  his  overthrow  and  death — under  the 
conduct  of  the  historian  himself,  has  been  more  admired  and  celebrated  than  most 
ancient  or  modern  victories. 

It  was  between  the  periods  of  disturbance  which  have  been  indicated,  namely,  in 
373  B.  C,  that  the  high-priest  Joiada  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Jonathan 
or  Jochanan  (John).  About  the  time  of  the  Egyptian  invasion,  this  person  occasioned 
much  trouble  to  his  nation.  His  brother  Jesus  had  become  so  great  a  favorite  with 
the  Persian  governor  Bagoses,  that  he  nominated  him'  to  the  priesthood.  When 
Jesus  came  to  Jerusalem  in  that  capacity,  he  was  slain  by  Jonathan  in  the  very  tem- 
ple. Bagoses  no  sooner  heard  of  this  outrage  than  he  hastened  to  Jerusalem ;  and 
when  an  attempt  was  made  to  exclude  him  from  the  temple  as  a  gentile,  and  conse- 
quently unclean,  he  replied  with  vehemence,  "What !  am  not  I  as  clean  as  the  dead 
carcase  that  lies  in  your  temple  ?"  The  punishment  which  Bagoses  imposed  for  the 
murder  of  Jesus  was  a  heavy  tax  upon  the  lambs  offered  in  sacrifice.  This  onerous 
impost  was  not  remitted  until  the  succeeding  reign;  and  it  must  have  been  the 
more  sensibly  felt,  as  the  priests  had  for  many  years  been  accustomed  to  receive 
large  contributions  from  the  Persian  kings  toward  defraying  the  expense  of  the 
sacrifices. 

Artaxerxes  Memnon  was  succeeded  in  the  throne  of  Persia  by  his  son  Ochus.  In 
his  reign,  among  many  other  disturbances  which  we  need  not  mention,  the  Sidonians, 
Phoenicians,  and  Cyprians  revolted,  and  made  common  cause  with  the  Egyptians, 
who  still  maintained  their  independence.  After  repeated  failures  of  his  generals  to 
reduce  them,  Ochus  himself  took  the  command  of  the  expedition  against  them.  He 
besieged  Sidon,  which  was  betrayed  to  him  by  the  king  Tennes;  on  which  the  Sido- 
nians ill  despair  set  fire  to  the  city,  and  burned  themselves  with  all  their  treasures. 
Terrified  by  this  catastrophe  of  Sidon,  the  other  Phcenicians  submitted  on  the  best 
terms  they  could  obtain ;  and  among  them  we  may  include  the  Jews,  who  seem  to 
have  joined  the  common  cause.  Being  anxious  to  invade  Egypt,  Ochus  was  not  un- 
reasonable in  his  demands.  After  having  also  received  the  submission  of  Cyprus,  the 
king  marched  into  Egypt  350  B.  C,  and  completely  reduced  it,  chiefly  by  the  assist- 
ance of  Mentor  the  Rhodiau,  and  10,000  mercenary  Greeks  whom  he  had  drawn 


596  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

uito  his  service.  The  Egyptians  were  treated  with  a  severity  more  congenial  to  the 
savage  disposition  of  Ochiis  than  was  the  moderation  to  which  policy  had  constrained 
him  in  Phoenicia : — he  dismantled  the  towns ;  he  plundered  the  temples  of  their 
treasures  and  public  records ;  and  the  ox-god  Apis  he  sacrificed  to  an  ass — a  severe 
practical  satire  upon  the  animal-worship  of  Egypt,  and  not  less  significant  as  an  act  of 
revenge  upon  the  Egyptians  for  their  having  nicknamed  himself  The  Ass,  on  account 
of  his  apparent  inactivity  and  sluggishness.  Ochus  returned  in  triumph  to  Babylon, 
laden  with  spoil  of  gold  and  silver,  and  other  precious  things  from  the  kingdoms  and 
provinces  he  had  conquered.  From  this  decisive  war  the  humiliation  of  Egypt  may 
be  dated.  Nectanebo  II.,  the  last  of  her  native  kings,  now  fled  with  all  the  treasures 
he  could  collect  into  Ethiopia.  Thenceforth,  even  to  this  day,  it  has  been  the  des- 
tiny of  Egypt  only  to  change  masters,  as  Ezekiel  the  prophet  had  foretold  (Ezek. 
xxix.  13-16). 

That  the  Jews  were  involved  in  the  revolt  of  the  Phoenicians  has  been  already  in- 
timated. This  appears  from  the  fact  that  Ochus  went  from  Phoenicia  to  Jericho,  sub- 
dued that  city,  took  some  of  the  inhabitants  with  him  into  Egypt,  and  sent  others  into 
Hyrcania  to  people  that  province.  But  that  the  disaffection  of  the  Jews  was  not 
general,  or  that,  at  least,  it  was  not  shared  by  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  may  be 
inferred  from  the  fact  that  this  city  was  not  disturbed.  Indeed,  the  Jews  owed  some 
gratitude  to  Ochus  for  remitting  at  his  accession  the  heavy  tux*  which  Bagoses  had 
in  the  preceding  reign  imposed. 

It  was  in  the  eighteenth  year  of  Ochus  (B.  C.  341)  that  the  high-priest  Jonathan 
whose  murder  of  his  brother  Jesus  had  given  occasion  for  the  imposition  of  this  tax, 
died,  and  was  succeeded  by  Jaddua  or  Jaddus. 

Ochus,  after  having  re-established  his  dominion  over  all  the  provinces  which  had 
newly  or  in  former  times  revolted,  abandoned  himself  to  luxurious  repose,  leaving  the 
government  in  the  hands  of  Bagoas,  an  Egyptian  eunuch,  and  of  his  general  Memnon, 
from  both  of  whom  he  had  received  important  services  during  the  Egyptian  war. 
But  Bagoas  could  not  forgive  the  ruin  of  his  country,  although  that  had  been  the 
basis  of  his  own  fortunes.  He  poisoned  Ochus  and  destroyed  all  his  sons,  except 
Arses  the  youngest.  This  horrid  act  was  followed  by  his  sending  back  to  Egypt 
such  of  the  plundered  archives  as  he  could  collect.  Arses,  whom  he  had  spared,  he 
placed  on  the  throne,  expecting  to  reign  in  his  name.  But  finding  that  the  young  king 
contemplated  the  punishment  of  the  murderer  of  his  father  and  his  brothers,  Bagoas 
anticipated  his  intention,  and  in  the  third  year  of  his  reign  destroyed  him  and  all  the 
remaining  members  of  his  family.  The  eunuch,  whose  soul  was  now  hardened  to 
iron  by  the  concurrent  and  repeated  action  of  grief  and  crime,  tendered  the  sceptre 
to  Codomanus,  the  governor  of  Armenia,  a  descendant  of  Darius  Noihus,t  and  who 
on  his  accession  assumed  the  name  of  Darius,  and  is  known  in  history  as  Darius 
Codomanus,  B.  C.  335.  Bagoas  soon  repented  of  his  choice,  and  plotted  the  death  of 
this  king  also;  but  Darius,  having  discovered  his  design,  returned  to  his  own  lips  the 
poisoned  chalice  which  he  had  prepared  for  the  king. 

Few  kings  ever  enjoyed  greater  advantages  than  Darius  at  their  accession.  He 
had  no  competitors  or  opponents ;  his  treasures,  increased  under  Ochus  by  the  plun- 
der of  many  lands,  seemed  exhaustless;  his  dominion  appeared  well  established  over 
all  the  nations  which  abode  from  the  Indus  to  the  isles  of  Greece,  and  from  the 
cataracts  of  the  Nile  to  the  Caucasian  mountains;  and  with  all  this,  the  personal 
bravery  of  Darius  and  his  acknowledged  merits  made  him  universally  respected  and 
admired  throughout  his  empire.  But  bright  as  appeared  his  star,  another  had  risen 
before  which  his  own  grew  pale  and  became  extinct. 

Alexander,  the  son  of  Philip  king  of  Macedon,  ascended  the  throne  when  he  was 
only  twenly  years  of  age,  in  B.  C.  335,  being  the  very  same  year  that  Darius  Codo- 
manus became  king  of  Persia.  It  is  not  necessary  in  a  work  of  this  nature  to  record 
the  exploits  of  this  celebrated  hero,  unless  as  far  as  necessary  to  carry  on  the  history 
of  Palestine  and  the  Jews. 

•  .Ta.hn  estimates  that  it  must  liave  produced  50,000?.,  perhaps  rather  too  high  an  estimate. 

t  Ilis  grandfatliBi  was  the  brother  of  Darius  Nothus,  and  iiis  father  was  liie  only  one  of  the  family  who 
escaped  the  massacre  witli  wliich  Ociius  commenced  his  reign.  He  afterward  married  and  liad  a  son,  who 
was  this  (Joiio.'uinus  Tlie  young  man  lived  in  oliscurity  during  most  of  the  reign  of  Oclius,  supporting 
hlm.self  as  an  astaufia,  or  courier,  by  carrying  the  royal  despatches.  He  at  last  had  an  opportunity  of  dis- 
tinguishing his  valor  by  slaying  a  Cadu»ian  champion,  who,  like  anotlier  Goliah,  defied  the  whole  Persian 
army.    For  lliis  gallant  exploit  he  was  rewarded  by  Ochus  with  the  important  government  oi  Annewa 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  397 

In  the  sprinff  of  B.  C.  334,  Alexander  arrived  at  Sestos  on  the  Hellespont,  at  the 
Head  of  little  more  than  thirty  thousand  foot  and  five  thousand  horse,  and  had  them 
conveyed  to  Asia  by  his  fleet  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  galleys,  besides  transports, 
without  any  opposition  from  the  enemy  on  their  landing.  He  had  with  him  only 
seventy  talents,  or  a  month's  pay  for  his  army,  and  before  he  left  home  he  disposed 
of  almost  all  the  revenues  of  the  crown  among  his  friends.  When  asked  "  what 
he  left  for  himself?"  he  answered,  ''Hope.'''  Such  was  the  spirit  with  which 
Alexander  invaded  Asia. 

On  the  fifth  day  after  the  passage  of  the  Hellespont,  Alexander  met  the  Persians 
at  the  river  Granicus  in  the  Lesser  Phrygia,  where  the  governor  of  the  western  prov- 
inces had  assembled  an  army  of  one  liundred  thousand  foot  and  twenty  thousand 
horse  to  oppose  his  passage.  By  defeating  this  great  army,  Alexander  gained  posses- 
sion of  the  Persian  treasury  at  Sardis,  ilie  capital  of  the  western  division  of  the 
Persian  empire;  several  i)rovinces  of  Asia  Minor  then  voluntarily  submined  to  him, 
and  in  the  course  of  the  summer  others  were  subjugated.  In  the  canipaign  of  the 
following  year  (B.  C.  333)  Alexander  subdued  Phrygia,  Paphlagonia,  I'isidia,  Cappa- 
docia,  and  Cilicia. 

Darius,  meanwhile,  was  not  remiss  in  making  preparations  for  a  vigorous  resistance 
to  the  most  formidable  enemy  the  empire  had  ever  seen.  His  admiral,  whom  he 
had  sent  with  a  fleet  to  make  a  diversion  by  a  descent  upon  Macedonia,  died  in  the 
midst  of  the  enterprise;  and,  in  an  age  where  so  much  depended  upon  individuals, 
his  death  spoiled  the  undertaking.  Darius  then  assembled  a  vast  army,  which  some 
accounts  make  four  hundred  thousand,  others  six  hundred  thousand  men,  in  Babylo- 
nia, and  led  them  in  person  toward  Cilicia  to  meet  Alexander.  That  hero,  on  hearing 
of  this  movement,  hastened  forward  to  seize  the  passes  of  Cilicia.  In  this  he  suc- 
ceeded, and  stationed  himself  at  Issus,  where  not  more  than  thirty  thousand  men 
could  march  up  to  the  attack.  In  this  position  his  flanks  were  protected,  and  he 
could  bring  his  whole  army  into  action,  while  the  Persians  could  only  bring  a  num- 
ber of  men  equal  to  his  own  into  contliet.  Darius  saw  too  late  hoAv  much  wiser  it 
had  been  for  him  to  await  the  Greeks  in  the  plains  of  Damascus.  He  lost  the  battle. 
The  vast  number  of  his  soldiers  was  worse  than  useless;  for  the  retreat  was  thus  so 
obstructed,  that  more  were  crushed  to  death  in  the  eagerness  of  flight  than  had  been 
slain  by  the  weapons  of  the  Greeks.  Darius  himself  escaped  with  difficulty,  leaving 
his  whole  camp,  with  his  own  rich  baggage,  and  his  mother,  wife,  and  sons,  in  the 
hands  of  the  victor.  These  last  were  treated  with  tenderness  and  respect  by  the 
generous  conqueror.  To  him  this  victory  opened  Syria,  Phoenicia,  and  Egypt.  Im- 
mediately after  the  battle  he  sent  to  Damascus,  and  took  all  the  heavy  baggage, 
equipage,  and  treasures  of  the  Persian  army,  with  their  wives  and  children,  Avhich 
had  been  left  behind  in  the  disastrous  expedition  to  the  Syrian  straits. 

For  the  present,  Alexander  did  not  follow  Darius,  who  withdrew  beyond  the 
Euphrates;  but,  accordhig  to  his  origmal  plan  of  reducing  first  all  the  maritime 
provinces  of  the  empire,  he  marched  in  the  spring  of  B.  C.  332  into.  Phenicia.  All 
the  states  of  that  country  tendered  their  submission  to  him,  except  Tyre,  Avhich, 
however,  was  willing  to  render  him  barren  testimonials  of  respect,  had  he  been  con- 
tent with  these.  The  siege  of  this  place  was  one  of  the  most  splendid  of  Alexander's 
operations,  and  is  even  at  this  day  regarded  with  admiration  by  military  men.  Tyre, 
which  since  the  destruction  of  the  ancient  city  by  Nebuchadnezzar  had  been  rebuilt 
upon  an  island  about  four  hundred  fathoms  from  the  shore,  relied  upon  the  aid  of 
Carthage  (which  was  promised  by  the  Carthaginian  ambassadors  there  present  in  the 
city)  and  still  more  upon  its  situation,  Alexander  being  destitute  of  shipping,*  and 
on  its  walls,  which  were  high  and  strong,  and  which  were  now  additionally  strength- 
ened. The  city  was  plentifully  supplied  with  provisions,  and  fresh  su[)})lies  could  he 
brought  by  sea  without  any  difficulty.  But  Alexander,  with  the  itibbish  of  the 
ancient  city,  constructed  a  causeway  from  the  shore  to  the  island,  and  in  seven  months 
took  the  place  by  storm,  although  the  Tyrians  defended  themselves  bravely.  Many 
of  them  fled  to  Carthage  by  sea ;  but  of  those  who  remained,  eight  thousand  were 

*  Alexander,  after  the  battle  of  the  Granicus,  had  discharged  and  dismissed  Ins  fleet,  v\Iiich  was  too 
small  to  cope  with  that  of  the  Persians  (collected  from  Egypi  and  Phoenicia),  and  yet  too  large  for  his 
slender  treasury  to  maintain.  He  declared  that  he  would  render  himself  master  of  the  sea  by  conquering 
on  land — that  is,  by  getting  the  ports  and  harbors  of  the  enemy  into  his  possession.  It  was  in  consequence 
of  tius  large  idea  that  he  persevered  in  reducing  Phcenicia  and  Egypt  before  he  advanced  into  the  interior 


398  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

put  to  the  sword,  thirty  thousand  were  sold  into  slavery,  and  two  thousand  were  cru- 
cified, while  the  city  was  plundered  and  laid  in  ashes.  These  barbarities  were 
committed  under  the  policy  of  deterring  other  places  from  offering  resistance  to  the 
conqueror.  Thus  the  prophecy  of  Zechariah  respecting  new  Tyre  was  literally 
accomplished,  as  the  previous  prophecy  of  Ezekiel  against  the  old  city  had  been  ful- 
filled in  the  time  of  Nebuchadnezzar.  Alexander  had,  however,  enlarged  views  of 
commercial  policy,  which  induced  him  to  re-people  Tyre  from  the  neighboring  coun- 
tries ;-and,  improved  in  its  harbors  and  basins  by  the  very  isthmus  which  he  had 
made,  and  by  which,  consolidated  by  time,  the  island  has  ever  since  been  connected 
with  the  shore,  this  maritime  city  was  not  long  in  recovering  much  of  its  former 
greatness. 

There  is  every  reason  to  conclude  that  Alexander,  when  he  invaded  Syria,  sum- 
moned all  the  cities  to  surrender,  to  pay  to  him  their  customary  tribute,  and  to  furnish 
his  army  with  provisions.  Josephus  affirms  that  during  the  siege  of  Tyre,  a  written 
order  of  this  description  came  to  Jerusalem,  addressed  to  Jaddua,  the  high-priest,  as 
the  chief  magistrate  of  the  nation.  Jaddua  replied  that  he  bad  sworn  fealty  to  Da- 
rius, and  could  not  violate  his  oath  as  long  as  that  monarch  was  living.  Alexander, 
naturally  of  a  furious  and  impetuous  temper,  was  highly  irritated  by  this  reply,  and 
threatened  that  as  soon  as  he  had  completed  the  conquest  of  Tyre,  he  would,  by  the 
punishment  of  the  Jewish  high-priest,  teach  all  others  to  whom  they  were  to  keep 
their  oaths. 

Accordhigly,  on  his  progress  to  Egypt,  after  the  destruction  of  Tyre  (B.  C.  332)  he 
turned  aside  from  Gaza,  which  he  reduced,  to  chastise  Jerusalem.  But  he  was  met 
at  Sapha — an  eminence  near  Jerusalem,  which  commanded  a  view  of  the  city  and 
temple — by  a  solemn  procession,  consisting  of  the  high-priest  arrayed  in  his  pontifi- 
cal robes,  attended  by  the  priests  in  their  proper  habits,  and  by  a  number  of  the  citi- 
zens in  white  raiment.  This  course  Jaddua  had  been  commanded  to  take,  in  a  vision, 
the  preceding  night.  When  Alexander  beheld  the  high-priest  he  instantly  advanced 
to  meet  him,  adored  the  sacred  Nabie  inscribed  on  his  mitre,  and  saluted  him  first. 
This  singular  conduct  the  hero  accounted  for  by  observing  to  those  around  him — 
"  I  adore  not  the  high-priest,  but  the  God  with  whose  priesthood  he  is  honored. 
When  I  was  at  Dios  in  Macedonia,  and  considering  in  myself  how  to  subdue  Asia,  I 
saw  in  a  dream  such  a  person,  in  his  present  dress,  who  encouraged  me  not  to  delay, 
but  to  pass  over  with  confidence,  for  that  himself  would  lead  my  army  and  give  me 
the  Persian  empire.  Since  therefore  I  have  seen  no  other  person  in  such  a  dress  as  I 
now  see,  and  recollect  the  vision  and  the  exhortation  in  my  dream,  I  think  that  hav- 
ing undertaken  this  expedition  by  a  Divine  mission,  I  shall  conquer  Darius,  overthrow 
the  Persian  empire,  and  succeed  in  all  my  designs."  Having  thus  spoken  (to  Parme- 
nio)  he  gave  his  right  hand  to  the  high-priest,  and  going  into  the  temple,  he  offered 
sacrifice  according  to  the  high-priest's  directions,  and  treated  the  pontiff  and  the  priests 
with  distinguished  honors.  The  book  of  Daniel  was  then  shown  to  him,  in  which  it 
was  foretold  that  one  <  f  the  Greeks  should  overthrow  the  Persian  empire,  pleased  at 
which,  and  believing  himself  to  be  the  person  intended,  he  dismissed  the  multitude 
The  day  after,  he  caused  the  people  to  be  assembled,  and  desired  them  to  ask  what 
favors  "they  desired ;  op  which,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  high-priest,  they  asked  and 
obtained  the  free  enjoyment  of  their  national  laws,  and  an  exemption  from  tribute 
every  seventh  year.  He  also,  by  a  bold  anticipation  of  his  fortunes,  promised  that 
the  Jews  in  Babylon  and  Media  should  enjoy  their  own  laws ;  and  he  offered  to  take 
with  him  in  his  expeditif>n  any  of  the  people  who  chose  to  share  his  prospects.  (Jo- 
seph. Antiq.  xi.  8,  4,  5.) 

This  story  has  been  much  questioned  by  many  writers,  as  thev  were  at  perfect 
liberty  to  do.  '  Neverthelc-s,  as  these  questioners  are  of  the  same  class  as  those  wno 
doubt  on  the  unusual  or  supernatural  details  of  the  sacred  history  itself,  it  is  impos- 
sible not  to  see  that  the  oru/nj/.s  of  objection  is  essentially  the  same.  We  are  there- 
fore disposed  to  declare  our  belief  in  ibis  statement,  1.  Because  Alexander  had  been 
a  clear  and  conspicuous  object  of  prophecy  ;  and  that  an  operation  upon  his  mind  by 
dream  or  vision,  was  as  natural  and  necessary  as  in  the  cases  of  Nebuchadnezzar 
and  Belshazzar.  2.  Because  it  was  as  necessary  that  the  God  of  the  Hebrews  should 
be  made  known  to  him  as  the  bestower  of  empires,  as  to  the  other  great  conquerors — 
all  of  whom  had  been  brought  to  avow  it.  3.  Because  an  operation  upon  the  mind 
of  Alexander  was  a  natural  and  necessary  sequel  to  the  operations  upon  the  minds  of 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


309 


4UU  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

those  former  conquerors.  4.  Eecausc  the  impression  described  as  bemfr  made  by  this 
dream  upon  Alexander,  and  the  conduct  which  resulted  from  it,  are  perfectly  in  unison 
with  his  character  and  ((induct  as  described  by  other  historians.  5.  Because  the  Jew^s 
actually  did  enjoy  the  privilea^es  which  are  described  as  the  result  of  this  transaction, 
and  which  it  would  not  otherwise  be  easy  to  account  for,  or  to  refer  to  any  other 
origin. 

The  Samaritans  had  early  submitted  to  Alexander,  and  sent  him  auxiliaries  at  the 
siege  of  Tyre  ;  and  now  seeing  the  favor  with  which  the  Jews  had  been  treated,  they 
were  not  at  all  baclnvard  to  claim  the  same  privileges  which  had  been  conceded  to 
them;  for,  as  Josephus  (with  some  asperity)  remarks,  the  Samaritans  were  always 
ready  to  profess  themselves  to  be  Jews,  when  the  sons  of  Abraham  were  in  prosper- 
ous circumstances,  and  equally  ready  to  disavow  the  connexion  when  the  Jews  were 
in  distress  or  diliiculty.  They  also  met  Alexander  in  solemn  procession,  and  as  they 
were  graciously  received,  they  also  requested  exemption  from  tribute  on  the  sabbati- 
cal year,  since  they,  as  w-ell  as  the  Jews,  then  left  their  lands  uncultivated.  But  as, 
when  pressed,  they  could  not  give  a  direct  and  satisfactory  answer  to  the  question 
whether  they  were  Jews,  Alexander  told  them  he  would  take  time  to  consider  tiie 
matter,  and  1st  them  know  his  decision  when  he  returned  from  Egypt.  It  was  not 
his  policy  to  encourage  such  applications,  as  others,  under  the  same  or  other  preten- 
ces, might  make  similar  claims  of  exemption,  to  the  great  injury  of  the  public  reve- 
nues. The  eight  thousand  Samaritans  who  had  assisted  him  at  the  siege  of  Tyre  he 
took  with  him  to  Egypt,  and  assigned  them  lands  in  the  Thebaid. 

When  Alexander  reached  Egypt,  he  met  with  no  opposition.  The  Persian  garri- 
fei  ns  were  too  Aveak  to  resist  him,  and  the  natives  everywhere  hailed  him  as  their  de- 
liverer from  the  Persian  bondage.  In  fact  the  Egyptians  abhorred  the  Persians,  and 
liked  the  Greeks  as  much  as  any  foreigners  could  be  liked  by  them.  And  the  rea- 
son is  very  obvious.  The  Persians  hated  and  despised  image  and  animal  worship  as 
thoroughly  as  it  was  possible  for  the  Jews  to  do,  and  the  power  of  their  arms  gave 
them  much  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  the  iconoclastic  zeal  by  which  they  were 
actuated.  They  lost  no  opportunity  of  throwing  contempt  and  ignominy  upon  the 
idols  and  idolaters  of  Egypt.  But  the  pliable  Greek  regarded  the  same  objects  with 
reverence,  and  had  no  difficulty  of  so  adopting  them  into  his  own  system,  or  of  identi- 
fying them  with  his  own  idols,  as  it  enabled  him  to  participate  in  the  worship  which 
the  Egyptians  rendered  to  them. 

From  Egypt  Alexander  went  to  visit  the  temple  of  Amnion,  in  an  oasis  of  the 
western  desert;  and  at  this  celebrated  temple  got  himself  recognised  as  the  son  of 
the  god  (commonly  known  as  Jupiter  Ammon)  worshipped  there.*  It  is  better  (with 
Plutarch)  to  attribute  this  to  political  motives,  than  to  admit  that  impression  of  Alex- 
ander's understanding  which  the  affair  is  calculated  to  convey.  Alexander  had  much 
good  sense,  as  yet  uncorrupted  by  the  extraordinary  prosperity  "wliich  had  attended 
his  undertakings;  but  he  knew  that  there  were  millions  in  the  world  who  would  re- 
ceive the  belief  of  his  heavenly  origin  as  a  discouragement  to  resistance,  and  as  a  con- 
solation in  defeat. 

After  his  return  from  Libya,  Alexander  wintered  at  Memphis,  and  ap])ointed  sepa- 
rate and  ind(  pendent  governors  of  the  several  garrisoned  towns,  in  order  to  prevent 
the  mischief  so  often  experienced  by  the  Persians  in  intrusting  too  nuich  power  to  a 
single  hand.  He  prudently  separated  the  financial,  judicial,  and  militarv  functions, 
to  prevent  tiie  oppressi(jn  of  the  people  by  their  union  ;  and  his  enlightened  and  com- 
prehensive policy  chose  the  site  of  a  new  city,  Alexandria,  to  be  the  emporium  of 
commerce  f  jr  the  eastern  and  western  worlds  by  its  two  adjacent  seas,  the  P»ed  sea  and 
the  Mediterranean.  The  great  prosperity  which  the  city  ultimately  readied,  and  a 
considerable  share  of  which  it  has  ever  since  retained,  affords  the  best  illustration  of 
the  large  and  sagacious  view^s  with  which  it  was  founded. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  B.  C.  331  Alexander  prepared  to  seek  Darius  beyond  the  Eu- 
phrates. The  rendezvous  of  his  army  was  appointed  at  Tyre  ;  in  advancing  to  which 
Alexander  o;;ce  more  passed  through  Palestine.  During  his  absence  in  Egypt,  some 
Samaritans  (perhaps  enraged  that  they  had  not  obtained  the  same  privileges  as  the 
Jews)  set  (ire  to  the  house  of  Andromaclius,  whom  Alexander  had  appointed  their 
governor,  and  he  perished  in  the  flames.     The  other  Samaritans  delivered  up  the  cul- 

*  This  god  was  worshippe(^  under  t!)e  form  ol  a  ram  :  hence  the  ram's  horns  which  appea  on  the  head 
of  Alexander  in  many  figures  of  him 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  401 

prits  to  Alexander,  now  on  his  return  from  Egypt ;  but  they  could  hardly  dare  at  this 
time  to  remind  hira  of  their  previous  claim  (respecting  the  sabbatic  year),  which  he 
had  promised  to  consider,  as  tJie  conqueror  was  so  highly  enraged  that,  not  satisfied 
with  the  punishment  of  the  actual  culprits,  he  removed  the  Samaritans  from  their  city, 
and  transferred  thither  a  Macedonian  colony.  (Curtius,  iv.  21.  Comp.  Euseb.  Chron.) 
The  Samaritans,  thus  excluded  from  Samaria,  thenceforth  made  Shechem  their  me- 
tropolis. This,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Gerizim,  on  which 
the  Samaritan  temple  stood. 

The  operations  and  victories  of  Alexander  beyond  the  Euphrates  are  not  so  con- 
nected with  the  history  of  Palestine  as  to  require  to  be  traced  in  this  work.  We 
therefore  abstain  from  particular  notice  of  the  battle  of  Arbela,  in  Assyria  (fought 
Oct.  1,B.  C.  331),  Avhich  gave  Alexander  possession  of  the  Persian  throne  ;  the  flight 
of  Darius  into  Media,  with  the  view  of  raising  new  levies  there;  the  prevention  of 
this  intention  by  the  speedy  pursuit  of  Alexander ;  the  further  flight  of  Darius,  and 
his  murder  by  the  conspirators,  into  whose  hands  he  had  fallen,  and  whom  Alexander 
ultimately  overtook  and  punished.  As  little  need  our  attention  be  detained  by  his 
northern  and  Indian  expeditions,  full  as  theyareof  interesting  circumstances  on  which 
it  might  be  pleasant  to  expatiate. 

He  returned  to  Persia  in  B.  C.  324,  with  a  character  still  great,  and  adequate  to 
great  occasions ;  but,  upon  the  whole,  very  much  damaged  in  its  finer  traits,  by  the 
intoxication  of  mind  which,  but  too  naturally,  his  inordinate  successes  produced.  On 
his  return  he  inquired  into  and  punished  the  nial-administrations  of  his  generals  and 
governors  of  provinces  during  his  long  absence  eastward.  The  last  year  of  his  life 
he  spent  in  a  circuit  through  the  imperial  cities  of  Persepolis,  Susa,  Ecbatana,  and 
Babylon,  and  in  forming  the  noblest  plans  for  the  consolidation  and  improvement  of 
his  mighty  empire.  These  plans  we  can  not  recapitulate  ;  but  they  are  well  worth 
the  most  attentive  study  of  those  who  would  realize  a  just  impression  respecting  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  men  the  world  has  produced.  The  grasp  of  his  mirid  was 
perhaps  as  large  as  that  of  his  ambition :  and  while  we  regard  his  plans  of  universal 
conquest,  and  the  sacrifice  of  human  life  and  happiness  which  his  causeless  wars  in- 
volved, with  the  most  intense  dislike,  we  have  no  desire  to  conceal  our  admiration  of 
the  many  illustrious  qualities  which  his  mind  exhibited. 

Alexander  arrived  at  Babylon  in  B.  C.  324,  intending  to  make  that  city  his  future 
residence,  and  the  capital  of  his  gigantic  empire.  Hence  he  was  full  of  projects  for 
restoring  that  city  to  its  ancient  beauty  and  magnificence.  This  included  the  rebuild- 
ing of  the  temple  of  Belus,  which  the  Jewish  prophecies  had  devoted  to  destruction, 
never  to  be  rebuilt.  Alexander,  nevertheless,  actually  commenced  this  work.  The 
soldiers  were  employed  in  turn  to  remove  the  rubbish,  'llie  Jews  alone  refused  to 
render  any  assistance,  and  suff'ered  many  stripes  for  their  refusal,  and  paid  heavy  fines, 
until  the  king,  astonished  at  their  firmness,  pardoned  and  excused  them.  "  They  al- 
so," adds  their  historian  (Hecalaeus,  in  Joseph,  contra  Apion,  i.  22),  "  on  their  return 
home,  pulled  down  the  temples  and  altars  which  had  been  erected  by  the  colonists  in 
their  land,  and  paid  a  fine  for  some  to  the  satraps,  or  governors,  and  received  a  pardon 
for  others." 

The  death  of  Alexander  at  Babylon, — in  the  midst  of  his  prosperity,  his  excesses, 
his  large  plans,  and  also  during  his  ominous  attempt  to  rebuild  the  temple  of  Belus, 
and  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-two  years, — was  calamitous  to  the  Jewish  nation.  For 
amid  the  contests  that  prevailed  among  Alexander's  sGccessors, — each  striving  for 
the  mastery,  and  celebrating  his  death,  as  he  himself  foretold,  with  funeral  games  the 
most  bloody, — "  evils  were  multiplied  in  the  earth"  (1  Mace.  i.  19),  and  the  Jews, 
from  their  intermediate  situation,  lying  between  the  two  powerful  kingdoms  (as  they 
speedily  became)  of  Syria  northward,  and  of  Egypt  southward,  were  alternately  har- 
assed by  both.  According  to  the  imagery  of  Josephus,  "  They  resembled  a  ship 
tossed  by  a  hurricane,  and  buff'eted  on  both  sides  by  the  waves,  while  they  lay  in  the 
midst  of  contending  seas."     (Antiq.  xii.  3,  3.     See  Hales,  ii.  537.) 

Every  one  is  acquahited  with  the  scramble  for  empire  which  took  place  among  the 
generals  and  principal  officers  of  Alexander  upon  his  death.  It  is  useless  to  enter  into 
the  details  and  trace  the  results  of  this  struggle  in  the  present  work.  It  is  only  ne- 
cessary that  we  should  disentangle  from  the  complicated  web  which  history  here 
weaves,  such  threads  as  may  be  found  useful  in  leading  on  the  history  of  the  Jews 
and  Palestine. 

26 


402  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

It  was  determined  that  Aridaeus,  an  illegitimate  brother  of  Alexander,  a  man  of  no 
capacity,  should  be  made  king  under  the  name  of  Philip,  and  that  a  posthumous  son 
of  Alexander's,  called  Alexander  J^gus,  should  be  joined  to  him,  Perdiccas  being  re- 
gent and  guardian  of  the  two  kings,  who  were  both  incapable  of  reigning-.  After 
some  deliberation  Perdiccas  distributed  the  governments  among  the  generals^and  min- 
isters. Some  who  had  been  apjiointed  by  Alexander  were  confirmed  in  their  prov- 
inces.    The  rest  are  named  below.* 

It  was  scarcely  possible  that  the  authority  of  two  such  kings,  vested  in  a  reo-ent, 
should  hold  in  check  the  powerful  and  ambitious  governors  of  the  provinces.  Indeed 
the  latter  paid  them  the  least  possible  regard  and  attention,  and  immediately  after  the 
assignment  of  the  provinces,  wars  broke  out  not  only  between  the  governors  them- 
selves, but  between  them  and  the  regent. 

Our  plan  of  confining  our  notices  to  the  circumstances  which  more  immediately  af 
fected  Palestine,  leads  us  first  to  notice  the  combination  against  the  regent  Perdiccas, 
which  was  formed  in  B.  C.  322  by  Antigonus,  Antipater,  Leonatus,  and  Ptolemy,  on 
account  of  the  design  which  Perdiccas  betrayed  of  appropriating  the  crown  of  Mace- 
donia, of  which  Antigonus  was  himself  desirous.  Perdiccas,  who  kept  the  young 
kings  constantly  with  him,  was  then  in  Cappadocia.  The  next  spring  he,  accompa- 
nied by  the  two  kings,  marched  a  large  army  through  Syria  into  Egypt,  to  subdue 
Ptolemy  in  the  first  place,  while  Eumenes  was'left  in  Asia  Minor  to  pros"ecute  the  war 
against  Antipaier  and  his  allies.  The  result  of  this  expedition  was,  that  Perdiccas 
was  slain  by  his  own  soldiers,  who  went  over  to  Ptolemy,  who  Avas  a  very  able  and 
popular  man,  and  natural  brother  to  Alexander.  Eumenes  was  proclaimed  an  outlaw, 
and,  ultimately,  the  regency  was  undertaken  by  Antipater,  who  made  some  changes 
in  the  governments,  appointing  Seleucus  governor  of  Babylonia ;  Antigonus  to  be  gen- 
eral of  Asia,  to  prosecute  the  war  against  the  outlawed  Eumenes ;  and  the  command 
of  the  cavalry  he  gave  to  his  own  son  Cassander,  who  was  then  with  Antigonus. 
^  The  passage  of  a  part  of  the  royal  army,  through  Judea,  in  going  to  and  from 
Egypt,  as  just  related,  could  not  fail  to  involve  the  Jews  in  some  of  the  miseries  of 
war.  But  when  the  same  royal  army,  under  Antigonous,  was  otherwise  employed 
against  Eumenes,  Ptolemy,  who  had  become  very  powerful,  embraced  the  opportunity 
to  take  possession  of  Judea,  Samaria,  Phoenicia  and  Coele-Syria,  which  were  all  easily 
subjugated  by  Nicanor  his  general.  Laomedon  the  governor  was  taken  prisoner,  but 
contrived  to  make  his  escape.  Thus  Palestine  was  partly  the  theatre  of  this  short 
war;  but  as  Laomedon  could  make  but  a  faint  resistance,  little  injury  was  probably 
sustamed  by  the  inhabitants;  and,  since  it  was  their  destiny  to  be  a 'subject  people, 
the  inhabitants  were  well  rewarded  for  what  they  then  suffered,  by  passing  under  the 
dominion  of  so  benevolent  a  prince  as  Ptolemy  Lagus.  He  went  himself  to  Jerusa- 
lem, as  Josephus  says,  for  the  purpose  of  sacrifice  in  the  temple  after  the  example  of 
Alexander,  and  on  this  occasion  declared  himself  master  of  the  country.  To  secure 
his  dominions  he  took  a  number  of  the  people  with  him  to  Egypt.  Among  these 
were  several  of  the  Samaritans  and  several  thousand  Jews;  but  their  condition  could 
not  be  very  calamitous,  as  many  of  their  countrymen  soon  followed  them  of  their  own 
accord. 

Ptolemy  was  soon  made  acquainted  with  the  fidelity  with  which  the  Jews  had 
rnaintained  their  allegiance  to  the  Persian  kings.  This  was  a  rare  quality  in  those 
times  :  and  wishing  to  attach  such  a  people  to  himself,  he  restored  the  privileges  thev 
had  enjoyed  under  Alexander ;  he  employed  a  part  of  them  to  garrison  his  fortresses"; 
others  he  sent  to  Gyrene,  that  he  might  have  some  faithful  subjects  in  that  newly-ac- 
quired territory  ;  and  many  more  were  assigned  a  residence  in  Alexandria,  with  the 
grant  of  the  same  privileges  as  Alexander  had  bestowed  on  the  Macedonian  inhabit- 
ants of  that  city. 

In  316  the  puppet-king  Aridaeus  was  privately  put  to  death,  by  Olvmpias,  the  mo- 
ther of  Alexander  the  Great,  and  in  the  same  year  Alexander  ^geuswas  imprisoned 
with  his  mother  Roxana,  by  Cassander,  governor  of  Caria  ;  and  he  also  was  murdered 

•Poms  and  Taxiles  had  India;  SntnTrius,  Arachosia  and  Gedrosia  ;  TIeopolemus,  Caramania;  Peuces- 
tes  Persia;  Python,  Media;  Pliralapliernes,  Parthia  and  Hyrcania  ;  Stanasor,  Aria  and  Drangiana  ;  Philip, 
Bactria  and  Sogdiana.  Arcesilaus,  Mesopotamia  ;  Archon,  Babylonia;  I'tnhmy  Lasus,  Kgtypt  ;  Laomedon, 
tiynaandtahshne;  Philotas,  Silioia  ;  Eumenes.  Papiilafjonia  and  Cappadocia;  Antmonius.  Vamphylia,  Lu- 
cia, and  Grenler  Phryirta  .-Cassander,  Cana  ;  Melea^'cr,  J.vdia  ;  I.eonatus,  Lesser  PhrVRia,  and  Ihc  rountfy 
dround  the  IteUesponl  ;  Lysimachus,  Thraco  ;  Antipater,  ^tacedonia  :  SeUucus,  afterwdrd  destined  to  be  the 
greatest  of  these  names,  received  the  important  office  o    'oimnander  of  the  cavalry 


#^^ 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  403 

in  B.  C.  310.  Even  this,  however,  did  not  quite  put  an  end  to  the  mockery  of  de- 
pendance  and  deference ;  for  it  was  not  until  the  death  of  Hercules,  the  remaining  son 
of  Alexander  the  Great,  by  his  wife  Barsine,  that  the  satraps  put  on  crowns  and  took 
the  name  of  kings. 

By  the  year  B.  C.  315  the  turbulent  and  ambitious  Antigonus  had  acquired  such 
power  as  excited  the  alarm  of  Seleucus,  Ptolemy,  Lysimachus,  and  Cassander  (then 
governor  of  Macedonia),  who  entered  into  an  allegiance  against  him.  Antigonus  him- 
self was  not  idle,  for  the  year  following  he  wrested  from  the  grasp  of  Ptolemy,  Pal- 
estine, Phoenicia,  and  Coele-Syria.  In  consequence  of  this  Pafestine  and  its  vicinity 
became  for  three  years  the  theatre  of  war  between  Ptolemy  and  Antigonus,  and  du- 
ring that  time  the  Jews  must  have  suffered  much,  as  their  country  frequently  changed 
masters.  The  consequence  was,  that  many  of  the  inhabitants  voluntarily  withdrew 
to  Egypt,  where,  and  particularly  at  Alexandria,  they  could  enjoy  freedom  and  peace 
unde'r  a  mild  government.  During  these  wars  Jerusalem  does  not,  however,  appear 
to  have  been  molested,  and  was  spared  when  Ptolemy  gave  up  Samaria,  Acco  (Acre), 
Joppa,  and  Gaza,  to  pillao-e. 

It  was  at  the  last-mentioned  city,  Gaza,  that  the  great  battle  was  fought  between 
Ptolemy  and  Demetrius  (B.  C.  312),  which,  by  the  defeat  of  the  latter,  threw  the 
country  again  into  the  hands  of  the  satrap  of  Egypt.  In  this  battle  Demetrius  had  a 
large  force  of  elephants,  mounted  by  native  Indian  riders.  But  notwithstanding  the 
alarm  which  they  inspired,  they  contributed  to  his  defeat  through  the  confusion  they 
produced,  when  annoyed  and  harassed  by  the  prudent  measures  which  Ptolemy  took 
against  them.     Theyvvere  all  taken,  and  most  of  the  Indians  slain 

Seleucus  had  a  joint  command  in  this  action.  He  was  soon  after  furnished  by  Ptol- 
emy with  an  inconsiderable  force  of  two  hundred  horse  and  eight  hundred  foot,  with 
which  he  might  prosecute  his  own  interests,  and  at  the  same  time  annoy  Antigonus 
in  the  east.  With  this  handful  of  men  he  crossed  the  desert  and  the  Euphrates,  and 
paused  at  Haran  to  increase  his  army  in  Mesopotamia.  His  entrance  mto  Babylonia 
was  like  a  triumphal  procession,  for  the  people,  mindful  of  the  justice  of  his  previous 
administration,  and  the  great  qualities  of  character  and  conduct  which  he  had  dis- 
played, flocked  to  his  standard  in  crowds,  and  he  recovered  with  the  utmost  ease  not 
only  the  city  and  province  of  Babylon,  but  the  whole  of  Media  and  Susiana  ;  and  he 
was  enabled  to  establish  his  interest  in  this  quarter  upon  so  solid  a  foundation  that  it 
could  no  more  be  shaken,  notwithstanding  the  momentaiy  appearance  of  success  which 
next  year  attended  an  attempt  made  by  Demetrius  to  recover  Babylon  for  his  father 
Antigonus.  It  is  from  this  recovery  of  Babylon  by  Demetrius  in  October  B.  C.  312, 
twelve  years  after  the  death  of  Alexander,  that  the  celebrated  "  Era  of  the  Seleucidae" 
commences.  It  is  also  called  the  "Greek"  and  the  "Alexandrian  Era ;"  while  the 
Jews,  because  obliged  to  employ  it  in  all  their  civil  contracts,  called  it  the  "  Era  of 
Contracts."  Some  nations  compute  from  the  spring  of  the  ensuing  year :  but  that,  as 
some  suppose,  this  arose  from  the  fact  that  Seleucus  was  not  fully  established  until 
then  in  the  possession  of  Babylon  (after  the  attempt  of  Demetrius)  may  very  well  be 
doubted.  It  is  more  natural  to  resolve  the  difference  into  an  adjustment  of  the  era  to 
the  different  times  at  which  the  year  was  commenced  by  different  nations — some  at 
the  autumnal,  and  others  at  the  vernal  equinox.* 

Meanwhile  Demetrius  gained  an  important  advantage  over  the  general  (Cilles) 
whom  Ptolemy  had  despatched, to  drive  him  out  of  Upper  Syria,  where  he  remained 
with  the  remnant  of  his  array  ;'  and  on  this  occasion  the  victor,  following  the  exam 
pie  which  had  lately  been  set  by  Ptolemy,  directed  the  prisoners  which  were  taken 
to  be  restored.  It  is  interesting  to  note  the  introduction  of  such  civilized  amenities 
into  transactions  so  essentially  savage,  and  so  humiliating  to  the  just  pride  of  reason, 
as  those  which  warfare  involve  and  produce.  When  the  news  of  this  success  reached 
Antigonus  (then  inPhrygia)  he  hastened  to  join  his  son  ;  and  the  aspect  of  their  joint 
forces  was  so  formidable,  that  Ptolemy  judged  it  prudent  to  evacuate  his  recent  con- 

•  It  maybe  doubted  whether  the  Era  in  its  origin  liad  any  real  reference  to  the  taking- of  Babylon,  although 
that  event  liappened  to  occur  in  the  year  to  which  its  commencement  is  referred.  This  Era  long  continued 
in  general  use  in  Western  Asia.  The  Arabians,  who  called  it  the  "Era  of  the  two-horned"'  (Dilkarnaim), 
meaning  Alexander,  did  not  relinquj.sh  it  till  long  after  the  Era  of  the  Hegira  had  been  adopted.  It  is  still 
retained  by  the  Syrian  Christians  under  the  name  of  the  Era  "f  Alexander.  Even  the  .lews,  who  in  the  first 
instance  had  l)een  otiliued  to  adopt  it  from  its  general  use  in  civil  contracts,  employed  no  other  epoch  until 
A.  D.  1040,  when,  being  expelled  from  Asia  by  the  califs,  and  scattered  a!)iint  in  S|)ain,  England,  Germany, 
Poland,  and  other  western  countries,  they  began  to  date  from  the  creation,  although  stUl  without  entirely 
dropping  the  Era  of  the  Seleucidae. 


404  A  NEW  AJND  COMPLETE 

Quests  in  Syria.  Having  therefore  caused  most  of  the  fortifications  of  the  places  he 
relinquished  to  be  demolished,  he  withdrew  into  Egypt,  laden  with  spoil,  and  attended 
by  great  numbers  of  Jews,  who  were  weary  of  continuing  in  what  seemed  likely  to 
become  the  troubled  battle-ground  between  the  great  ruling  powers  of  Egypt  and 
Syria,  and  chose  rather  to  avail  themselves  of  the  security  and  ample  privileges  by 
which  the  wise  policy  of  Ptolemy  invited  them  to  settle  in  Egypt. 

Elated  by  his  successes,  Antigonus  conceived  the  design  of  reducing  to  his  yoke  the 
Nabathaean  Arabs,  who  at  this  time  inhabited  the  mountains  of  Seir.  Availing  him- 
self of  the  absence  of  the  active  population  of  Petra  at  a  great  and  distant  fair  in  the 
desert,  the  general  Athenaeus  sacked  that  remarkable  metropolis,  and  departed  with 
immense  booty.  But  overcome  with  fatigue,  the  army  halted  on  the  way,  and  lay 
carelessly  at  rest,  when  it  was  surrounded  and  cut  in  pieces  by  the  hosts  of  the  re- 
turning "Nabathseans.  Sixty  only  escaped.  Antigonus  afterward  sent  Demetrius  to 
avenge  this  loss.  But  he,  advancing  to  Petra,  and  perceiving  the  hazard  and  delay 
of  the  enterprise,  was  glad  to  compound  with  the  people  on  terms  which  bore  a  show 
of  honor  to  his  father,  without  being  disgraceful  to  them.  Petra,  which  was  the  chiet 
scene  of  these  enterprises,  was  doubtless  the  city,  in  a  valley  of  Mount  Seir,  which, 
after  the  oblivion  of  ages,  has  been  brought  to  our  knowledge  and  abundantly  de- 
scribed by  Burkhardt,  Mangles,  Laborde,  and  other  travellers.  We  notice  this  expe- 
dition chiefly  for  the  sake  of  recording,  that  Demetrius  on  his  return  by  way  of  the 
Dead  sea,  took  notice  of  the  asphaltos  of  that  lake,  and  gave  such  an  account  of  it 
to  Antigonus  as  led  him  to  desire  to  render  it  a  source  of  profit  to  his  treasury.  He 
therefore  despatched  the  aged  historian  Hieronymus,  Avith  men  to  collect  the  asphaltos 
for  the  benefit  of  the  government.  The  Arabs  looked  on  quietly,  and  offered  no  in- 
terruption until  a  large  quantity  had  been  collected  and  preparations  were  made  for 
carrying  it  away ;  then  they  came  down  with  six  thousand  men,  and  surrounding 
those  who  were  employed  in  this  business,  cut  them  in  pieces.  Hieronymus  escaped. 
.Thus  we  perceive  that  the  Asphaltic  lake,  otherwise  useless,  had  become  a  source 
of  wealth  and  object  of  contention  on  account  of  its  bitumen. 

We  need  not  enter  into  the  treaties  and  wars  between  the  satraps,  during  the  suc- 
ceeding years.  Antigonus  remained  in  possession  of  Syria.  In  306  B.  C,  Demetrius, 
who  had  been  highly  successful  in  Greece,  invaded  the  island  of  Cyprus,  and  made 
the  conquest  of  it  after  repelling  Ptolemy,  who  came  with  a  fleet  to  the  assistance  of 
his  allies.  This  conquest  was  so  pleasing  to  Antigonus  that  he  thereupon  assumed 
the  title  of  king,  and  had  such  confidence  in  the  duty  and  affection  of  his  excellent 
son,  that  he  saluted  him  (by  letter)  with  the  same  title,  thus  making  him  the  asso- 
ciate of  his  government.  When  this  was  heard  in  Egypt,  the  people,  out  of  their 
attachment  to  Ptolemy,  saluted  him  also  as  king,  Avbereupon  Lysimachus  in  Thrace. 
Seleucus  in  Babylon,  and  even  Cassander  in  Macedonia,  were  hailed  by  the  regal 
title,  by  the  nations  under  their  rule.  This  none  of  them  strenuously  forbade  or  op- 
posed ;  and  although  they  did  not  immediately  call  themselves  kings  on  their  coins 
and  in  their  edicts,  they  all  did  so  ere  long,  with  more  or  less  show  of  decent  reluct- 
ance and  delay.  In  those  times,  however,  the  kingly  title  was  very  common,  and 
much  less  of  special  significance  was  connected  with  it  than  it  has  since  acquired. 

Elated  l)y  this  and  his  other  great  successes,  Antigonus  cast  his  eyes  upon  Kgypt.  In 
305  B.  C.  he  collected  in  Syria  an  army  of  eighty  thouiiand  foot,  eight  thousand  horse, 
and  eighty-three  elephants,  and  marched  along  the  coast  of  Palestine  to  (la/a;  to  which 
point  Demetrius  also  repaired  by  sea,  with  a  fleet  of  one  hundred  and  fifiy  ships  of 
war,  and  one  hundred  sloreships.  This  formidable  expedition  failed  through  mis- 
management on  their  side,  met  by  excellent  management  and  preparation  on  the  part 
of  Ptolemy.  Antigonus  retired  from  the  Egyptian  frontier  in  disgrace,  not  a  little 
heightened  by  the  avidity  with  which  his  own  soldiers  embraced  the  opportunity 
of  escaping  from  his  austere  rule  to  the  mild  and  paternal  sway  of  the  Egyptian 
king. 

Meanwhile  Seleucus  had  been  consolidating  in  the  east  that  power  which  ulti- 
mately made  him  the  greatest  of  the  successors  of  Alexander.  By  303  B.  C.  he  had 
established  his  dominion  over  all  the  eastern  provinces  to  the  borders  of  India,  and  in 
that  year  was  preparing  for  the  invasion  oi  that  country,  when  affairs  called  his 
attention  to  the  west,  and  he  concluded  a  treaty  with  the  Indian  king,  from  whom 
he  received  five  hundred  elephants, — a  fact  which  we  particularly  notice  as  explain- 
ing the  frequent  presence  of  that  noble  beast  in  the  subsequent  warfares  iu  Syria  and 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


405 


#B' 


A-c^ 


Palestine.  Subsequent  supplies  were  after- 
ward obtained  from  the  same  source,  in 
order  to  keep  up  this  favorite  force  in  the 
armies  of  the  Syrian  kings.* 

At  last  the  several  kinfjs,  wearied  out  with 
troubles  and  conflicts  which  the  insatiable 
and  turbulent  ambition  of  Antigonus  occa- 
sioned, made  common  cause  against  him, 
Seleucus  taking  the  lead,  and  bringing  the 
largest  force  into  the  field.  The  belligeranis 
met  and  fought  a  battle,  intended  by  all  to  hv 
decisive,  at  Ipsus  in  Phrygia,  in  the  yeai 
B.  C.  301.  Antigonus  brought  into  the 
between  seventy  and  eighty  thousand  foot, 
ten  thousand  horse,  and  seventy  elephants  ; 
and  Seleucus  and  his  confederates  had  sixiy- 
four  thousand  infantry,  ten  thousand  five  liun- 
dred  cavalry,  above  one  hundred  chariots 
armed  with  scythes,  and  four  hundred  ele- 
phants. The  courageous  old  man,  Antigonus,  now  fourscore  and  upward,  behaved 
with  his  usual  valor  and  conduct,  but  not  with  his  usual  spirit.  Seleucus,  by  an 
adroit  interposition  of  his  elephants,  managed  to  prevent  Demetrius  from  properly- 
supporting  his  father  with  the  cavalry,  which  he  commanded  ;  and  the  final  re- 
sult was,  that  Antigonus  fell  on  the  field  of  battle  pierced  by  many  arrows,  while 
Demetrius  managed  with  a  poor  remnant  of  the  army  to  escape  to  Ephesus.     He  sur- 

*The  ancient  Egyptians  do  not  appear  to  have  known  the  elephant,  although  quantities  of  tho  teeth 
were  brought  to  tlie  country  and  to  Palestine.  We  do  not  remerr)ber  to  have  met  with  a  single  instance 
to  which  this  animal  Is  described  as  being  Hgured  on  the  old  monuments  of  that  country. 


Use  of  Elephants  in  War. 


40b  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

vived  seventeen  years,  and  took  an  active  part  in  the  affairs  of  that  time,  but  no' 
so  as  to  bring  him  under  our  future  notice. 

This  great  victory  was  followed  by  a  treaty  between  the  four  potentates  who  hatt 
weathered  the  storm  which  had  raged  since  the  death  of  Alexander,  being  Seleucus, 
Ptolemy,  Lysimachus,  and  Cassander.  Each  was  formally  to  assume  the  royal  dig- 
nity, and  to  govern  his  provinces  with  imperial  power.  The  distribution  was  made 
on  the  principle  of  each  retaining  Avhat  he  already  had,  and  taking  his  due  share  of 
the  empire  which  Antigonus  had  lost  wath  life.  To  Cassander  was  allotted  Macedonia 
and  Greece  ;  to  Lysimachus  Thrace,  Bithynia,  and  some  of  the  adjacent  provinces  ; 
to  Ptolemy,  Libya,  Egypt,  Arabia  Petraea,  Palestine,  and  Coele-Syria ;  to  Seleucus, 
all  the  rest,  being  in  fact  the  lion's  share — including  many  provinces  in  Syria,  Asia- 
Minor,  Mesopotamia,  Babylonia,  and  the  East  as  far  as  the  frontiers  of  India. 

This  settlement  must  have  been  highly  satisfactory  to  the  Jews,  whom  it  restored 
to  the  dominion  of  Ptolemy,  with  whose  generally  beneficent  government,  and  par- 
ticular favor  to  themselves,  they  had  every  reason  to  be  satisfied.  The  prospects  of 
durable  peace,  under  the  shadow  of  so  great  a  king,  must  also  have  been  contempla- 
ted with  peculiar  satisfaction  by  a  people  who  suffered  so  much  of  the  horrors  and 
penalties,  without  sharing  in  the  contingent  honors  and  benefits  of  war. 

They  were  not  disappointed.  Ptolemy,  now  relieved  from  his  long  conflict,  and 
settled  firmly  upon  his  throne,  applied  himself  with  great  and  laudable  diligence  to 
the  improvement  of  his  dominions.  One  great  point  of  his  policy  was  really  to  attach 
to  his  rule  the  several  nations  which  had  become  subject  to  it.  From  this  policy 
sprang  the  favors  which  he  showered  upon  the  Jews,  and  the  indulgence  with  which, 
notwithstanding  their  peculiarities,  they  were  on  all  occasions  treated.  The  most 
perfect  religious  toleration  was  established  by  this  eminent  monarch,  whose  interest 
it  was  to  harmonize  the  differences  of  religious  practice  and  opinion  which  existed 
between  his  Greek  and  Egyptian  subjects  :  the  religion  of  the  Jews  was  comprehend- 
ed in  this  indulgence  ;  and  their  synagogue  was  as  much  tolerated  and  respected  as 
the  temples  of  Isis  and  of  Jupiter.  Ptolemy  made  Alexandria  the  metropolis  of  his 
empire,  and  gave  full  effect  to  the  mtention  of  its  great  founder  by  taking  such  meas- 
ures as  ere  long  rendered  it  the  first  commercial  city  in  the  world. — This,  among 
others,  was  a  circumstance  calculated  to  attract  the  Jews  to  that  city ;  as,  first  their 
Iqng  absence  from  their  native  land — during  the  captivity,  and  then  the  troubles  of 
war  in  that  land — troubles  peculiarly  unfavorable  to  the  peaceful  pursuits  and  hopes 
of  agriculture — had  already  turned  their  attention  toward  commerce. 

Seleucus,  between  whose  territories  and  those  ofPtolemy,  Palestine  was  now  situated, 
saw  the  wisdom  of  the  policy  followed  by  the  king  of  Egypt,  and  applied  himself  with 
great  vigor  to  work  it  out  in  his  own  dominions.  Li  those  dominions  many  fine  cities  had 
been  entirely  destroyed,  and  others  greatly  injured  by  the  ravages  of  war.  To  repaii 
these  losses,  Seleucus  built  many  new  cities,  among  which  are  reckoned  sixteen  Avhich 
he,  from  his  father,  called  Antiochia  or  Antioch ;  nine  to  which  he  gave  his  own  name  ; 
six  on  which  he  bestowed  that  of  his  mother  Laodicea  ;  six  which  he  called  Apamea 
after  his  first  wife,  and  one  after  his  last  wife  Stratonice.  Of  all  these  towns  the 
most  celebrated  was  the  city  of  Antioch,  on  the  Orontes  in  Syria,  which  became  the 
metropolitan  residence  of  all  the  succeeding  kings,  and  in  a  later  day,  of  the  Pioman 
governors;  and  which  has  ever  since  survived,  and  which  still  exists,  and  retains 
some  relative  consequence  by  virtue  of  the  corresponding  decline  of  all  prosperity 
and  population  in  the  country  in  which  it  is  found.  Its  name  will  occur  very  often 
in  the  remainder  of  our  narrative.  Next  to  Antioch  in  importance  was  Seleucus  on 
the  Tigris,  which  may  in  fact  be  considered  the  capital  of  the  eastern  portion  of  the 
emi)ire.  It  was  situated  about  fifty  miles  north-by-east  of  Babylon,  twertty-ihree 
miles  below  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Bagdad,  and  just  opposite  to  the  ancent 
city  of  Clesiphon.  This  city  (founded  in  B.  C.  293)  tended  much  to  the  final  ruin 
and  desolation  of  Babylon.  Great  privileges  were  granted  to  the  citizens  ;  and  on  fhis 
account  many  of  the  inhabitants  of  Babylon  removed  thither  ;  and  after  the  tran«5fer 
of  the  trade  to  Seleucia,  these  removals  became  still  more  frequent.  It  was  in  this 
manner  that  Babylon  was  gradually  depopulated ;  but  the  precise  period  when  it 
became  entirely  deserted  can  not  now  be  ascertained.  It  may  be  interesting  to  note 
this,  as  many  of  the  eastern  Jews  were  involved  in  whatever  transactions  took  place 
in  this  quarter,  which,  from  the  time  of  the  captivity  to  this  day,  has  never  been 
destitute  of  a  large  and  often  influential  Jewish  population.     But  now  Babylon  itself 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


407 


408  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

is  not  more  desolate — is  even  less  desolate — has  more  to  mark  it  as  the  site  of  a  great 
city  of  old  times,  than  the  superseding  Selucia,  which  only  received  existence  in  the 
last  days  of  Babylon.  "  I  have,"  says  a  late  traveller,  "walked  over  the  ground  it 
occupied,  and  found  the  site  of  the  royal  city  only  marked  by  the  parallel  embank- 
ments of  ancient  aqueducts,  and  by  the  consolidated  gri^  and  debris  which  devote  to 
utter  barrenness,  in  this  primeval  country,  the  spots  which  towns  once  occupied,  as 
if  man  had  branded  the  ground  by  the  treading  of  his  feet." 

In  his  newly-founded  towns,  it  was  the  policy  of  Seleucus  to  induce  as  many  as 
possible  of  the  Jews  to  settle  by  important  privileges  and  immunities,  such  as  those 
which  Ptolemy  had  extended  to  them.  The  consequence  was  that  the  Jews  were  at- 
tracted to  these  spots  in  such  numbers,  and  especially  to  Antioch,  that  in  them  they 
formed  nearly  as  large  a  proportion  of  the  inhabitants  as  at  Alexandria  itSelf 

In  all  this,  we  think  it  is  not  difficult  to  perceive  a  further  development  of  the  di- 
vine plan,  which  now,  as  the  times  advanced,  dictated  the  dispersion  of  numerous 
bodies  of  Jews  among  the  Gentile  nations, — while  the  nation  still  maintained  in  its 
own  land  the  standards  of  ceremonial  worship  and  of  doctrine — with  the  view  of 
making  the  nations  acquainted  with  certain  truths  and  great  principles,  which  should 
work  in  their  minds  as  leaven  until  the  times  of  quickening  arrived. 

During  the  time  of  Ptolemy  Soter,  the  prosperity  of  the  Jews  was  much  strength- 
ened by  the  internal  atl ministration  of  the  excellent  high-priest  Simon  the  just.  In 
300  he  succeeded  Onias  I.,  who  had  in  321  succeeded  Jaddua,  the  high-priesl  in  the 
time  of  Alexander  the  Great.  Simon  repaired  and  fortified  the  city  and  temple  of 
Jerusalem,  with  strong  and  lofty  walls  ;  and  made  a  spacious  cistern,  or  reservoir  of 
water,  "  iu  compass  as  a  sea."*  He  is  reported  to  have  completed  the  canon  of  the 
Old  Testament  by  the  addition  of  the  books  of  Ezra,  Haggai,  Zechariah,  Nehemiah, 
Esther,  and  Malachi.  This  is  not  unlikely,  as  also  that  Ihe  book  of  Chronicles  was 
completed  in  its  present  state ;  for  the  genealogy  of  David  in  the  first  book  comes 
down  to  about  the  year  B.  C.  300  ;  and  it  may  also  be  remarked  that  in  the  catalogue 
of  high-priests  as  given  in  Nehemiah,  Jaddua  is  mentioned  in  such  a  manner  as  to  in- 
timate that  he  had  been  for  some  time  dead.  The  Jews  also  affirm  that  Simon  was 
"  the  last  of  the  great  synagogue  :"  which  some  ingeniously  paraphrase  mto  "  the  last 
president  of  the  great  council,  or  Sanhedrim,  among  the  high-priests"  (Hales,  ii.  538) ; 
whereas  it  seems  clear  that  no  Sanhedrim  at  or  before  this  time  existed.  And  from 
the  fact  that  this  "  great  synagogue"  is  not  (like  the  Sanhedrim)  described  as  being 
composed  of  seventy  members,  but  of  one  hundred  and  twenty,  among  whom  were 
Ezra,  Haggai,  Zechariah,  Nehemiah,  and  Malachi — it  would  appear  that  it  rather  de- 
noted the  succession  of  devout  and  patriotic  men  who  distinguished  themselves  after 
the  captivity,  by  their  labors  toward  the  collection  and  revision  of  the  sacred  books, 
and  the  settlement  and  improvement  of  the  civil  and  religious  mstitutions  of  their 
country;  and  of  whom  Simon,  by  completing  the  sacred  canon,  became  the  last.  Si- 
mon died  in  B.  C,  291,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Eleazer. 

Not  long  afte.'  this  (B.  C.  285),  the  king  of  Egypt,  having  conceived  just  cause  of 
displeasure  against  his  eldest  son  Ptolemy  Keraunus,  took  measures  to  secure  the  suc- 
cession to  his  youngest  son  Ptolemy  Philadelphus.  His  advanced  age  warned  him 
that  he  had  no  time  to  lose;  he  therefore  resigned  the  diadem  to  Philadelphus  ("  the 
brother-loving"),  and  enrolled  hitnself  ainong  the  royal  life-guards.  He  died  two  years 
after  (B.  C.  283)  at  the  age  of  eighty-four,  forty  years  after  the  death  of  Alexander. 

As  for  Ptolemy  Keraunus,  he  ultimately  sought  refuge  at  the  court  of  Seleucus,  by 
whom  he  was  most  kindly  received  and  entertained:  but  he  justified  the  ill  opinion 
of  him  on  Avhich  his  own  father  had  acted  by  destroying  his  benefactor.  This  was  in 
B.  C.  280,  only  seven  months  after  Seleucus  had  consummated  the  greatness  of  his 
empire  by  the  overthrow  of  Lysimachus,  who  had  himself  previously  added  the  king- 
dom of  Macedonia  to  his  own  of  Thrace.  Thus  Seleucus  became  the  possessor  of 
three  out  of  the  four  kingdoms  into  which  the  empire  of  Alexander  had,  in  the  defeat 
of  Antigonus,  been  divided.  After  his  death,  Ptolemy  Keraunus  managed  to  seat  him- 
self on  the  Macedonian  throne  ;  but  the  very  next  year  he  was  taken  prisoner  and  cut 
in  pieces  by  the  (lauls,  who  had  invaded  Macedonia. 

Seleucus  was  succeeded  in  what  may  be  called  the  throne  of  Asia  by  his  son  Anti- 
ochus  Soter.     This  prince,  after  he  had  secured  the  eastern  provinces  of  the  empire, 

*  Kcclus.  i.  1-3.  The  whole  chapter,  entitled  "The  praise  of  Simon  the  son  of  Onias,"  is  devoted  to  a 
splendid  eulogium  on  his  deeds  and  character. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  409 

endeavored  to  reduce  the  western,  but  his  general  Patrocles  was  defeated  in  Bithynia, 
and  the  loss  of  his  army  disabled  him  from  immediately  prosecuting  the  claims  upon 
Macedonia  and  Thrace.  Meanwhile  the  sceptre  of  Macedonia  was  seized  by  the  vig- 
orous hands  of  Alexander  Gonatus,  a  son  of  Demetrius  Poliorcetes,  and  consequently 
a  grandson  of  Antigonus,  and  to  him  Antiochus  at  length  felt  himself  constrained  to 
cede  that  country  ;  and  the  family  of  Antigonus  reigned  there  until  the  time  of  Per- 
seus, the  last  king,  who  was  conquered  by  the  Romans.  Antiochus  Soter  died  in  B. 
C.  261  after  nominating  as  his  successor  his  second  son  Antiochus  Theos  (^"  the  God"). 
This  prince  was  his  son  by  his  mother-in-laAV  Stratonice,  whom  his  too  mdulgent  fa- 
ther had  divorced  to  please  him. 

The  accession  of  Antiochus  II.  took  place  about  the  middle  of  the  reign  of  Ptolemy 
Philadelphus  in  Egypt.  This  last-named  monarch  was  quite  as  tolerant  and  as  friendly 
to  the  Jews  as  his  father  had  been.  He  was  a  great  encourager  of  learning  and  pa- 
tron of  learned  men.  Under  his  auspices  Avas  executed  that  valuable  translation  of  the 
Hebrew  scriptures  into  Greek,  called  the  Septuagint,  from  the  seventy,  or  seventy-two, 
translators  said  to  have  been  employed  thereon.  Eleazer  was  still  the  high-priest, 
and  appears  to  have  interested  himself  much  in  this  undertaking,  and  was  careful  to 
furnish  for  the  purpose  correct  copies  of  the  sacred  books.  The  date  of  B.  C.  278  is 
usually  assigned  to  this  translation.  Thus  the  Jewish  scriptures  were  made  accessi- 
ble to  the  heathen.  It  is  unquestionable  that  copies  of  this  version,  or  extracts  from 
it,  found  their  way  in  process  of  time  into  the  libraries  of  the  learned  and  curious  of 
Greece  and  Rome  ;  and  there  is  no  means  of  calculating  the  full  extent  of  its  opera- 
tion in  opening  the  minds  of  the  more  educated  and  thoughtful  class  among  the  hea- 
then to  the  perception  of  some  of  the  great  truths  which  they  could  learn  only  from 
that  book,  and  which  it  was  now  becoming  important  that  they  should  know.  It  was 
even  a  great  matter  that  they  should  have  the  means  of  knowing  clearly  what  the 
Jews  believed,  Avhatever  they  may  themselves  have  thought  of  that  belief  This  ver- 
sion soon  came  into  common  use  among  the  Jews  themselves  everywhere,  ev^n  in 
Palestine,  the  original  Hebrew  having  become  a  learned  language.  Indeed,  the  quo- 
tations from  the  Old  Testament  made  by  the  evangelists  and  apostles,  and  even  by 
Christ  himself  are  generally,  if  not  always  from  this  version. 

In  the  third  year  of  Antiochus  a  long  and  bloody  war  broke  out  between  him  and 
Ptolemy  Philadelphus.  The  latter  king,  bending  under  the  weight  of  years,  com- 
manded by  his  generals,  while  Antiochus,  in  the  vigor  of  youth,  led  his  armies  in 
person.  Neither  monarch  appears  to  have  gained  any  very  decided  advantages  over 
the  other ;  while  we  know  that  much  was  lost  by  Antiochus ;  for  while  his  attention 
was  engaged  by  wars  in  the  west  the  eastern  provinces  of  his  vast  empire — Parthia, 
Bactria,  and  other  provinces  beyond  the  Tigris — revolted  from  his  dominion  ;  this  was 
in  B.  C.  250,  from  which  the  foundation  of  the  Parthian  empire  may  be  dated  ;  but  il 
is  perhaps  better,  with  the  Parthians  themselves,  to  date  it  from  the  ensuing  reign, 
when  they  completely  established  their  independence.  It  is  here  however  we  are  to 
seek  the  real  beginning  of  the  Parthian  empire,  which  was  ultimately  destined  to  set 
bounds  to  the  conquests  of  the  Romans,  and  to  vanquish  the  vanquishers  of  the  ^orld. 
The  immediate  result  was  that  Antiochus  was  obliged,  in  the  year  B.  C.  249,  to  make 
peace  with  Philadelphus  on  such  terms  as  he  could  obtain.  These  were,  that  he 
should  repudiate  his  beloved  queen,  who  was  his  half-sister,  and  marry  Berenice,  a 
daughter  of  Philadelphus,  and  that  the  first  male  issue  of  the  marriage  should  succeed 
to  the  throne. 

As  Philadelphus  on  his  part  gave  for  the  dower  of  his  daughter  half  the  revenues 
of  Palestine,  Phoenicia  and  Coele-Syria,  the  Jews  may  seem  to  have  come  partly  un- 
der the  dominion  of  Antiochus.  But  as  the  king  retained  the  other  half  in  his  own 
hands,  and  as  the  revenues  of  Judea  were  always  farmed  by  the  high-priest,  the  cir- 
cumstance made  no  change  in  their  condition.  Besides,  the  arrangement  was  too 
soon  broken  up  to  produce  any  marked  effect.  These  were  the  in)portant  nuptials 
betweftn  "  the  king  of  the  north,"  and  "  the  daughter  of  the  king  of  the  south,"  which 
the  prophet  Daniel  had  long  before  predicted  (Dair.  xi.  6).  It  was  only  two  years 
after  this  (B.  C.  247)  that  Philadelphus  died ;  immediately  on  which  he  put  away 
Berenice  and  restored  his  beloved  Laodicea;  but  she,  fearing  his  fickleness,  poisoned 
him,  and  set  her  son  Seleucus  Callinicus  ("  illustrious  conqueror")  upon  the  throne 
(B.  C.  246).     On  this  Berenice  sought  shelter  with  her  son  (the  deir  by  treaty)  in 


410  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

the  sacred  groves  of  Daphne  (near  Antioch) ;  but  at  the  instigation  of  his  mothei, 
Callinicus  tore  her  from  that  sanctuary,  and  slew  her,  with  her  infant  son. 

Now  Berenice  was  full  sister  to  the  new  king  of  Egypt,  Ptolemy  III.,  surnamed 
EuERGETEs,*  who  immediately  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  his  army  to  avenge  her 
wrongs.  He  was  eminently  successful.  He  entered  Syria,  slew  the  queen  Laodicea, 
and  overran  the  whole  empire,  as  far  as  the  Tigris  on  the  east  and  Babylon  on  the 
south.t  On  he  marched,  from  province  to  province,  levying  heavy  contributions. 
until  commotions  in  Egypt  obliged  him  to  abandon  his  enterprise  and  return  home. 
On  his  way  he  called  at  Jerusalem,  where  he  offered  many  sacrifices,  and  made  large 
presents  to  the  temple.  There  is  little  doubt  but  that  the  high-priest  took  the  oppor- 
tunity of  pointing  out  to  him  those  prophecies  of  Daniel  (xi.  6-8)  which  had 
been  accomplished  in  the  late  events  and  his  recent  achievements ;  and  this  may  prob- 
ably have  been  the  cause  of  his  presents  and  offerings. 

The  high-priest  of  the  Jews  was  then  Onias  H.  Eleazer,  the  high-priest  at  the 
time  the  Greek  translation  of  the  Scriptures  was  made,  died  in  B.  C.  276,  and  was 
succeeded,  not  by  his  own  son  Onias,  but  by  Manasses,  a  son  of  Jaddua.  He  died  in 
B.  C.  250,  and  Onias  HI.  then  became  high-priest.  As  usual,  Onias  farmed  the  trib- 
ute exacted  from  Judea  by  the  Egyptians.  But,  growing  covetous  as  he  advanced 
in  years,  he  withheld,  under  one  pretence  or  another,  the  twenty  talents  which  his 
predecessors  had  been  accustomed  to  pay  every  year  to  the  king  of  Egypt  as  a  tribute 
for  the  whole  people.  This  went  on  for  twenty-four  years,  and,  the  arrears  then 
amounting  to  four  hundred  and  eighty  talents,  the  king  deemed  it  full  time  to  take 
energetic  measures  to  secure  the  payment  of  this  portion  of  the  royal  revenues.  He 
sent  an  officer  named  Athenion  to  demand  the  payment  of  what  was  already  due, 
and  to  require  a  more  punctual  payment  in  future,  with  the  threat  that  unless  meas- 
ures of  compliance  were  taken,  he  would  confiscate  all  the  lands  of  Judea,  and  send 
a  colony  of  soldiers  to  occupy  them.  The  infatuated  priest  was  disposed  to  neglect 
the  warning  and  brave  the  danger,  which  filled  all  the  people  with  consternation. 
But  the  evils  which  might  have  been  apprehended  were  averted  through  the  policy 
and  address  of  Joseph,  the  high-priest's  nephew;  who  generously  borrowed  the  mon- 
ey upon  his  own  credit,  paid  the  tribute,  and  so  ingratiated  himself  at  the  Egyptian 
court  that  he  obtained  the  lucrative  privilege  of  farming  the  king's  revenues  not  only 
in  Judea  and  Samaria,  but  in  Phoenicia  and  Coele-Syria. 

Seleucus  Callinicu^,  in  his  emergencies,  had  promised  to  his  yomiger  brother  Anti- 
ochus  Hierax,  who  was  governor  of  Asia  Minor,  the  independent  possession  of  seve- 
ral cities  in  that  province,  for  his  assistance  in  the  war  with  P.  Euergetes.  But  when 
he  had  (B.  C.  243)  obtained  a  truce  of  ten  years  from  the  Egvptian  king,  he  refused 
to  fulfil  this  engagement.  This  led  to  a  bloody  war  between  the  two  brothers,  ia 
which  Seleucus  was  so  generally  unsuccessful  that  it  would  appear  as  if  the  title  of 
Callinicus  {illusLriovs  com/uerer)  had  been  bestowed  upon  him  in  derision.  He  was 
however  ultimately  successful  through  the  losses  and  weakness  which  other  enemies 
brought  upon  Anliochus  Hierax  ("  the  Hawk" — from  his  rapacity),  who  was  in  the 
end  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  Egypt,  where  he  was  put  to  death  in  B.  C.  240.  Tow- 
ard the  end  of  this  war,  Mesopotamia  a])pears  to  have  been  the  scene  of  action ;  for 
in  that  quarter  occurred  the  battle  in  which  eight  thousand  Babylonian  Jews  (sub- 
jects of  Seleucus)  and  four  thousand  Macedonians  defeated  one  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  Gauls  whom  Antiochus  had  in  his  pay  (Mace.  viii.  20). 

S.  Callinicus  being  now  relieved  from  the  western  war,  turned  his  attention  to  the 
recovery  of  the  eastern  provinces  which  had  revolted  in  the  time  of  his  father.  Re- 
newed troubles  in  Syria  prevented  any  result  from  his  fii-st  attempt  in  B.  C.  236;  and 
in  his  second,  in  230,  he  was  defeated  and  taken  prisoner  by  the  Parthians,  whose 
king,  Arsaces,  treated  the  royal  captive  with  the  respect  becoming  his  rank,  but  never 
set  him  at  liberty.  He  died  in  B.  C.  226  by  a  fall  from  his  horse.  On  this  event  Se- 
leucus ni.  inherited  the  remains  of  his  father's  kingdom.     This  prince  was  equally 

*  We  may  add  in  a  note  that  this  title  (the  Benefactor)  was  conferred  on  Ptolemy  by  his  Egyptian  subjects 
on  his  return  from  his  eastern  expedition.  He  recovered  and  brought  back,  with  other  booty  to  an  immense 
amount,  2,500  idolatrous  images,  chiefly  those  which  Cambyses  had  taken  away  from  the  Egyptians.  When 
he  restored  the  idols  to  their  temples,  the  Egyptians  manifested  their  gratitude  by  saluting  with  this  title. 
They  were  less  prone  than  the  Greeks  of  Asia  to  dei/y  their  kings. 

t  The  inscription  found  at  Adule  by  Cosmas  gives  a  more  extensive  range  to  his  operations,  affirming 
that  after  having  subdued  the  west  of  Asia,  ultimately  crossed  the  Euphrates,  and  brought  under  his  do- 
minion, not  only  Mesopotamia  and  Babylonia,  but  Media,  Persia,  and  the  whole  country  as  far  as  Bactria. 
AS  this  needs  more  collateral  sui>port  than  it  has  received,  we  adopt  a  more  limited  statement  in  the  text. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  411 

weak  in  body  and  mind,  and  therefore  most  unaptly  surnamed  Keraunus  (*  thunder'). 
When  a  war  broke  out  in  B.  C.  223,  his  imbecile  conduct  so  provoked  his  generals, 
that  he  was  poisoned  by  their  contrivance. 

Of  these  troubles  and  dissensions  in  Syria,  Ptolemy  Euergetes,  in  Egypt,  took  due 
advantage  in  strengthening  and  extending  his  own  empire.  In  B.  C.  222,  the  year 
after  the  murder  of  Seleucus  III.,  his  reign  was  terminated  through  his  murder  by 
his  own  son  Ptolemy,  who  succeeded  him,  and  who,  on  account  of  this  horrid  deed, 
was  ironically  surnamed  PmLoPAXoR  ("  father-loving").  P.  Euergetes  is  popularly 
considered  the  last  good  king  of  Egypt,  which  is  true  in  the  sense  that  the  succeed- 
ing Ptolemies  governed  far  worse  than  the  first  three  of  that  name — all  of  whom 
were  just  and  humane  men,  and  whose  reigns  were  glorious  and  beneficent.  If  Euer- 
getes was  inferior  in  some  respects  to  Lagus  and  Philadelphus,  he  was  more  than  in 
the  same  degree  superior  to  his  own  successors. 

At  this  time  the  Jews  had  for  about  sixty  years  enjoyed  almost  uninterrupted  tran- 
quillity under  the  shadow  of  the  Egyptian  throne.  During  this  period  circumstances 
led  them,  into  much  intercourse  Avith  the  Greeks,  who  were  their  masters  and  the 
ruling  people  in  Egypt,  Syria,  Asia  Minor — and,  in  fact,  in  all  the  country  west  of  the 
Tigris.  A  predominance  of  Greeks  and  of  Grecian  ideas,  which  has  dotted  the  su^^- 
face  of  westernmost  Asia  with  frequent  monuments  of  Grecian  art,  was  not  without 
much  eff'ect  upon  the  Jews  in  this  period.  Among  other  indications,  the  increasing 
prevalence,  in  and  after  this  period,  of  Greek  proper  names  among  the  Jews,  may  be 
taken.  There  is  ample  evidence  that  the  more  opulent  classes  cultivated  the  lan- 
guage, and  imbibed  some  of  the  manners  of  the  Greeks.  It  is  also  apparent  that  some 
acquaintance  with  the  Greek  philosophers  was  obtained,  and  made  wild  work  in 
Jewish  minds.  Nothing  manifests  this  more  clearly  than  the  rise  of  the  Sadducees, 
whose  system  was  nothing  more  than  a  very  awkward  attempt  to  graft  the  negations 
of  Greek  philosophy  upon  the  Hebrew  creed.  It  confirms  this  view,  that  the  sect 
of  the  Sadducees  was  never  popular  with  the  mass  of  the  nation — but  was  always 
confined  to  those  whose  condition  in  life  brought  them  the  most  into  contact  with  the 
notions  of  the  Greeks — the  wealthy,  noble,  and  ruling  classes.  Priests — even  high- 
priests — sometimes  adopted  the  views  of  this  sect. 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  the  high-priest  Simon  the  Just  was  counted  as  the 
last  of"  the  great  synagogue,"  who  had  applied  themselves  to  the  great  work  of  col- 
lecting, revising,  and  completing  the  canon  of  the  Old  Testament.  To  this  followed 
"a  new  synagogue,"  which  applied  itself  diligently  to  the  work  of  expounding  and 
commenting  upon  the  completed  canon.  This  school  lasted  until  the  time  ofJudah 
Hakkadosh,  who  to  prevent  these  comments  or  "  traditions"  (which  were  deemed  of 
equal  authority  with  the  text)  from  being  lost,  after  the  dispersion,  committed  them 
to  writing,  in  the  Mishna — Avhich,  with  its  comments,  lias  since  constituted  the  great 
law-book  of  the  Jews,  from  which,  even  more  than  from  the  Scriptures,  they  have 
deduced  their  religious  and  civil  obligations.  The  founder  and  first  president  of  this 
school,  or  synagogue,  was  Antigonus  Socho,  or  Sochseus.  He  (or,  according  to  some 
accounts,  his  successor  Joseph)  was  fond  of  leaching  that  God  was  to  be  served 
wholly  from  disinterested  motives,  of  pure  love  and  reverence,  founded  on  the  con- 
templation of  his  infinite  perfections,  without  regard  to  the  prospects  of  future  reward, 
or  to  the  dread  of  future  punishment.  This  was  either  misunderstood  or  wilfully  per- 
verted by  some  of  his  scholars,  and  in  particular  by  Sadoc  and  Baithos,  who  declared 
their  disbelief  that  there  was  any  future  state  of  reward  or  punishment.  Perhaps 
they  stopped  at  this ;  but  the  views  ultimately  imbodied  in  the  creed  of  the  sect 
which  took  its  name  from  the  first  of  these  persons,  inculcated  that  the  soul  was  mor- 
tal like  the  body,  and  perished  with  it,  and  consequently  that  there  was  not,  nor  could 
be,  any  resurrection.  They  also  held  that  there  was  no  spiritual  being,  good  or  bad. 
(Matt.  xxii.  23;  Acts  xxiii.  8.)  They  rejected  the  doctrine  of  an  overruling  Provi- 
dence, and  maintained  that  all  events  resulted  from  the  free  and  unconstrainedactions 
of  men.  _  That,  like  the  Samaritans,  they  rejected  all  the  sacred  books  save  the  Pen- 
tateuch, is  inferred  from  the  unsupported  authority  of  a  passage  of  doubtful  interpre- 
tation in  Josephus.*  And  as  there  is  some  evidence  to  the  contrary,  it  is  safer  to 
conclude  that  they  admitted  the  authority  of  the  other  books,  but  ascribed  to  them  an 
inferior  value  and  importance  than  to  the  Pentateuch.  But  it  is  certain  that  they  re- 
jected absolutely  the  "  traditions,"  to  which  such  supreme  importance  was  attached 

*  A.ntiq.  xiii   10,  0. 


^r 


412  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 


by  the  mass  of  the  nation.  This  was  a  good  .  uiig  in  them  ;  and  in  this  they  agreed 
with  Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles,  who  were  opposed  to  them  and  by  them  on  every 
otiier  point.  In  fact,  it  would  seem  as  if  this  sect  in  its  beginning  was  intended 
merely  as  an  opposition  to  the  tradition  party,  which  was  likely  to  be  regarded  witli 
apprehension  by  the  more  open  and  thinking  minds.  The  doctrinal  errors  had  no 
necessary  connexion  with  the  anti-tradition  zeal  of  the  party,  and  were  probably 
grafted  on  it  through  the  speculative  tendencies  of  some  of  its  original  leaders. 

After  the  murder  of  Seleucus  Kerauims,  who  left  no  son,  the  kingdom  of  8yria  fell 
to  his  brother  Aintio('hus  III.,  who  had  been  brought  up  at  Seleucia  on  the  'i'igris. 
He  came  to  Antioch  ;  and  his  reign  was  so  productive  in  great  events  that  he  ulti- 
mately acquired  the  surname  of  "  the  Great."  He  carried  on  the  wars  against  the 
revoked  provinces  with  such  success  that  he  soon  recovered  almost  all  Asia-Minor, 
Media,  Persia,  and  Babylonia.  The  effeminate  character  of  Ptolemy  Philopator — 
who  was  a  mean  voluptuary,  abandoned  to  the  most  shameful  vices,  and  entirely 
governed  by  the.  creatures  and  instruments  of  his  pleasures — led  Antiochus  to  contem- 
plate the  feasibility  of  obtaining  possession  of  the  valuable  provinces  of  Ccele-Syria, 
Phojnicia,  and  Palestine.  Great  part  of  the  first  of  these  provinces,  with  the  city  of 
j^mascus,  he  easily  acquired,  through  the  defection  of  Iheodotian  the  governor — a 
brave  man  rendered  a  traitor  by  the  desire  of  revenge,  and  by  contempt  for  the  char- 
acter of  his  master.  The  campaign  was  terminated  by  a  truce  for  four  months,  which 
circumstances  made  desirable  for  both  parties  before  prosecuting  the  war.  Negotia- 
tions for  a  peace  were  indeed  entered  into;  but  as  both  parties  claimed  Ca;le-Syria 
and  Palestine  in  virtue  of  the  treaty  by  wliich  the  empire  of  Alexander  was  divided 
after  the  fall  of  Antigonus,  the  truce  expired  without  anything  having  been  concluded. 

The  war  was  therefore  resumed  in  2  IS  E.  C.  Antiochus  marched  into  the  disputed 
territory  and  carried  all  things  before  him: — forcing  the  passes  of  Lebanon,  he  |)ene- 
trated  into  Phoenicia,  and  after  securing  the  coast,  marched  into  the  interior,  ana 
brought  under  his  power  all  the  cities  of  Galilee;  after  which  he  passed  beyond  Jor- 
dan, and  won  the  ancient  territory  of  the  tribes  beyond  that  river,  with  the  metropolis 
Piabbath- Amnion,  which  Ptolemy  Philadelphus  had  fortified,  and  named  after  him- 
self Philadelphia.  At  the  same  time,  Antiochus  subjugated  some  of  the  neighboring 
Arabs ;  and  on  his  return  threw  garrisons  into  Samaria  and  some  of  the  adjacent 
towns  ;  and  at  the  close  of  this  brilliant  campaign,  he  took  up  his  winter  quarters  in 
Ptolemais  (afterward  Csesarea). 

These  large  and  repeated  losses  at  length  roused  all  the  energies  which  Ptolemy 
was  capable  of  exerting.  He  forsook  his  drunken  revels,  and  placing  himself  at  the 
head  of  an  army  of  seventy  thousand  infantry,  five  thousand  cavalry,  and  seventy- 
three  elephants,  he  marched  from  Pelusium  through  the  desert,  and  encamped  at 
Raphia,  a  place  between  Rhinoculura  (El  Arish)  and  (xaza.  Antiochus,  with  the 
confidence  of  victory  which  his  recent  successes  inspired,  advanced  to  meet  him  at 
that  place,  with  an  array  of  sixty-two  thousand  infantry,  six  thousand  cavalry,  and 
one  hundred  and  twenty  elephants.  He  was  totally  defeated,  with  such  loss  that  he 
made  no  attempt  to  repair  it,  but  abandoned  all  his  conquests  and  withdrew  to  An- 
tioch. By  a  peace,  concluded  soon  after,  he  relinquished  all  pretension  to  the  dis- 
puted territories.  Philopator  now  recovered  all  the  former  possessions  of  his  crown 
without  striking  a  blow;  for  the  cities  hastened  to  emulate  each  other  in  renewing 
their  homage  to  him  by  their  ambassadors.  Among  these  the  Jews,  always  partial 
to  the  Egyptian  rule,  were  the  most  forward :  and  the  king  was  induced  to  pay  a 
visit  to  Jerusalem,  as  well  as  to  the  other  principal  cities.  There  he  offered  sacrifices 
according  to  the  Jewish  law,  and  presented  gifts  to  the  temple.  But,  unhappily,  the 
beauty  of  the  building,  and  the  peculiar  order  and  solemnity  of  the  worship,  excited 
the  curiosity  of  the  king  to  see  the  interior.  Simon  H.,  who  had  but  lately  succeeded 
Onias  II.  in  the  high-priesthood,  remonstrated  against  this  intention,  intimating  that 
it  Avas  unlawful  even  for  the  priests  to  enter  the  inner  sanctuary.  Philopater  answered 
haughtily,  that  although  they  wert  deprived  of  that  honor,  Ae  ought  not;  and  pressed 
forward  to  enter  the  sacred  place.  But  wliile  he  was  passing  through  the  inner 
court  for  that  purpose,  he  was  "  shaken  like  a  reed,  and  fell  speechless  to  the 
ground,"  overcome  either  by  his  own  superstitious  fears,  or,  as  (he  historian  seems 
lo  intimate,  by  a  supernatural  dread  and  horror  cast  on  him  from  above.  He  was 
carried  out  half  dead,  and  speedily  departed  from  the  city  full  of  displeasure  against 
the  Jewish  people.     He  therefore  commenced  a  most  barbarous  persecution  against 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


413 


-^ 


T' 


414  A  IS'EW  AND  COMPLETE 


the  Jews  in  Egypt  on  his  return  home.  In  the  first  place  he  caused  a  decree  to  be 
ifiscribed  on  brazen  pillars  at  the  palace-gate,  that  none  should  enter  there  who  did 
not  sacrifice  to  the  gods  he  worshipped — which  effectually  excluded  the  Jews  from 
all  access  to  his  person.  Then  he  deprived  the  Jews  in  Alexandria  of  the  high  civL 
privileges  they  had  enjoyed,  degrading  them  from  the  first  to  the  third  or  last  class  of 
inhabitants.  He  also  ordered  them  to  be  formally  enrolled,  and  that  at  the  time  of 
their  enrolment,  the  mark  of  an  ivy-leaf  (one  of  the  insignia  of  his  god,  Bacchus) 
should  be  impressed  upon  them  with  a  hot  iron:  if  any  refused  this  mark  they  were 
to  be  made  slaves ;  and  whoever  opposed  the  decree  was  to  be  put  to  death.  Again, 
they  were  tempted  to  apostacy  by  the  promise  of  restoration  to  the  rank  of  citizens  of 
the  first  class ;  but  of  the  many  thousands  of  Jews  then  at  Alexandria,  only  three 
hundred  appear  to  have  submitted  to  the  humiliating  condition,  and  these  were  held 
in  such  abhorrence  by  the  majority  of  their  countrymen,  and  were  so  pointedly 
shunned,  and  excluded  from  the  society  of  their  old  associates,  that  the  king,  when 
acquainted  with  it,  was  highly  euraged,  and  regarded  this  as  an  opposition  to  his 
authority ;  he  vowed  to  extirpate  the  whole  nation.  To  begin  with  the  Jews  in 
Egypt,  he  ordered  them  all  to  be  brought  in  chains  to  Alexandria.  Having  thus 
brought  them  all  together,  they  were  shut  up  in  the  hippodrome,  which  was  a  large 
enclosure  outside  the  city,  built  for  the  purpose  of  horse-racing  and  other  public 
amusements,  where  he  intended  to  expose  them  as  a  spectacle,  to  be  destroyed  by 
elephants.  At  the  appointed  time,  the  people  assembled  in  crowds,  and  the  elephants 
were  on  the  spot ;  but  the  effects  of  a  drunken  bout,  the  preceding  night,  prevented 
the  attendance  of  the  king,  and  caused  the  postponement  of  the  show.  The  next  day, 
a  s\m\\s.x  discrppointinent  proceeded  from  the  same  unseemly  cause.  But  on  the  third, 
the  king  managed  to  be  present,  and  the  elephants  were  brought  out  after  they  had 
been  intoxicated  with  wine  and  frankincense  to  render  them  more  ferocious.  But  they 
spent  their  fury,  not  on  the  unhappy  Jews,  but  turned  upon  the  spectators,  of  whom 
they  destroyed  great  numbers.  This,  connected  with  some  unusual  appearances  in 
the  air,  appeared  to  the  king  and  his  attendants  so  manifest  an  interposition  of  a 
Divine  Power  in  behalf  of  the  Jews,  that  he  instantly  ordered  them  to  be  set  at  lib- 
erty ;  and  fearful  of  having  provoked  the  vengeance  of  Heaven,  he  hastened  to  restore 
the  Jews  to  their  former  privileges  by  rescinding  all  the  decrees  he  had  issued  against 
them.  Now  also,  his  better  reason  gaining  sway,  considering  that  those  who  had  so 
signally  evinced  their  fidelity  to  their  God  were  not  likely  to  be  unfaithful  to  their 
king,  he  bestowed  upon  them  many  marks  of  his  munificence  and  confidence.  Among 
other  things,  he  abandoned  to  their  disposal  the  three  hundred  apostates,  who  were 
speedily  put  to  death  by  their  offended  brethren.* 

Ptolemy  Philopator  died  in  B.  C.  205,  leaving  his  crown  to  Ptolemy  Epiphanes, 
then  a  childfive  years  of  age.  Meanwhile  Antiochus  HI.  had  won  the  surname  of  Great, 
by  his  eminent  successes  in  the  East,  where  he  restored  the  ancient  supremacy  of  the 
Seleucidae.  At  the  death  of  Philopator,  he  had  but  recently  returned  from  his  eastern 
wars.  He  was  not  slow  in  perceiving  the  advantage  which  he  might  take  of  the  in- 
fancy of  the  new  king  in  accomplishing  what  had  been  one  of  the  first  objects  of  his 
reign.  This  design  again  exposed  unhappy  Palestine  to  all  the  horrors  of  war.  The 
first  campaign  put  Antiochus  in  possession  of  the  standing  bone  of  contention,  Cocle- 
Syria  and  Palestine.  It  is  remarkable  that  on  this  occasion  the  Jews  relinquished 
their  usual  attachment  to  the  Egyptian  yoke,  and  took  a  very  decided  part  with 
Antiochus.  For  this  many  reasons  may  be  conceived,  but  none  are  distinctly  known; 
we  have  however  no  doubt  that  one  of  them  may  be  found  in  the  indulgent  consider- 
ation with  which  the  Jews  of  Babylonia  and  other  eastern  provinces  had  been  treated 

»  It  is  right  to  apprize  the  readiT  that  the  whole  of  this  account  of  the  visit  of  Philopator  to  Jerusalem 
and  its  consequences,  down  to  this  point,  is  not  in  Jost-phus,  but  is  given  on  the  sole  authority  of  the  author 
of  the  IhirdhooV.  of  Maccabees.  In  all.  there  are  yiue  books  of  Maccabees,  of  which  <«jo  only  are  included  in  our 
Apocrypha.  The  third,  which  relates  solely  to  this  persecution  of  the  Jews  by  Ptolemy  Philopator,  exists 
in  (Jreek,  and  is  found  in  some  ancient  manuscripts  of  the  Greek  Septuagint,  particularly  in  the  Alexandrian 
and  Vatican  manuscripts.  There  is  also  a  Syriac  version  of  it  from  the  Greek  ;  but  it  has  never  been  in- 
serted in  the  Vulgate,  or  in  our  English  Bibles,  but  English  translations  of  it  exist.  It  appears  to  have 
been  the  work  of  an  Alexandrian  Jew  ;  and  while  we  admit  that  the  book  is  full  of  absurdities,  and  that 
the  authority  is  of  very  little  value  in  itself,  yet  we  think  that  in  the  outline  facts,  as  related  in  the  text, 
there  is  so'much  appearance  of  probability,  and  so  many  small  agreements  with  tlie  accounts  which  history 
has  preserved  of  the  manners  and  ideas  and  circumstances  of  the  times,  as  well  as  with  the  character  of 
the  king,  that  we  are  disposed  to  regard  it  as  substantially  true.  The  silence  of  Josephus  is  indeed  a  sus- 
picious circumstance  to  which  we  are  willing  that  due  weight  should  be  given  ;  but  it  will  be  noticed  by 
every  reader  that  the  history  of  Josephus  is  remarkably  brief  at  this  period 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  41  o 

by  Antiochus — a  fact  which  could  not  fail  to  be  known  in  Palestine  and  at  Jerusalem. 
The  next  year,  however,  Antiochus  having  been  called  away  into  Asia  Minor,  Pal- 
esiiue  was  speedily  recovered  by  Scopas,  the  Egyptian  general,  who  did  not  fail  to 
make  the  Jews  aware  of  his  consciousness  of  the  favor  to  Antiochus  which  ihey  had 
manifested.  The  Egyptians  were,  however,  soon  again  driven  out  of  the  country  by 
Antioclius,  and  on  this  occasion  such  important  services  were  rendered  him  by  the 
Jews,  and  when  he  came  to  Jerusalem  (B.  C.  198),  so  lively  were  their  demonstra- 
tions uf  joy,  that  the  king,  to  confirm  their  attachment  to  his  government,  and  to  re- 
ward their  services,  granted  them  many  important  favors;  and  aware  that  there  wen- 
no  points  on  which  they  were  more  anxious  than  in  what  concerned  their  city  and 
temple,  he  declared  his  intention  to  restore  the  city  to  its  ancient  splendor  and  dig 
nity,  and  thoroughly  to  repair  the  temple  at  his  own  cost;  he  guarantied  the  in- 
violability of  the  sacred  place  from  the  intrusion  of  strangers ;  and  by  liberal  grants, 
he  made  ample  provision  for  the  due  and  orderly  performance  of  the  sacred  services. 
Antiochus  also  expressed  his  confidence  in  the  attachment  of  the  Jews  by  establishing 
colonies  of  them,  on  very  advantageous  terms,  in  Phrygia,  Lydia,  and  other  districts 
of  doubtful  fidelity — a  circumstance  which  accounts  for  the  great  number  of  Jews 
scattered  through  those  countries  at  the  preaching  of  the  gospel.  (1  Pet.  i.  1 ;  James  i. 
1.)  But  it  was  the  destiny  of  Antiochus  to  come  into  contact  with  the  iron  power 
which  was  ere  long  to  break  in  pieces  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth,  and  to  make 
their  glory  a  vain  ihing.  The  Romans  had  already  become  great,  and  began  to  inter- 
fere with  their  usual  haughtiness  in  the  affairs  of  the  East.  The  successful  termina- 
tion of  the  second  Punic  war  had  covered  them  with  renown,  and  spread  their  fame 
far  and  wide;  and  already  they  had  indicated  to  sagacious  persons,  by  the  reduction 
of  Macedonia  to  the  state  of  a  subject  kingdom,  the  ultimate  tendencies  of  their  great 
and  still  increasuig  power.  Antiochus  regarded  this  phenomenon  with  some  appre- 
hension, and  perceiving,  at  the  same  time,  what  appeared  advantageous  opportunities 
of  recovering  in  the  north  all  that  had  belonged  to  the  first  Seleucus,  he  felt  disposed 
to  bring  his  southern  contest  to  a  conclusion.  He  therefore  temporized  with  the 
Egyptians,  whose  power  he  had  greatly  underrated,  and  made  an  offer  of  his  beauti- 
ful daughter  Cleopatra  in  marriage  with  the  young  king  of  Egypt,  as  soon  as  he 
should  become  of  age ;  promising,  as  her  dower,  to  restore  the  provinces  of  Coele- 
Syria  and  Palestine,  which  he  had  wrested  from  Egypt.  The  princess  was  accordingly 
betrothed  to  P.  Epiphanes;  but  the  marriage  did  not  actually  take  place  until  B.  C. 
192,  when  the  young  monarch  reached  the  eighteenth  year  of  his  age. 

Antiochus  availed  himself  of  this  settlement  of  affairs  to  prosecute  his  other  plans. 
He  reduced  the  maritime  Greek  cities  of  Asia  Minor,  and  crossing  the  Hellespont, 
wrested  the  Chersonese  from  the  weakened  hands  of  the  Macedonian  king.  This 
brought  him  into  direct  and  fatal  collision  with  the  Romans.  And  here  it  may  be 
observed  that  long  before  this  the  political  sagacity  of  Ptolemy  Philadelphus  had  de- 
tected the  nascent  greatness  of  the  Roman  state,  and  had  anxiously  cultivated  its 
friendship.  This  also  had  been  the  policy  of  his  successors ;  and  the  guardians  of 
the  young  king,  when  apprehensive  of  the  danger  of  Antiochus,  had  placed  him  under 
the  guardianship  of  the  republic. 

When  Antiochus  had  passed  into  Europe  and  taken  possession  of  Thrace,  the 
Romans  sent  an  embassy  to  require  restitution  not  only  of  all  he  had  taken  from 
Philip  of  Macedon,  but  of  all  that  he  had  taken  from  their  ward  the  king  of  Egypt. 
The  Syrian  king  answered  the  requisition  as  haughtily  as  it  was  made;  and  it  was 
manifest  that  an  appeal  to  arms  could  not  be  far  distant.  What  brought  on  the 
actual  conflict  was  the  passage  of  Antiochus  into  Greece,  at  the  invitation  of  the 
^tolians,  who  made  him  their  commander-in-chief  In  Greece  his  proceedings  were 
not  taken  with  that  ability  which  distinguished  the  earlier  part  of  his  career,  and  in 
191  B.  C,  he  was  utterly  routed  at  Thermopylae,  and  compelled  to  withdraw  from 
Europe,  by  the  consul  Acilius  Glabrio.  The  marriage  of  his  daughter  with  Ptolemy 
had  been  completed  the  year  before  this  at  Raphia,  but  he  still  retained  possession  of 
the  provinces  to  be  ceded,*  and  endeavored  to  corrupt  his  daughter  to  betray  the 
interests  of  her  husband.     But  he  was  disappointed.     She  was  more  attached  to 

*  Jerome  and  Appian  say  that  Antiochus  did  surrender  tliese  provinces  ;  and  JosepUus  appears  to  concur 
with  them,  intimating  tha':  the  revenues  were  paid  to  the  Egvptian  ]<ing.  (Ant.  xii.  4,  I.)  But  Polybius 
denies  it ;  and  this  denial  is  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  they  still  remained  in  the  possession  of  the  sons 
and  successors  of  Antiochus. 


* 


416  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

Ptolemy  than  to  her  father  ;  and,  being  probably  dissatisfied  at  his  breach  of  promise, 
she  joined  her  husband  in  an  embassy  to  Rome  in  191  B.  C,  to  congratulate  the 
Romans  on  driving  Aniiochus  out  of  Greece,  and  to  assure  the  senate  of  the  readiness 
of  the  king  and  queen  to  conform  themselves  to  its  directions. 

Antiochus  was  now  driven  to  seek  peace  with  Rome;  but  the  terms  which  they 
offered  were  so  hard,  that  he  could  not  bring  himself  to  accept  them.  In  all  human 
probability  he  had  brought  himself  into  this  condition  by  his  inability  to  appreciate 
the  value  of  the  advice  tendered  to  him  by  Hannibal,  who,  expelled  from  Carthage, 
had  in  195  B.  C,  sought  refuge  at  his  court;  and  who,  while  he  encouraged  his 
enmity  to  the  Romans,  had  exhorted  him  to  make  Italy  the  seat  of  the  war.  In  190 
B.  C,  Cornelius  Scipio  (consul),  assisted  by  his  brother  Africanus,  passed  over  into 
Asia  to  conduct  the  war  against  Antiochus.  Under  their  able  management,  it  Avas 
soon  brought  to  a  conclusion,  and  the  Syrian  king  was  compelled  from  his  capital  of 
Antioch  to  sue  for  peace,  which  he  obtained  on  very  humiliating  terms,  but  not 
essentially  harder  than  those  which  he  had  at  first  released.  He  relinquished  all  Asia 
Minor  west  of  the  Taurus:  he  agreed  to  pay  all  the  expenses  of  the  war,  estimated 
at  eighteen  thousand  Euobic  talents,  by  regulated  instalments;  he  was  to  deliver  up 
his  elephants  and  his  ships-of-war  (excepting  twelve)  to  the  Romans;  and  he  was  to 
give  into  their  hands  Hannibal  and  other  eminent  foreigners,  who  had  sought  protec- 
tion at  his  court.  The  aged  Carthaginian  and  another  contrived  to  make  their  escape ; 
but  the  rest  were  given  up,  together  with  the  twelve  hostages,  for  the  observance  of 
the  treaty,  among  whom  the  king's  younger  son,  Antiochus,  surnamed  Epiphanes 
was  one.  After  this  Antiochus  withdrew  to  the  eastern  provinces  of  his  empire, 
where  he  endeavored  to  collect  the  arrears  of  tribute  due  to  him,  to  defray  his  heavy 
engagements  to  the  Romans.  There  he  was  slain,  two  years  after,  by  the  natives  of 
Elymais  in  Persia,  when  he  attempted  to  seize  the  treasures  contained  in  their  rich 
temple.  This  was  in  B.  C.  187,  in  the  fifty-second  year  of  his  age,  and  the  thirty- 
seventh  ofliis  reign.  The  leading  events  of  his  reigp  had  been  foreshown  by  Daniel 
(xi.  13-19). 

Simon  II.,  who  was  high-priest  of  the  Jews  at  the  time  of  the  unhappy  visit  of 
Ptolemy  IV.  to  Jerusalem,  died  in  B.  C.  195,  after  an  administration  of  twenty-two 
years.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Onias  III.  Onias  was  a  person  of  great  piety, 
and  of  mild  and  amiable  disposition — and  well  worthy  of  better  times  than  those  m 
which  he  lived,  and  of  a  better  end  than  it  was  his  lot  to  experience.  During  the 
first  years  of  his  administration,  when  his  excellent  intentions  received  full  effect  under 
the  favorable  auspices  of  Antiochus  and  his  successor,  "  the  holy  city  was  inhabited 
in  all  peace,  and  the  laws  were  kept  very  well."  The  nation  was  also  at  this  time 
held  in  such  high  estimation  that  the  sovereigns  of  the  neighboring  countries  courted 
its  iHendship,  and  made  magnificent  offerings  to  the  temple.  And  we  are  persuaded 
that  this  was  not  merely  on  account  of  the  Jews,  but  with  the  design  of  honoring  and 
with  the  hope  of  propitiating  their  God,  Jehovah,  whose  fame  was  by  this  time  widely 
extended  among  the  nations,  and  his  power  acknowledged  and  feared  by  msuiy  of 
them. 

Seleucus  IV.,  surnamed  Philopator,  the  eldest  son  of  Antiochus  the  Great,  suc- 
ceeded to  the  throne  of  his  father,  and  to  tlie  heavy  obligations  under  which  he  lay 
to  the  Piomans.  He  was  as  well  disposed  toward  the  Jews  as  his  father  had  been; 
and  notwithstanding  his  embarrassments,  gave  orders  that  the  charges  of  the  public 
worship  should  continue  to  be  defrayed  out  of  his  own  treasury.  But  subsequently, 
upon  the  information  of  Simon — a  Benjamite,  who  was  made  governor  of  the  temple, 
and  liad  (luarrelled  with  Onias — that  the  treasury  of  the  Jerusalem  temple  was  very 
rich,  and  abundantly  more  than  sufficient  to  supj)ly  the  sacrifices  and  oblations, — the 
king,  who  was  greatly  straitened  for  money,  to  raise  the  money  required  by  the  Romans, 
sent  his  treasurer  Heliodorus  to  seize  and  bring  him  the  reported  treasure.  ,  Heliod- 
orus  concealed  the  object  of  his  journey  until  he  reached  Jerusalem,  when  he  made 
it  known  to  the  high-priest,  and  demanded  the  quiet  surrender  of  the  money.  Onias 
informed  him  in  reply,  that  there  was  indeed  considerable  treasure  in  the  temple;  but 
by  no  means  of  such  large  amount  as  had  been  reported.  Great  part  of  it  consisted 
of  holy  gifts,  and  offerings  consecrated  to  God,  and  the  appropriation  of  which  could 
not  be  disturbed  without  sacrilege.  The  rest  had  been  placed  there  by  way  of  se- 
curity, fi>r  the  relief  of  widows  and  orphans,  who  claimed  it  as  their  property  ;  and  a 
considerable  sum  had  been  deposited  there  by  Ilyrcanus  (the  son  of  that  Joseph  wbo 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  417 

obtained  the  farming  of  the  revenues  from  Ptolemy  Euergetes,  as  before  related),  a 
person  of  great  opulence  and  high  rank.  He  added,  that  being  by  virtue  of  his  office 
the  guardian  of  this  wealth,  he  could  not  consent  to  its  being  taken  from  the  right 
owners,  and  thereby  disgrace  his  office  and  profane  the  sanctity  of  that  holy  place 
which  was  held  in  reverence  by  all  the  world.  Determined  to  fulfil  his  mission, 
whatever  impression  this  statement  may  have  made  upon  his  mind,  Heliodorus 
marched  directly  to  the  temple,  and  was  there  vainly  opposed  by  the  high-priest  and 
rhe  other  ministers  of  the  sacred  servicer.  The  outer  gates  were  ordered  to  be  de- 
Aiolished  ;  and  the  whole  city  was  in  the  utmost  agonies  of  apprehension.  But  when 
Heliodorus  was  about  to  enter,  at  the  head  of  his  Syrians,  he  was  struck  with  a  panic 
terror,  similar  to  that  which  Ptolemy  Philopator  had  before  experienced,  and,  falling 
to  the  ground,  speechless,  he  was  carried  oflT  for  dead  by  his  guard.  Onias  prayed 
for  him  and  he  recovered,  and  made  all  haste  to  quit  the  city.  His  plan  being  thus 
frustrated,  the  guilty  Simon  had  the  effrontery  to  charge  Onias  himself  with  having 
procured  this  visit  from  Heliodorus:  some  believed  it;  and  in  consequence  there  arose 
hostile  conflicts  between  the  parties  of  Onias  and  Simon,  in  which  many  lives  were 
lost.  At  last,  Onias  resolved  to  proceed  himself  to  Antiocli  and  lay  the  whole  matter 
before  Seleucus.-  He  was  favorably  received  by  the  king,  who  hearii  and  credited 
his  statements,  and,  in  consequence,  decreed  the  banishment  of  Simon  from  his  native 
country.  This  was  in  B.  C.  176.  In  the  year  following,  Seleucus  was  induced  to 
send  his  son  Demetrius  as  a  hostage  to  Rome,  to  relieve  his  own  brother  Antiochus, 
who  had  now  been  twelve  years  in  that  city.  Demetrius  had  departed,  and  Antiochus 
was  not  come ;  and  the  absence  of  the  two  who  stood  next  the  throne  afforded  Heli- 
odorus an  opportunity  of  conspiring  against  his  master,  whom  he  removed  by  poison, 
and  himself  assumed  the  government.  Antiochus  was  visiting  Athens,  on  his  way 
home,  when  he  heard  of  this.  He  immediately  applied  himself  to  the  old  enemy  of 
his  father,  Eumenes,  king  of  Perganios*  (to  whom  the  Romans  had  consigned  the 
greater  part  of  the  territory  in  Asia  Minor,  which  they  compelled  Antiochus  the 
Great  -to  cede)  who,  with  his  brother  Attains,  was  easily  induced  to  assist  him  against 
the  usurper.  They  succeeded,  and  their  success  placed  the  brother  instead  of  the 
son  of  Seleucus  upon  the  throne  of  Syria,  with  the  concurrence  of  the  Romans. 

Antiochus  IV.  was  scarcely  sgttled  on  the  throne  before  Jesus,  or,  by  his  Greek 
name,  Jason, f  repaired  to  Antioch,  and,  availing  himself  of  the  penury  of  the  royal 
treasury,  tempted  the  new  king  by  the  offer  of  four  hundred  and  forty  talents  of  silver 
to  depose  the  excellent  Onias  HI.  from  the  high-priesthood,  and  to  appoint  himself 
in  his  place.  He  also  obtained  an  order  that  Onias  should  be  summoned  to  Antioch, 
and  commanded  to  dwell  there.  Finding  how  acceptable  money  was  to  the  king, 
Jason  offered  one  hundred  and  fifty  talents  more  for,  and  obtained,  the  privilege  of 
erecting  at  Jerusalem  a  gymnasium,  or  place  for  such  public  sports  and  exercises  as 
were  usual  among  the  Greeks,  as  well  as  for  permission  to  establish  an  academy  in 
which  Jewish  youth  might  be  brought  up  after  the  manner  of  the  Greeks ;  and  also 
the  important  privilege  of  making  what  Jews  he  pleased  free  of  the  city  of  Antioch. 
The  obvious  object  of  all  this  was  as  opposite  as  possible  to  that  of  the  Mosaic  insti- 
tutions. It  was  intended  to  facilitate  the  commixture  of  the  Jews  with  foreigners, 
and  to  lessen  the  dislike  with  which  the  Greeks  were  disposed  to  regard  a  people  so 
peculiar  and  so  exclusive.  This  might  have  been  a  good  design  under  general  con- 
siderations of  human  policy,  but  was  calculated  to  be  most  injurious  and  fatal  as 
respected  the  Jews,  whose  institutions  designedly  made  them  a  peculiar  people,  and 
whatever  tended  to  make  them  otherwise  must  needs  have  been  in  counteraction  of 
the  ^reat  principle  of  their  establishment.  The  effects  which  resulted  from  the 
exertions  of  Jason,  after  he  had  established  himself  in  the  high-priesthood,  were  such 
as  might  have  been  foreseen.  The  example  of  a  person  in  his  commanding  position 
drew  forth  and  gave  full  scope  to  the  more  lax  dispositions  which  existed  among  the 
people,  especially  among  the  younger  class,  who  were  enchanted  with  the  ease  and 
freedom  of  the  Grecian  customs,  and  weary  of  the  restraints  and  limitations  of  'their 
own.  Such  as  these  abandoned  themselves  with  all  the  phrensy  of  a  new  excitement, 
from  which  all  restraint  had  been  withdrawn,  to  the  license  which  was  offered  to 

*  The  founder  of  ttie  celebrated  library  at  Pergamos,  and  the  reputed  inventor  of  parchment. 

t  Most  persons  of  consequence  had  now  two  names  ;  one  native  Hebrew  name,  used  among  their  own 
countrymen,  and  another  Greek  (as  much  as  possible  like  the  other  in  sound  or  meaning),  used  in  their 
intercourse  with  the  heathen. 

27 


418  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

them.  The  exercises  of  the  gymnasium  seem  to  have  taken  their  minds  with  the 
force  of  a  fascination.  The  priests  neglected  their  service  in  the  temple  to  be  present 
at  these  spectacles.  It  is  well  known  that  some  of  these  exercises  were  performed 
naked ;  and  it  is  related  that  many  of  the  Jewish  competitors  found  means  to  efface 
the  marks  of  circumcision,  that  they  might  not  be  distinguished  from  other  people. 
In  the  Greek  cities  of  Asia,  in  which  Jews  were  settled,  this  became  a  common  prac- 
tice among  those  young  men  who  wished  to  distinguish  themselves  in  the  sports  'if 
the  gymnasium.*  We  allude  to  this  as  a  striking  illustration  of  the  extent  in  which 
this  rite  operated  in  fulfilling  its  design  of  separating  the  Jews  from  other  people. 
The  year  after  his  promotion,  Jason  sent  some  young  men,  on  whom  he  had  conferred 
the  citizenship  of  Antioch,  to  assist  at  the  games  which  were  celebrated  at  Tyre  (in 
the  presence  of  Antiochus)  in  honor  of  Hercules.  They  were  intrusted  with  a  large 
sum  of  money,  to  be  expended  in  sacrifices  to  that  god.  But  even  the  least  scrupu- 
lous of  the  high-priest's  followers  were  not  prepared  to  go  to  this  extent  wtth  him, 
and  instead  of  obeying  their  instructions,  they  presented  the  money  to  the  Tyrians 
as  a  contribution  toward  the  repair  of  their  fleet. 

Jason  only  enjoyed  his  ill-gotten  dignity  for  three  years.  His  younger  brother 
Onias,  or,  by  his  Greek  name,  Menelaus,  having  been  sent  to  Antioch  with  tribute, 
took  advantage  of  the  opportunity  to  ingratiate  himself  with  Antiochus,  and  by  offer- 
ing three  hundred  talents  more  than  Jason  had  paid,  succeeded  in  getting  himself 
appointed  to  the  high-priesthood  in  his  room.  '  But  he  was  repulsed  in  his  attempt  to 
assume  that  high  office,  and  returned  to  Antioch,  where  he  induced  the  king  to 
establish  him  by  force,  by  professing  for  himself  and  his  associates  an  entire  con- 
formity to  the  religion  of  the  Greeks.  Jason  was  in  consequence  expelled  by  an 
armed  force,  and  compelled  to  retire  to  the  land  of  the  Ammonites,  leaving  the  pon- 
tificate to  hisstill  less  scrupulous  brother. 

Menelaus  found  that  he  had  over-taxed  his  resources  in  the  payment  he  had  agreed 
to  make  for  his  promotion,  and  in  consequence  of  the  non-payment  he  was  summoned 
to  Antioch  by  the  king.  Antiochus  was  absent  when  he  arrived,  and  he  soon  learned 
that  there  was  no  hope  of  bis  retaining  the  favor  of  the  king  unless  the  payment  was 
completed.  Having  exhausted  his  own  coffers  as  well  as  credit,  he  privately  sent  to 
his  brother  Lysimachus  (whom  he  had  left  as  hit  representative  at  Jerusalem)  to 
withdraw  some  of  the  sacred  vessels  of  gold  from  the  temple,  to  sell  them  at  Tyre 
and  the  neighboring  cities,  and  send  him  the  amount.  This  disgraceful  aflfair  was 
not  managed  with  such  secrecy  but  that  it  came  to  the  knowledge  of  his  elder  brother, 
the  deposed  high-priest,  Onias  III.,  who  was  still  residing  at  Antioch,  much  respected 
by  the  numerous  Jews  of  that  city,  before  whom  he  spoke  of  this  sacrilege  in  such 
strong  language  as  threw  them  into  such  a  state  of  ferment  and  displeasure  as  was 
likely  to  prove  dangerous  to  Menelaus.  He  therefore,  by  bribery,  prevailed  on  An- 
dronicus,  the  king's  deputy  at  Antioch,  to  put  him  to  death.  Onias,  apprized  of  these 
intrigues,  had  taken  refuge  in  the  sanctuary  of  Daphne  ;t  but  was  induced  to  quit  it 
by  the  assurances  and  promises  he  received  from  Andronicus,  and  was  barbarously 
murdered  as  soon  as  he  had  passed  the  sacred  bounds.  This  atrocious  deed  raised  a 
terrible  outcry  among  the  Jews  at  Antioch,  who  hastened  to  make  their  complaints 
to  the  king  on  bis  return  to  that  city.  Antiochus,  to  do  him  justice,  was  much 
affected,  and  shed  tears,  when  he  heard  them.  He  promised  justice,  and  performed 
it ;  for,  after  proper  investigation,  Andronicus  was  stripped  of  his  purple,  and  put  to 
death  on  the  very  spot  wbere  Onias  had  been  murdered.  Menelaus,  the  more  guilty 
of  the  tAvo,  found  means  to  escape  the  storm  which  destroyed  the  agent  of  his  crime. 
But  the  sums  of  money  which  were  necessary  to  enable  him  to  maintain  his  credit, 
obliged  his  brother  Lysimachus  to  resort  to  such  repeated  and  unheard-of  exactions, 
violence,  and  sacrilege,  that  the  people  of  Jerusalem  rose  against  him,  scattered  like 
chaff  the  three  thousand  men  he  had  got  to  defend  him,  and,  when  he  himself  fled 
t(>  th£  treasury  of  the  temple,  pursued  and  slew  him  there. 

Antiochus  having  soon  after  come  to  Tyre,  the  Jewish  elders  sent  three  venerable 
deputies  thither  to  justify  this  act,  and  to  accuse  Menelaus  as  the  author  of  all  the 
tioubles  which  had  happened  in  Judea  and  Antioch.  The  case  which  they  made  out 
was  so  strong,  and  was  heard  with  so  much  attention  by  the  king,  that  Menelaus 

*  To  this  practice  a"  /  f    ns  are  made  by  St.  Paul :  Rom.  ii.  25  ;  1  Cor.  vii.  18. 

t  This  was  a  grove  .  Ihree  miles  from  Antioch,  wliicti  Iiad  been  maae  a  sanctuary  for  criminals  and 

a  place  of  pleasure  «nd  the  place  became  so  infamous  that  no  man  of  character  cimld  visit  it. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  419 

felt  greatly  alarmed  for  the  result.  He  therefore  applied  himself  to  the  king's 
favorite,  Ptolemy  Macron,  and  promised  him  so  large  a  sum  that  he  was  induced  to 
watch  the  inconstant  temper  of  the  king,  and  availed  himself  of  an  opportunity  of 
getting  him  not  only  to  absolve  Menelaus,  but  to  condemn  the  three  Jewish  deputies 
to  death.  This  most  unjust  and  horrid  sentence  was  immediately  executed.  This 
terrible  crime  shocked  the  whole  nation,  and  was  abhorrent  even  to  foreigners,  for 
the  Tyriaiis  ventured  to  express  their  sense  of  the  wrong,  by  giving  an  honorable 
lurial  to  the  murdered  men.  The  ultimate  effect  was  to  make  Antiochus  himself  a 
snarer  in  the  aversion  with  which  Menelaus  was  regarded  by  the  nation  :  hut,  at  the 
same  time,  the  paramount  influence  of  that  guilty  person  with  the  king  seemed  to  be 
so  clearly  manifested,  that  all  further  notion  of  resisting  his  authority  was  abandoned, 
and  he  was  enabled  to  resume  his  station  at  Jerusalem.  This  was  greatly  facilitated 
by  the  presence  of  the  king  himself  with  a  powerful  army  in  the  country,  for  wfiich 
circumstance  we  must  now  proceed  to  account. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  king  of  Egypt,  Ptolemy  Epiphanes,  had  been  mar- 
ried to  Cleopatra,  daughter  of  Antiochus  the  Great,  and  sister  of  the  present  Antio- 
chus. Ptolemy  was  taken  off  by  poison  in  B.  C.  181,  after  a  profligate  and  troubled 
reign  of  twenty-four  years.  He  left  three  children:  Ptolemy  Philometor,  Ptolemy 
Physcon,  and  Cleopatra,  who  was  successively  married  to  her  two  brothers. 

Ptolemy  VI.,  surnamed  Philometor  ("  mother-loving"),  was  but  a  child  at  the  death 
of  his  father,  and  the  government  was  conducted  with  ability  by  his  mother  Cleopatra. 
But  she  died  in  B.  C.  173,  on  which  the  regency  devolved  on  Eulaeus  the  eunuch,  and 
Lennseus,  the  prime  minister — the  tutors  of  the  young  prince.  They  immediately 
advanced  a  claim  to  the  possession  of  Coele-Syria  and  Palestine,  on  the  ground  that 
they  had  been  secured  to  Ptolemy  Lagus  by  the  partition-treaty  of  B.  C.  301 ;  and  that 
they  had  again  been  given  by  Antiochus  the  Great  in  dowry  with  his  daughter  Cleo- 
patra on  her  becoming  queen  of  Egypt.  Antiochus  refused  to  listen  to  such  demands; 
and  both  parties  sent  deputies  to  Rome  to  argue  their  respective  claims  before  the 
senate. 

When  Philometor  had  completed  his  fourteenth  year,  he  was  solemnly  invested 
with  the  government,  on  which  occasion  embassies  of  congratulation  were  sent  from 
all  the  neighboring  nations.  ApoUonius,  the  ambassador  of  Antiochus,  was  instructed 
to  take  the  opportunity  of  sounding  the  dispositions  of  the  Egyptian  court ;  and  when 
this  person  informed  Antiochus  that  he  was  viewed  as  an  enemy  by  the  Egyptians,  he 
immediately  proceeded  to  Joppa,  to  survey  his  frontiers  toward  Egypt,  and  to  put  them 
in  a  state  of  defence.  On  this  occasion  he  paid  a  visit  to  Jerusalem.  The  city  was 
illuminated,  and  the  king  was  received  by  Jason  (who  was  then  high-priest)  with  ev- 
ery demonstration  of  respect.  Afterward  he  returned  to  Antioch  through  Phoenicia. 
Having  completed  his  preparations  for  war,  Antiochus,  in  B.  C.  171,  led  his  army 
along  the  coast  of  Palestine,  and  gave  the  Egyptians  a  signal  overthrow  at  Pelusium. 
He  then  left  garrisons  on  the  frontier  and  withdrew  into  waiter-quarters  at  Tyre.  It 
was  during  his  stay  there  that  the  deputies  arrived  to  complain  of  Menelaus,  and 
were  put  to  death,  as  just  related.  In  the  spring  of  the  next  year  (B.  C.  170)  Antio- 
chus undertook  a  second  expedition  against  the  Egyptians,  and  attacked  them  by  sea 
and  land.  He  defeated  them  on  the  frontiers  and  took  Pelusium.  After  his  victory 
he  might  have  cut  the  Egyptian  army  in  pieces,  but  he  behaved  with  such  humanity 
as  gained  him  great  favor  with  the  Egyptians.  At  length  all  surrendered  to  him  vol- 
untarily ;  and  with  a  small  body  of  troops  he  overran  all  the  country  except  Alexan- 
dria, and  obtained  possession  of  the  person  of  the  young  king,  whom  he  treated  with 
apparent  consideration  and  regard. 

While  Antiochus  was  thus  employed,  a  rumor  of  his  death  before  Alexandria  reached 
Palestine,  on  which  the  deposed  high-priest,  Jason,  quitted  the  land  of  the  Ammon- 
ites, and  with  a  party,  assisted  by  friends  within,  surprised  Jerusalem,  massacred  the 
citizens,  drove  his  brother  Menelaus  into  the  castle,  and  possessed  himself  of  the  prin- 
cipality. But  he  was  speedily  compelled  to  quit  the  city  and  country,  at  the  news 
that  Antiochus  was  alive,  and  marching  with  a  powerful  army  against  Jerusalem. 
After  wandering  from  one  place  to  another,  a  fugitive  and  a  vagabond,  Jason  at  last 
perished  miserably,  a  refugee  in  the  strange  land  of  Lacedsemonta.  The  news  of 
this  movement  had  been  reported  to  Antiochus  with  such  exaggeration  as  led  him  to 
conclude  that  Judea  had  revolted;  and  being  furthei  provoked  by  hearing  that  the 
Jews  had  made  public  rejoicings  at  the  news  of  his  death,  he  marched  in  great  wrath 


420  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

from  Egypt,  took  Jerusalem  by  assault,  destroyed  eighty  thousand  persons,  plundered 
the  temple  of  all  its  treasures,  vessels,  and  golden  ornaments,  and  carried  away  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  talents  to  Antioch. 

Ptolemy  Philometer  being  now  actually  under  the  power  of  Antiochus,  the  people 
of  Alexandria  proclaimed  his  brother  king  under  the  name  of  Ptolemy  Euergetes  H. ; 
but  who  was  afterward  nick-named  Physcon  ("big-belly")  on  account  of  his  corpu- 
lency. This  afforded  Antiochus  a  pretext  for  returning  the  next  year  (B.  C.  169)  to 
Egypt  with  tli^  declared  intention  of  supporting  Ptolemy  Philometor  in  the  throne 
but  with  the  real  purpose  of  bringing  the  whole  country  under  his  power.  At  the 
end,  however,  perceiving  that  the  conquest  of  Alexandria  would  be  an  undertaking 
of  great  difficulty,  he  withdrew  to  Memphis,  and  affected  to  deliver  up  the  kingdom 
to  Philometor,  and  returned  to  Antioch.  But  as  he  retained  in  his  own  hands  Pelusi- 
um,  the  key  of  the  kingdom  on  the  side  of  Syria,  his  ulterior  designs  were  transpa- 
rent to  Philometor,  who  therefore  made  an  agreement  with  Physcon  that  they  should 
share  the  government  between  them  and  resist  Antiochus  with  their  united  power; 
and  also  that  a  joint  embassy  should  be  sent  to  Rome  to  implore  the  protection  of  the 
republic  against  their  uncle. 

This  brought  on  a  fourth  invasion  of  Egypt  by  Antiochus  (B.  C.  168),  who  uow 
threw  off  the  mask  he  had  hitherto  chosen  to  wear,  and  declared  himseu  the  enemy 
of  both  the  brother  kings.  He  took  possession  of  all  the  country  as  far  as  Ajexandria, 
and  then  advanced  toward  that  city.  He  was  within  four  miles  thereof,  when  he  was 
met  at  Eleusis,  by  the  ambassadors  which  the  Roman  republic  had  sent  to  adjust  these 
differences.  And  this  they  did  in  the  usual  summary  manner  of  that  arrogant  people. 
At  the  head  of  the  ambassadors  was  Popilius  Laenas,  whom  Antiochus  had  known 
during  his  thirteen  years'  residence  at  Rome.  Rejoiced  to  see  him,  Antiochus  stretched 
forth  his  arms  to  embrace  him.  But  the  Roman  sternly  repelled  the  salute,  demand- 
ing first  to  receive  an  answer  to  the  written  orders  of  the  senate,  which  he  delivered. 
The  king  intimated  that  he  would  confer  on  the  matter  with  his  friends,  and  acquaint 
the  ambassadors  with  the  result :  on  which  Popilius  drew  with  his  staff  a  circle  around 
the  king  on  the  sand,  and  said,  "  I  require  your  answer  before  you  quit  this  circle." 
The  king  was  confounded ;  but  after  a  moment  of  rapid  and  condensed  deliberation, 
he  bowed  his  proud  head,  and  said,  falteringly,  "  I  will  obey  the  senate  !"  On  which 
Popilius,  who  had  hitherto  seen  only  the  king  of  Syria,  recognised  ihe  friend,  and  ex- 
tended to  him  his  hand.  Perhaps  this  conduct  in  either  party  would  not  have  occurred 
the  year,  or  even  the  month  before;  but  the  Romans  had  just  concluded  their  war 
with  Perseus,  and  made  Macedonia  a  Roman  province,  and  the  ambassadors  had 
waited  at  Delos  to  learn  the  issue  of  this  war  before  they  sailed  for  Egypt. 

Antiochus  obeyed  the  senate,  by  immediately  withdrawing  his  forces  from  Egypt. 
On  his  way  homeward,  he  marched  along  the  coast  of  Palestine ;  and  he  despatched 
ApoUonius,  his  general,  with  twenty-two  thousand  men  to  vent  his  mortification  and 
fury  upon  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  which,  as  well  as  the  rest  of  tiie  province, 
had  for  two  years  been  groaning  under  the  tyranny  and  rapacity  of  Philip,  the  Phry.- 
gian  governor,  "  more  barbarous  than  his  master;" and  of  Menelaus  the  apostate  high- 
priest,  "  worse  than  all  the  rest."  ApoUonius  tame  \o  Jerusalem,  and  as  his  men  re- 
mained quiet,  and  he  was  himself  known  as  the  collector  of  the  tribute  in  Palestine, 
and  as  such  usually  attended  by  an  armed  force,  his  hostile  intentions  were  not  sus- 
pected by  the  Jews.  All  things  remained  quiet  until  the  sabbath,  on  which  day,  it 
was  known,  the  Jews  of  that  age  would  not  fight  even  in  self-defence.  The  soldiers 
were  then  let  loose,  and  scoured  the  streets,  slaughtering  all  they  met — who  suffered 
themselves  meekly  to  be  slain,  none  being  found  who  attempted  to  stand  on  their  de- 
fence. The  women  and  children  were  spared,  to  be  sold  for  slaves.  All  the  streets 
of  Jerusalem,  and  the  courts  of  the  temple  flowed  with  blood  ;  the  houses  were  pil- 
larged  and  the  city  wall  thrown  down.  ApoUonius  then  demolished  all  the  bniltlings 
near  Mount  Zion,  and  with  the  materials  strengthened  the  fortifications  of  the  citadel, 
which  he  furnished  wi'h  a  garrison  and  held  under  his  own  command.  This  castle 
was  so  situated  as  to  give  tlie  garrison  complete  command  of  the  temple,  and  the  re- 
mains of  the  people  would  no  longer  visit  the  sanctuary,  or  the  priests  perform  the 
public  services  of  religion.  Accordingly,  in  the  month  of  June,  B.  C.  167  the  daily 
sacrifice  ceased,  and  Jerusalem  was  soon  completely  deserted,  as  the  surviving  inhab- 
itants tted  to  the  cities  of  the  neighboring  Gentiles. 
An  edict  was  now  issued  at  Antioch,  and  proclaimed  in  all  the  provinces  of  Syria, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  j^l 

commanding  the  inhabitants  of  the  whole  empire  to  worship  the  gods  of  the  king, 
and  to  acknowledge  no  religion  but  his — with  the  declared  object  "  that  all  should 
become  one  people."  Antiochus  was  unquestionably  a  madman.  This  is  not  doubted 
by  any  one  who  has  studied  the  whole  of  his  history,  which  it  has  been  no  part  of 
our  duty  to  relate :  and  it  is  surely  not  very  necessary  to  analyse  the  interior  motives 
of  a  madman's  acts.  Hales  fancies  that  "  this  general  persecution  seems  to  have  been 
raised  by  Antiochus,  not  from  any  regard  to  his  own  religion,  but  from  a  regular  plan 
and  deep-laid  scheme  of  plundering  the  temples  throughout  his  dominions,  after  he 
had  suppressed  their  worship.  For  the  temples  were  not  only  enriched  by  the  offer- 
ings of  the  votaries,  but  from  their  sanctity  were  the  great  banks  of  deposite,  and  the 
grand  magazines  of  commerce."  But  there  was  no  general  persecution,  although  the 
edict  was  general  in  its  terms.  The  cities  containing  the  wealthiest  temples  already 
worshipped  the  gods  of  Greece;  and  it  must  have  been  known,  as  proved  the  fact, 
that  none  of  the  other  pagan  nations  would  make  much  difficulty  in  complying  with 
the  royal  edict.  Ii  must  have  been  known,  in  fact,  that  none  but  the  Jews  were 
likely  to  oppose  themselves  to  the  operation  of  this  decree ;  and  we  are  therefore  not 
disposed  to  look  for  any  deeper  cause  than  the  insane  abhorrence  which  Antiochus  had 
conceived  against  that  people,  and  which  he  could  not  safely  manifest  without  bring- 
ing them  into  a  condition  of  apparent  contumacy,  which  might,  in  some  degree,  ex- 
cuse, in  the  eyes  of  the  heathen,  his  contemplated  severities  against  them. 

The  pagan  generally,  as  we  have  intimated,  found  no  difficulty  in  complying  with 
the  royal  edict.  The  Samaritans,  who  were  anxious  to  claim  a  Jewish  origin  in  the 
time  of  Alexander,  now  wrote  to  Antiochus  to  inform  him  that  they  were  Sidonians, 
and  offered  to  dedicate  their  temple  on  Mount  Gerizim  to  Jupiter  Xenius,  "  the  de- 
fender of  strangers."  Even  many  Jews  submitted  to  the  edict  for  fear  of  punish- 
ment, and  a  still  greater  number,  long  attached  to  the  customs  of  the  Greeks,  were 
glad  to  avail  themselves  of  the  apparent  compulsions  under  which  they  were  now 
placed.  But  the  better  part  of  the  people  fled,  and  kept  themselves  concealed.  An 
old  man  of  the  name  of  Athenaeus  was  sent  to  Jerusalem  to  instruct  the  Jews  in  the 
Greek  religion,  and  to  compel  the  observance  of  its  rites.  He  dedicated  the  temple 
to  Jupiter  Olympius,  and  on  the  altar  of  Jehovah  he  placed  a  smaller  altar  to  be  used 
in  sacrificing  to  the  heathen  god.  This  new  altar,  built  by  order  of  the  desolater  An- 
tiochus, is  what  Daniel  alludes  to  when  he  speaks  of  the  "abomination  that  maketh 
desolate,"  or  "  abomination  of  desolation."*  This  altar  was  set  up  on  the  fifteenth  day 
of  the  month  Cisleu  (November — December),  and  the  heathen  sacrifices  were  com- 
menced on  the  twenty-fifth  of  the  same  month.  Circumcision,  the  keeping  of  the 
sabbath,  and  every  peculiar  observance  of  the  law  was  made  a  capital  offence ;  and 
all  the  copies  of  the  law  which  could  be  found  were  taken  away,  defaced,  torn  in 
pieces,  burned.  The  reading  of  it  was  forbidden ;  and  it  is  said  to  have  been  at  this 
time  that  the  Jews  first  took  to  the  public  reading  in  the  synagogues,  of  the  other 
books  of  Scripture,  as  substitutes  for  the  interdicted  Pentateuch,  which  usage  they 
afterward  retained,  when  the  reading  of  the  law  was  restored.  Groves  were  conse- 
crated, and  idolatrous  altars  erected  in  every  city,  and  the  citizens  were  required  to 
offer  sacrifices  to  the  gods,  and  to  eat  swine's  flesh  every  month  on  the  birth-day  of 
the  king ;  and  on  the  feast  of  Bacchus,  the  Jev/s  were  compelled  to  join  in  the  cele- 
bration, and  to  walk  in  procession  crowned  with  ivy.  Instant  death  was  the  penalty 
of  refusal.  Among  other  instances  of  cruel  punishment  at  Jerusalem,  two  women, 
with  their  infant  children,  whom  they  had  circumcised  with  their  own  hands,  were 
thrown  from  the  battlements  on  the  south  side  of  the  temple,  into  the  deep  vale  be- 
low. Officers  were  sent  into  all  the  towns,  attended  by  bands  of  soldiers,  to  enforce 
obedience  to  the  royal  edict. 

It  seems  that  ultimately  Antiochus  came  into  Palestine  to  observe  that  his  orders 
had  been  duly  executed  ;  and  the  history  relates  that  he  commanded  and  superintend- 
ed the  most  horrible  tortures  of  the  recusants: — particular  mention  is  made  of  the 
martyrdom  of  Eleazer,  in  his  ninetieth  year,  for  refusing  to  eat  swine's  flesh  (2  Mace. 
vi.  18-31);  and  of  the  heroic  matron  and  her  seven  sous,  who  nobly  set  the  royal 

*  This  is  from  Jahn,  who  remarks  further,  "  This  interpretation  agrees  much  better  with  the  literal  mean 
ing  of  the  words  than  that  adopted  by  those  who  apply  this  expression  to  the  erecting  of  an  image  to  Ju- 
piter Olympius ;  a  mode  of  explanation  which  is  at  variance  with  the  authority  of  Josephus  and  the  first 
book  of  Maccabees.  Undoubtedly  there  was  an  image  erected  to  Jupiter  Olympius,  for  the  pagan  religion 
required  it  ;  but  this  is  not  the  circumstance  referred  to  by  the  prophet,  in  the  words  which  have  been 
quoted." 


422  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

madman  at  defiance  and  professed  tlieir  belief  that  "  The  King  of  the  World  would 
raise  up  to  everlasting  life  those  who  died  for  his  laws  ;"  and  threatening  their  tor- 
mentor that  "  he  should  have  no  resurrection  to  life,  but  receive  the  just  punishment 
of  his  pride  through  the  judgment  of  God."  Never  before  were  the  Jews  exposed  to 
so  furious  a  persecution — indeed  it  is  the  first  time  in  which  they  can  be  said  to  have 
been  persecuted  on  account  of  their  religion.  It  was  undoubtedly  made  instrumental 
in  the  then  great  mission  of  the  Jews  in  calling  the  attention  of  the  heathen  to  tne 
great  principles  of  doctrine  of  which  they  had  been  the  special  conservators.  The 
mere  fact  of  this  conspicuous  persecution  for  opinion,  which  was  a  new  thing  to  the 
heathen,  and  still  more  the  historical  results  of  this  persecution,  were  calculated  to 
draw  the  attention  of  every  reflecting  mind  among  the  heathen  to  those  religious  pe- 
culiarities on  behalf  of  which  such  numbers  of  the  Jewish  peeple  were  willing  to 
peril  their  lives. 

The  persecution  had  lasted  about  six  months,  when  God  raised  up  a  deliverer  for 
a  people  whom  he  had  not  yet  abandoned,  in  the  noble  family  of  the  Asamoneans. 
Mattathias  was  the  son  of  John,  the  son  of  Simon,  the  son  of  Asaraonias,  from  whom 
the  family  took  its  name.  He  was  a  priest  of  the  course  of  Joarib,  the  first  of  the 
twenty-four  courses  appointed  by  David  (1  Chron.  xxiv.  7),  descended  from  Phineas, 
the  son  of  Eleazer,  the  elder  branch  of  the  family  of  Aaron  (1  Mace.  ii.  55).  He  had 
five  sons,  whose  names  were  Johanan  (John),  Simon,  Judas,  Eleazer,  and  Jonathan. 
He  was  one  of  the  principal  inhabitants  of  Modin,  a  town  near  the  seashore,  about  a 
mile  from  Joppa  ( Jaff'a),  and  four  miles  fi'om  Lydda  or  Diospolis.  To  this  city  a  royal 
officer  named  Appelles  was  sent  to  enforce  the  edict.  With  many  fair  promises,  he 
endeavored  to  induce  Mattathias,  as  a  leading  man  in  the  place,  to  set  the  example 
of  sacrificing  to  the  idol.  But  the  undaunted  priest  repelled  his  offers  with  indigna- 
tion and  abhorrence,  and  with  a  loud  voice,  in  the  hearing  of  the  whole  assembly, 
proclaimed  his  refusal  to  sacrifice.  At  this  juncture  a  certain  Jew  passed  toward  the 
altar  with  the  intention  of  sacrificing,  when  Mattathias,  in  obedience  to  the  law, 
struck  him  down  with  his  own  hand,  as  a  rebel  against  Jehovah.  This  was  the 
earnest-blood  of  the  great  war  which  followed.  Kindled  by  his  own  act,  the  zealous 
priest  and  his  sons,  assisted  by  the  citizens,  whom  their  daring  act  emboldened, 
rushed  upon  the  commissioner  and  his  retinue,  slew  them  on  the  spot,  and  tore  town 
the  idolatrous  altar.  Alive  to  the  consequences  of  this  deed,  Mattathias  proclaimed 
through  the  city,  "Whosoever  is  zealous  for  the  law,  and  a  maintainer  of  the  cove- 
nant, let  him  follow  me !"  Thus  he  and  his  sons  fled  to  the  mountains  of  Judea. 
They  were  only  ten  in  number  at  first,  but  were  soon  joined  by  many  Jews  who  were 
determined  to  maintain  the  religion  of  their  fathers. 

These  conscientious  persons  were  disposed  to  construe  the  obligations  of  the  law 
all  the  more  rigidly  and  literally,  out  of  opposition  to  the  loose  principles  of  those  who 
had  joined  the  Greeks — it  being  the  tendency  of  all  great  struggles  to  produce  ex- 
treme parties.  They  hence  held  it  to  be  imperative  to  abstain  from  the  use  of  arms 
on  the  sabbath  day.  In  consequence  of  this  a  thousand  persons,  who  had  taken 
refuge  in  a  large  cave  not  far  from  Jerusalem,  allowed  themselves  to  be  slaughtered 
on  that  day  without  the  least  resistance.  This  event  opened  the  eyes  of  Mattathias 
and  his  adherents ;  who,  after  mature  deliberation,  determined  that  it  was  not  only 
lawful,  but  their  duty,  to  stand  on  their  defence  on  the  sabbath  day ;  although  they 
still  thought  themselves  bound  from  voluntarily  becoming  on  that  day  the  assailants. 
They  took  every  means  of  making  this  resolution  knoAvn  throughout  the  country,  so 
that  from  that  time  no  scruples  on  the  subject  were  entertained. 

Meanwhile  the  party  of  Mattathias  went  on  steadily  increasing,  until  it  amounted 
to  a  considerable  body  of  men,  wlio  were  prepared  to  hazard  everything  in  defence  of 
their  religion.  This  ardor  could  not  long  be  restrained,  and  Mattathias,  emerging  from 
his  concealment,  went  with  them  throughout  the  Jewish  cities,  and  everywhere  dfr- 
molished  the  idolatrous  altars,  circumcised  the  children,  slew  the  apostate  Jews  and 
the  officers  appointed  to  execute  the  decree  of  Antiochus,  recovered  many  of  the 
copies  of  the  law  which  the  oppressors  had  taken  away,  and  gained  several  important 
advantages  over  the  enemy.  While  engaged  in  these  expeditions  the  heroic  priest 
died,  in  the  year  B.  C.  167.  Before  his  death  he  appointed  his  third  and  bravest  son, 
Judas,  to  be  military  leader;  associating  with  him  Simon,  his  second  and  most  pru- 
dent son,  as  counsellor.  Judas  is  supposed  to  have  derived  his  celebrated  surname  of 
Maccabeus  froin  a  cabalistic  word  formed  of  M.  C.  B.  I.,  the  initial  letters  of  the  He- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


423 


424  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

brew  text  Mi  Chamoka  Baalim  Jehovah,  "  Who  is  like  unto  thee  among  the  gods,  0 
Jehovah  !"  (Exod.  vi.  11),  which  letters  might  have  been  displayed  on  his°sacred 
standard :  like  the  S.  P.  Q.  R.  for  Senatus  populus  que  Romanus  on  the  Roman  en- 
signs. 

The  noble  -var  for  the  rights  of  opinion  commenced  by  Mattathias  was  carried  on 
for  twenty-six  years  by  his  illustrious  sons — counting  from  the  first  stroke  at  Modin — 
wiih  five  successive  kings  of  Syria.  Within  this  period  Judas  and  his  brothers  es- 
tablished the  independence  of  their  country  and  the  aggrandizement  of  their  family, 
after  destroying  above  two  hundred  thousand  of  the  best  troops  of  the  Syrian  kings. 
"  Such  a  triumph  of  a  petty  province  over  a  great  empire  is  hardly  to  be  paralleled 
in  the  annals  of  history."     (Hales  ii.  551.) 

The  first  enterprise  of  Judas,  and  his  comparatively  small  but  resolute  band,  was 
against  Apollonius,  whose  barbarous  exploits  at  Jerusalem  have  lately  been  recorded. 
He  was  at  the  head  of  a  large  army,  but  was  defeated  and  slain  by  Judas,  who  took 
his  sword,  with  which  he  afterward  fought  all  his  life  long. 

The  next  exploit  of  Judas  was  the  defeat  of  Seron,  a  Syrian  general,  with  a  large 
host  of  Graecising  Jews  and  apostate  Samaritans.  The  small  force  with  which  he 
achieved  this  victory  was  encouraged  by  the  hero  in  the  words  of  Jonathan,  the  son 
of  Saul,  "  With  the  God  of  Heaven  it  is  all  one  to  deliver  with  a  great  multitude  or 
a  small  company  .-"adding  the  emphatic  words,  "  We  fight  for  our  lives  and  our  laws." 
This  battle  was  fought  near  Betheron. 

Antiochus  was  filled  with  rage  and  indignation  at  these  successes  of  an  adversary 
which  seemed  so  contemptible,  but  whose  fame  had  uoav  spread  into  all  the  neigh- 
boring nations.  He  formed  large  plans  of  vengeance,  but  finding  these  checked  by 
the  exhausted  state  of  his  treasury — for  he  had  squandered  wealth  like  a  madman, 
as  he  was— he  resolved  to  proceed  into  the  eastern  provinces  to  recruit  his  finances. 
His  son,  the  heir  of  his  crown,  then  about  seven  years  old,  he  committed  to  the  care 
of  Lysias,  "a  nobleman,  and  one  of  the  blood  royal,"  and  appointed  him  regent  of  all 
the  western  provinces,  from  the  Euphrates  to  Egypt,  and  commissioned  him  to  raise 
and  march  an  army  to  extirpate  the  Jews,  and  to  plant  a  foreign  colony  in  their  room, 
B.  C.  166. 

The  next  year  Lysias  was  able  to  send  a  large  army  of  forty  thousand  foot  and  seven 
thousand  horse  into  Judea,  under  the  command  of  Nicanor  and  Gorgias.  So  confident 
were  they  of  victory  that  Nicanor  proclaimed  a  sale  of  the  captive  Jews  beforehand, 
at  the  rate  of  ninety  for  a  talent,  or  about  two  pounds  sterling  a  head.  This  drew  a 
crowd  of  merchants  from  the  coast  to  the  Syrian  camp  at  Emmaus,  near  Jerusalem, 
to  make  a  cheap  purchase  of  slaves.  This  was  not  a  peculiar  circumstance ;  for  it 
was  then  usual  (according  to  Polybius)  for  the  march  of  armies  to  be  attended  by 
slave-dealers.  Under  these  alarming  circumstances  Judas  and  his  party  assembled  at 
Mizpeh — that  ancient  placeof  concourse— where  they  fasted  and  prayed;  after  which 
Judas,  in  obedience  to  the  law,  dismissed  all  such  of  his  men  as  liad  in  the  course  of 
the  preceding  year  built  houses,  betrothed  wives,  or  were  planting  vineyards,  or  were 
fearful ;  and  this  strong  act  of  faith  reduced  his  small  army  from  six  thousand  to  three 
thousand  men. 

The  Syrian  generals  deemed  it  superfluous  to  employ  their  large  force  against  so 
small  a  body.  Gorgias,  therefore,  with  a  chosen  army  of  five  thousand  foot  and  one 
thousand  horse,  marched  by  night  to  surprise  the  army  of  Judas.  But  that  vigilant 
commander  was  apprized  of  the  design,  and  determined  to  take  advantage  of  the  sep- 
aration of  the  two  generals.  He  marched  therefore  early  in  the  evening,  and  fell  by 
night  upon  the  camp  of  Nicanor.  Not  the  least  expectation  of  an  attack  being  enter- 
tained, the  whole  camp  was  thrown  into  confusion,  and  the  soldiers  fled.  Three 
thousand  Syrians  were  slain,  and  many  soldiers  and  slave-dealers  made  prisoners. 
Early  in  the  morning  Gorgias,  returning  from  his  abortive  march  to  Mizpeh,  beheld 
the  Syrian  camp  in  flames,  which  threw  his  soldiers  into  such  a  panic  that  they  be- 
took themselves  to  instant  flight;  but  were  pressed  upon  so  vigorously  by  the  con- 
quering Jews,  that  in  all  they  destroyed  that  day  nine  thousand  of  their  enemies,  and 
wounded  many  more  Nicanor  escaped  in  the  disguise  of  a  slave  to  Antioch,  de- 
claring his  conviction  tnai  a  migiity  God  fought  for  the  Jews.  In  the  camp  of  the 
Syrians  the  latter  found  great  quantities  of  gold  and  silver,  including  the  money  which 
the  slave-dealers  had  brought  to  purchase  their  persons.  This  victory  was  celebrated 
by  a  feast  of  thanksgiving. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  425 

On  the  news  of  this  defeat,  the  regent  Lysias  assembled  a  larger  army  of  sixty 
thousand  choice  infantry,  and  five  thousand  horse,  and  marched  himself  at  their  head, 
to  invade  Judea  in  the  south.  He  entered  Idumea,  which  name  must  be  understood 
as  distinguishing  the  more  modern  territory  of  the  Edomites,  from  their  older  and 
more  southern  territory  of  Edom,  in  Mount  Seir,  which  the  Nabathaans  now  occu- 
pied. Idumea  was  now,  then,  confined  to  the  region  west  and  southwest  of  the 
Asphaltic  lake,  which  had  in  former  times  belonged  to  the  tribes  of  Simeon  and  Judah. 
But  after  the  Captivity  it  had  been  occupied  by  Edomites  from  Arabia  Petraea,  the 
ancient  Edom,  who  made  Hebron  their  capital,  and  rebuilt,  on  their  northern  frontier, 
the  strong  fortress  of  Bethsur,  or  Bethsura,  which  had  been  originally  built  by  Reho- 
boam.  (2  Chron.  xi.  7.)  At  this  last-named  very  advantageous  post,  Lysias  encamped, 
and  was  there  set  upon  by  the  dauntless  Judas,  who,  with  only  ten  thousand  men,  gained 
a  most  important  victory,  slaying  five  thousand  men  on  the  spot,  and  putting  the  rest  to 
flight.  Observing  that  the  Jews  fought  like  men  who  were  determined  to  conquer 
or  die,  Lysias  did  not  venture  to  renew  the  engagement,  and  indeed  his  soldiers 
were  so  disheartened  that  he  was  soon  obliged  to  return  to  Antioch,  and  there 
issue  orders  that  recruits  for  a  new  expedition  should  be  raised  in  distant  countries, 
B.  C.  165. 

This  victory  made  Judas  master  of  Judea ;  and  he  determined  to  return  to  Jeru- 
salem, to  repair  and  beautify  the  temple,  which  was  then  deserted  and  dilapidated. 
In  the  neglected  courts  of  the  Lord's  house  shrubs  were  growing  "  as  in  the  forest 
or  on  the  mountain."  The  whole  host  cast  ashes  on  their  heads,  and  cried  toward 
heaven,  when  they  beheld  the  desolation  of  that  holy  place.  The  work  of  restoration 
was  commenced  with  ardor ;  new  utensils  were  provided  for  the  sacred  services ;  the 
old  altar,  having  been  defiled  by  idolatrous  sacrifices,  was  taken  away,  and  a  new  one 
erected  in  its  place ;  and  the  sacrifices  were  recommenced  precisely  three  years  after 
the  temple  had  been  dedicated  to  Jupiter  Olympius.  A  feast  of  eight  days  celebrated 
this  new  dedication,  and  an  annual  festival  was  instituted  in  honor  of  the  event. 

The  castle  on  Mount  Zion  soon,  however,  proved  a  serious  annoyance  to  the  people, 
as  it  was  still  in  the  hands  of  the  Syrians,  who  lost  no  opportunity  of  disturbing  the 
services  of  the  temple.  The  army  of  Judas  was  too  small  to  allow  him  to  blockade 
the  castle,  but  he  fortified  the  temple-mount  against  their  aggressions  with  high  walls 
and  towers.  He  also  strengthened  the  important  fortress  of  Bethsura,  to  protect  the 
frontier  toward  Idumea,  as  it  lay  about  mid-way  between  Jerusalem  and  Hebron. 

When  Antiochus  Epiphanes  received  intelligence  of  the  success  of  the  Jewish  arms, 
and  the  defeat  of  the  Syrian  hosts,  he  was  at  Elymias  in  Persia,  detained  by  an  insur- 
rection occasioned  by  his  plundering  the  celebrated  temple  in  which  his  father  Antio- 
chus the  Great  had  lost  his  life.  Transported  with  ungovernable  passion  at  the  news, 
he  hastened  his  homeward  march  to  Antioch,  devoting  the  Jewish  nation  to  utter 
destruction.  But  while  his  mouth  uttered  the  deep  curses  and  fell  purposes  of  his 
heart,  he  was  smitten  with  sore  and  remediless  torments  in  his  inner  parts.  Yet  on 
he  went,  until  he  fell  from  his  chariot,  and  suffered  much  from  the  fall.  He  was 
then  carried  on  a  litter,  but  his  disease  acquired  such  a  loathsome  character  that  his 
person  became  an  abhorrence  to  himself  and  to  all  who  had  occasion  to  be  near  him.* 
In  a  disease  so  timed  and  so  peculiar,  the  proud  monarch  was  led  to  perceive  the 
'hand  of  God,  and  to  acknowledge  that  his  barbarities  and  sacrileges  were  justly  pun- 
ished by  the  torments  which  he  endured  and  by  the  death  which  lay  before  him.  He 
died  early  in  the  year  164  B.  C,  and  in  him  perished  a  man  whose  wild  extravagances 
dissolute  and  undignified  character,  savage  cruelties,  and  capricious  alternations  of 
temper,  abundantly  justified  the  nickname  of  Epimanes,  "madman"  by  which  in  his 
later  years  his  assumed  title  of  Epiphanes  "  illustrious"  was  ridiculed. 

Antiochus  V.,  surnamed  Eupator  "  well-fathered",  then  a  child  nine  years  of  age, 
was  set  up  for  king  by  his  guardian  Lysias,  and  his  succession  received  the  important 
sanction  of  the  Romans;  for  although  Demetrius  (the  son  of  Seleucus  Philopator), 
still  a  hostage  at  Rome,  and  then  twenty-three  years  of  age,  failed  not  to  urge  his 
claims  upon  the  attention  of  the  senate,  that  sage  body  decided  that  it  was  more  for 
the  interests  of  Rome  that  a  minor  should  occupy  the  throne  of  Syria,  than  the  ardent 
and  able  Demetrius. 

In  the  year  164  B.  C,  the  war  against  the  Maccabees  was  renewed  by  the  regent 
Lysias.  He  invaded  Judea  with  an  army  of  eighty  thousand  foot,  eighty  elephants, 
and  a  large  body  of  cavalry.     He  laid  siege  to  Bethsura,  but  was  repulsed  by  Judas, 


426  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

with  the  loss  of  eleven  tnousand  foot,  and  one  thousand  six  hundred  horse,  and  his 
whole  army  was  broken  up.  This  defeat  convinced  Lysias  that  the  Jews  could  not 
be  overcome,  because  of  the  almightiness  of  the  God  by  whom  they  were  helped. 
He  therefore  offered  them  peace,  on  the  condition  of  their  being  loyal  to  the  state  ; 
on  their  acceptance  of  which,  he  issued  a  decree  in  the  name  of  the  king,  which 
allowed  them  the  free  exercise  of  their  own  customs  and  worship,  and  permitted 
them  to  live  according  to  their  own  laws.  The  apostate  high-priest  Menelaus, 
who  had  been  all  this  while  with  the  Syrians,  and  had  exerted  himself  in  pro- 
moting this  peace,  was  now  sent  back  to  the  Jews  to  be  reinstated  in  his  pontificate. 
It  is  of  some  importance  to  note  that  the  Roman  ambassadors  at  the  Syrian  court  used 
their  efficient  aid  in  obtaining  this  treaty  for  the  Jews. 

The  peace  thus  afforded  was  of  no  long  continuance:  for  although,  formally,  the 
war  with  the  kingdom  had  ceased,  the  governors  of  the  Syrian  provinces  were  not 
backward  in  giving  the  Jews  all  the  molestation  in  their  power,  and  in  encouraging 
such  of  the  neighboring  nations  as  were,  from  old  or  new  enmities,  disposed  to  dis- 
turb them — such  as  the  Joppites,  the  Jamnites,  the  Arabians,  and  the  Idumeans, 
all  of  whom  were  successively  reduced  by  Judas,  after  a  bloody  warfare,  the  particu- 
lars of  which  are  recorded  in  2  Mace.  x.  14-38;  xi.  1-38. 

All  this  time  the  citadel  on  Mount  Zion,  garrisoned  by  Syrians  and  renegade  Jews, 
continued  to  prove  a  great  annoyance  to  the  temple  worship,  which  at  last  proved  so 
intolerable,  that  Judas  was  induced  to  lay  siege  to  it,  after  his  return  from  the  defeat  of 
Gorgias  the  governor  of  Iduraea.  But  some  of  the  besieged,  forcing  their  way  through 
in  a  sally,  hastened  to  the  court  at  Antioch,  and  complained  of  the  continued  hostility 
of  the  Jews  to  the  Syrian  government,  as  evinced  by  this  attempt  upon  the  Syrian 
garrison;  and  by  dwelling  on  this  and  other  matters,  contrived  to  stir  up  Lysias  to 
undertake  a  new  war  against  them.  The  Syrian  army  which  was  raised  for  this  war 
in  B.  C.  163,  consisted  of  one  hundred  thousand  foot,  twenty  thousand  horse,  thirty- 
two  elephants,  and  three  hundred  chariots  armed  with  scythes — a  prodigious  force  in 
that  age,  when,  on  account  of  the  extravagant  wages  which  soldiers  received,  it  was 
difficult  to  keep  more  than  eighty  thousand  men  in  the  field.  The  young  king  was 
present  in  the  camp,  but  of  course  Lysias  was  the  actual  commander.  The  Jews 
did  not  venture  to  attack  the  royal  army  in  the  open  field.  But  while  the  Syrians 
laid  seige  to  Bethsura,  Judas  fell  upon  them  in  the  night,  slew  four  thousand  of  them 
before  they  well  knew  who  was  among  them,  and  drew  otf  safely  by  break  of  day. 
The  day  after,  a  battle  took  place,  in  which  the  Syrians  lost  six  hundred  men;  but 
Judas,  fearing  to  be  surrounded  by  the  numbers  of  the  enemy,  thought  proper  to 
retire  to  Jerusalem,  the  fortifications  of  which  he  now  strengthened  and  put  in  a 
state  of  defence.  In  this  battle  Judas  lost  his  brother  Eleazer.  That  valiant  man 
perceiving  one  of  the  elephants  more  splendidly  caparisoned  than  the  others,  mis- 
takenly supposed  it  to  be  that  of  the  king,  and  fought  his  way  to  it,  got  under  it, 
stabbed  it  in  the  belly,  and  was  crushed  to  death  by  the  fall  of  the  huge  beast  upon 
him. 

It  being  a  sabbatic  year  of  rest  to  the  land,  Bethsura  soon  after  surrendered  for  lack 
•of  provisions  ;  and  Jerusalem,  which  was  next  besieged,  must  have  "shared  the  same 
fate,  and  all  the  advantages  which  had  been  gained  appeared  now  to  be  on  the  point 
of  being  lost  for  ever  ;  when  providentially  the  young  king  and  his  guardian  were  re- 
called by  a  civil  war  at  home,  commenced  by  Philip,  who  had  been  appointed  regent 
by  Antiochus  Epiphanes  before  his  death,  to  the  exclusion  of  Lysias,  whose  ill  success 
m  the  former  war  with  the  Jews  had  been  highly  displeasing  to  him.  When  this  in- 
telligence reached  the  camp,  the  king  and  council  hastily  concluded  a  peace  with  the 
Jews  on  the  former  terms — that  they  should  be  allowed  to  live  according  to  their  own 
laws.  The  siege  was  then  broken  up,  but  the  treaty  was  violated  by  the  Syrians  in 
the  demolition  of  the  strong  walls  of  the  mount  on  which  the  temple  stood.  The 
royal  army  was  then  marched  against  Philip,  who  had  gotten  possession  of  Antioch, 
the  metropolis,  but  who  was  defeated  and  slain. 

Now  at  last  the  traitor  and  apostate  Menelaus  met  the  fate  he  had  long  deserved. 
At  the  approach  of  the  Syrian  army  he  had  abandoned  his  countrymen,  and  had 
stimulated  the  operations  against  them  by  his  advice  and  counsel,  in  the  secret  hope 
of  being  made  governor  of  the  province,  if  Judas  and  his  party  were  destroyed.  But 
the  intended  mischief  recoiled  on  his  own  wicked  head.  On  the  conclusion  of  the 
peace,  he  was  viewed  by  the  king  and  regent  as  the  author  of  all  these  unhappy  wars. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  427 

and  was  sentenced  to  be  suffocated  in  the  ash-tower  at  Berea  ;*  while  the  office  to 
which  he  aspired  was  given  to  Judas  himself,  who  was  appointed  to  be  chief  governor 
"  from  Ptolemais  unto  the  Gerrhenians." 

In  the  room  of  Menelaus,  Jachimus,  or  Alcimus,  was  nominated  to  the  high-priest- 
hood, to  the  exclusion  of  the  rightful  claimant,  Onias,  the  son  of  that  Onias  who  had 
been  slain  at  Antioch  at  the  instigation  of  Menelaus.  Upon  this  disappointment, 
Onias  retired  in  disgust  to  Egypt,  where  his  military  and  political  talents  procured 
him  high  favor  from  Ptolemy  Philometor,  and  he  was  ultimately  empowered  to  build 
a  temple  and  establish  a  priesthood,  for  the  numerous  Jews  of  Egypt  and  Gyrene,  al 
Heliopolis ;  and  which  subsisted  nearly  as  long  as  that  of  Jerusalem,  both  being 
destroyed  in  the  reign  of  Vespasian.  'I'here  can  be  no  question  of  the  irregularity  of 
this  establishment ;  and  although  Onias  justified  it  to  the  Jews  by  reference  to  the 
text  Isa.  xix.  18,  19,  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  was  always  held  in  much  superioi 
estimation  by  the  Jews  even  of  Egypt,  who  frequently  repaired  thither  to  worship. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

With  the  promotion  of  Judas  Maccabeus  to  be  chief  governor  of  Judea,  the  rule  of 
the  Asamonian  dynasty  may  be  conveniently  taken  to  commence,  and  the  period 
which  that  rule  embraces  may  be  suitably  introduced  in  a  new  chapter. 

Alcimus,  the  new  high-priest,  did  not  long  enjoy  his  dignity,  for  his  profligacy,  and 
his  attempts  to  revive  the  heathenish  rites,  so  offended  the  Jews,  that  they  expelled 
him. 

We  have  already  noticed  the  refusal  of  the  Roman  senate  to  support  the  claim  of 
Demetrius  to  the  crown  of  Syria,  or  to  allow  him  to  depart  for  that  country.  Subse- 
quently, acting  by  the  advice  of  his  friend  Polybius,  the  historian,  he  made  his 
escape  from  Rome,  and  landed  with  a  few  men,  only  eight  friends  and  their  servants, 
at  Tripolis  in  Phoenicia.  Here  he  had  the  art  to  make  it  believed  that  his  wild  enter- 
prise was  sanctioned  by  the  Romans;  under  which  persuasion  he  was  joined  by 
several  of  his  adherents,  with  whom  he  advanced  toward  Antioch.  Here  the  army 
declared  for  him,  and  secured  the  persons  of  Antiochus  Eupator  and  Lysias,  and,  in 
proof  of  their  sincerity,  brought  them  to  Demetrius;  but  he  said,  "Let  me  not  see 
their  face  !"  on  which  hint  they  were  slain  by  the  soldiers,  B.  C.  162. 

In  the  preceding  year  one  of  the  Roman  ambassadors  at  the  court  of  A.  Eupator 
had  been  slain,  while  enforcing  the  treaty  with  Antiochus  the  Great,  by  destroying 
all  the  elephants,  and  all  but  twelve  of  the  ships-of-war.  Demetrius,  anxious  to 
have  his  claims  recognised  by  Rome,  sent  the  murderer  thither,  together  with  a  pres- 
ent of  a  crown  of  gold.  The  present  was  accepted  by  the  senate  ;  but  they  dis- 
missed the  murderer,  resolving  to  take  some  future  occasion  of  making  the  whole 
Syrian  empire  responsible  for  the  act. 

When  Demetrius  was  established  on  the  throne  of  Syria,  the  apostate  Jews,  with 
Alcimus  at  their  head,  gathered  around  him,  and  filled  his  ears  with  reports  and  in- 
sinuations injurious  to  Judas  and  the  party  of  which  he  was  the  leader.  As  people 
naturally  listen  with  pleasure  to  those  who  express  conformity  of  views,  it  is  not 
wonderful  that  these  traitors  gained  the  attention  of  the  king,  who  could  as  yet  know 
but  little  of  the  real  state  of  affairs  in  his  kingdom.  He  reappointed  Alcimus  as  high- 
priest,  and  sent  a  considerable  military  force,  under  the  command  of  Bacchides,  gov- 
ernor of  Mesopotamia,  to  reinstate  him,  and  to  take  vengeance  upon  those  whom  he 
had  represented  as  equally  the  enemies  of  himself  and  the  king.  As  Bacchides,  ac- 
companied by  the  high-priest,  entered  the  country  with  professions  of  peace,  many 
Jews,  relying  thereon,  put  themselves  in  his  power,  and  were  treacherously  slain. 
After  this  Bacchides  reinstated  Alcimus;  and  intrusting  the  province  to  his  charge, 
and  leaving  a  force  that  seemed  sufficient  to  support  him,  he  returned  to  the  king. 
Judas,  who  had  not  appeared  in  the  field  against  Bacchides,  came  forward  after  he 
withdrew;  and  Alcimus,  unable  to  ofiTer  any  effectual  resistance,  again  repaired  with 

*  This  punisliment  was  borrowed  by  the  Syrian-Greeks  from  the  Persians.  A  place  was  enclosed  with 
high  walls  and  filled  with  ashes.  A  piece  of  timber  was  made  to  iiroject  over  the  ashes,  and  on  this  t'..o 
criminal  was  placed.  He  was  liberally  supplied  with  meat  and  drink,  until  overcome  with  sleep,  he  feli 
into  the  deceitful  heap,  and  died  an  easy  death.  Only  criminals  of  high  rank  were  thus  punished,  it  being 
considered  a  sort  of  privileged  death. 


428  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

his  complaints  to  the  king.  On  this  Demetrius,  resolving  on  the  utter  destruction  of 
the  Maccabees,  sent  a  large  army  into  Judea,  under  the  command  of  the  same  Nicanor 
whom  Judas  had  defeated  five  years  before.  At  first  he  endeavored  to  entrap  the 
Jewish  chief  Avith  friendly  professions,  but  finding  Judas  too  wary  to  be  thus  caught, 
hostilities  commenced,  and  in  a  battle  fought  at  Capharsalama,  Nicanor  was  defeated 
with  ihe  loss  of  fifty  thousand  men.  He  was  then  forced  to  seek  refuge  in  the  castle 
cf  Mount  Zion,  until  the  reinforcements,  for  which  he  sent,  should  arrive  from  Syria. 
These  were  promptly  supplied,  and  then  he  hazarded  another  battle,  in  which  he  was 
himself  slain,  and  his  army  cut  in  pieces.     B.  C.  160. 

Now  Judas,  having  heard  of  the  already  extensive  conquests  of  the  Romans,  ana 
having  become  sensible  of  the  great  controlling  power  which  they  exercised  in  the 
affairs  of  Western  Asia  and  of  Egypt,  took  the  opportunity  of  the  respite  which  this 
victory  procured,  to  send  an  embassy  to  Rome,  to  solicit  an  alliance  with  that  great 
people,  and  therewith  protection  from  the  Syrian  government.  It  was  part  of  the 
systematic  plan  of  subjugation  practised  by  that  most  politic  body,  the  Roman  senate, 
to  grant  liberty  to  those  who  were  under  foreign  dominion,  that  they  might  detach 
them  from  their  rulers,  and  afterward  enslave  them  when  fit  opportunity  offered.* 
The  Jewish  ambassadors  were  therefore  very  graciously  received ;  an  offensive  and 
defensive  alliance  was  readily  concluded  with  the  Jews ;  and  a  letter  was  immediate- 
ly after  written  to  Demetrius,  commanding  him  to  desist  from  persecuting  them,  and 
threatening  him  with  war  if  he  persisted.  But  before  the  ambassadors  returned,  or 
this  letter  had  been  received,  Judas  had  fallen  in  a  furious  conflict  with  Bacchides, 
whom  (with  Ajcimus)  the  king  had  sent  to  avenge  the  defeat  of  Nicanor  and  his  host. 
With  only  eight  hundred  men,  the  rest  having  deserted  him,  Judas  charged  the 
Syrians,  defeated  their  right  wing  and  pursued  them  to  Azotus:  but  the  left  wing, 
being  unbroken,  pursued  him  closely  in  turn ;  and  after  a  most  obstinate  engagement 
the  greatest  of  the  later  Jewish  heroes  lay  dead  upon  the  field.  This  was  not  far 
from  Modin,  his  native  town;  and  his  brothers  Simon  and  Jonathan,  having  conclud- 
ed a  truce,  were  enabled  to  deposite  his  remains  in  the  family  sepulchre  at  that  place. 

The  death  of  Judas  restored  the  ascendency  to  the  apostate  Jews,  and  was  follow- 
ed by  a  merciless  persecution  of  his  adherents.  They  were  thus  made  strongly 
sensible  of  the  want  of  a  head,  and  therefore  they  elected -Jonathan,  the  valiant 
younger  brother  of  Judas,  to  be  their  chief  and  leader.  He  led  them  into  the  wilder- 
ness of  Tekoah,  and  encamped  at  the  cistern  of  Aspher,  After  some  skirmishes  with 
the  Arabs  in  that  quarter,  Jonathan  deemed  it  advisable  to  send  the  wives  and  chil- 
dren, and  the  most  valuable  property  of  his  party,  to  the  safe  keeping  of  the  friendly 
Nabathaeans  of  Mount  Seir,  under  a  convoy  commanded  by  his  brother  John.  This 
party  was  attacked  on  the  way  and  plundered  by  the  Arabs,  and  John  himself  was 
killed.  For  this,  Jonathan  soon  after  took  a  severe  revenge  upon  the  bridal  proces- 
sion at  the  marriage  of  one  of  the  princesses  of  this  same  tribe,  which  he  attacked, 
and  slew  the  greater  part,  and  took  their  spoils. 

After  this,  Jonathan,  the  more  effectually  to  secure  to  himself  from  his  enemies, 
withdrew  into  the  marshes  formed  by  the  overflowings  of  the  Jordan,  access  to  which 
was  very  difficult.  Bacchides,  however,  made  an  attack  on  the  sabbath-day  upon 
the  pass  leading  to  the  camp,  and  carried  it  by  storm.  The  Jews  defended  themselves 
with  great  valor;  but  being  oppressed  by  numbers,  they  leaped  into  the  overflowing 
Jordan  and  swam  to  the  other  side,  whither  the  enemy  did  not  venture  to  pursue 
them. 

It  was  not  without  difficulty  that  Jonathan  roused  his  adherents  to  the  exertions 
which  they  made  on  this  occasion.  In  fact  there  are  several  indications,  at  and  be- 
fore this  time,  that  the  people  were  becoming  tired  of  this  long  struggle  for  their  re- 
ligion and  liberties,  and  disposed  to  submit  to  circumstances,  for  the  sake  of  the  quiet 
of  which  they  had  been  so  many  years  deprived.  Besides,  by  this  time  the  original 
character  of  the  Avar,  as  one  of  resistance  against  religious  persecution,  had  some- 
*  what  changed.     There  was  more  of  politics  mixed  in  it;  and  with  that  change,  the 

"WW.  ardor  of  the  orthodox  Jews  appears  to  have  abated.  The  Syrian  government  had 
also  become  much  more  mild  since  the  time  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  and  under  favor- 
mg  circumstances,  it  might  have  been  expected  that  the  Jews  would  without  dilficul- 

*  This  is  the  drift  of  Justin's  remark  with  reference  to  this  very  transaction  :  "  A  Demetrio  cum  defe- 
clssqnt  Judaei,  amicitia  Romanorum  petita,  primi  omnium  ex  Orientalibus  libertatem  receperunt  :  facile 
tunc  Komanis  de  alieno  largientibus."    Lib.  xxxvi.  cap.  3. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  ElBLE 


430  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

ty  have  obtained  what  they  sought.  It  was  probably  the  knowledge  of  this,  as  well 
•as  from  the  consciousness  that  the  breach  was  not  likely  to  be  healed  by  continued 
warfare,  that  latterly  produced  so  great  a  reluctance  to  support  the  Maccabees,  and 
so  strong  a  disposition  to  submit  to  the  Syrians.  We  may  thus  account  not  only  for 
the  circumstance  which  occasions  this  remark,  but  for  the  readiness  of  some  of  the 
best  supporters  of  the  Maccabees  to  listen  to  the  fair  promises  of  the  Syrian  generals; 
for  the  desertion  of  Judas,  before  his  last  action,  by  the  great  body  of  his  adherents ; 
and  for  his  comparative  inaction  on  several  recent  occasions.  To  the  operation  of 
these  circumstances  we  are  also  disposed  to  refer  the  anxiety  of  Judas  to  conclude  a 
treaty  with  the  Romans.  For  this  step  he  has  been  blamed  by  some  persons,  who 
appear  to  have  inadequately  considered  the  circumstances.  It  is  not  clear  to  us  thai 
if  Judas  had  been  aware  that  the  step  he  took  was  likely  to  lead  to  the  future  subjec- 
tion of  the  country  to  the  Romans,  he  would  have  been  deterred  from  seeking  their 
alliance.  He  did  not  fight  for  national  independence,  which  was  a  moral  impossi- 
bility, but  for  the  liberty  of  conscience.  If  that  had  been  conceded  by  the  Syrian 
kings,  the  Jews  would  readily  have  returned  to  their  political  subjection,  and  were 
indeed  anxious  to  do  so.  If  therefore  Judas  had  known  the  ultimate  contingency  of 
subjection  to  the  Romans  instead  of -the  Syrians,  there  was  nothing  in  that  to  deter 
him,  if  he  felt  that  the  Romans  were  likely  to  be  more  tolerant  of  the  religious  pe- 
culiarities of  his  nation.  It  is  quite  true  that  by  the  skilful  use  of  circumstances 
which  ultimately  arose,  the  Jews  were  enabled  to  establish  a  modified  independence 
— which  independence  the  Romans  destroyed.  But  these  circumstances  were  not 
foreseen  in  the  time  of  Judas,  and  independence  was  not  among  the  objects  originally 
contemplated.  It  is  only  in  forgetfulness  of  those  facts  that  any  one  can  impuie  blame 
to  Judas  for  the  measure  which  he  took — which  measure,  indeed,  we  can  not  trace 
to  have  had  any  grave  effect  upon  ultimate  results.  Whether  the  Jews  had  offered 
themselves  to  the  notice  of  the  Romans  at  this  time  or  not,  they  certainly  could  not 
long  have  escaped  the  attention  of  that  people,  nor,  unless  events  had  taken  an  entire- 
ly different  course  to  that  which  they  actually  took,  could  their  subjection  to  the  Ro- 
man yoke  have  been  long  postponed. 

From  the  Jordan,  Bacchides  returned  to  Jerusalem,  and  was  employed  for  some 
time  in  strengthening  the  fortresses  of  Judea,  particularly  the  citadel  at  Jerusalem 
and  the  important  fortresses  of  Gazara.*  The  sons  of  some  of  the  principal  persons 
among  the  Jews  he  took  and  detained  in  the  citadel  as  hostages  for  the  good  conduct 
of  their  friends.  But  in  the  same  year  Alcimus  was  seized  with  a  kind  of  cramp, 
and  died  in  much  agony,  while  giving  orders  for  the  demolition  of  the  wall  which 
separated  the  court  of  the  Gentiles  from  that  of  the  Israelites,  so  as  to  give  the  for- 
mer free  access  to  the  privileged  part  of  the  temple;  and  Bacchides,  having  nothing 
to  detain  him  in  Judea  after  the  death  of  the  man  on  whose  account  the  war  was 
undertaken,  withdrew  from  the  country,  and  allowed  the  Jews  two  years  of  repose. 
To  what  extent  this  may  have  been  due  to  the  interposition  of  the  Romans,  we  have 
DO  means  of  knowing ;  but  the  results  of  the  application  to  the  senate  must  by  this 
time  have  been  known  both  at  Antioch  and  in  Judea.  Probably  the  death  of  Judas, 
before  the  return  of  his  ambassadors,  went  far  to  neutralize  the  immediate  effects 
which  might  have  been  expected  from  this  treaty. 

This  tranquillity  was  not  favorable  to  the  designs  of  the  Graecising  Jews,  who  laia 
a  plot  to  surprise  and  seize  Jonathan  and  his  adherents,  all  in  one  night,  throughout  the 
land,  and  prevailed  on  Bacchides  to  return  with  the  force  under  his  command  to  give 
effect  to  their  design  (B.  C.  158).  A  timely  discovery  of  the  plot  enabled  Jonathan 
to  damp  the  ardor  of  the  conspirators  by  putting  to  death  fifty  of  the  principal  of  them. 
Not,  however,  feeling  himself  in  a  condition  to  oppose  Bacchides  in  the  field,  Jonathan, 
with  his  friends  and  his  bro'horSimon,  withdrew  to  the  wilderness,  where  they  so  strong- 
ly repaired  the  dilapidated  fortress  of  Bethbasi,  that  they  were  enabled  to  maintain  a 

*  There  is  some  doubt  respecting  tliis  place,  which  is  so  often  named  in  the  history  of  the  Maccabees 
Some  think  it  the  same  as  Gaza,  which  indeed  is  still  called  Gazara,  and  that  is  certainly  a  strong  oircum 
stance  in  its  favor.  Upon  the  whole,  however,  there  are  several  passages  in  which  the  place  is  n;inied 
which  seem  to  refer  it  to  the  neighborhood  of  Joppa,  and  others  which  can  not  without  much  straining  and 
difficulty  be  made  to  apply  to  Gaza.  In  one  of  a  set  of  unpublished  maps  by  Professor  Robinson  (for  which 
we  are  indebted  to  his  kindness)  we  find  that  a  site  named  Yazur  occurred  in  his  line  of  route,  three  miles 
and  a  half  to  the  east  of  Jaffa,  and  we  much  more  than  suspect  thai  this  marks  the  site  not  only  of  the  Ga 
zara  in  question,  but  also  (believing  the  names  identical)  of  the  Gazer  which  was  one  of  the  royal  cities  ot 
the  old  C'anaanites,  and  the  same  which  the  king  of  Egypt  took  from  the  Canaanites,  and  gave,  for  a  dowe 
H'ith  his  daughter,  to  Solomon.    All  circumstances  appear  to  agree  with  this  alloca.ion 


fflSTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  431 

long  siege  against  Bacchides,  and  at  length  to  defeat  him.  This  affair  wonderfully 
enlightened  the  Syrian  general,  who  now  perceived  that  he  had  been  but  the  tool  of  a 
faction ;  and,  in  his  resentment,  he  put  to  death  several  of  the  persons  who  had  the 
most  actively  stimulated  his  enterprise.  At  this  juncture,  Jonathan  sent  to  him  a 
deputation  with  proposals  of  peace,  and  Bacchides  readily  acceded  to  the  terms  which 
were  offered.  The  treaty  being  concluded  and  sworn  to  by  both  parties,  an  exchange 
of  prisoners  took  place,  and  Bacchides  withdrew  from  the  land,  B.  C.  156.  Peace 
being  thus  hartpily  restored,  Jonathan  fixed  his  residence  at  the  strong  post  of  Mich- 
mash,  six  miles  north-by-east  from  Jerusalem,  where  he  governed  according  to  the 
laws  of  Moses,  and  to  the  extent  of  his  power  reformed  the  public  abuses  which  had 
sprung  up  during  the  past  troubles. 

About  the  year  B.  C.  154,  Demetrius  Soter  retired  to  a  new  palace  which  he  had 
built  near  Antioch,and  there  abandoned  himself  entirely  to  luxury  and  pleasure.  All 
busuiess  and  all  care  was  refused  admission,  and  consequently  all  the  responsibilities 
and  duties  of  his  high  office  were  utterly  neglected.  Hence  arose  great  administrative 
abuses,  and  these  led  to  discontents,  and  discontents  to  conspiracies,  which  were 
eagerly  fostered  by  different  neighboring  kings,  especially  by  Ptolemy  Philometor, 
king  of  Egypt,*  from  whom  the  island  of  Cyprus  had  been  taken  by  Demetrius. 
They  availed  themselves  of  the  services  of  Heraclides,  who  had  been  banished  by 
Demetrius,  and  who  had  since  lived  at  Rhodes ;  and  now,  at  the  instigation  of  these 
kings,  he  persuaded  a  young  man  of  obscure  birth,  named  Balas,  to  announce  himself 
as  the  son  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  and  as  such  lay  claim  to  the  throne  of  Syria.  As 
soon  as  he  had  been  sufficiently  tutored  in  the  part  he  was  to  act,  he  publicly  advanced 
his  pretensions,  which  were  acknowledged  at  once  by  Ptolemy  Philometor,  by  Ariar- 
athes,  king  of  Cappadocia,  and  by  Attalus,  king  of  Pergaraus  (B.  C.  153).  He  was 
then  sent  to  Rome,  together  with  a  true  daughter  of  Antiochus;  and  although  the 
senate  soon  detected  the  imposture,  their  old  grudge  against  Demetrius,  for  having 
taken  the  throne  of  Syria  without  their  .consent,  led  them  to  recognise  him,  and  em- 
power him  to  raise  forces  for  the  recovery  of  a  kingdom  in  which  he  could  have  had 
no  just  pretensions  to  supersede  Demetrius  (the  son  of  the  elder  brother),  even  had  his 
alleged  birth  been  true.  Balas  now  assumed  the  name  of  Alexander,  and  the  title  of 
king  of  Syria.  He  delayed  not  to  levy  troops,  and  sailed  to  Ptolemais  (previously 
Accha),  now  Acre,  in  Palestine,  where  he  was  joined  by  numbers  who  had  become 
disaffected  to  Demetrius.  That  infatuated  person  was  now  fairly  roused  from  his 
lethargy,  and  came  forth  from  his  disgraceful  retreat— but  it  was  too  late. 

This  conjuncture  of  affairs  was  highly  favorable  to  the  interests  of  the  Jews,  as,  from 
the  high  military  character  they  had  now  acquired,  the  rivals  vied  with  each  other  in 
the  honors  and  immunities  which  they  offered  for  the  assistance  of  Jonathan  and  the 
Jews.  First,  Demetrius  sent  a  letter  appointing  Jonathan  his  general  in  Judea,  em- 
powering him  to  levy  forces,  and  promising  to  release  the  hostages.  When  the  con- 
tents of  this  letter  were  made  known,  the  hostages  were  restored  by  the  garrison  of 
the  citadel,  and  the  fortresses  throughout  the  country  were  given  up  to  him  by  the 
Syrian  garrisons  which  Bacchides  had  left  in  them.  The  citadel  and  Beihsura  indeed 
still  held  out,  as  they  were  garrisoned  by  apostate  Jews  who  had  no  other  resource. 
Jonathan  now  removed  from  Michmash  and  fixed  his  residence  at  Jerusalem,  which 
he  occupied  himself  in  repairing,  and  in  rebuilding  those  walls  of  the  temple-mount 
which  Antiochus  Eupator  had  cast  down. 

On  the  other  hand,  Balas,  acting  probably  by  the  advice  of  Ptolemy  Philometor 
(who  was  well  acquainted  with  the  affairs  and  interests  of  the  Jews),  sent  also  a  let- 
ter to  Jonathan,  in  the  very  commencement  of  which  he  styled  him  "  Brother,"  gave 
him  the  title  and  rank  of  "  Friend  of  the  King,"  appointed  him  to  the  high-priesthood, 
and  sent  him  a  purjtle  robe  and  diadem,  thereby  creating  him  Ethnarch,  or  Prince  of 
Judea.     It  was  in  the  seventh  month  of  this  same  year  (B.  C.  153)  that  Jonathan  put 

*  As  the  transactions  in  Egypt,  since  they  were  last  noticed,  have  not,  up  to  this  point,  been  necessarily 
involved  in  the  current  of  our  liistory,  we  have  not  allowed  them  to  engage  our  notice.  It  may  however 
be  briefly  indicated  in  a  note,  that,  after  their  junction  against  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  quarrels  arose  be- 
tween the  two  brother  kings,  Philometor  and  Physcon,  which  the  Romans  endeavored  tn  adjust  in  B.  C 
162,  by  arranging  that  Pliilometor  should  retain  Egypt  and  Cyprus,  and  that  Physcon  should  reign  in  J.ihya 
and  Cyrene.  But  they  soon  again  were  at  variance  respecting  Cyprus,  which  Physcon  wanted,  but  which 
Philometor  resolved  to  retain  according  to  the  terms  of  the  agreement.  Meanwhile,  as  often  happens  in 
such  cases,  a  third  party  (Demetrius)  stepped  in,  and  appropriated  to  himself  the  disputed  island  Hence 
the  enmity  of  Philometor  to  the  king  of  Syria. 


432  •  •  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

on  the  holy  robe  of  the  high-priest,  after  that  high  office  had  been  vacant  for  seven 
years. 

Demetrius  did  not  yet  despair  of  outbidding  Balas  in  this  struggle  to  gain  the  favor 
and  assistance  of  Jonathan.  The  list  of  the  exemptions,  immunities,  and' privileges 
which  he  offered  is  exceedingly  curious,  as  showuig  the  extent  and  minute  ramifica- 
tions of  the  previous  exactions  of  the  Syrian  government ;  and  we  have  therefore  in- 
troduced it  entire  in  a  note  below.*  The  extravagant  generosity  of  these  offers  made 
Jonathan  and  the  patriots  suspicious  of  their  sincerity,  and,  mindful  of  the  past  suf- 
ferings they  had  experienced  through  Demetrius,  they  agreed  to  espouse  the  cause  of 
Alexander. 

Next  year  (B.  C.  152)  both  the  kings  took  the  field  with  their  armies,  and  Deme- 
trius, who,  when  sober,  wanted  neither  courage  nor  conduct,  defeated  his  rival  in  the 
first  battle  ;  but  Alexander  Ealas,  being  reinforced  by  the  kings  who  had  put  him  for- 
ward, was  more  successful  in  a  great  battle  fought  the  year  after,  in  which  Demetrius 
himself  was  slain. 

The  successful  impostor  now  mounted  the  throne  of  Syria,  and  married  Cleopatra, 
a  daughter  of  his  great  friend  Ptolemy  Philometor  of  Egypt,  who  himself  concfucted 
the  bride  to  Ptolemais  in  Palestine,  where  the  nuptials  were  celebrated  with  great 
magnificence  (B.  C.  150).  Jonathan  was  present  on  this  occasion,  and,  mindful  of  the 
services  he  had  rendered  during  the  war,  both  Ptolemy  and  Alexander  treated  him 
with  distinguished  honors.  He  was  again  presented  with  a  purple  robe,  and  appointed 
commander  or  Meridarch  of  Judea. 

Alexander  Balas,  who  had  manifested  considerable  ability  during  this  contest,  was 
no  sooner  firmly  settled  on  the  throne,  than  he  lapsed  into  the  same  errors  which  had 
been  fatal  to  his  predecessor.  He  abandoned  the  cares  of  government  to  his  favorite 
Ammonius,  that  he  might  enjoy  a  luxurious  life  undisturbed.  This  minister  put  to 
death  all  the  members  of  the  royal  family  he  could  get  into  his  power.  But  there 
still  lived  in  Cnidus  two  sons  of  Demetrius,  the  elder  of  whom,  Demetrius  H.,  sur- 
named  Nicator,  landed  at  Cilicia  in  B.  C.  148,  and  soon  collected  a  great  army  with 
which  to  assert  his  right  to  the  crown.  He  also  gained  over  to  his  interest  Apollo- 
nius  the  governor  of  Coele-Syria,  whose  first  proof  of  attachment  to  his  new  master 
was  to  invade  Judea,  which  still  adhered  to  the  cause  of  Alexander.  Jonathan  came 
down  from  the  mountains  into  the  plain  of  the  coast,  and  after  taking  Joppa,  before 
his  eyes,  defeated  ApoUonius  with  terrible  loss.  Ashdod  he  then  subdued,  and  As- 
calon  opened  wide  her  gates  to  receive  the  conqueror.  For  this  essential  service  he 
received  from  Alexander  a  golden  clasp  or  buckle,  such  as  only  members  of  the  royal 
family  might  wear ;  and  the  town  and  territory  of  Ekron,  near  the  coast,  was  also 

*  "  King  Demetrius  unto  the  people  of  the  Jews  sendeth  greeting.  Whereas  ye  have  kept  covenant  with 
us,  and  continued  in  our  friendship,  not  joining  yourselves  with  our  enemies,  we  have  heard  thereof,  and 
arc  glad.  Wherefore  now  continue  ye  still  to  be  faithful  unto  us,  and  we  will  well  recompense  you  for  the 
things  ye  do  in  our  behalf,  and  will  grant  you  many  inmiunities,  and  give  you  rewards.  And  now  do  I  free 
you,  and  for  your  sake  I  release  all  the  .tews  from  tributes,  and  from  the  customs  of  salt,  and  from  crown 
taxes.  And  from  that  which  appcrtainelh  unto  me  to  receive  for  the  third  part  of  the  seed,  and  the  half 
of  the  fruit  trees,  1  release  it  from  this  day  forth,  so  that  they  shall  not  be  taken  of  the  land  of  Judea,  nor 
of  the  three  governments  which  are  added  thereunto  out  of  the  country  of  Samaria  and  Galilee,  from  this 
day  forth  for  ever  more.  Let  Jerusalem  also  be  holy  and  free,  with  the  borders  thereof,  both  from  tenths 
and  triliutes.  And  as  for  the  tower  which  is  at  Jerusalem,  I  yield  up  my  authority  over  it,  and  give  it  to  the 
high-priest,  that  he  may  set  in  it  such  men  as  he  shall  clioose  to  keep  it.  Moreover,  I  freely  set  at  liberty 
every  one  of  tb.e  Jews  that  were  carried  captives  out  of  the  land  of  Judea  into  any  part  of  my  kingdom,  and 
I  will  that  all  tuy  oflicers  remit  the  tributes  even  of  their  cattle.  Furtliermore,  I  will  that  all  the  feasts, 
and  sabbaths,  and  new  moons,  and  solemn  days,  and  the  three  days  before  the  feast,  and  the  three  days  af- 
ter the  feast,  shall  be  all  days  of  immunity  and  freedom  for  all  the  Jews  of  rny  realm.  Also  no  man  shall 
have  authority  to  meddle  with  them,  or  to  molest  any  of  them  in  any  matter.  I  will  further,  that  there  be 
enrolled  among  the  king's  forces  about  thirty  thousand  men  of  the  Jews,  unto  whom  pay  shall  be  given,  as 
belongeth  to  all  the  king's  forces.  And  of  them  shall  be  placed  in  the  king's  strongliolds,  of  whom  also 
some  shall  be  set  over  the  alfairs  of  the  kingdom,  which  are  of  trust ;  and  I  will  that  their  overseers  and 
governors  be  of  themselves,  and  that  they  live  after  their  own  laws,  even  as  the  king  hath  commanded  in 
the  land  of  .ludea.  And  concerning  the  three  governments  that  are  added  to  Judea  from  the  country  of 
Samaria,  let  them  be  joined  with  Judea,  that  they  may  be  reckoned  to  be  under  one,  nor  bound  to  obey  other 
authority  than  the  high-priesfs.  As  for  Ptolemais,  and  the  land  pertaining  tlierelo,  I  give  it  as  a  free  gift 
to  the  sanctu:iry.  Moreover,  I  give  every  year  fifteen  thousand  shekels  of  silver  out  o/thc  king's  accounts 
to  the  places  appertaining.  And  all  the  overplus,  which  the  oflicers  payed  not  in  as  in  former  time,  hence 
forth  shall  be  given  toward  the  use  of  the  temple.  And  beside  this,  the  five  thousand  shekels  of  silver, 
which  they  took  I'rom  the  uses  of  the  temple  out  of  the  accounts  year  by  year,  even  those  things  shall  be 
released,  because  they  appertain  to  the  priests  that  minister.  And  wliosoever  they  be  that  flee  unto  the 
temple  at  Jerusalem,  or  be  within  the  liberties  thereof,  being  indebted  unto  the  king,  or  for  any  other  mat- 
ter, let  them  be  at  liberty,  and  all  that  they  have  in  my  realm.  For  the  building  also  and  the  repairing  of 
tin  works  of  the  sanctuary  expenses  shall  bo-'given  out  of  tlie  king's  account.  Yea,  and  for  the  building 
>f  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  fortifying  thereof  round  about,  expenses  sliall  be  given  out  n*'  tlie  king's 
count,  as  also  for  the  building  of  the  walls  of  Judea." 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


433 


28 


434  "•*'  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

bestowed  upon  hirn.  The  king  himself  remained  shut  up  in  Antioch,  awaiting  the 
succors  which  he  expected  from  his  father-in-law  of  Egypt.  Philometor  came  in- 
deed ;  but  having  discovered  a  plot  formed  against  his  life  by  the  favorite  Ammonias, 
and  the  infatuated  Balas  refusing  to  deliver  up  that  guilty  minister,  Ptolemy  testihed 
his  resentment  by  taking  away  his  daughter,  and  bestowing  her  on  Demetrius,  whose 
cause  he  thenceforth  espoused.  This  decided  the  contest.  Ammonius  was  slain  by 
the  citizens,  and  A.  Balas  only  avoided  a  similar  fate  by  flight.  The  character  which 
Ptolemy  Philometor  bore  among  the  Syrians  for  justice  and  clemency  was  so  high, 
that  they  pressed  him  to  accept  the  vacant  crown.  But  this  he  prudently  declined, 
and  recommended  the  rightful  heir  to  their  choice.  The  next  year  Alexander  ap- 
peared agahi,  in  a  condition  to  make  one  more  struggle  for  the  crown.  He  was  de- 
feated, and  fled  into  Arabia,  where  an  emir,  with  whom  he  sought  shelter,  rendered 
his  name,  Zabdiel,  infamous  by  tlie  murder  of  his  guest,  whose  head  he  sent  to  the 
king  of  Egypt.  That  monarch  himself  died  the  same  year  (B.  C.  146).  He  left  one 
son,  a  child,  who  was  put  to  death  by  Physcon,  who  now  reigned  sole  king  of  Egypt. 

In  Judea,  Jonathan  now  employed  himself  in  besieging  the  citadel  of  Jerusalem, 
which  still  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  apostate  Jews  and  the  Syrians,  and  Avhich  had 
so  long  proved  a  serious  annoyance  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  city.  Complaint  of  this 
operation  having  reached  Demetrius,  he  cited  Jonathan  to  Ptolemais  to  answer  for  his 
conduct.  He  went ;  but  left  orders  that  the  siege  should  be  vigorously  prosecuted  in 
his  absence.  He  took  with  him  valuable  presents  for  the  king,  by  which  and  other 
means  he  so  won  his  favor,  that  he  not  only  confirmed  him  in  the  high-priesthood  and 
all  his  other  honors,  but  also  ratified  the  offers  of  his  father,  which  Jonathan  had 
once  declined  for  the  friendship  of  Balas.  As  the  citadel  still  held  out,  Jonathan 
urged  the  king  to  withdraw  the  garrisons  from  it  and  from  Bethsura;  which  Deme- 
trius promised  to  do,  provided  the  Jews  would  send  a  reinforcement  to  put  down  a 
dangerous  disturbance  which  had  broken  out  at  Antioch  ;  for  the  new  king  had  al 
ready  managed,  by  his  gross  misconduct  and  cruelty,  to  alienate  the  affections  of  both 
his  Syrian  subjects  and  Egyptian  allies.  The  Jews  rendered  the  required  service. 
But  when  Demetrius  deemed  himself  secure,  and  without  further  need  of  them,  he 
behaved  Avith  great  ingratitude.  He  demanded  all  the  taxes,  tolls,  and  tributes  which 
he  had  promised  to  remit,  and  thus  succeeded  in  alienating  the  Jews  as  much  as  his 
other  subjects. 

Alexander  Balas  left  a  son  called  Antiochus,  whom  the  Arabian  emir  Zabdiel  had 
retained  in  his  hands  when  he  slew  the  father;  and  he  was  persuaded  by  Tryphon 
(the  former  governor  of  Antioch  under  A.  Balas)  to  send  the  young  prince  with  him 
to  lay  claim  to  the  throne  of  Syria.  Antiochus  was  joyfully  received  by  the  male- 
conlents,  and  by  the  numerous  soldiers  whom  the  false  economy  of  Demetrius  had 
disbanded.  In  a  pitched  battle,  Demetrius  was  defeated,  his  elephants  were  taken, 
and  Antioch  was  lost,  B.  C.  144. 

As  soon  as  Antiochus  VI.,  surnamed  Theos,  had  been  crowned,  his  guardian  Try- 
phon (for  Antiochus  was  but  a  child)  wrote  in  his  name  to  invite  the  adhesion  of 
Jonatnan  ;  and  offered  in  return  to  observe  faithfully  all  the  promises  which  Deme- 
trius had  broken,  and  to  appoint  his  brother  Simon  the  royal  governor  of  the  district 
extending  from  the  mountains  between  Tyre  and  Ptolemais  to  the  borders  of  Egypt. 
These  conditions  were  accepted  by  Jonathan,  who,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Syrian 
forces,  expelled  the  hostile  garrison  from  Gaza,  Bethsura,  and  Joppa ;  but  the  citadel 
of  Jerusalem  still  held  out  for  Demetrius. 

With  due  regard  to  the  past  and  the  future,  Jonathan  deemed  it  advisable  al  this 
time  to  seek  a  renewal  of  the  alliance  with  the  Romans.  The  ambassadors  were 
received  at  Rome  with  favor,  and  dismissed  with  assurances  of  friendship.  On  their 
return  they  (as  the  ambassadors  of  Judas  had  formerly  done)  visited  the  Spartans,  and 
concluded  a  league  with  them,  under  some  notion  which  the  Jews  entertained  that 
the  Spartans  were  of  the  stock  of  Abraham. 

Tryphon  had  contemplated  the  advancement  of  the  son  of  Alexander  Balas,  mere- 
ly as  a  means  of  intruding  himself  into  the  throne  of  Syria.  Things  were  now,  in 
his  judgment,  ripe  for  the  removal  of  the  young  king,  and  for  his  own  intrusion,  when 
he  found  that  Jonathan  was  likely  to  prove  an  obstacle  to  the  execution  of  his  design. 
He  therefore  invaded  Palestine,  and  had  advanced  as  far  as  Bethshan,  when,  being 
intimidated  by  the  appearance  of  Jonathan  with  forty  thousand  men,  he  pretended 
ihat   his  mission  was  entirely  of  a  friendly  nature — and  that  he  had  entered  the 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  435 

country  to  put  him  in  possession  of  Ptolemais.  He  played  this  part  so  naturally  that 
the  Jewish  hero  was  deceived,  and  dismissed  his  army,  saving  three  thousand  men, 
two  thousand  of  whom  he  left  in  Galilee,  and  advanced  with  the  other  thousand  to 
take  possession  of  Ptolemais.  He  had  no  sooner  entered  that  city  than  the  gales  were 
shut,  his  men  cut  in  pieces,  and  himself  laden  wiih  chains.  Not  long  after  he  was 
put  to  death  by  the  perfidious  Tryphon,  who  next  slew  his  young  master  and  set  on 
his  brows  the  Syrian  crown. 

The  Jews,  whose  prospects  had  lately  been  so  fair,  were  filled  with  consternation 
when  ihey  heard  of  the  captivity  and  subsequent  murder  of  Jonathan.  But  Simon, 
the  brother  of  Jonathan,  who  had  already  been  enabled  lo  prove  himself  a  true  Mac- 
cabee,  called  them  together  in  the  temple,  encouraged  them  to  make  a  vigorous  de- 
fence, and  offered  to  become  their  high-priest  and  leader  in  the  room  of  his  brother. 
He  said: — "Since  all  my  brethren  are  slain  for  Israel's  sake,  and  I  alone  am  left,  far 
be  it  from  me  to  spare  my  own  life  in  any  time  of  trouble."  The  offer  was  gladly 
accepted  by  the  people,  and  he  was  unanimously  elected  to  succeed  Jonathan  :  and, 
seeing  he  had  sons  of  high  promise,  it  was  decided  that  the  honors  to  which  Simon 
was  called  should  be  inherited  by  his  descendants.  The  form  of  expression  is  however 
remarkable,  as  showing  that  some  doubts  were  entertained  as  to  the  strict  legality  of 
this  procedure.  It  is  said,  "  The  Jews  and  the  priests  were  well  pleased  that  Simon 
should  be  their  governor  and  priest  [he  and  his  sons]  forever,  until  there  should  arise 
a  faithful  prophet  to  show  them  what  they  should  do." 

We  are  free  to  express  our  oyvn  opinion  that  the  three  brothers,  Judas,  Jonathan, 
and  Simon,  were  men  of  great  ability  and  unquestionable  courage;  and  we  believe 
they  sincerely  desired  the  welfare  of  their  country,  and  to  preserve  the  purity  of  re- 
ligious worship,  to  promote  which  objects  they  would  at  any  lime  have  shed  their  last 
blood.  But  we  think  also  that  Judas  is  the  only  one  of  the  brothers  of  whose  high 
moral  principle  or  disinterestedness  much  can  be  said.  From  the  time  that  Jonathan 
accepted  the  high-priesthood,  and  various  personal  honors,  from  Alexander  Balas,  it  is 
easy  to  detect  in  most  of  the  alternations  of  policy  a  leaning  to  that  course  which  included 
the  aggrandizement  of  the  family  and  the  promotion  of  its  chiefs.  We  do  not  say  or 
think  that  they  would  knowingly  have  sacrificed  any  public  object  to  their  own  ag- 
grandizement. But  the  disposition  to  seek  or  prefer  that  particular  good  to  our  coun- 
try which  comprehends  honor  or  power  to  ourselves,  belongs  to  a  lower  class  of  minds 
and  principles  than  that  which  refuses  wealth  or  power  in  connexion  with  any  public 
service,  lest  the  motive  of  that  service  might  be  suspected.  It  must  also  be  said,  that 
the  disposition  of  the  later  Maccabees  to  play  fast  and  loose  between  the  competitors 
for  the  Syrian  crown,  and  equally  to  accept  the  favors  which  rival  kings  offered,  when 
it  was  impossible  to  perform  equally  to  both  the  conditions  which  were  expected  in 
return,  is  not  entitled  to  much  praise. 

Had  Jonathan  and  Simon  been  perfectly  disinterested  men,  the  obvious  duty  imposed 
upon  them  by  the  Law  would  have  been  to  direct  the  attention  of  the  Jews  and 
of  the  Syrian  king  to  Onias,  then  in  Egypt,  as  the  rightful  high-priest,  of  the  elder 
branch  of  the  family  of  Aaron,  who  was  unsuspected  of  any  idolatrous  taint,  and 
whose  abilities  were  of  no  common  order:  and  the  promises  of  tlie  continuance  of 
the  sceptre  of  Judah  to  the  house  of  David,  should  have  induced  Simon,  at  lea'st, 
when  affairs  were  taking  a  turn  favorable  to  the  independence  of  the  nation,  to 
direct  the  hopes  of  Israel  toward  some  able  member  of  that  illustrious  house.  But 
it  is  time  to  return  to  follow  the  course  of  our  narrative. 

Sinrion  removed  the  corpse  of  his  illustrious  brother  from  Boscana,  in  Gilead,  where 
he  was  slain,  to  the  family  sepulchre  at  Modin,  where  he  subsequently  erected  a 
noble  mausoleum,  which  was  still  standing  in  the  timeof  Eusebius  and  Jerome. 

At  the  first  opportunity,  Simon  sent  an  embassy  to  Rome  and  Lacedaemon  to  an- 
nounce to  the  senate  the  death  of  his  brother,  and  his  own  succession  to  his  dignities, 
and  to  seek  a  renewal  of  the  alliance.  Both  nations  received  the  ambassadors  with 
honor,  expressed  the  usual  regret,  and  the  usual  congratulations,  and  readily  renewed 
the  treaty,  with  the  terms  of  which  graven  on  brass  the  deputation  returned. 

The  f^rst  care  of  Simon  was  to  put  the  country  in  a  state  of  defence,  by  repairing 
the  fortresses  and  furnishing  them  with  provisions.  As  the  conflict  between  Tryphon 
and  Demetrius  still  continued,  and  it  was  the  unhappiness  of  the  Jews  that  their  po- 
sition did  not  allow  them  to  remain  neutral,  there  were  many  sufficient  causes  to  in- 
duce them  to  prefer  the  side  of  Demetrius,  notwithsiandmg  the  ill-treatment  thevha 


436  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

formerly  received  from  him.  This  personage,  although  nearly  the  whole  of  Syiia 
was  lost  to  him,  remained  in  luxurious  repose  at  Laodicea,  whither  Simon  sent  am- 
bassadors to  him,  with  a  crown  of  gold,  to  treat  about  the  renewal  of  the  former 
terms  of  accommodation.  To  this  Demetrius,  in  his  fallen  estate,  most  gladly  agreed, 
confirming  solemnly  all  the  immunities  and  privileges  specified  in  his  father's  letter 
to  Jonathan,  with  an  act  of  amnesty  for  all  past  offences.  These  privileges  were  so 
great  that  they  may  be  said  to  have  raised  the  nation  to  a  state  of  independence. 
The  Jews  themselves  certainly  considered  that  they  were  by  this  act  delivered  from 
the  Syrian  yoke;  and  therefore  this  first  year  of  Simon's  reign  (B.  C.  143),  as  high- 
priest  and  ethnarch,  or,  in  short,  as  Prince  of  the  Jews,  they  signalized  by  making  it 
an  epoch  from  which  to  compute  their  times.  This  era  is  used  on  the  coins  of  Simon, 
as  well  as  by  Josephus  and  the  author  of  the  first  book  of  Maccabees. 

The  next  care  of  Simon  was  to  reduce  the  strong  fortresses  that  still  held  out. 
Gaza  he  took,  and  expelled  the  idolatrous  inhabitants;  and  the  citadel  of  Jerusalem, 
which  had  so  long  been  a  thorn  in  the  sides  of  the  Maccabees,  was  compelled  by  the 
famine  which  a  rigorous  blockade  produced,  to  surrender  in  B.  C.  142.  Aware  of  the 
valor  of  his  son  John,  Simon  made  him  captain-general  of  his  forces,  and  sent  him  to 
reside  in  Gazara  on  the  sea-coast ;  while  he  made  the  temple-mount  at  Jerusalem 
his  own  residence.  This  he  strongly  fortified ;  and  his  palace  probably  stood  on  the 
site  which  the  castle  of  Antonia  afterward  occupied. 

Having  thus  gained  complete  possession  of  the  country,  and  the  rights  and  liberties 
of  the  nation  being  established,  a  great  council  of  the  nation  was  held  at  Jerusalem, 
which  testified  its  gratitude  by  confirming  to  Simon  all  his  honors,  and,  in  more  dis- 
tinct terms  than  before,  entailed  them  on  his  descendants.  This  decree  of  the  as- 
sembly was  graven  on  brass,  and  fixed  to  a  monument  which  was  erected  in  the 
temple-court. 

Anxious  to  have  the  independence  conceded  by  Demetrius  recognised  by  the 
Romans,  another  embassy  was  sent  to  the  senate,  with  a  present  of  a  shield  of  gold, 
weighing  one  thousand  minse,  equal,  at  the  lowest  compulation,  to  fifiy  thousand 
pounds  sterling.  The  deputation  was  well  received,  and  the  present  graciously  ac- 
cepted. Their  suit  was  granted,  and  missions  were  sent  by  the  senate  to  the  kings 
of  Egypt,  Pergamus,  Cappadocia,  Syria  (Demetrius),  and  Parthia,  and  to  all  the 
cities  and  states  of  Greece,  Asia  Minor,  and  of  the  isles  in  alliance  with  the  Romans, 
to  engage  them  to  treat  the  Jews  as  their  friends  and  allies,  B.  C.  141. 

In  the  same  year  Demetrius,  whose  cause  appeared  to  be  lost  in  the  west,  was  in- 
vited to  the  east  by  large  promises  of  support  in  any  attempt  he  might  make  to  bring 
back  the  Parthians  to  their  allegiance.  He  was  at  first  successful,  but  was  in  the 
end  surprised  and  made  prisoner  by  the  Parthians.  In  this  war  he  was  assisted  by  a 
body  of  Jews  under  the  command  of  John  the  son  of  Simon,  whose  exploits  in  Hyr- 
cania  procured  him  the  honorary  surname  of  Hyrcanus.  As  for  Demetrius,  he  was 
well  treated  by  the  Parthian  king,  Arsaces  V.,  otherwise  called  Miihridates;  who  in- 
deed first  took  care  to  exhibit  him  in  different  parts  of  his  empire,  but  afierward  sent 
him  into  Hyrcania,  where  he  treated  him  with  the  respect  due  to  his  rank,  and  even 
gave  him  his  daughter  Rhodoguna  in  marriage.  Meanwhile  his  cause  in  Syria  was 
maintained  against  Tryphon  by  his  wife  Cleopatra,  who  had  shut  herself  up,  with 
her  children,  in  Seleucia  on  the  Orontes;  and  a  powerful  force,  composed  of  persons 
discontented  with  the  government  of  Tryphon,  was  gathering  around  her,  when  she 
heard  that  her  capiive  husband  had  married  Rhodoguna.  Tliis  offended  her  pride, 
and  was  also  calculated  to  weaken  her  party.  Therefoie,  from  both  pi)licy  and  re- 
venge, she  sent  to  Antiochus,  the  brother  of  Demetrius,  who  was  then  at  Rhodes, 
and  made  him  the  offer  of  her  hand  and  of  the  kingdom.  Antiochus  Vll.,  who,  fmm 
his  passion  for  hunting,  received  the  surname  of  Sidetes  ("  the  hunter"),  eagerly  ac- 
cepted the  proposal,  and  delayed  not  to  assume  the  title  of  king  of  Syria,  although  as 
yet  unable  to  proceed  to  the  continent,  B.  C.  141. 

The  next  year  (B.  C.  140)  Antiochus  wrote  "from  the  isles  of  the  sea,"  being  still 
at  Rhodes,  "  to  Simon  the  high-priest  and  ethnarch,  and  to  the  people  of  the  Jews," 
'announcing  his  intention  of  coming  speedily  to  recover  the  dominions  of  hi^  father 
from  the  usurper  Tryphon;  and,  to  secure  their  assistance,  confirming  all  the  ])rivi- 
leges  granted  by  former  kings,  together  with  the  royal  privilege  of  coining  money, 
which  seems  the  only  one  which  former  kmgs  had  withheld,  or  which  seemed  want- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  437 

ing  to  complete  the  sort  of  secondary  independeace  which  they  had  by  this  time  ac- 
quired. 

The  year  after  (B.  C.  139)  Antiochus  landed  in  Syria  to  attack  Tryphon,  with 
whose  tyrannies  the  people  and  even  the  soldiers  had  become  completely  weary.  On 
the  appearance  of  Sidetes  he  was  deserted  by  most  of  his  forces,  and  he  therefore 
fled  to  Dora  (south  of  Carinel)  on  the  coast  of  Palestine.  Antiochus  pursued  and  be- 
sieged him  there;  but  he  fled  by  ship  to  Orthosia,  a  maritime  town  of  Phoenicia; 
and,  asjain,  thence  to  Apamea,  where  he  was  taken  and  put  to  death. 

Finding  with  how  much  more  facility  than  he  had  been  prepared  to  expect,  the 
kingdumlell  to  him,  Antiochus,  very  soon  after  his  landing,  formed  the  intention  of 
reducing  to  their  former  complete  subjection  to  the  Syrian  crown,  the  provinces  and 
cities  wliich  hud  availed  themselves  of  the  troubled  reigns  of  his  predecessors  to  ac- 
quire such  indepe;idence  as  the  Jews  had  established.  This  was  an  intention  which 
any  king  in  those  times  was  likely  to  have  formed  with  reference  to  privileges  so 
recent,  and  so  much  extorted  by  temporary  emergencies,  and  by  which  the  power 
and  dignity  of  the  crown  were  so  seriously  impaired.  Antiochus  probably  considered 
his  own  acts  more  binding  than  the  treaties  obtained  from  the  usurper  Balas,  or  from 
the  distressed  Demetrius  ;  yet  even  his  own  letter,  written  in  the  expectation  of  need- 
ing the  aid  which  the  event  proved  that  he  did  not  require,  was  not  likely  to  be  con- 
sidered by  him  any  strong  bar  to  the  execution  of  his  design. 

His  intentions  were  indicated  on  his  first  arrival  in  Palestine,  to  besiege  Tryphon 
in  Dora.  Simon  then  sent  two  thousand  men  to  assist  him  in  the  siege,  with  a  good 
supply  of  warlike  stores  and  engines,  but  the  king  declined  to  receive  them,  and  sent 
over  to  Jerusalem  one  of  his  generals,  named  Athenobius,  with  a  requisition  for  the 
surrender  of  Joppa,  Gazara,  and  the  citadel  of  Jerusalem,  which  belonged  to  the 
Syrian  crown,  or  else  to  pay  five  hundred  talents  for  each  of  the  former,  and  five 
hundred  more  for  the  arrears  of  tribute  from  those  cities  beyond  the  limits  of  Judea 
of  which  the  Jews  had  gained  possession,  and  on  account  of  ravages  which  they  haa 
committed  in  his  dominions.  This  demand  was  sl>ilfully  framed  to  steer  clear  of  any 
points  comprehended  in  the  treaties  or  in  the  letter  of  Antiochus  himself,  and  the  de- 
mand seems  upon  the  whole  as  moderate  as  could  be  framed  consistently  with  the 
intention  of  retaining  some  hold  upon  the  country.  Writers  call  the  answer  of  Simon 
"wise."  It  appears  to  us  rather  feeble.  He  denied  that  the  Jews  held  any  posses- 
sions but  what  belonged  to  their  fathers,  and  which  they  had  fomid  opportunity  to 
recover.  With  regard  to  the  fortified  towns  of  Joppa  and  Gazara,  he  called  attention 
to  the  injuries  which  the  people  had  been  continually  receiving  from  those  places,  as 
justifying  the  measures  he  had  taken;  but  he  Avas  willing  to  give  the  king  one  hun- 
dred talents  for  the  right  of  possession.  Athenobius  returned  with  this  answer  to  the 
king,  to  whom  also  he  gave  a  very  flaming  account  of  the  slate  and  splendor  in  which 
Simon  lived,  and  of  the  large  quantities  of  gold  and  silver  plate  which  appeared  in 
his  house  and  at  his  table.  At  this  the  king  was  so  moved,  that  he  sent  an  army 
under  Cendebeus  to  invade  Judea  :  but  he  was  met  and  defeated  by  John  Hyrcanus 
and  Judas,  the  two  sons  of  Simon  ;  and  the  Syrians  were  expelled  the  country. 

The  peace  purchased  by  this  victory  was  not  of  long  duration.  Simon  availed  him- 
self of  it  to  make  a  tour  of  inspection  through  the  country,  in  the  course  of  which  he 
arrived  at  Jericho,  where  he  took  up  his  abode  in  the  castle  of  his  son-in-law  Ptolemy, 
who  was  governor  there.  This  Ptolemy,  desiring  to  secure  the  government  to  him- 
self, caused  the  old  man  and  his  two  sons,  Mattathias  and  Judas,  to  be  treacherously 
murdered  at  an  entertainment.  He  also  sent  a  party  to  destroy  John  Hyrcanus  at 
Gazara;  but  John  had  timely  warning,  and  fled  to  Jerusalem,  where  he  was  readily 
recofjnised  by  the  people  as  the  successor  of  his  father  in  the  high-priesthood,  and  m 
the  principality  of  Judea.  Then  Ptolemy,  against  whom  the  people  of  Jerusalem 
shut  their  gates,  fled  to  a  fortress  near  Jericho,  and  thence  to  Zeno,  the  prmce 
of  Philadelphia  (Rabbath-Ammon),  probably  to  await  there  the  arrival  of  Antiochus, 
to  whom  he  had  sent,  desiring  the  assistance  of  an  army  to  reduce  Judea  again  to  the 
Syrian  yoke.  But  his  name  occurs  in  history  no  more;  whence  it  is  probable  that 
although  Antiochus  may  have  liked  the  crime,  he  hated  the  criminal,  and  would  af- 
ford him  no  counteaance.  However,  the  king  marched  a  large  army  into  Judea  in 
B.  C.  135,  and  having  ravaged  the  country,  advanced  to  besiege  Hyrcanus  in  Jeru- 
salem, which  was  soon  reduced  to  great  extremities  for  want  of  provisions,  which  had 
been  scarce  that  year.     On  the  approach  of  the  feast  of  Tabernacles  m  autumn,  Hyr- 


fflv 


438  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 


canus  besought  a  week's  truce  for  the  celebration  of  the  feast ;  and  this  was  not  only- 
granted  by  Antiochus,  but  he  furnished  the  victims  required  for  sacrifice,  which  could 
not  be  procured  within  the  city.  Finally,  he  concluded  a  peace  with  the  Jews,  when 
It  was  in  his  power  to  extirpate  them  from  the  country,  and  he  was  exhorted  by  many 
to  do  so,  but  generously  refused.  He  was  content  to  dismantle  Jerusalem,  and  to  bind 
them  to  pay  tribute  (not  for  their  proper  country,  but)  for  Joppa  and  other  towns  be- 
yond the  limits  of  Judea,  which  they  had  either  taken  by  arms,  or  held  by  the  grants 
of  his  predecessors. 

Four  years  after  (B.  C.  131),  Antiochus  Sidetes  marched  with  a  great  army  against 
the  Parthians,  under  the  pretence  of  delivering  .is  brother  Demetrius.  Hyrcanus  ac- 
companied him  in  this  expedition,  and  left  him  victorious  in  three  battles  over  the 
Parthian  king  Phraates,  which  put  A.  Sidetes  in  possession  of  Babylonia,  Media,  and 
the  other  revoked  provinces,  and  confined  the  Parthians  within  the  original  limits  of 
their  own  kingdom.  But  while  the  Syrian  army  was  dispersed  in  Avinler  quarters,  the 
Parthians,  assisted  by  the  natives,  conspired  against  them,  and  slew  them  all  in  one 
whole  day;  Antiochus  himself  perished  in  the  massacre,  and  scarcely  a  man  remained 
to  bear  back  to  Syria  the  report  of  the  catastrophe. 

Upon  this  Phraates  sent  to  re-take  Demetrius,  whom,  after  having  been  vanquished 
in  the  former  campaign,  he  had  liberated,  and  sent  back  to  Syria,  to  create  such  a  di- 
version there  as  might  induce  Antiochus  to  relinquish  his  enterprise.  But  Demetrius 
made  such  speed  that  he  escaped  the  pursuit,  and,  on  his  re-appearance  in  Syria, 
coupled  with  the  news  of  the  death  of  his  brother,  he  was  enabled  to  recover  his 
throne  without  much  difficulty. 

Hyrcanus  neglected  not  to  avail  himself  of  the  confusion  into  which  the  Syrian 
empire  fell,  and  the  loss  of  strength  which  it  sustained  after  the  downfall  of  A.  Side- 
tes. He  got  possession  of  several  towns  on  the  sea-coast,  and  beyond  Jordan,  and  an- 
nexed them  to  his  territories.  He  also  rendered  himself  more  completely  inde- 
pendent ;  for  after  this  neither  he  nor  his  descendants  paid  any  more  tribtihe,  service, 
or  homage  to  the  kings  of  Syria.  Next  Hyrcanus  invaded  Samaria.  He  took  She- 
chem,  the  chief  seat  of  the  Samaritans,  and  demolished  the  temple  which  they  had 
built  on  mount  Gerizim.  However,  they  continued  to  have  an  altar  on  the  spot,  on 
which  they  have  offered  sacrifices,  according  to  the  Levitical  law,  even  to  this  day. 
After  this,  Hyrcanus  invaded  and  subdued  the  Idumeans,  to  whom  he  offered  the  al- 
ternative of  either  relinquishing  their  idolatries  and  embracing  the  Jewish  religion, 
or  else  of  leaving  the  country  into  which  they  had  intruded,  and  seeking  a  settlement 
elsewhere.  They  preferred  the  former  alternatives,  and  as  proselytes,  gradually  be- 
came so  incorporated  with  the  Jews  as  to  be  counted  one  people  with  them ;  and  at 
length  the  name  itself  was  lost,  or  absorbed  in  that  of  the  Jews.* 

The  course  of  events  now  again  calls  our  attention  to  Egypt.  That  country  was 
still  ruled  by  Ptolemy  Physcon,  whose  gross  and  beast-like  person  bore  the  very  im- 
press of  that  cruel  and  voluptuous  character  which  belonged  to  him.  We  gladly  hurry 
over  the  revolting  theme  which  his  character  and  conduct  offer,  merely  to  mention 
that  Cleopatra,  the  sister  of  the  late  Philometor  and  himself  became  the  wife  of  the 
former,  by  whom  he  had  a  son,  and  two  daughters,  both  of  the  name  of  Cleopatra, 
After  the  death  of  Philometor,  his  young  son  was  slain  by  Physcon,  who  also  married 
the  widow,  his  own  sister.  Of  the  two  daughters,  one  was  that  Cleopatra  who  was 
married  to  Alexander  Balas,  king  of  Syria,  then  to  Demetrius  Nicator,  then  to  Antio- 
chus Sidetes,  and  after  the  return  of  Demetrius  became  his  wife  again.  Her  sister, 
the  other  Cleopatra,  was  defiled  by  her  uncle  Physcon,  who  afterward  repudiated  his 
wife  (her  mother  and  his  own  sister),  and  married  this  young  princess.  His  oppres- 
sions and  cruelties  toward  his  subjects  were  so  severe,  that  at  last  they  could  bear 
them  no  longer,  but  rose  against  him,  and  compelled  him  to  flee  to  Cyprus.  The 
people  then  intrusted  the  government  to  his  sister  and  divorced  wife,  the'  elder  Cleo- 
patra. Her  son  by  him  was  with  his  father  at  Cyprus,  and  Physcon,  fearing  that  the 
son's  name  might  be  used  to  strengthen  Cleopatra  on  the  throne,  slew  him,  and  sent 
his  head,  feet,  and  hands  to  her,  directing  that  they  should  be  given  her  in  the  midst 
of  an  entertainment.     In  the  war  which  followed,  Physcon  was  victorious,  and  Cleo- 

*  Tlie  ratjbins  indeed  have  long  spoken  and  still  speak  of  Edoni  and  theEdomites  as  existing.  But  these 
are  merely  feigned  and  well  understood  names  for  denoting,  not  Edom,  but  Rome  and  Christendom,  and 
not  the  Edomites,  but  the  Christians  of  the  Roman  empire,  and  of  the  states  into  which  that  empire  broke 
up,  for  fear  of  incurring  the  displeasure  of  the  nations  among  which  they  dwelt,  if  they  said  of  them,  with- 
out disguise,  all  they  wished  to  say. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  439 

patra  in  her  despair  sent  to  Demetrius  of  Syria,  the  husband  of  her  eldest  daughter, 
ofTering  him  the  crown  of  Egypt  if  he  would  come  with  an  army  to  her  aid.  Allured 
by  the  splendid  bribe,  Demetrius  immediately  marched  an  army  through  Palestine 
into  Egypt.  But,  while  he  was  engaged  in  the  siege  of  Pelusium,  Antioch  and 
several  other  of  his  own  cities  revolted  from  him,  and  he  was  obliged  to  abandon  the 
prospect  before  him  and  return  the  way  he  came.  Cleopatra  then  fled  to  seek  pro- 
tection with  her  daughter  the  queen  of  Syria,  who  then  resided  at  Ptolemais  in  Pal- 
estine. Physcon  then  regained  possession  of  his  throne,  which  he  retained  until  his 
death  in  B.  C.  117. 

The  passage  and  return  of  the  Syrian  through  Palestine  could  not  but  be  attended 
with  much  annoyance  to  the  Jews,  and  it  may  be  proper  to  regard  it  as  in  some 
measure  the  cause  of  the  embassy  which  Hyrcanus  sent  to  Rome  the  same  year  (B. 
C.  128),  to  solicit  the  renewal  of  the  treaties  into  which  the  senate  had  entered  with 
his  predecessors,  and  to  complain  of  the  small  attention  which  Antiochus  and  Deme- 
trius had  paid  to  its  former  mandates.  The  ambassadors  were  received  with  the 
usual  favor  by  the  senate,  which  readily  consented  to  renew  the  treaty  which  had 
been  concluded  with  Simon,  and  which  moreover  took  upon  itself  to  abrogate  the  dis- 
advantageous treaty  which  the  Jews  had  been  compelled  to  make  with  A.  Sidetes. 
It  also  decreed  tliat  Hyrcanus  should  hold  the  towns  of  Joppa,  Gazara,  and  others  be- 
yond the  limits  of  Judea,  without  paying  tribute  for  them  to  the  Syrian  kings;  and 
that  the  latter  should  not  presume  to  march  armies  through  Palestine  without  per- 
mission. This  last  clause  was  doubtless  intended  to  check  the  enterprises  of  the  kings 
of  Syria  against  Egypt.  Ambassadors  were  appointed  to  see  all  this  executed ;  and  the 
Jewish  deputation  were  furnished  with  money  to  bear  their  expenses  home.  Hyrca- 
nus was  too  sensible  of  the  importance  of  these  favors  to  neglect  the  expression  of  his 
gratitude;  and  the  next  year  another  embassy  was  sent  to  Rome  with  a  present  of  a 
cup  and  shield  of  gold,  which  the  senate  accepted,  and  passed  another  decree  con- 
firming the  former.  By  these  treaties,  as  well  as  by  the  unquiet  slate  of  the  Syrian 
kingdom,  Hyrcanus  was  much  strengthened  in  what  we  may  now  call  his  dominions. 

Demetrius  was  one  of  those  men  whom  even  adversity  could  not  improve.  After 
his  restoration,  he  fell  into  the  same  misconduct  which  had  before  occasioned  him  the 
loss  of  his  kingdom.  His  subjects  again  were  alienated  from  him  ;  and  readily  joined 
a  competitor  who  was  brought  forward  and  supported  by  P.  Physcon,  in  revenge  for 
the  recent  attempt  of  Demetrius  to  take  possession  of  his  kingdom.  The  young  man 
put  forward  on  this  occasion  was  the  son  of  a  merchant  of  Alexandria,  and  claimed 
to  be  the  adopted  son  of  Antiochus  Sidetes,  or  (according  to  some)  of  Alex  nder 
Balas.  He  assumed  the  name  of  Alexander,  but  was  nicknamed  in  derision,  Zebinas 
("  the  bought  one").  Notwithstanding  the  weakness  of  his  pretensions,  he  easily 
succeeded  in  depriving  the  universally  disliked  Demetrius  of  his  kingdom  and  life, 
B.  C.  126. 

Zebinas  was  an  equitable  and  popular  ruler;  but  he  did  not  obtain  the  whole  of 
the  kingdom,  as  part  was  retained  by  (^^leopatra — that  wife  of  many  husbands  who 
has  so  often  been  named.  To  strengthen  her  cause,  she  caused  Seleucus,  her  son  by 
Demetrius,  to  be  proclaimed  king  of  Syria,  but  retained  all  power  in  her  own  hands  ; 
and  when  in  the  twentieth  year  of  his  age  (B.  C.  124)  he  manifested  a  desire  really  to 
reign,  she  slew  him  by  a  javelin  with  her  own  hands.  A.  Zebinas,  on  the  other  hand, 
strengthened  his  cause  by  an  alliance  with  John  Hyrcanus,  who  skilfully  availed  him- 
self of  all  these  troubles  to  confirm  his  independence,  and  to  enlarge  his  dominion. 
Zebinas  could  not,  however,  long  maintain  his  position.  A  very  proper  and  spirited 
refusal  to  do  homage  to  P.  Physcon  for  the  crown  of  Syria,  lost  him  the  support  and  pro- 
cured him  the  enmity  of  that  monarch,  who  inmiediately  came  to  terms  with  Cleopatra, 
and  furnished  her  with  an  army  whereby  Zebinas  was  defeated,  and  ultimately  fell  into 
the  hands  of  Ptolemy,  who  put  him  to  death.  Thus  Cleopatra  became  mistress  of  all 
Syria,  her  younger  son  by  Demetrius,  Antiochus  VHL,  surnamed  Gryphus  ("hook- 
nosed," from  ypvip,  a  vulture),  being  seated  on  the  throne.  Soon  after  (B.  C.  120),  finding 
that  Gryphus  was  also  disposed  to  claim  the  power  as  well  as  name  of  king,  she  pre- 
pared poison  for  him;  but  she  was  detected,  and  the  king  compelled  his  murderous 
mother  to  drink  the  poisoned  cup  herself 

Ptolemy  Physcon  died  in  B.  C.  117,  twenty-nine  years  after  his  brother  Philometor. 
He  left  all  power  in  the  hands  of  Cleopatra,'  his  wife  and  daughter-in-law — sister  of 
the  Syrian  queen  whose  doom  concluded  the  last  paragraph.     Physcon  had  by  her 


440  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

two  sons,  Lathyrus  and  Alexander,  and  left  to  Cleopatra  the  choice  of  a  king  from 
them.  She  would  have  preferred  the  youngest,  Alexander ;  but  the  voice  of  the  peo- 
ple compelled  her  to  appoint  Ptolemy  Lathyrus. 

Aiitiochus  Gryphus  had  a  half-brother,  whom  his  mother  Cleopatra  had  borne  to 
Antiochus  Sidetes.  This  young  prince  was  sent  by  his  mother  to  be  brought  up  at 
Cyzicus  on  the  Propontis,  and  hence  his  name  of  Antiochus  Cyzicenus.  He  soon  ap- 
peared as  a  competitor  for  the  Syrian  throne,  and  after  various  conflicts  the  brothers 
agreed  in  B.  C.  1 12  to  divide  the  empire  between  them.  A.  Cyzicenus  obtaind  Coele- 
Syria  and  PhcEnicia,  and  fixed  his  residence  at  Damascus.  Both  the  kings  were 
heartless  libertines ;  and  their  relatively  uneasy  position  gave  them  too  much  employ- 
ment, in  watching  and  annoying  each  other,  to  permit  them  to  interfere  much  with 
the  Jews,  whose  princes  well  knew  how  to  avail  themselves  of  such  opportunities  to 
aggrandize  the  power  of  the  nation. 

There  is  one  exception.  In  B.  C.  110  Hyrcanus  ventured  to  besiege  Samaria,  the 
inhabiiants  of  which  were  not  Samaritans,  properly  so  called,  but  were  descended 
from  the  Syro-Macedonian  colony,  which  Alexander  planted  there  when  he  rooted 
out  the  former  inhabitants.  The  siege  was  conducted  by  Hyrcanus  himself,  with  his 
two  sons  Aristobulus  and  Antigonus.  They  enclosed  the  city  by  a  wall  and  a  ditch, 
and  all  supplies  being  thus  completely  cut  off",  the  place  was  soon  reduced  to  tbe  last 
extremity  from  scarcity  of  food.  In  this  emergency,  the  besieged  sent  to  A.  Cyzice- 
nus, supplicating  his  aid.  He  marched  himself  to  aff'ord  it ;  but  was  met  on  the  way 
by  a  detachment  of  the  Jewish  army  under  the  command  of  Aristobulus.  In  a  bloody 
entragement  the  Syrians  were  totally  routed,  and  A.  Cyzicenus  himself  escaped  with 
ditiiculty.  In  the  next  year  (B.  C.  109)  Samaria  was  taken  and  totally  demolished. 
This  victory,  with  its  results,  made  Hyrcanus  master  of  all  Judea,  Samaria,  and  Gali- 
lee, and  of  several  places  beyond  their  limits  ;  and  raised  the  glory  of  the  Asamonean 
princes  to  its  height.  Hyrcanus  spent  the  rest  of  his  reign  without  foreign  wars,  and 
respected  by  all  the  neighboring  potentates.  He  died  in  B.  C.  106,  after  a  reign  of 
thirty  years. 

Hyrcanus  left  the  principality  to  his  wife ;  but  Aristobulus,  his  eldest  son,  soon  pos- 
sessed himself  of  the  government ;  and  as  his  mother  refused  to  lay  down  her  author- 
ity, he  committed  her  to  prison,  where  she  perished  of  hunger.  Having  established 
himself  in  the  principality  and  high-priesthood,  Aristobulus  ventured  on  the  very 
questionable  step  of  assuming  the  diadem  and  regal  title.  And  thus  (as  seems  to 
have  been  predicted  by  Zechariah,  vi.  9 — 15)  was  brought  about  that  state  of  things, 
which  early  existed  in  Egvpt  and  other  countries,  in  which  the  offices  of  the  king 
and  high-priest  were  united  in  the  same  person.  Aristobulus  availed  himself  of  the 
disagreements  between  the  two  kings  of  Syria  to  extend  his  dominions.  He  subdued 
Iturea  beyond  Jordan,  and  offered  the  inhabitants  the  alternative  of  circumcision  or 
expatriation.  They  preferred  the  former,  and  accordingly  became  Jews,  and  were 
incorporated  with  the  Jewish  nation.  Aristobulus  fell  sick  during  this  campaign, 
leaving  liis  brother  Antigonus  to  complete  the  subjection  of  the  country,  and  the  set- 
tlement of  its  affairs.  On  the  return  of  the  latter  to  Jerusalem,  the  king  was  taught 
to  regard  him  as  one  who  aimed  at  liis  life  and  kingdom,  and  under  that  mistaken  im- 
pression, ordered  his  death.  Discovering  his  error,  he  fell  sick  and  died  after  a  reign 
of  only  one  year,  B.  C.  105. 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  brother,  the  third  son  of  Hyrcanus,  Alexander  Jannaeus, 
whose  Hebrew  name  was  probably  Jonathan ;  as  the  name  of  "  Jonathan"  or  "  King 
Jonathan,"  occurs  on  some  coins  in  the  Hebrew,  while  the  reverse  has  the  legend 
"  King  Alexander"  hi  Greek.  He  had  been  brought  up  in  Galilee,  and  from  early 
childhood  he  had  not  been  admitted  to  the  presence  of  his  father.  Alexander  pur- 
sued the  policy  of  his  predecessors,  of  turning  to  his  own  advantage  the  divisions  in 
the  Syrian  empire.  JNor  was  he  singular  in  this,  for  many  cities  (Tyre,  Ptolemais, 
Gaza,  Dora,  and  others)  had  contrived  to  make  themselves  independent.  The  three 
last  of  the  cities  we  have  named,  A.  Jannaeus  desired  to  subdue  to  his  own  power; 
which  seems  to  us  a  very  unprincipled  design  ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  find  anything  like 
principle  in  any  public  transactions  of  any  parties  in  this  most  unprincipled  age.  In 
B.  C.  104  he  took  the  field  against  Ptolemais,  and  detached  a  part  of  his  army  against 
Dora  and  (Jaza.  Before  this  time  (namely,  in  B.  C.  107),  Ptolemy  Lathyrus  had  been 
expelled  from  Egypt  by  his  mother,  and  withdrew  to  Cyprus,  where  he  reigned  up  to 
the  dale  to  which  we  have  now  come.     To  him  the  beleaguered  cities  now  applied 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  441 

for  aid.  This  he  readily  granted,  and  landed  in  Palestine  wifh  an  army  of  30,000 
men.  He  was  very  successful,  defeating  Alexander  in  a  pitched  battle  on  the  banks 
of  the  Jordan,  in  which  the  Jews  lost  30,000  men,  and  then  overrunning  and  furiously 
ravaging  the  country,  so  that  the  Asamonean  cause  seemed  on  the  brink  of  utter 
ruin,  when  Cleopatra,  the  queen  of  Egypt,  fearing  that  the  conquest  of  Palestine  by 
Lathyrus  would  be  but  a  step  toward  the  invasion  of  Egypt,  sent  an  army  to  the  assist- 
ance of  Alexander.  By  this  means  he  recovered  his  footing,  and  Lathyrus  was  com- 
pelled to  withdraw  to  Cyprus,  B.  C.  lOl.  Alexander  had  gained  none  of  the  original 
objecis  of  the  war  he  had  so  unjustly  commenced,  and  the  nation  had  suffered  sreatly. 
The  king  soon  after  paid  a  visit  to  the  Egyptian  queen,  to  whom  he  had  been  so 
much  indebted.  This  visit  had  nearly  proved  fatal  to  him.  This  ambitious  and  un- 
scrupulous woman  was  advised  to  put  him  to  death  and  unite  Judea  to  Egypt:  and 
she  was  inclining  to  such  suggestions,  when  the  interposition  of  Ananias,  the  Jewish 
cammander  of  her  forces,  inclined  her  to  a  more  just  and  generous  policy,  and  she 
concluded  an  alliance  with  Jannaeus  at  Bethshan  (Scythopolis). 

After  Cleopatra  had  returned  to  her  own  Kountrv,  Alexander  began  to  resume  his 
former  projects  of  reducing  to  his  yoke  the  towns  and  fortresses  on  his  borders — pur- 
suing, in  short,  the  same  needlessly  aggressive  policy  which  had  well  njfjh  been  his 
ruin.  Gadara  he  took  after  a  ten  months'  siege.  HV  also  took  the  strong  fortress  of 
Amathus  beyond  Jordan;  but  on  his  return  he  was  surprised  and  defeated  with  the 
loss  often  thousand  men,  by  the  prince  of  Philadelphia,  whose  treasures  had  been  de- 
posited there,  and  returned  with  disgrace  to  Jerusalem.  He  was  a  Sadducee  :  this, 
and  his  other  humiliations,  were  therefore  matters  of  hisfh  satisfaction  to  the  Phari- 
sees, who  had  great  infiuence  with  the  mass  of  the  people,  which  thev  employed  with 
much  success,  to  alienate  iheir  affections  from  Alexander.  The  king,  nothing  dis- 
couraged, turned  his  attention  to  the  towns  on  his  southern  border.  Raphia  and  An- 
thedon  he  took  :  the  conquest  of  Gaza  was  more  difficult ;  but  at  last  he  won  it  by 
treachery,  burned  it,  and  massacred  the  inhabitants,  but  with  so  much  loss  to  his  own 
troops,  that  he  returned  with  little  honor  and  less  spoil  to  Jerusalem. 

The  long  cherished  liatred  of  the  Pharisees,  and  dislike  of  the  people  toward  the 
king,  broke  out  openly  in  the  year  B.  C.  95.  He  was  officiating  as  high-priest  at  the 
feast  of  tabernacles,  and  was  offering  sacrifice  upon  the  great  altar,  when  the  people 
began  to  pelt  him  furiously  witti  the  citrons  which  they  bore  in  their  hands  at  that 
celebration,  at  the  same  time  assailing  him  with  the  most  opprobrious  expressions. 
In  accordance  with  the  severe  principles  of  the  Sadducees,  which  he  had  on  so  many 
occasions  exemplified,  he  let  loose  his  guard  upon  the  insurgents,  by  whom  six  thou- 
sand of  them  were  cut  down,  and  thus  the  disturbance  was,  for  the  time,  allayed  with 
blood.  To  prevent  such  insults  in  future,  he  enclosed  the  priests'  court,  which  con- 
tained the  altar  and  sanctuary,  by  a  wooden  partition,  which  excluded  the  approach 
of  the  people,  and  for  his  greater  security,  he  took  into  his  pay  a  body  of  six  thousand 
foreign  mercenaries,  who  soon  became  almost  his  only  support. 

After  this,  A.  Jannaeus  turned  his  attention  to  the  countries  beyond  Jordan.  In  B. 
C.  94  he  made  the  Arabs  of  Gilead,  and  the  inhabitants  of  Moab,  tributary.  In  B. 
C.  93  he  destroyed  the  strong  fortress  of  Amathus,  his  former  enterprise  against  which 
had  been  followed  by  his  defeat,  as  lately  mentioned.  In  the  next  year,  while  in  a 
campaign  against  Obodas,  the  Emir  of  the  Arabs  of  (Tauloniiis,  he  fell  into  an  ambush 
in  the  mountains  near  Gadara,  where  his  army  was  driven  over  the  precipices  and  ut- 
terly destroyed,  and  he  himself  escaped  with  difficulty.  This  disaster  imbittered  the 
feelings  of  the  already  discontented  Pharisees,  who  were  at  all  times  jealous  even  to 
madness  of  the  national  honor.  A  successful  and  glorious  Sadducee  they  misrht  have 
borne;  but  an  unsuccessful  one  was  intolerable.  They  took  up  arms,  supported  by 
the  masses,  and  broke  out  into  open  rebellion,  which  they  maintained  for  six  years, 
and  in  which,  although  repeatedly  defeated,  their  refractory  spirit  remained  unsub- 
dued. At  last,  after  fifty  thousand  of  the  malecontents  had  been  destroyed,  besides 
the  loss  on  the  other  side,  the  king,  although  successful,  became  weary  of  slaughter 
and  intestine  turmoil,  and  made  every  effort  and  declared  his  readiness  to  make  any 
sacrifice  for  the  sake  of  peace.  He  sent  some  of  his  friends  to  the  assembled  people, 
to  know  Avhat  he  could  do  to  satisfy  them—"  Die  !"  was  the  answer,  given  with  such 
vehemence  and  fury  as  showed  him  that  there  was  no  hope  of  accommodation.  The 
malecontents,  on  their  part,  sought  the  help  uf  the  Moabi:es  and  the  Arabians  of  Gil- 
ead, whom  Alexander  had  made  tributary,  and  whose  tribute  he  was  now  obliged  to 


U2  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

remit,  to  prevent  their  hostilities.  The  invitation  was  then  sent  to  Demetrius  Euce- 
rus,  king  of  Damascus.  He  gludly  accepted  the  call,  and  entered  Judea  with  an  army 
of  forty  thousand  foot  and  three  thousand  hcrse,  with  which  he  overthrew  Alexander 
with  the  loss  of  all  his  Greek  mercenaries  to  a  man,  B.  C.  89.  His  utter  ruin  was 
mevitable,  had  it  not  been  that  six  thousand  of  the  Jews  themselves,  taking  compas- 
sion upon  his  distress,  deserted  from  the  Syrians,  and  joined  him.  This  so  much 
alarmed  Demetrius,  fearing  lest  the  defection  should  extend,  that  he  withdrew  his 
forces  from  the  country  to  employ  them  against  his  brother  Philip.  The  indomitable 
spirit  of  Alexander  Jannaeus,  and  the  large  resources  which  he  found  in  himself,  now 
very  conspicuously  appeared;  for  no  sooner  had  the  Syrians  departed,  than  he  again 
got  together  his  broken  army,  and  recommenced  operations  with  increased  vigor  and 
success  against  his  own  discontented  subjects.  In  one  great  action,  fought  in  B.  C. 
87,  he  utterly  cut  off  the  greater  part  of  the  insurgent  army,  and  shut  up  the  remain- 
der in  Beihone,  which  he  besieged  and  took  the  year  after.  On  this  occasion  he  was 
guilty  of  a  most  barbarous  act,  for  which  the  nickname  of  "  Thracian"  was  justly 
given  to  him.  He  sent  eight  hundred  of  the  principal  captives  to  Jerusalem,  and 
there  crucified  them  all  in  one  day  and  in  one  place,  and  put  their  wives  and  childrea 
to  death  before  their  eyes,  as  they  hung  dying  on  the  crosses;  while  he  sat,  feasting 
with  his  wives  and  concubines,  within  view  of  the  horrid  scene,  to  glut  his  eyes  with 
their  torments.  Certainly,  the  existence  of  a  man  who  could  do  this  was  an  evil  up- 
on the  earth ;  and  it  seems  alone  sufficient  to  induce  a  suspicion  that  there  was  good 
cause  for  the  intense  dislike  wiih  which  he  was  regarded  by  the  people. 

After  this  Alexander  had  no  more  disturbance,  and  he  was  enabled  to  spend  three 
years  in  recovering  the  fortresses  which  had  revolted,  and  in  reducing  the  provinces 
beyond  Jordan  which  had  got  loose  from  his  dominion,  during  the  civil  war.  Return- 
ing victorious  to  Jerusalem  in  B.  C.  82,  he  abandoned  himself  to  luxury  and  revelling, 
which  speedily  brought  on  a  quartan  ague,  under  which  he  languished  for  three  years, 
and  of  which  he  died  in  B.  C.  78,  at  the  siege  of  Ragaba  beyond  Jordan,  in  the  coun- 
try of  the  Gergesenes,  in  the  forty-ninth  year  of  his  age,  and  the  twenty-seventh  of  his 
eventful  reign.  That  reign  might  be  deemed  successful  in  its  ultimate  results,  if 
judged  only  by  the  enlarged  dominion  which  he  left  to  his  successors;  for  at  his  death 
the  Jewish  kingdom  included  Mount  Carmel  and  all  the  coast  as  far  as  Rhinocolura; 
it  embraced  on  the  south  all  Idumea;  northward  it  extended  to  Scythopolis  (Beth- 
shan)  and  Mount  Tabor ;  and  beyond  Jordan  it  comprehended  Gaulonitis,  and  all  the 
territory  of  Gadara,  including  the  land  of  the  Moabiies  on  the  south,  and  extending 
as  far  as  Pella  on  the  east. 

Alexander  Jannaeus  left  the  government  in  the  hands  of  his  Queen  Alexandra,  in- 
fluenced doubtless  by  the  recent  example  of  the  fema.e  reigns  in  Egypt  and  Syria. 
Sh£  was  to  enjoy  the  government  while  she  lived,  and  was  to  determine  which  oi  her 
two  sons,  Hyrcaims  and  Aristobulus,  should  succeed  her.  On  the  approach  of  death, 
Alexander  gave  her  such  counsels  as  he  judged  best  calculated  to  insure  her  a  peace- 
able reign.  Sensible  that  most  of  his  own  troubles  had  been  produced  through  the 
agency  of  the  great  control  which  the  Pharisees  had  acquired  over  public  opinion,  he 
exhorted  her  above  all  things  to  cultivate  their  favor,  and  to  attempt  no  public  meas- 
ure without  their  approval.  This  advice  may  have  been  good  ;  but  the  motive  claims 
no  high  commendation.  He  wished  his  wife  to  reign  after  him ;  and  to  secure  that 
private  object  he  was  willing  that  all  the  energies  of  the  government  should  be  sac- 
rificed, and  that  all  the  powers  of  the  state  should  be  thrown  into  the  hands  of  men 
whom,  whether  justly  or  not,  he  despised  and  hated.  He  also  instructed  the  queen 
what  course  to  take  in  throwing  herself  into  the  hands  of  the  Pharisees.  He  coun- 
selled her  to  conceal  his  death  until  the  capture  of  the  fortress,  and  then,  on  the  tri- 
umphant return  to  Jerusalem,  she  was  to  convene  the  heads  of  the  Pharisees,  and  of- 
fer to  be  guided  entirely  by  their  counsels  in  the  administration  of  the  government; 
she  was  also  to  lay  his  dead  body  before  them,  and  leave  it  wholly  to  their  discretion 
whether  to  treat  it  with  ignominy  or  honor.  "  If  thou  dost  but  this,"  concluded  the 
king,  "  /  shall  be  sure  of  a  glorious  funeral,  and  thou  will  rule  in  safely."  Alexandra 
followed  all  his  directions  to  a  letter;  and  the  event  answered  to  his  prediction.  The 
Pharisees  were  suddenly  appeased,  as  by  a  miracle;  they  spoke  with  profound  reve- 
rence of  the  king,  whose  death  they  had  so  often  invoked  ;  they  lauded  to  the  skies 
his  heroic  achievements  ;  and  none  of  all  his  predecessors  had  a  funeral  nearly  as 
caagnificent  as  that  of  Alexander  Jannaeus. 


HISTORV  OF  THE  BIBLE.  443 

The  Pharisees,  navmg  now  the  upper  hand  in  the  state,  proceeded  to  do  what  any 
successful  party  would  have  done  in  the  same  circumstances.  They  released  all  the 
prisoners  and  recalled  all  the  exiles  of  their  own  party ;  and  being  thus  strengthened 
by  the  recovery  of  the  ablest  men  of  their  body,  they  delayed  not  to  demand  justice 
against  the  advisers  of  the  crucifixion  of  the  eight  hundred ;  and  certainly,  if  there 
were  any  persons  active  in  advising  that  dreadful  enormity,  they  richly  deserved  pun- 
ishment. Diogenes,  the  chief  confidant  of  the  late  king,  was  the  first  to  feel  the 
wrath  and  vengeance  of  the  Pharisees,  and  after  he  had  been  cut  off,  they  proceeded 
to  the  more  obnoxious  of  Alexander's  advisers.  The  queen,  sore  against  her  will, 
submitted  to  all  their  demands,  to  avoid  the  worse  evils  of  a  civil  war. 

Queen  Alexandra  appointed  to  the  high-priesthood  her  eldest  son  Hyrcanus,  a  per- 
son of  mild  and  inactive  disposition,  ill  qualified  to  take  part  in  the  turmoils  of  the 
troubled  days  in  which  he  was  cast.  The  other  son,  Aristobulus,  was  of  a  different 
spirit — with  the  same  impulsive  energies  of  character,  and  nearly  as  unscrupulous,  as 
his  father.  He  burned  with  indignation  at  the  degraded,  although  safe,  position  which 
his  mother  occupied  ,  and  in  the  seventh  year  of  her  reign  (B.  C.  72)  he'appeared  be- 
fore her  at  the  head  of  a  large  party  of  friends  of  congenial  sentiments,  and  solicited 
permission  either  to  leave  the  country,  or  to  be  permitted  to  retire  to  the  frontier  gar- 
rison towns,  where  they  might  be  secure  from  the  malice  of  the  Pharisees.  The 
queen  agreed  to  the  latter  proposal,  and  put  them  in  possession  of  all  the  fortresses, 
except  Hyrcania,  Alexandrium,  and  Macha;rus,  where  she  kept  her  treasures.  Next 
year  Aristobulus  was  intrusted  with  the  command  of  an  army  sent  against  Damascus, 
but  he  returned  without  doing  anything  memorable,  although  he  was  mindful  not  to 
neglect  the  opportunity  of  ingratiating  himself  with  the  troops. 

In  the  year  B.  C.  69  some  attempts  made  by  Selene  (reigning  in  Ptolemais)  to  ex- 
tend her  dominions  in  Coele-Syria,  drew  the  attention  of  Tigranes,  the  Armenian  king 
whom,  as  already  related,  the  Syrians  had  called  to  reign  over  them.  He  came  against 
her  with  a  large  army,  subdued  Ptolemais,  took  Selene  prisoner,  and  ultimately  or- 
dered her  to  be  put  to  death  at  Seleucia  on  the  Tigris.  Her  sons  were  at  Rome. 
While  Tigranes  was  engaged  before  Ptolemais,  Alexandra  sent  an  embassy  Avith  val- 
uable presents,  to  obtain  his  friendship.  The  rapid  progress  which  the  Romans  were 
at  this  time  making  in  Asia  Minor  so  strongly  called  his  attention  to  that  quarter,  that 
he  returned  a  more  favorable  answer  than  might  have  been  expected,  and  hastened 
back  to  his  own  country.     Queen  Alexandra  died  in  the  same  year. 

On  the  death  of  his  mother,  the  mild  and  feeble  Hyrcanus  took  possession  of  the 
throne.  He  reigned  only  three  months.  His  more  enterprising  and  able  brother, 
Aristobulus,  had  obtained  possession  of  most  of  the  fortresses  in  the  kingdom  during 
the  sickness  of  his  mother:  the  people,  also,  had  by  this  time  grown  weary  of  the 
tyranny  of  the  Pharisees,  and  greatly  fearing  the  possible  results  of  their  ascendency 
over  such  a  person  as  Hyrcanus,  readily  declared  themselves  in  favor  of  his  brother: 
and  as  the  soldiers  also  deserted  to  him,  Hyrcanus  had  no  alternative  but  to  resign 
his  crown  and  mitre  to  Aristobulus;  and  he  agreed,  with  little  reluctance,  to  lead  a 
private  life  under  his  protection.  "  So,"  as  .losephus  expresses  it,  "Aristobulus  went 
to  the  palace,  and  Hyrcanus  to  the  house  of  Aristobulus." 

An  Idumean  originally  called  Antipas,  but  better  known  by  the  name  of  Antipater, 
had  by  this  time  become  a  great  man  in  Judea.  He  was  high  in  the  confidence  of 
Alexander  Jannaeus,  and  of  Queen  Alexandra,  who  had  intrusted  him  with  the  gov- 
ernment of  his  native  province  of  Idumea.  He  had  amassed  considerable  wealth,  and 
formed  connexions  with  the  Arabs  in  the  east,  and  Avith  the  Gaziles  and  Ascalonites 
in  the  west.  Such  a  man  might  expect,  under  a  weak  ruler  like  Hyrcanus,  to  benefit 
largely  by  the  distractions  of  the  country ;  whereas  the  firm  rule  of  a  man  like  Aris- 
tobulus was  calculated  to  nip  all  his  budding  hopes.  This  consideration  decided  him 
to  take  up  the  cause  of  the  deposed  Hyrcanus,  whom  he  gradually  drew  into  the  be- 
lief that  his  brother  had  designs  against  his  life,  and  after  much  solicitation  persuaded 
him  to  flee  to  Petra,  and  claim  the  protection  of  the  Arabian  king  Aretas.  That  prince 
readily  espoused  his  cause,  and  brought  him  back  to  Judea,  with  an  army  of  fifty 
thousand  men  :  and  being  there  joined  by  such  of  the  Jews  as  favored  the  cause  of 
the  elder  brother,  he  gave  battle  to  Aristobulus,  defeated  him,  and  compelled  him 
with  the  heads  of  his  party,  to  take  refuge  in  the  temple-mount,  and  besieofed  him 
there,  B.  C.  66. 

So  great  was  the  hatred  of  the  besiegers  against  Aristobulus  and  his  party,  that  at 


444  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

the  feast  of  the  passover,  they  would  allow  no  animals  for  sacrifices  to  be  carried  into 
the  temple,  although  Aristobulus  had  giveo  to  them  over  the  walls  the  full  sum  they 
demanded  for  such  permission. 

The  great  war  of  the  Romans  in  Asia  Minor  agamst  Mithridates,  king  of  Pontus, 
is  of  importance  from  its  result  of  bringing  all  Western  Asia  under  the  power  of  the 
Romans;  but  the  circumstances  of  that  war  have  no  such  connexion  with  our  history 
as  to  require  their  exhibition  in  this  place.  Tigranes  was  soon  involved  in  this  war; 
and  in  B.  C.  69  he  was  obliged  to  withdraw  his  forces  from  Syria  to  make  head 
against  the  Romans  nearer  home. 

This  gave  an  opportunity  to  Antiochus  Asiaticus,  the  son  of  Selene  and  A.  Eusebes, 
to  seize  the  government ;  and,  having  contracted  an  alliance  with  the  Roman  general, 
Lucullus,  he  contrived  to  retain  a  part  of  the  empire,  until  the  arrival  of  Pompey  in 
the  East.  He  arrived  to  take  the  command  of  the  Roman  armies  in  the  year  B.  C. 
G6.  While  himself  employed  in  the  north  against  Mithridates  and  Tigranes,  Pompey 
sent  Scaurus  into  Syria.  While  that  general  was  at  Damascus,  he  received  from 
Aristobulus  (then  besieged  in  the  temple)  an  application,  with  the  otfer  of  four  hun- 
dred talents  if  he  would  come  to  his  aid.  The  offer  of  a  similar  sum  soon  after  came 
from  Hyrcanus;  but  the  Roman,  considering  that  it  would  be  easier  to  frighten  away 
the  besieging  Nabathaeans  for  Aristobulus  than  to  lake  so  strong  a  fortress  for  Hyr- 
canus, determined  to  accept  the  offer  of  the  former.  He  accordingly  received  the 
money;  and  three  hundred  talents  were  also  given  to  Gabinius.  Scaurus  then  com- 
manded Aretas  to  abandon  the  siege  and  quit  the  coumry,  or  expect  that  the  Roman 
arms  would  be  turned  against  him.  Awed  by  this  threat,  the  Arabian  king  imme- 
diately obeyed ;  but  he  was  pursued  and  overtaken  in  his  homeward  march  by  the 
active  Aristobulus,  and  defeated  with  great  slaughter. 

In  B.  C.  65,  Pompey  came  into  Syria,  all  the  princes  of  which  were  prepared  to 
look  to  him  as  the  arbiter  of  their  fate.  Antiochus  Asiaticus  humbly  sued  to  be  con- 
firmed in  his  kingdom ;  but  he  was  refused,  on  the  pretext  that  he  was  too  weak  to 
defend  the  country  against  the  Jews  and  Arabs;  and  that  the  Romans  bavins^  over- 
come Tigranes,  Syria  became  theirs  by  right  of  conquest,  and  they  were  not  disposed 
to  forego  the  rewards  of  their  toils.  In  the  person  of  Antiochus  XI.  was  deposed 
the  last  of  a  regal  dynasty,  descended  from  Seleucus,  which  had  ruled  Syria  for  two 
hundred  and  forty-seven  years.  His  dominions,  together  with  PhcBnicia,  then  passed 
into  the  condition  of  a  Roman  province. 

Twelve  kings  and  many  ambassadors  repaired  to  Damascus  to  render  their  homage 
to  the  illustrious  Roman,  or  to  receive  from  him  the  award  of  their  fate.  Aristobulus, 
to  whom  the  recosnition  of  his  title  by  the  Romans  was  at  this  time  of  great  impor- 
tance, sent  an  embassy  with  the  present  of  a  golden  vine,  valued  at  five  hundred 
talents.  But  as  those  who  saw  this  vine  subsequently  in  the  capitol  at  Rome  declare 
that  it  bore  the  name  of  Alexander  Jannjeus,  it  would  seem  that  he  was  not  success- 
ful in  his  application,  imless,  as  some  imagine,  the  vine  had  been  made  by  Alexander 
Jannaeus  and  placed  in  the  temple,  from  which  it  was  taken  by  his  son  to  be  pre- 
sented to  the  Romans. 

The  next  year,  B.  C.  64,  Pompey  again  returned  to  Damascus  from  Asia  Minor, 
with  large  designs  for  the  southward  extension  of  the  Roman  power,  which  had 
already  been  established  as  far  as  the  Caspian  in  the  north.  At  that  place,  the  com- 
peting Jewish  princes  produced  their  cause  before  him:  Hyrcanus  through  Antipater, 
and  Aristobulus  through  Nicodenius.  The  delegates  were  heard,  and  dismissed  in  a 
friendly  manner,  with  orders  that  the  two  brothers  should  appear  in  person.  Unfor- 
tunately for  Aristobulus,  his  cause  was  much  prejudiced  by  the  allusion  of  Nicodemus 
to  the  bribes  which  Scaurus  and  Gabinius  had  received,  whereby  he  provoked  the 
resentment  of  two  persons  whose  influence  with  Pompey  was  very  great.  As 
ordered,  Hyrcanus  and  Aristobulus  appeared  at  Damascus  in  the  spring  of  B.  C.  63,  to 
plead  their  own  cause  before  Pompey,  and  each  attended  by  multitudes  of  witnesses 
to  prove  the  justice  of  their  respective  claims.  A  third  Jewish  party,  uninvited  and 
undesired  by  either  of  the  others,  also  appeared,  in  the  persons  of  many  Jews  of  high 
consideration,  who  were  prepared  to  plead,  and  did  plead,  against  both  the  brothers, 
that  in  order  to  enslave  a  free  people  they  had  changed  the  form  of  government  from 
pontifical  to  regal,  contrary  to  established  usage  and  precedent.  Hyrcanus.  on  his 
part,  rested  on  his  rights  as  the  elder  brother,  and  complained  of  the  usurpation  of 
Aristobulus :  the  latter  pleaded  the  necessity  which  the  imbecile  character  of  Hyr- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  445 

canus  kad  imposed  upon  him.  This  was  precisely  the  worst  plea  he  could  have 
made;  tor  iinljecility  o(  character  was,  for  their  own  selfish  ends,  far  from  being 
es;eenied  a  disijualification  by  the  Romans,  in  the  princes  under  their  control.  How- 
ever, I'onipey  did  not  openly  declare  his  sentiments,  but  left  the  matter  undecided, 
until  he  :-huuld  have  leisure  to  come  in  person  to  Jerusalem  and  settle  it  there.  But 
Aristobulus,  perceiving  clearly  that  the  decision  would  not  be  in  iiis  favor,  withdrew 
witliuui  taking  leave,  in  order  to  make  the  requisite  preparations,  and  he  thus  ren- 
dered his  case  still  more  desperate. 

Pompey  was  occupied  for  a  time  in  reducing  Aretas  and  his  Nabathaeans  to  subjec- 
tion. J  his  being  etiected,  he  marched  against  Aristobulus,  of  whose  hostile  prepara- 
tions he  was  well  apprized.  He  found  him  in  the  frontier  fortress  of  Alexandrium 
(which  was  situated  upon  the  top  of  a  high  rock),  and  well  prepared  for  an  attack. 
On  his  arrival,  Pompey  summoned  the  Jewish  prince  to  his  presence;  and  Aristobulus, 
afraid  of  irritating  iiim  by  a  refusal,  and  relying  on  his  honor,  came  down  and  had 
several  interviews  with  the  Roman  general,  who,  in  the  end,  refused  to  let  him  go 
until  he  had  signed  an  order  for  the  surrender  of  all  the  fortresses  to  the  Romans. 
But,  resenting  deeply  this  imposition,  Aristobulus  was  no  sooner  dismissed  than  he 
fled  to  Jerusalem,  and  there  prepared  for  a  siege.  But,  when  Pompey  approached 
with  his  army,  his  resolution  forsook  him,  a? well  it  might;  and  he  went  tbrih  to 
meet  the  Roman,  to  whom  he  tendered  his  submission,  and  ofl'ered  a  sum  of  money 
to  prevent  a  war.  His  proposal  was  accepted  ;  and  Gabinius,  one  of  Pompey's  lieu- 
tenants, whom  there  has  been  previous  occasion  to  name,  was  sent  wiih  a  body  of 
troops  to  recover  the  city  and  receive  the  money.  But  when  Aristobulus  returned 
with  the  Romans,  his  own  party  shut  the  gates  against  him  and  them  ;  on  which  the 
captive  prince  was  put  in  chains.  Pompey  then  himself  marched  to  Jerusalem,  and 
the  party  of  Hyrcanus,  being  the  most  numerous  in  the  city,  and  well  aware  of  his 
favorable  dispositions  toward  them,  opened  the  gates  to  him.  The  party  of  Aris- 
tobulus now  withdrew  into  the  temple,  which  was  by  this  time  a  strong  fortress, 
fully  resolved  to  abide  the  result  of  a  siege.  They  held  out  for  three  months,  and 
mi^'ht  have  done  so  much  longer,  but  for  the  remaining  superstition  respecting  the 
Sabbath.  Pompey  being  apprized  that,  although  on  that  as  on  any  other  day  they 
would  stand  on  their  defence  if  actually  attacked,  they  would  not  on  that  day  act  on 
the  offensive,  or  disturb  any  operations  short  of  actual  assault,  he  sagaciously  made 
use  of  every  Sabbath  in  filling  up  the  ditch  and  planting  his  engines,  in  which  he 
experienced  not  the  least  opposition,  and  this  enabled  him  to  make  his  attacks  with 
more  effect  on  the  other  days  of  the  week.  At  last  the  temple  was  taken  by  assault 
in  the  first  year  of  the  179th  Olympiad,  ending  in  B.  C.  63,  the  same  year  in  which 
C.  Antonius  and  M.  Tullius  Cicero  were  consuls,  and  on  the  very  day  observed  with 
fasting  and  humiliation  on  the  conquest  of  Jerusalem  by  Nebuchadnezzar.  These 
daftes  fix  the  year  from  which  the  direct  rule  of  the  Romans  over  Jndea  may  be  dated. 

Pompey  violated  ihe  sanctity  of  the  temple,  by  intruding  with  his  principal  officers 
into  the  huly  of  holies.  He  was  not  stricken  as  Ptolemy  Philopator  and  Heliodorus 
had  been,  but  it  has  been  remarked  by  some  that  he  never  prospered  in  any  of  his 
subsequent  undertakings.  By  the  Jews,  of  course,  this  act  was  deeply  resented. 
Pompey,  however,  spared  the  sacred  treasury,  although  it  contained  two  thousand 
talents;  and  the  sacred  utensils,  and  other  articles  of  great  value,  were  left  for  the 
sacred  uses  to  which  they  had  been  devoted.  But  he  ordered  the  walls  of  Jerusalem 
to  be  demolished.  Hyrcanus  he  appointed  to  be  high-priest  and  prince  of  the  coun- 
try, on  cundi'.ion  that  he  should  submit  to  the  Romans,  pay  tribu'e,  not  assume  the 
crown,  nor  seek  to  extend  his  territory  beyond  the  ancient  limits  of  Judea.  All  the 
places  beyond  those  limits  which  the  Jews  had  conquered  were  also  restored  to  Syria, 
which  was  made  a  Roman  province,  and  left  under  the  rule  of  Scaurus  as  prefect, 
with  lAvo  legions  to  preserve  tranquillity.  Thus  the  Jews,  from  being  old  allies  of  the 
Romans,  were  at  once  reduced  to  the  condition  of  a  subordinate  principality,  and 
were  compelled  to  pay  large  tribute  to  the  conquerors. 

Pompey  returned  to  Rome  laden  with  the  spoils  of  conquered  nations,  and  with  a 
long  train  of  royal  and  illustrious  captives  to  grace  his  triumph.  Amo;ig  theip  were 
Aristobulus,  his  two  daughters,  and  his  two  sons,  Alexander  and  Aniigoaus.  Alex- 
ander escaped  by  the  way,  and  returned  to  Judea.  The  rest  were  among  the  three 
hundred  and  twenty-four  noble  prisoners  who  graced  the  triumph  of  Pompey  in 
B.  C.  61.     Pompey  was  the  first  to  discontinue  the  barbarous  custom  of  putting  the 


446  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

captives  to  death  in  the  capitol  after  this  public  exhibition.  They  were  ail  liberated 
and  sent  home  at  the  public  expense,  with  the  exception  of  Tigranes  and  Aristobulus, 
who  were  detained  lest  they  should  excite  disturbances  in  their  respective  countries. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

Althoitgh  Hyrcanus  II.  had  again  become  the  nominal  head  of  the  reduced  and 
dependant  princedom  of  Judea,  Antipater  was  the  actual  governor,  and  managed  all 
things  as  he  would. 

In  the  year  57  B.  C,  Alexander,  the  eldest  son  of  Aristobulus,  who  had  escaped  on 
the  way  to  Rome,  reappeared  in  Judea,  and  soon  succeeded  in  collecting  an  army  of 
ten  thousand  foot  and  fifteen  hundred  horse.  He  seized  and  garrisoned  the  strong 
fortresses  of  Alexandrium,  Machffirus,  Hyrcania,  and  several  others,  and  thence  rav- 
aged the  whole  country.  Hyrcanus  was  not  in  a  condition  to  make  head  against 
him  :  but  for  the  protection  of  Jerusalem  he  was  desirous  of  rebuilding  the  walls  of 
that  city ;  but  this  was  forbidden  by  th'e  jealousy  of  the  Romans,  and  the  prince  was 
then  obliged  to  apply  to  them  for  assistance.  Gabinius  (the  same  who  had  before 
been  in  the  country  with  Pompey),  who  had  lately  become  proconsul  of  Syria,  sent 
some  troops  into  Judea  under  the  command  of  Mark  Anthony,  the  commander  of  the 
cavalry — who  afterward  took  so  conspicuous  a  part  in  the  affairs  of  Rome,  while  he 
prepared  to  follow  himself  with  a  larger  army.  The  Roman  general,  being  joined 
by  Antipater  with  the  forces  of  Hyrcanus,  defeated  Alexander  near  Jerusalem,  with 
the  loss  of  three  thousand  men,  and  compelled  him  to  seek  refuge  in  Alexandrium,  to 
which  siege  was  immediately  laid.  Gabinius,  who  had  now  arrived,  perceiving  that 
the  reduction  of  so  strong  a  place  would  require  time,  left  a  sufficient  force  to  invest 
it,  and  with  the  rest  made  a  progress  through  the  country.  Many  cities  which  he 
found  in  ruins,  he  directed  to  be  rebuilt,  according  to  the  intentions  of  Pompey  :* 
among  these  was  Samaria,  which,  after  his  own  name,  he  called  Gabiana,  which  was 
not  long  after  changed  by  Herod  to  Sebaste.  When  he  returned  to  the  camp  at 
Alexandrium  he  was  visited  by  the  mother  of  the  besieged  Alexander,  who  had 
already  ofi'ered  to  capitulate,  and  now,  by  her  address  and  mediation,  Avas  allowed  to 
depart  on  condition  that  the  fortresses  which  he  held  in  his  power  shyuld  be  demol- 
ished, that  they  might  give  no  occasion  for  future  revolts. 

Gabinius  then  went  to  Jerusalem,  and  confirmed  Hyrcanus  in  the  high-priesthood; 
but  he  took  upon  hmi  to  change  the  government  to  an  aristocracy,  undoubtedly  at  the 
request  of  the  Jews  themselves,  who  had  formerly  much  desired  such  a  change  from 
Pompey.  Hitherto  the  administration  of  public  affairs  had  been  managed,  under  the 
prince,  by  two  councils,  or  courts  of  justice;  the  lesser,  consisting  of  twenty-three 
persons,  was  instituted  in  every  city,  and  each  of  these  lesser  councils  was  subject  to 
the  control  of  the  great  council,  or  Sanhedrim,!  of  seventy-two  members,  sitting  at 

*  Those  were — Scythopolis  (Bethshan),  Samaria,  Dora,  Azotus  or  Ashdod,  Jamnia,  Gaza,  Anthedon,  Ra- 
phia,  Gainala,  Apollonia,  Marissa,  and  some  otliers. 

t  Ttiis  is  tlie  first  liistoncal  notice  of  such  a  council.  The  Jews  deem  that  the  council  of  seventy  elders 
app  jiiiled  to  assist  Moses  was  afterwa'd  constantly  maintained,  and  tliat  with  it  we  are  to  identify  the 
Sanliedrini  of  tlieir  later  histoiy.  But  if  such  a  body  had  existed,  it  is  impossible  but  that  its  presence 
must  have  been  indicated,  in  tlit  long  intervening  period,  on  some  of  the  many  occasions  whicii  would  have 
called  for  the  exercise  of  its  functions.  That  the  Sanhedrim  was  intended  as  an  imitation  of  the  council 
of  the  seventy  elders,  is  very  iMssible  and  likely;  but  scarcely  any  one  who  has  examined  the  matter 
c'osely  imagines  that  it  had  any  earlier  existence  than  the  time  of  the  Maccabees. 

Tlie  hi^h-pnest  was  usually  the  president  of  this  tribunal ,  and  there  were  two  vice-presidents  who  sat  the 
one  m  his  right  hand  and  the  otiur  on  his  lelt.  The  members  were— 1.  Those  who  were  called  "  chief 
pri^f  ts"  in  the  Gospels.  Those  vi  ore  partly  priests,  who  hau  previously  e.vercised  the  office  of  high-priests, 
and  partly  of  the  heads  of  the  twenty-four  classes  of  priests,  who  were  called  honorarily,  high  or  chief- 
prieits.  2.  Elders,  being  tlie  heads  of  tribes  and  of  large  groups  of  allied  families.  3.  The  scribes,  or  men  oi 
leaniiiig.  It  is  to  be  understood,  liowever,  that  although  all  the  cliief  priests  had  a  seat  in  the  Sanhedrim, 
only  those  of  the  elders  and  scribes  sat  there  who  were  elected  to  fill  up  vacancies. 

There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  the  assertion  of  the  Talmudists,  that  the  Sanhedrim  had  secretaries  and 
apparitor«  The  place  in  which  this  great  council  sat  in  Jerusalem  can  not  with  any  certainty  be  deter- 
mined. ■  The  Talmudists  inform  us  that  the  council  sat  so  as  to  form  a  semi-circle,  of  which  the  president 
and  two  vice-presidents  occupied  the  centre.  We  learn  from  other  sources  that  they  either  sat  upon  the 
floor,  carpets  being  spread  ui.der  them,  or  upon  cusliions  slightly  elevated,  with  their  knees  bent  and  legs 
crossed,  as  is  still  the  fashion  in  the  East. 

Appeals  Irom  the  municipal  councils  and  other  matters  of  importance,  were  brought  before  tliis  high 
council.    Its  powers  were  much  limited  by  the  Romans ;  but  in  the  time  of  Clirist  it  still  possessed  tlie 


1U 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


447 


448  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

Jerusalem.  Both  were  suppressed  by  Gabinius,  who  divided  the  country  into  five 
districts,  appointing  in  each  an  executive  council  for  its  government.  These  districts 
will  be  sufficiently  indicated  by  the  names  of  the  cities  in  which  the  respective  coun- 
cils sat: — Jerusalem,  Jericho,  Gadara,  Amalhus,  and  Sepphoris.  This,  in  fact, 
changed  the  government  into  an  aristocracy,  for  all  real  power  rested  in  the  hands  of 
the  several  councils,  composed  of  the  principal  persons  of  each  district,  and  the  power 
of  the  prmce  was  completely  nullified.  This  form  of  government  continued  to  the 
year  44  B.  C,  when  Hyrcanus  was  restored  to  his  former  power  by  Julius  Caesar. 

About  this  tmie  Arislobulus  contrived  to  escape,  from  his  captivity  at  Rome,  with 
his  younger  son  Aniigonus,  and  returned  to  Judea,  where  his  presence  excited  a  re- 
volt. But  he  was  ere  long  defeated,  taken  captive  with  his  son,  and  sent  back  to  his 
former  prison.  The  report  which  Gabinius  sent,  however,  of  the  services  which  the 
wife  of  Aristobulus  had  rendered  in  suppressing  her  son  Alexander's  insurrection, 
procured  the  release  of  all  the  family  except  Aristobulus  himself. 

In  06  B.  C.  Gabinius  undertook  to  restore  Ptolemy  Auletes  to  the  throne  of  Egypt. 
He  and  Mark  Anthony  succeeded  in  this  object,  in  which  they  received  no  slight 
assistance  from  Hyrcanus,  or  rather  from  Autipater,  who  eagerly  laid  hold  of  every 
opportunity  of  serving  and  ingratiating  himself  with  the  Romans,  through  whose 
favor  alone  could  he  hope  that  his  ambitious  designs  would  ever  be  realized.  By  his 
means  the  Roman  army  was  most  bountifully  furnished  with  provisions,  arms,  and 
money ;  and  measures  were  taken  to  dispose  the  Jews  of  Egypt  to  forward  their 
causej  which  they  had  large  means  of  doing.  While  the  substantial  force  of  the 
Romans  was  absent  on  this  expedition,  Alexander,  the  son  of  Aristobulus,  got  together 
a  laree  army,  with  which  he  contrived  to  make  himself  master  of  Judea,  and  massa- 
cred all  the  Romans  who  had  the  misfortune  to  fall  in  his  way.  Several  Hed  to  Mount 
Gerizim,  and  were  there  besieged  by  Alexander,  when  Gabinius  returned  victorious 
from  Egypt.  'J'he  proconsul  endeavored,  through  Antipater,  to  make  peace  with 
him  ;  but  as,  although  many  had  abandoned  him  on  the  approach  of  the  Romans,  he 
was  still  at  the  head  of  thirty  thousand  men,  he  refused  to  listen  to  any  terms  of  ac- 
commodation. In  a  battle,  which  soon  followed,  near  Mount  Tabor,  ten  thousand  of 
his  men  Avere  slam,  and  the  rest  dispersed.  Gabinius  then  went  to  Jerusalem,  and 
settled  affairs  there  according  to  the  views  of  Antipater,  who  had  much  influence 
both  with  him  and  Anthony. 

In  the  year  55  the  proconsul  Gabinius  Avas  recalled,  to  answer  for  the  venality  and 
extortion  of  his  government.  Yet  he  is  regretted  by  Josephus  as  one  who  was 
friendly  to  the  Jews  ;  who,  however,  had  to  pay  a  high  price  for  his  friendship.  They 
certainly  gained  nothing  by  the  exchange  for  the  new  proconsul,  who  was  no  other 
than  the  wealthy  and  avaricious  Crassus  (the  colleague  of  Pompey  and  Julius  Caesar 
in  the  triumvirate),  who  procured  himself  to  be  invested  with  unusually  large  powers 
and  who,  being  consul  for  that  year,  embarked  for  Syria  before  his  consulship  expired 
Crassus  was  bent  on  an  expedition  against  the  Parlhians ;  and  he  failed  not,  before 
his  departure,  to  plunder  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  of  all  the  treasures  which  Pompey 
had  spared.  He  took  everything  that  he  deemed  worth  taking,  and  the  value  of  his 
plunder  is  estimated  at  ten  thousand  talents.  In  the  war  against  the  Parlhians, 
which  was  eniirely  unexpected  and  unprovoked,  Crassus  was  at  first  successful;  but 
in  the  end,  he  and  his  son  were  slain,  and  the  Roman  army  disgraced,  B.  C.  5'.l. 

Cassius,  who  had  commanded  a  wing  of  the  Roman  army  in  the  battle,  condticted 
a  body  of  five  hundred  horse  safely  back  to  Syria,  the  government  of  which  devolved 
on  him  until  a  successor  to  Crassus  should  be  appointed.  Having,  with  much  abil- 
ity, so  organized  the  broken  resources  of  the  province  as  to  defend  it  successfully 
against  the  Parthian  invasion  of  -52  B.  C,  he  afterward  marched  into  Judea,  and 
forced  Alexander,  who  began  raising  fresh  disturbances  as  soon  as  the  news  of  the 
defeat  of  Crassus  arrived  in  Syria,  to  terms  of  peace. 

In  the  civil  war  which  broke  out  between  Pompey  and  Caesar,  Syria  and  Palestine 
were  variously  involved.  When  Caesar  passed  the  Rubicon  in  49  B.  C,  and  made 
himself  master  of  Rome,  he  thought  that  Aristobulus  might  be  useful  to  lis  cause 
against  that  of  Pompey,  which  was  strong  in  the  east;  and  therefore  sent  him 
into  Palestine,  with  two  legions  under  his  command,  10  keep  Syria  in  awe.     But 

power  of  trying  offenders  and  of  passing  sentence  ;  althoH?li  when  the  penalty  was  high  or  capital,  it  was 
necessiry  that  it  sliould  be  coiitinned  liy  the  Roman  sovernur,  wl»o  also  assumed  the  right  of  executing  as 
his  own  the  sentence  which  he  had  continued. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  449 

Pompey's  party  contrived  to  poison  him  on  the  way,  and  thus  frustrated  the  design. 
His  always-active  son,  Alexander,  had  raised  forces  in  expectation  of  his  father's  arri- 
val; but  Pompey  sent  orders  to  his  son-in-law,  Q.  Metellus  Scipio,  whom  he  had  pro- 
moted to  the  government  of  Syria,  to  put  him  to  death.  He  was  accordingly  taken 
brought  to  Antioch,  tried,  and  beheaded. 

In  the  midst  of  all  the  causes  of  agitation  in  Judea — from  the  contests  of  the  Asa- 
monean  princes — from  the  different  characters  of  the  governors  of  Syria — from  the 
march  of  armies — from  the  intrigues  which  divided  courts  and  people  in  the  quarrel 
between  Pompev  and  Caesar — Antipater  never  slept,  was  never  found  wanting  to 
himself.  He  had  availed  himself  of  his  power  over  the  feeble  Hyrcanus  to  make  for 
himself  a  personal  influence  and  reputation,  through  the  services  he  was  thereby  able 
to  render  to  the  various  parties  and  persons  whose  friendship  might  be  useful  to  him. 
He  was  moreover  the  father  of  four  sons,  who  understood  and  concurred  in  his  views 
— all  of  them  brave,  ambitious,  magnificent,  full  of  spirit  and  high  hopes.  One  of 
them,  Phasael,  was  already  governor  of  Jerusalem,  and  another,  Herod,  wasgoverftor 
of  Galilee.  These,  it  will  be  perceived,  were  two  of  the  five  districts  into  which  the 
country  had  been  divided  by  Gabinius.  'J'hus  the  family  went  on  gathering  strength 
from  day  to  day,  while  the  Asamonean  family — through  the  imbecility  of  Hyrcanus, 
and  the  reverses  of  Aristobulus  and  his  sons — sustained  a  daily  loss  of  power  and  in- 
fluence. In  the  contest  between  Pompey  and  Caesar,  Antipater,  who  was  under  obli- 
gations to  the  former,  was  in  a  critical  and  diflficult  position.  But  such  men  as  he  are 
never  wrong.  Their  felicitous  instincts  enable  them  to  discover  the  falling  cause  in 
sufficient  time  to  make  the  abandonment  of  it  a  merit  with  him  whose  star  is  rising. 
Thus  Antipater  turned  in  good  time  to  the  side  of  the  new  master;  and  in  the  Egyp- 
tian campaign  rendered  important  services  to  Caesar  by  bringing  to  his  aid  the  forces 
concentrated  in  Judea,  Idumea,  and  part  of  Arabia;  while  in  action  he  displayed  great 
abilities  and  courage,  which  no  one  knew  better  than  Caesar  how  to  appreciate  and 
respect.  On  his  return  from  Egypt,  the  crown  of  which  he  had  fixed  on  the  head  of 
the  too-celebrated  Cleopatra,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Ptolemy  Auletes,  he  went  to  Je- 
rusalem, and  there  employed  the  absolute  power  he  possessed  quite  in  subservience 
to  the  views  and  wishes  of  Antipater.  In  vain  did  Antigonus,  the  surviving  son  of 
Aristobulus,  appear,  and  plead  that  the  lives  of  his  father  and  brother  had  been  lost 
in  his  cause:  he  was  heard  coldly,  and  dismissed  as  a  troublesome  person.  Caesar 
abrogated  the  aristocralical  government  which  Gabinius  had  established  ten  years  be- 
fore, aiid  confirmed  Hyrcanus  in  his  full  powers  as  high-priest  and  ethnarch.  He 
ordered  the  remission  every  sabbatic  year  of  the  annual  tribute  payable  to  the  Ro- 
mans :  he  further  conceded  that  the  Jews  should  not,  as  formerly,  be  obliged  to  pro- 
vide winter  quarters  for  the  Roman  troops,  or  to  pay  an  equivalent  in  money  ;  and  he 
granted  such  further  privileges  and  immunities  to  the  Jews  throughout  the  empire, 
that  the  Roman  yoke  became  very  light  upon  them  for  a  time.  Antipater  himself 
was  appointed  procurator  of  Judea  for  the  Romans.  The  decree  in  which  these 
privileges  were  irabodied  was  engraved  on  brass,  and  laid  up  in  the  capitol  at  Rome, 
and  in  the  temples  of  Zidon,  Tyre,  and  Ascalon.  Hyrcanus  afterward  ventured,  by 
ambassadors  sent  to  Rome,  to  solicit  permission  to  fortify  Jerusalem,  and  to  rebuild 
the  walls  which  Pompey  had  thrown  down.  This  was  granted  by  Caesar,  and-  im- 
mediately executed  by  Antipater. 

Julius  Caesar  left  the  government  of  Syria  in  the  hands  of  Sextus  Csesar,  his  rela- 
tive, who  was  also  well  disposed  toward  the  family  of  Aniipater.  The  promotion  of 
his  son  Herod  to  be  governor  of  Galilee  has  already  been  noticed.  He  displayed  great 
activity  and  daring  in  clearing  his  province  of  the  robbers  by  which  it  had  been  in- 
fested. But  having  put  the  leader  of  these  banditti,  with  several  of  his  associates  to 
death,  by  his  own  mere  authority,  without  any  form  of  trial,  the  jealousy  of  several 
of  the  leading  Jews  was  awakened,  and  they  obliged  Hyrcanus  to  cite  him  to  Jerusa- 
lem to  answer  for  his  conduct  before  the  Sanhedrim.  He  came  arrayed  in  purple, 
with  a  numerous  retinue,  and  presented  to  Hyrcanus  a.letter  from  Sextus  Caesar,  con> 
manding  him  to  acquit  Herod  under  pain  of  his  highest  displeasure.  The  prince, 
who  liked  Herod,  was  well  enough  inclined  to  this  before,  and  the  accusers  were  so 
damped  by  the  young  man's  audacity,  as  well  as  by  the  letter,  which  also  intimidated 
•  he  Sanhedrim,  that  they  all  sat  in  awkward  silence  until  one  firm  and  honest  voice, 
that  of  Sameas,  was  heard  rebuking  the  members  of  the  council  for  their  cowardice, 
and  predicting  that  the  day  would  come  when  Herod  would  refuse  them  the  pardon 

29 


450  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

which  they  were  then  all  too  ready  to  extend  to  him.  This  was  verified  in  the  end. 
When  Sameas  had  spoken,  the  Sanhedrim  exhibited  some  inclination  to  act ;  but  Hyr- 
canus  adjourned  the  sitting,  and  gave  Herod  a  hint  to  quit  Jerusalem.  He  repaired  to 
Sextus  Caesar  at  Damascus,  and  not  only  obtained  his  protection,  but  received  from 
him  the  government  of  all  CcEle-Syria,  on  condition  of  paying  a  stipulated  tribute 
On  this  Herod  collected  a  small  army,  and  was  with  difficulty  persuaded  by  his 
father  and  his  brother  Phasael  from  marching  to  Jerusalem,  to  avenge  himself  for  the 
insult  he  considered  he  had  received  in  being  summoned  before  the  Sanhedrim. 

The  assassination  of  Sextus  Caesar  in  Syria,  by  Bassus,  and  of  Caesar  himself  at 
Rome,  by  Brutus,  Cassius,  and  their  confederates,  rekindled  the  flames  of  civil  war, 
and  might  have  prostrated  tiie  hopes  of  one  less  ductile  than  Antipater.  Cassius 
passed  over  into  Syria  to  secure  that  important  province  for  the  republic,  and  was 
compelled  to  exact  heavy  contributions  to  maintain  the  large  army  he  had  raised. 
Judea  was  assessed  at  seven  hundred  talents,  one  half  of  which  Antipater  commis- 
sioned his  sons  Phasael  and  Herod  to  raise,  and  intrusted  the  collection  of  the  other 
half  to  Malichus,  a  Jew,  one  of  the  chief  supporters  of  Hyrcanus.  Herod  won  the 
favor  of  Cassius  by  the  promptitude  with  which  he  produced  his  quota  ;  but  Malichus, 
being  more  dilatory,  would  have  been  put  to  death,  had  not  Hyrcanus  redeemed  him 
by  paying  one  hundred  talents  out  of  his  own  coff"ers.  There  was  something  in  this 
affair  to  kindle  the  smouldering  jealousy  with  which  Malichus  and  the  heads  of  the 
Jewish  nation  were  disposed  to  regard  the  concentration  of  all  the  real  power  of  the 
government  in  the  hands  of  an  Idumean  and  foreigner,  as  they  regarded  Antipater  • 
and  they  plotted  to  destroy  him  and  all  his  family.  Antipater  was  poisoned  by  a 
glass  of  wine  given  to  him  at  the  very  table  of  Hyrcanus :  in  revenge  for  which 
Phasael  and  Herod  procured  Malichus  to  be  put  to  death  by  the  Roman  garrison  at 
Tyre,  in  obedience  to  an  order  which  they  obtained  from  Cassius. 

The  influence  of  Antipater  over  Hyrcanus  bemg  now  withdrawn,  the  adverse  party 
soon  succeeded  in  bringing  him  over  to  their  views,  by  directing  his  fears  toward  the 
overgrown  and  increasing  power  of  the  sons  of  Antipater.  Felix,  the  commander  of 
the  Roman  forces  at  Jerusalem,  was  also  led  into  the  same  views;  for  by  this  time 
(42  B.  C.)  Cassius  and  Brutus  had  been  defeated  and  slain  at  Philippi  by  Anthony  and 
Octavius.  This  party  was,  however,  soon  mastered  by  the  brothers,  who  recovered 
Massada  and  all  the  fortresses  of  which  it  had  obtained  possession,  and  even  dared 
to  expel  Felix  from  Jerusalem,  as  the  change  of  affairs  produced  by  the  battle  of 
Philippi,  rendered  it  unlikely  that  the  now  dominant  avengers  of  Caesar  would  resent 
the  insult  offered  to  one  employed  by  his  slayers.  They  upbraided  Hyrcanus  for 
favoring  a  party  which  had  always  sought  to  curb  his  power,  which  had  been  on  all 
occasions  supported  by  the  sagacious  and  firm  counsels  of  Antipater.  A  reconciliation 
was,  however,  soon  effected,  as  Herod  greatly  wished  to  strengthen  his  pretensions 
by  a  marriage  with  Miriam  or  Miriamne,  the  beautiful  granddaughter  of  the  high- 
priest,  to  whom  he  was  accordingly  espoused. 

But  although  the  adverse  party  had  been  repressed,  it  was  not  extinguished  ;  and 
it  soon  found  a  new  head  in  the  person  of  Antigonus,  the  surviving  son  of  Aristobulus, 
whose  unsuccessful  application  to  Caesar  has  lately  been  noticed.  Nothing  less  was 
now  professed  than  an  intention  to  restore  him  to  the  throne  of  his  father,  his  claims 
to  which  were  strongly  sujjported  by  some  neighboring  princes,  and  even  by  the  Ro- 
man governor  of  Damascus,  who  had  been  won  by  a  sum  of  money.  But  when  he 
arrived  in  Judea  with  his  army,  he  was  totally  defeated  by  Herod,  and  compelled  for 
the  present  to  relinquish  his  jiurpose. 

This  was  the  state  of  affairs  (B.  C.  41)  when,  after  the  battle  of  Philippi,  Mark 
Anthony  passed  into  Syria,  to  secure  that  important  province  for  the  conquerors,  'i'he 
discontented  party  sent  a  deputation  to  him  soon  after  his  arrival,  to  complain  of  the 
sons:  of  Antipater.  But  Anthony  who  had  been  already  joined  by  Herod,  and  had 
accepted  presents  from  him,  was  indisposed  toward  them,  especially  when  Herod  re- 
minded him  of  the  services,  well  known  to  himself,  which  Anjipater  had  rendered 
to  Gabinius  ni  the  expedition  to  Egypt.  About  the  same  time  Anthony  received  an 
embassy  from  Hyrcanus,  touching  the  ransom  of  the  inhabitants  of  (iophna,  Enmiaus, 
Lydda,  Thamma,  and  some  other  places,  whom  Cassius  had  sold  for  slaves  because 
they  refused  to  pay  their  portion  of  the  seven  hundred  talents  which  he  exacted. 
Anthony  granted  the  application,  and  notified  his  determination  to  the  Tyrians,  who 
had  probably  purchased  most  of  these  persons,  Tyre  being  a  great  mart  for  slave.s. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  451 

Nothino-  discouraged  by  the  former  neglect,  one  hundred  Jews  of  the  first  conside- 
ration repaired  to  Anthony  at  Daphne  near  Antioch,  to  renew  their  complaints  against 
Herod  and  Phasael.  Anthony  gave  them  an  audience,  and  then  turning  to  Hyrcanus, 
who  was  present,  asked  him,  in  their  hearing,  whom  he  esteemed  most  able  to  con- 
duct the  affairs  of  the  government,  under  himself  Influenced,  probably,  by  the  re- 
cent contract  of  marriage  between  his  grand-daughter  and  Herod,  he  named  the  two 
brothers,  on  which  Anthony  conferred  upon  them  the  rank  and  power  of  Tetrarchs, 
committed  the  affairs  of  Judea  to  their  management,  imprisoned  fifteen  of  the  depu- 
ties, and  would  have  put  them  to  death,  had  not  Herod  interceded  for  them.  So 
thin'o-s  were  managed  in  those  times.  With  the  usual  pertinency  of  the  nation,  the 
discontented  Jews  renewed  the  complaint  at  Tyre  in  a  body  of  a  thousand  deputies ; 
but  Anthony  thought  proper  to  treat  this  as  a  tumultuous  assembly,  and  ordered  his 
soldiers  to  disperse  it,  which  was  not  done  without  bloodshed.  Anthony  was  then 
on  his  way  to  Egvpt.  Summoned,  on  his  first  arrival  in  Syria,  to  appear  bef^^jre  him 
to  account'  for  the"  part  she  was  alleged  to  have  taken  in  assisting  Cassius,  Cleopatra 
had  not  in  vain  exercised  upon  him  the  fascinations  by  which  Ca;sar  had  before  been 
subdued.  The  story  of  Anthony's  thraldrom  to  this  charming  but  most  unprincipled 
woman,  is  too  familiar  to  need  more  than  the  slight  allusions  which  the  connexion  of 
this  history  requires.  Lost  in  luxurious  ease  and  dalliance,  Anthony  wasted  much 
time  at  Alexandria,  leaving  the  affairs  of  Syria  and  Asia  Minor  to  get  into  a  state  of 
confusion,  satisfying  himself  that  by-and-by  he  Avould  rouse  himself  to  some  great 
effort  which  would  set  ail  right. 

In  the  spring  of  the  year  B.  C.  40  the  news  from  both  Syria  and  Italy  compelled 
the  warrior  to  break  off  the  enchantment  by  which  he  was  bound,  and  to  look  closely 
to  his  affairs.  In  Syria,  the  people  disgusted  and  exhausted  by  the  successive  ex- 
actions of  Cassius  and  Anthony,  refused  to  bear  them  any  longer.  The  people  ot 
Aradus  kindled  the  flame  of  opposition,  by  openly  resisting  the  collectors  of  '"hute, 
which  example  was  soon  followed  by  others.  They  united  themselves  with  the  Pal- 
myrenes,  and  the  princes  whom  Anthony  had  deposed,  and  called  to  the  Parthians 
for  aid.  They  gladly  responded  to  the  call,  and  entered  the  country  in  great  numbers 
under  the  command  of  their  king's  son  Pacorus,  and  of  a  Roman  general  (Labienus) 
who  had  belonged  to  the  party  of  Pompey.  The  king  with  one  division  of  the  army 
took  possession  of  Syria,  while  Labienus  with  another  performed  the  same  service  in 
Syria.  Anthony  was  made  perfectly  acquainted  with  this  when  he  reached  Tyre , 
but  the  news  which  he  also  received  from  Italy  so  much  more  nearly  concerned  his 
personal  prosperity,  that  he  immediately  embarked  for  that  country.  On  his  arrival, 
affairs  between  him  and  Octavius  wore,  for  a  time,  a  threatening  aspect.  But  the 
opportune  death  of  Anthony's  wife  Fulvia  allowed  an  opening  for  intermarriages  be- 
tween Anthony,  Octavius,  and  Lepidus,  and  peace  between  the  triumvirs  was  for  a 
time  restored.  They  then  divided  the  Roman  empire  among  themselves.  Anthony 
received  Syria  and  the  East,  Lepidus  obtained  Africa,  and  Octavius  all  the  West. 
B.  C.  40.  ,       , 

Meanwhile  the  Parthians,  having  made  themselves  masters  of  Syria,  as  related, 
began  to  take  part  in  the  affairs  of  Palestine.  Pacorus  was  induced  by  the  offer  of  one 
thousand  talents  in  money,  and  Jive  hundred  xoomen,  to  undertake  to  place  Antigonus 
on  the  throne  of  Judea.  To  put  this  contract  in  execution  he  furnished  a  body  of 
soldiers,  under  the  command  of  his  cup-bearer,  who  also  bore  the  name  of  Pacorus, 
to  assist  the  operations  of  Antigonus.  The  united  force  found  no  effectual  resistance 
until  it  reached  Jerusalem,  where  the  struggle  was  protracted  without  any  decisive 
results.  But  at  length  it  was  agreed  between  the  real  belligerants  to  admit  the  Par- 
thian commander  within  the  city,  to  act  as  umpire  between  them.  Phasael  (the 
governor  of  Jerusalem)  invited  him  to  his  own  house,  and  allowed  himself  to  be 
persuaded  that  the  best  course  that  could  be  taken  would  be  for  him  and  Hyrcanus  to 
go  and  submit  the  matter  in  dispute  to  the  arbitration  of  Barzapharnes,  the  Parthian 
governor  of  Syria.  They  went  notwithstanding  the  dissuasions  of  the  less  confiding 
Herod.  Barzapharnes  treated  them  with  great  attention  and  respect,  until  he  suppos- 
ed that  sufficient  time  had  elapsed  to  enable  Pacorus  to  secure  Herod  at  Jerusalem, 
when  he  immediately  put  them  in  chains,  and  shut  them  up  in  prison.  But  Herod, 
suspecting  the  treachery  pf  the  Parthians,  withdrew  with  his  family  by  night  from 
Jerusalem,  and  repaired  "to  the  strong  fortress  of  Massada,  situated  upon  a  high  moun- 
tain west  of  the  Dead  sea.     On  finding  that  Herod  had  escaped,  the  Parthians  plan- 


452  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

dered  the  country,  made  Antigonus  king  according  to  their  contract,  and  departed, 
leaving  Hyrcanus  and  Phasael  in  his  hands.  Phasael,  feeling  assured  that  he  was 
doomed  to  death,  dashed  out  his  brains  against  his  prison  walls.  The  life  of  his 
aged  uncle  was  spared  by  the  nephevv;  but  he  cut  off  his  ears  to  disqualify  him  from 
ever  again  acting  as  high-priest,  and  thus  mutilated,  sent  him  back  to  the  safe  keep- 
ug  of  the  Parthians,  who  sent  him  to  Seleucia  on  the  Tigris. 

In  this  seemingly  desperate  state  of  his  affairs,  for  to  the  great  body  of  the  Jews 
themselves  Antigonus  appears  to  have  been  more  acceptable  than  he,  Herod  repaired 
to  Egypt,  and  took  ship  at  Alexandria  for  Rome.  He  was  warmly  welcomed  by 
Anthony,  by  whom  he  was  introduced  to  Oclavius,  who  was  induced  to  notice  him 
favorably  by  the  report  of  the  very  great  services  which  Antipater  had  rendered  to 
his  ffrand-uncle  (and  adoptive  father)  Csesar,  in  the  Egyptian  expedition.  The  object 
of  Herod's  journey  was  to  induce  the  Romans  to  raise  to  the  throne  of  Judea  Aristo- 
buius,  the  brother  of  his  espoused  Miriamne.  This  Aristobulus  was  the  son  of 
Alexandra,  the  daughter  of  Hyrcanus,  by  Alexander  the  eldest  son  of  Aristobulus,  so 
that  he  seemed  to  unite  in  his  person  the  claims  ot  both  branches  of  the  Asamonean 
family.  For  himself,  Herod  proposed  to  govern  the  country  under  Aristobulus,  as 
his  fatlier  had  governed  it  under  Hyrcanus.  But  Anthony  suggested  the  startling  idea 
of  making  Herod  himself  king  of  Judea  ;  and  noticing  the  eagerness  with  which  he 
grasped  at  the  glittering  bail,  he  undertook,  on  the  promise  of  a  sum  of  money,  to 
secure  this  object  for  him.  He  easily  induced  Oclavius  to  concur  with  him  ;  and  their 
joint  representations  secured  the  appointment  from  the  senate.  Accordingly,  during 
the  consulship  of  Demetrius  Calvinus  and  Asinius  Pollio,  in  the  one  hundred  and 
eighty-fourth  Olympiad,  in  the  year  B.  C.  40,  the  man  who  had  a  few  weeks  before 
been  on  the  point  of  destroviug  himself  from  sheer  despair  of  his  fortunes,  was  con- 
ducted to  the  Capitol  between  the  two  foremost  men  in  the  world,  Anthony  and  Oc- 
tavius,  and  there  consecrated  king,  with  idolatrous  sacrifices.  All  this  was  so  soon 
accomplished,  that  Herod  departed  from  Rome  seven  days  after  his  arrival,  and  land- 
ed at  Ptolemais  only  three  months  at\er  his  flight  from  Jerusalem.  If  the  Parthians 
had  still  been  in  possession  of  Syria,  it  would  have  availed  him  little  to  have  been 
made  a  king  at  Rome  ;  but  by  the  time  of  his  return  they  had  already  been  driven 
out  of  Syria  by  the  Romans,  and  had  withdrawn  beyond  the  Euphrates. 

Herod  diligently  applied  himself  to  the  collecting  such  a  force  as  might  enable  him 
to  relieve  the  friends  he  had  left  in  Massada,  who  had  all  the  while  been  closely  be- 
sieged by  Antigonus,  and  were  at  one  time  reduced  to  such  extremities  for  want  of 
water,  that  they  had  fully  intended  to  surrender  the  next  day,  when  an  abundant  fall 
of  rain  during  the  intervening  night  filled  all  the  cisterns  and  enabled  them  to  hold 
out  until  Herod  came  to  their  relief. 

Three  years  elapsed  before  Herod  can  be  said  to  have  obtained  possession  of  the 
throne  which  the  Romans  had  given  to  him.  The  assistance  which  the  Romans 
themselves  rendered  is  of  questionable  value,  as  at  first  the  generals  appointed  to  as- 
sist him  would  only  act  just  as  money  induced  them;  and  under  pretence  that  the 
forces  wanted  provisions,  ravaged  the  country  in  such  a  manner  as  was  well  calcu- 
lated to  render  his  cause  odious  to  the  Jews.  One  good  service  to  the  land  was  per- 
formed in  the  extirpation  of  the  numerous  bands  of  robbers  which  infested  Galilee, 
dwelling  chiefly  in  the  caverns  of  the  hill  country,  and  which  were  so  numerous  as 
sometimes  to  give  battle  to  the  troops  in  the  open  field.  They  were,  however,  pur- 
sued with  fire  and  sword,  in  all  their  difficult  retreats,  and  after  great  numbers  had 
been  slain,  the  rest  sought  refuge  beyond  Jordan. 

The  arrival  of  Anthony  in  Syria  enabled  Herod  to  obtain  more  efficient  assistance 
than  before;  and,  after  having  subdued  the  open  country,  he,  with  his  Roman  aux- 
iliaries, sat  down  before  Jerusalem.  During  this  siege  he  consummated  his  marriage 
with  Miriamne,  to  whom  he  had  four  years  before  been  betrothed.  He  was  not  only 
passionately  attached  to  this  lady,  but  he  hoped  that  the  affinity  thus  contracted  with 
the  Asamonean  family,  which  was  still  very  popular  among  the  Jews,  would  con- 
ciliate the  people  to  his  government.  The  city  held  out  for  six  monllis,  whereby  the 
Romans  were  so  greatly  exasperated  that  when  at  last  (B.  C.  27)  they  took  it  by 
storm,  they  plundered  the  town  and  massacred  the  inhabitants  without  mercy. 
Herod  complained  that  they  were  going  to  make  him  kingof  a  desert  ;  and  paid  down 
a  larjje  sum  of  money  to  induce  them  to  desist.  Antigonus  surrendered  himself  in 
rather  a  cowardly  manner  to  the  Roman  general  'Sosius),  and   throwing  himself  at 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  453 

his  feet,  besought  his  clemency  with  so  much  abjectness,  that  the  Roman  repelled 
him  with  contempt,  addressing  him  by  the  name  of  Antigona,  as  if  unworthy  a  man's 
name.  He  sent  him  to  Anthony,  who  at  first  intended  to  reserve  him  for  his  triumph; 
but,  being  assured  by  Herod  that  while  Aniigonus  lived  the  Jews  generally  would 
not  acknowledge  himself  as  king,  or  cease  to  raise  disturbances  on  his  behalf,  and 
this  representation  being  backed  by  a  sum  of  money,  Anthony  put  him  to  death  at 
Antioch,  by  the  rods  and  the  axe  of  the  lictor — an  indignity  which  the  Romans  had 
never  before  inflicted  upon  a  crowned  head.  Thus  ignominiously  ended  the  dynasty 
of  the  Asamoneans,  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  years  afieriis  glorious  commencement. 

Herod  commenced  his  reign  by  cutting  off  all  the  heads  of  the  Asamonean  party, 
not  only  to  secure  himself  in  the  throne,  but,  by  the  confiscation  of  their  property,  to 
enrich  his  coti'ers,  which  were  well  exhausted  by  his  profuse  expenditure,  and  by  the 
rapacity  of  the  Romans.  In  this  process  all  the  members  of  the  ISanhedrim  perished, 
except  PoUio  and  Sameas,  which  last,  it  will  be  remembered,  had  predicted  this  re- 
sult. The  ground  on  which  they  were  spared  was,  that  they  alone  had  counselled 
submission  to  the  course  of  events,  by  surrendering  the  city  to  Herud  ;  whereas  the 
others  were  constancy  encouraging  each  other  and  the  citizens  in  the  now  vain  ex- 
pectation that  Jehovah  would,  as  of  old,  interpose  for  the  deliverance  of  his  temple.* 

Herod,  sensible  that  the  Jews  would  not  tolerate  his  own  assumption  of  the  high- 
priesihood  in  the  room  of  Antigonus,  designed  to  render  that  office  politically  insigni- 
ficant, and  therefore  appomted  it  to  Ananel  of  Babylon,  an  obscure  priest,  although 
descended  from  the  ancient  high-priests,  and  who  was  entirelv  without  influence  or 
connexions  to  render  him  dangerous  (B.  C.  36).  This  appointment  occasioned  con- 
fusion in  his  own  family  ;  for  Miriamne  his  wife,  and  Alexandra  her  mother,  took 
umbrage  at  the  exclusion  of  her  brother  A ristobulus — the  same  youth  for  whose  brows 
he  had  originally  designed  the  diadem  which  he  had  himself  been  induced  to  assume. 
Miriamne  was  constantly  harassing  him  on  the  subject;  and  her  mother  Alexandra, 
a  woman  of  great  spirit,  went  much  further,  for  she  complained  to  Cleopatra,  queen 
of  Egypt,  by  letter,  and  had  begun  to  engage  the  interest  of  Anthony  himself  in  the 
matter,  when  Herod  saw  that  it  was  necessary  to  his  domestic  peace  and  public  safety 
that  he  should  depose  Ananel  and  promote  Aristobulus  to  his  office,  who  was  then 
but  seventeen  years  of  age.  He  was,  however,  so  seriously  displeased  at  the  bold 
step  which  Alexandra  had  taken,  that  he  ordered  her  to  be  confined  in  her  own 
palace,  and  placed  around  her  some  of  his  confidential  servants  to  watch  all  her 
movements.  She  wrote  to  Cleopatra,  complaining  of  this  treatment,  and  in  reply  was 
advised  to  make  her  escape  to  Egypt.  Accordingly  she  arranged  that  herself  and 
Aristobulus  should  be  placed  in  two  coffins,  and  carried  by  attached  servants  to  the 
seacoast,  where  a  ship  was  waiting  to  receive  them.  But  their  flight  was  intercept- 
ed by  Herod,  whom,  however,  the  fear  of  Cleopatra  prevented  from  treating  them 
with  harshness.  He,  however,  secretly  resolved  to  put  Aristobulus  out  of  the  way, 
as  a  person  whose  influence  he  had  great  reason  to  dread. 

This  intention  was  strengthened  when  he  perceived  how  dangerously  the  discharge 
of  his  functions  brought  under  the  admiring  notice  of  the  Jews  this  beautiful  fragment 
of  the  Maccabean  race,  in  which  they  were  delighted  to  trace  out  the  noble  qualities 

*  This  Pollio  and  Sameas  of  Josephus  are  the  famous  Hillel  and  Shammai  of  tlie  Rabbinical  writers — 
two  of  the  most  eminent  of  th>-  ancient  doctors  of  tlie  nation.  Hillel  was  of  the  royal  line  of  David,  beingf 
descended  from  Shepha  iali,  David's  son  by  Abital  (1  Chron.  iii.  2).  He  was  born  ip  Babylonia,  and  came 
to  Jerusalem  in  the  fortieth  year  of  his  age  ;  and  for  his  eminence  in  the  study  of  the  law,  he  was  ap- 
pointed president  of  the  Sanhedrim,  forty  years  after,  in  the  eightieth  year  of  his  age,  and  held  that  high 
station  for  forty  years  more  ;  and  it  continued  in  his  family  to  the  tenth  generati.in.  He  was  succeeded 
by  Simeon,  supposed  to  be  the  same  who  took  Christ  in  his  aims  when  he  was  presented  in  the  temple 
(Luke  ii.  23-35).  His  son  Gamaliel  was  president  of  the  Sanhedrim  when  Peter  and  the  apostles  were 
summoned  before  them  (Acts  v.  34)  ;  "  at  whose  feef  the  Apostle  Paul  was  "  brought  up,"  or  educated,  in 
the  sect  and  discipline  of  the  Pharisees  (Acts  xxiii.  3).  He  lived  until  within  eighteen  years  of  the  deslruc 
tion  of  Jerusalem,  and  in  the  Jewish  writings  is  distinguished  by  the  title  of  Gamaliel  the  Old.  He  was 
succeeded  by  Simeon  H.,  who  perished  in  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  His  son  was  Gamaliel  H.,  and  his 
again  Simeon  HI.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  the  celebrated  "R.  Judah  Hakkadosh,  or  '-the  lioly,"  who 
coinnulted  the  traditional  law  to  writing,  in  the  Mishna.  His  son  and  successor  was  Gamaliel  III. ;  after 
him  Judah  Gemaricus  ;  after  him  Hillel  II.,  the  ingenious  compiler  of  the  present  Jewish  Calendar,  A.  I)   358 

Shammai  had  been  a  disciple  of  H  llel,  and  approached  the  nearest  to  him  in  learning  and  eminence  of  all 
tlie  Mishnical  doctors.  He  was  vice-president  of  the  Sanhedrim,  and  disagreed  in  several  points  with  his 
master  Hillel  was  of  a  mild  and  conciliatory  temper;  but  Shammai  of  an  angry  and  lierce  spirit.  Hence 
proceeded  violent  disputes  and  contests  between  the  two  schools,  which  at  length  ended  in  bloodshed.  At 
last  they  were  allayed  by  a  fictitious  Bath  Cnl,  or  voice  from  heaven,  deciding  in  favor  of  Hillel,  to  which 
the  school  of  Shammai  submitted.  See  Hales,  li.  593.  Persons  acquainted  with  the  matters  .n  controversy 
between  the  schools  of  Hillel  and  Shammai  will  find  various  marked  allusions  to  them  in  the  Gospels,  and, 
although  less  frequently,  in  the  Epistles. 


454  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

•and  lineaments  by  which  that  race  had  been  distinguished.  At  the  feast  of  taber- 
nacles, Aristnbulus  officiated  at  the  altar  in  the  splendid  robes  of  the  high-priest,  which 
set  off  to  such  advantage  the  angelic  grace  and  beauty  of  his  youthful  person,  that 
the  Jews  could  not  contain  themselves,  but  gave  vent  to  the  most  lively  demonstra- 
tions of  their  admiration  and  love.  This  sealed  his  doom.  Soon  after,  Herod  engaged 
Aristobulus,  with  suitable  companions  of  his  own  age,  in  a  variety  of  sports  and  en- 
tertainments at  Jericho.  Among  other  things  they  bathed  in  a  lake,  where  the  young 
men  kept  immersing  Aristobulus,  as  if  in  sport,  until  he  was  drowned.  Loud  were 
the  lamentations  of  Herod  at  this  most  unhappy  "  accident."  By  these,  and  by  the 
grand  funeral  with  which  he  honored  the  remains  of  Aristobulus,  and  by  the  trophies 
with  which  he  surcharged  his  tomb,  he  sought  to  disguise  from  the  people  the  real 
character  of  this  transaction.  But  they  were  not  deceived.  The  deed  inspired  the 
whole  nation  with  hatred  and  horror,' which  even  his  own  family  shared.  As  to 
Alexandra,  her  emotions  were  so  overpowering  that  only  the  hope  of  vengeance 
enabled  her  to  live. 

Old  Hyrcanus  was  at  this  time  in  Jerusalem.  He  had  been,  and  might  have  re- 
mained, very  happily  situated  at  Seleucia,  where  he  was  treated  by  the  Jews  in  that 
quarter,  who  were  more  numerous  and  more  wealthy  than  those  of  Judea,  as  their 
king  and  high-priest ;  in  which  point  of  view  he  was  also  considered  and  respected 
by  the  Parihian  king.  But  when  the  fears  and  suspicions  of  Herod  extended  even 
».o  him,  and,  desiring  to  get  him  into  his  power,  he  sent,  and  invited  him  to  come 
and  spend  tlie  evening  of  his  days  in  his  own  land,  and  with  his  own  family,  and  en- 
gaged the  Parthian  king  to  permit  him  to  do  so, — Hyrcanus,  who  liked  Herod,  and 
had  great  confidence  in  his  gratitude,  could  not  be  dissuaded  by  the  earnest  remon- 
strances and  entreaties  of  his  eastern  friends ;  but  returned  to  Jerusalem,  where  he 
was  well  received,  and  until  a  more  convenient  season,  treated  by  Herod  with  atten- 
tion and  respect. 

Anthony  was  now  again  in  Syria,  and  on  his  arrival  had  invited  Cleopatra  to  join 
him  at  Laodicea.  Alexandra  again  applied  to  Cleopatra  ;  and  she  took  much  interest 
in  the  matter — not  from  any  strong  natural  feelings — for  she  had  herself  committed 
crimes  as  great,  but  in  the  hope  of  inducing  Anthony  to  add  Judea  to  her  dominions 
if  Herod  were  disgraced.  She  therefore  brought  the  affair  under  the  notice  of  An- 
thony ;  and  as  he  could  not  but  remember  that  Herod  had  originally  sought  for  the 
murdered  youth  the  crown  he  now  wore  himself,  he  was  induced  to  summon  him  to 
Laodicea  to  answer  for  his  conduct.  Herod  was  obliged  to  obey,  and  was  not  without 
anxiety  for  the  result.  He  however  took  care  so  to  propitiate  Anthony  beforehand, 
by  the  profusion  of  his  gifts,  that  on  his  arrival  he  was  immediately  acquitted,  and 
the  avarice  of  Cleopatra  was  in  some  degree  appeased  by  the  assignment  of  Coele- 
Syria  to  her,  in  lieu  of  Judea,  of  which  she  had  always  been,  and  soon  again  became 
covetous,  B.  C.  34. 

Before  his  departure  from  Jerusalem,  Herod,  uncertain  of  the  result,  had  left  private 
instructions  with  his  uncle  Joseph  (who  had  married  his  sister  Salome)  to  put  Miri- 
amne  to  death  in  case  he  was  condemned,  for  he  knew  that  Anthony  had  heard  much 
of  her  extreme  beauty,  and  feared  that  he  might  take  her  to  himself,  after  his  death. 
Joseph  had  the  great  imprudence  to  divulge  this  secret  to  Mariamne  herself,  repre- 
senting it,  however,  as  resulting  from  the  excess  of  her  husband's  love  to  her.  But 
she  rather  regarded  it  as  a  proof  of  so  savage  a  nature,  that  she  conceived  an  uncon- 
querable repugnance  toward  him.  Soon  after  a  rumor  came  that  he  had  been  put  to 
death  by  Anthony ;  on  which  Alexandra,  who  was  now  also  acquainted  with  the 
barbarous  orders  left  with  Joseph,  was  preparing  to  seek  protection  with  the  Roman 
legion  stationed  in  the  city,  when  letters  from  Herod  himself,  announcing  his  acquit- 
tal and  speedy  return,  induced  them  to  relinquish  their  design.  The  firebrand  of  the 
family  was  Salome,  the  sister  of  Herod,  and  she  failed  not  to  apprize  her  brother  of 
this  intention,  as  well  as  to  insinuate  that  too  close  an  intimacy  had  subsisted  between 
Mariamne  and  Joseph.  Salome  had  been,  it  seems,  provoked  to  hatred  of  this  hii,;.- 
born  lady,  by  the  hauteur  with  which  she  had  been  looked  down  upon  and  treated 
as  an  inferior  by  her.  Although  struck  with  jealousy,  the  king  allowed  his  deep 
love  fot  Mariamne  to  subdue  him,  when  all  her  beauty  shone  once  more  upon  him. 
He  could  only  bring  himself  to  question  her  gently,  and  was  satisfied  from  her 
answers,  and  from  the  conscious  innocence  of  her  manner,  that  she  had  been  maligned. 
Afterward,  while  assuring  her  of  the  sincerity  and  ardor  of  his  love  toward  her,  she 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  455 

tauntingly  reminded  him  of  the  proof  of  that  which  he  had  given  in  his  orders  to 
Joseph.  This  most  imprudent  disclosure  rekindled  all  the  jealousy  of  Herod.  Con- 
vinced that  the  charge  which  he  had  heard  was  true,  he  flung  her  from  his  arms; 
Joseph  he  ordered  to  be  put  to  death,  without  admitting  him  to  his  presence ;  and 
although  his  love  for  Mariamne  at  this  time  restrained  his  rage  against  her,  he  put 
her  mother  Alexandra  into  custody,  as  the  cause  of  all  these  evils. 

The  disgraceful  history  of  Anthony  in  Egypt  is  familiar  to  the  reader;  and  it  is  only 
needful  to  advert  to  one  or  two  points  in  which  Herod  and  Palestine  were  more  or 
less  involved. 

In  B.  C.  33  Jerusalem  was  "  honored"  with  a  visit  from  Cleopatra,  on  her  return 
from  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  whither  she  had  accompanied  Anthony  on  his 
Armenian  expedition.  Before  this  she  had  succeeded  in  persuading  Anthony — al- 
though he  steadily  refused  wholly  to  sacrifice  Herod  to  her  ambition— to  give  her  the 
fertile  territories  around  Jericho,  the  celebrated  balsam  afforded  b/  which,  together 
with  the  palm-trees  in  which  it  abounded,  furnished  a  considerable  revenue,  the  de- 
privation of  which  could  not  bui  have  given  great  offence  to  Herod.  The  means 
which  this  abandoned  woman  used,  during  her  stay  at  Jerusalem,  to  bring  the  king 
under  the  spell  of  those  fascinations  for  which,  more  than  for  her  beauty,  she  was 
celeb '.'lied,  added,  in  his  mind,  disgust  and  contempt  to  the  sense  of  vvrong;  and 
altJiough  he  received  and  entertained  her  with  the  most  sedulous  attention  and  ap- 
par3iit  respect,  he  had  it  seriously  in  consideration  whether,  seeing  she  was  wholly 
in  his  power,  he  could  safely  compass  the  death  of  one  who  had  more  than  once  en- 
deavored to  accomplish  his  own.  The  dread  of  Anthony's  vengeance  deterred  him, 
and  he  conducted  the  queen  with  honor  to  the  frontiers  of  her  own  kingdom,  after 
having  endeavored  to  propitiate  her  cupidity  by  ample  gifts.  But  nothing  could  sa- 
tiate her  thirst  for  gain  and  aggrandizement,  and  her  plots  to  gain  possession  of  Ju- 
dea  were  continued,  and  could  hardly  have  been  defeated  by  a  less  accomplished 
master  in  her  own  arts  than  Herod  "  the  Great."  One  time  she  engaged  Arithony  to 
commit  to  him  a  hazardous  war  on  her  account  with  the  Arabian  king  reigning  in 
Petra,  calculating  that  the  death  of  either  of  them  would  enable  her  to  appropriate 
his  domiaions.  Herod  gained  one  battle  ;  but  he  lost  another  through  the  defection 
of  the  Egyptian  general  at  a  critical  moment  of  the  conflict.  Herod  was,  however, 
ultimately  successful,  and  won  great  honor  by  a  signal  and  effective  victory,  which 
brought  the  Arabians  of  Seir  under  his  dominion. 

The  same  year  (B.  C.  31)  had  opened  with  an  earthquake  so  tremendous  as  had 
never  before  been  known  in  Judea:  it  is  said  that  not  fewer  than  thirty  thousand 
persons  were  either  swallowed  up  in  the  chasms  which  opened  in  the  earth,  or  de- 
stroyed by  the  fall  of  their  houses.  The  confusion  and  loss  which  this  calamity  oc- 
casioned greatly  troubled  the  king,  and  not  long  after  he  found  (as  far  as  his  own  in- 
terests were  concerned)  a  more  serious  matter  of  anxiety  in  the  result  of  the  battle 
of  Aciium  (Sept.  2d.,  B.  C.  31),  when  Octavius  obtained  a  decided  victory  over  An- 
thony, who  flea  to  Egypt,  as  his  last  retreat.  Herod  did  not  exhibit  any  blameworthy 
akicrity  in  abandoning  the  patron  of  his  fortunes.  He  sent  by  a  special  messeno^er 
to  exhort  him  to  put  to  iumiediate  death  the  woman  who  had  been  his  ruin,  seize 
her  treasures  and  kingdom,  and  thus  obtain  means  of  raising  another  army,  with 
which  eiiher  once  more  to  contend  for  empire,  or  at  least  to  secure  a  more  advan- 
tageous peace  than  he  could  otherwise  expect.  But  finding  that  Anthony  paid  no 
heed  to  this  proposal,  and  neglected  his  own  offers  of  service,  he  thought  it  was  high 
time  to  take  care  of  himself,  by  detaching  his  fortunes  from  one  whose  utter  ruin  he 
saw  to  be  inevitable.  Therefore  when  Octavius,  early  in  B.  C.  30,  had  come  to 
Rhodes,  on  his  way  to  Egypt,  he  went  thither  to  him. 

But  before  his  departure  he  made  such  arrangements  as  showed,  after  his  own  pe- 
culiar manner,  the  sense  he  entertained  of  the  serious  importance  of  the  present  con- 
tingencies. He  placed  his  mother,  sister,  wives,  and  children,  in  the  strong  fortress 
of  iVIassada,  under  the  care  of  his  brother  Pheroras.  But  seeing  that  Mariamne  and 
her  mother  Alexandra  could  not  agree  with  his  mother  and  sister,  he  placed  them 
separately  in  the  fortress  of  Alexandrium,  under  the  care  of  a  trusty  Idumean  named 
Sohemup,  with  secret  orders  to  put  them  both  to  death,  if  Oc'.avius  should  treat  him 
harshly  ;  and  that,  in  concurrence  with  Pheroras,  he  should  endeavor  to  secure  the 
crown  for  his  children.  And,  fearful  that  the  existence  and  presence  of  Hyrcanus 
might  suggest  the  obvious  course  of  deposing  himself  and  restoring  the  original  oc- 


456  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

cupant  of  the  throne,  he  was  glad  of  the  opportunity  of  putting  him  to  death,  with 
the  faint  sliow  of  justice  which  might  be  derived  from  the  detected  design  of  the  old 
man  (instigated  by  his  daughter  Alexandra)  to  make  his  escape  to  the  Arabian  king 
Malchus,  the  most  active  of  Herod's  foreign  enemies,  and  the  son  of  that  king  Aretas 
who  had  formerly  invaded  Judea  for  the  purpose  of  restoring  Hyrcanus  to  the  throne 
which  his  brother  had  usurped.  Hyrcanus  was  eighty  years  of  age  when  he  was 
thus  made  to  experience  the  heartless  ingratitude  of  the  man  who  owed  life  and  all 
things  to  his  favor. 

On  his  arrival  at  Rhodes,  Herod  conducted  himself  with  the  tact  of  no  common 
man.  When  admitted  to  an  audience  he  frankly  acknowledged  all  he  had  done  for 
Anthony,  and  all  he  would  still  have  done  had  his  services  been  accepted.  He  even 
stated  the  last  counsel  which  he  had  given  to  that  infatuated  man  ;  and  having  thus 
enabled  Ociavius  to  judge  how  faithful  he  was  to  his  friends,  he  offered  him  that 
friendship  which  the  conduct  of  Anthony  left  him  free  to  offer.  Octavius  was  charmed 
by  this  manly  frankness;  and,  mindful  of  Antipater's  services  to  Julius  Caesar,  and  of 
the  part  which  he  had  himself  taken  in  placing  Herod  on  the  throne,  his  overtures 
were  received  with  pleasure,  and  he  was  directed  again  to  take  up  and  wear  on  his 
head  the  diadem  which  he  had  laid  aside  when  he  entered  the  presence.  By  this 
significant  intimation  he  was  confirmed  in  his  kingdom;  and  then  and  after  he  was 
treated  with  a  degree  of  consideration  not  usually  paid  to  tributary  kings. 

Meanwhile  Mariamne  had,  by  her  address,  managed  to  extract  from  Sohemus  the 
acknowledgment  of  the  last  directions  concerning  her  which  he  had  received  from 
Herod.  The  consequence  was  that  although  slie  concealed  her  knowledge  of  the  fact, 
she  received  him  on  his  return  with  coldness  and  dislike,  which  ofi'ended  him  highly; 
and,  presuming  on  the  depth  of  his  affection  for  her,  she  continued  long  to  maintain 
a  degree  of  haughtiness  and  reserve  which  greatly  aggravated  his  displeasure.  After 
Herod  had  been  fluctuating  for  a  whole  year  between  love  and  resentment,  Mariamne 
one  day  brought  matters  to  a  crisis  by  her  pointed  refusal  to  receive  his  love,  and  by 
her  upbraiding  him  with  the  murder  of  her  grandfather  and  brother.  Enraged  beyond 
further  endurance,  Herod  immediately  ordered  her  confidential  eunuch  to  be  put  to  the 
torture,  that  he  might  discover  the  cause  of  her  altered  conduct;  but  the  tortured 
wretch  could  only  say  that  it  probably  arose  from  some  communication  which  Sohe- 
mus had  made  to  her.  This  hint  sufficed  ;  as  he  concluded  that  Sohemus  must  have 
been  too  intimate  with  her,  or  that  he  would  not  have  revealed  the  secret  with  which 
he  had  been  intrusted.  Sohemus  Avas  immediately  seized  and  put  to  death ;  Mari- 
amne herself  was  then  accused  by  Herod  of  adultery  before  judges  of  his  own  selec- 
tion, by  whom  she  was  condenmed,but  with  a  conviction  that  iheir  sentence  of  death 
would  not  be  executed.  Neither  would  it,  probably,  but  for  the  intervention  of  Oypros 
the  mother  of  Herod,  and  Salome  his  sister,  who,  fearing  he  might  relent,  suggested 
that  by  delay  occasion  for  a  popular  commotion  in  her  favor  might  be  given.  She  wa 
therefore  led  to  immediate  execution,  and  met  her  death  with  the  firmness  which  be- 
came her  race,  although  assailed  on  the  way  by  the  violent  and  indecent  reproaches 
of  her  own  mother  Afexandra,  who  now  began  to  be  seriously  alarmed  for  her  own 
safety.  She,  however,  did  not  long  escape  ;  for  when  Herod  fell  sick  the  next  year 
(B.  C.  28),  from  the  poignancy  of  his  remorse  and  anguish  at  the  loss  of  Mariamne, 
she  laid  a  plot  for  seizing  the  government ;  but  it  was  disclosed  to  Herod  by  the  offi- 
cers whose  fidelity  she  endeavored  to  corrupt,  and  he  instantly  ordered  her  to  be  put 
to  death. 

We  must  return  to  an  earlier  year,  to  notice  that  Octavius  passed  through  Syria  on 
his  way  to  Egypt,  and  that  Herod  went  to  meet  him  at  Ptolemais,  where  he  enter- 
tained liim  and  liis  army  with  the  most  profuse  magnificence.  Besides  this  he  pre- 
sented the  emperor  with  eight  hundred  talents,  and  furnished  large  supplies  of  bread, 
wine,  and  t)ther  provisions,  for  the  march  through  tiie  desert,  where  the  army  might 
have  been  much  distressed  for  the  want  of  such  necessaries.  He  accompanied  the 
army  himself  through  the  desert  to  I'elusiuni.  On  the  return  of  Octavius  the  same 
way,  after  the  death  of  Anthony  and  Cleopatra,  and  the  reduction  of  Egypt  to  the 
condition  of  a  Roman  province,  he  was  received  and  entertained  with  the  same  truly 
royal  liberality  and  m.ignifictriice,  by  which  he  was  so  gratified  that,  in  return,  he 
presented  Herod  with  the  four  thousand  Gauls  who  had  ibruied  the  body-guard  of 
Cleopatra,  and  also  restored  to  him  the  districts  and  towns  ef  which  the  principality 
had  been  divested  by  Pouipey  and  Anthony. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  457 

In  B.  C.  27,  four  years  after  the  battle  of  Actium,  Octavius  received  from  the  flat- 
tery of  the  srnate  the  name— or  rather  the  title  which  became  a  name — of  Augustus, 
and  with  it  all  the  powers  of  the  state.  That  he  might  not.  however,  seem  to  assume 
all  the  authority  to  himself,  he  divided  the  empire  into  two  parts,  the  quiet  and  peace- 
able portions  he  assigned  to  the  senate,  to  be  governed  by  consular  and  praetorian  of- 
ficers; these  were  called  senatorial ;  but  the  turbulent  and  insecure  provinces  which 
lay  on  the  outskirts  of  the  empire,  he  reserved  for  himself;  these  were  called  im-pe- 
rial,  and  were  governed  by  presidents  and  procurators.  This  was  one  of  the  stroices 
of  deep  statesmanship  which  distinguish  the  history  of  Augustus  Caesar,  for  under  the 
appearance  of  leaving  to  the  senate  the  most  settled  and  easily  governed  provinces, 
he  secured  in  his  own  hands  the  whole  military  power  of  the  empire,  which  was  ne- 
cessarily stationed  in  the  comparatively  unsettled  imperial  provinces  to  retain  them  in 
subjection— such  as  Egypt,  Syria,  Phoenicia,  Silicia,  -and  Cyprus,  in  the  east,  and 
Spain  in  the  west. 

In  the  year  B.  C.  25,  Herod  found  an  opportunity  of  cutting  off  the  last  branch  of 
the  Asamonean  race.  His  turbulent  sister  Salome,  having  fallen  out  with  her  second 
husband  Costabarus,  the  governor  of  Idumea  and  Gaza,  she  took  the  liberty  of  send- 
ing him  a  bill  of  divorce,  in  conformity  with  the  Roman  customs,  but  contrary  to  the 
Mosaical  law  and  usage,  which  confined  that  privilege  to  her  husband  (Deut.  xxiv. 
1,  2,  &c. ;  Mat.  v.  31 ;  xix.  7) ;  and  she  then  relumed  to  her  brother,  before  whom  she 
cunningly  ascribed  her  conduct  to  the  fact  that  Costabarus,  in  conjunction  with  some 
chiefs  of  the  Asamonean  party,  had  entered  into  a  conspiracy  against  him.  In  proof 
of  this,  she  stated  that  he  kept  in  concealment  the  sons  of  Babas,  whom  Herod  had, 
at  the  taking  of  Jerusalem,  intrusted  to  him  to  be  destroyed.  The  sons  of  Babas 
were  found  in  the  retreat  indicated  by  Salome,  and  put  to  death;  and,  taking  all  the 
rest  for  granted,  the  king  ordered  Costabarus  and  his  alleged  associates  to  be  imme- 
diately executed. 

The  Asamonean  family  being  now  extirpated,  root  and  branch,  and  no  person  being 
m  existence  whose  claims  to  the  throne  could  be  considered  superior  to  his  own,  Herod 
ventured  to  manifest  a  greater  disregard  for  the  law  of  Moses,  and  more  attachment 
to  heathenish  customs  than  he  had  previously  deemed  safe.  He  beajan  by  abolishing 
some  of  the  ceremonies  which  the  former  required,  and  by  introducing  not  a  few  of 
the  latter.  He  then  proceeded  to  build  a  magnificent  theatre  in  the  city,  and  a  spa- 
cious amphitheatre  in  the  suburbs,  where  he  instituted  public  games,  which  were 
celebrated  every  fifth  year  in  honor  of  Augustus.  In  order  to  draw  the  larger  con- 
course on  these  occasions,  proclamation  of  the  approaching  games  Avere  made,  not 
only  in  his  own  dominions,  but  in  neighboring  provinces  and  distant  kingdoms.  Glad- 
iators, wrestlers,  and  musicians,  were  invited  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  prizes 
of  great  value  were  proposed  to  the  victors.  These  games,  and  more  especially  the 
combats  between  men  and  wild  beasts,  were  highly  displeasing  to  the  Jews;  who 
also  viewed  with  a  jealous  eye  the  trophies  with  which  the  places  of  public  enter- 
tainment were  adorned,  regarding  them  as  coming  within  the  interdiction  of  idola- 
trous images  by  the  Mosaical  law.  In  vain  did  Herod  endeavor  to  overcome  their  dis- 
like. Connected  with  other  causes  of  discontent,  old  and  new,  it  increased  daily,  and 
at  last  grew  to  such  a  height  that  ten  of  the  most  zealous  malecontenls,  including  one 
blind  man,  formed  a  conspiracy,  and  assembled,  with  daggers  concealed  under  jheir 
garments,  for  the  purpose  of  assassinating  Herod  when  he  entered  ihe  theatre.  They 
had  brought  their  minds  to  a  state  of  indifference  to  the  result ;  for  they  were  per- 
suaded that  if  they  failed,  their  death  could  not  but  render  the  tyrant  more  odious  to 
the  people,  and  thus  equally  work  out  the  object  they  sought.  Nor  were  they  quite 
mistaken.  Their  design  urns  discovered  ;  and  they  were  put  to  death  with  the  most 
cruel  tortures.  But  when  the  mob  indicated  their  view  of  the  matter— their  haired 
of  himself,  and  sympathy  with  the  intended  assassins — by  literally  tearing  the  in- 
former in  pieces,  and  throwing  his  flesh  to  the  dogs,  Herod  was  exasperated  to  the 
uttermost.  By  torture,  he  compelled  some  women  to  name  the  principal  persons  who 
were  concerned  in  this  transaction,  all  of  whom  were  hurried  off  to  instant  death  to- 
gether ivilh  their  innocent  families.  This  crowning  act  of  savageness  rendered  the 
tyrant  so  perfectly  detestable  to  his  subjects,  that  he  began  very  seriously  to  contem- 
plate the  possibility  of  a  general  revolt,  and  to  take  his  measures  accordingly.  He 
built  new  f  irrrcsses  and  fortified  towns  tiiroughout  the  land,  and  strengthened  those 
that  previously  existed.     In  this  he  did  more  than  ihe  original  inducement  required  i 


458  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

tor  Herod  was  a  man  of  taste,  and  had  quite  a  passion  for  building  and  improvements, 
so  that  in  the  course  of  his  long  reign  the  country  assumed  a  greatly  improved  appear- 
ance, through  the  number  of  fine  towns  and  magnificent  public  works  and  buildings 
which  he  erected.  In  this  respect  there  had  been  no  liing  like  him  since  Solomon  ; 
and  if  he  could  have  reigned  in  peace,  if  domestic  troubles,  opposition  from  his  sub- 
jects, and  the  connexion  with  the  Romans,  had  not  called  into  active  operation  all  the 
darker  features  of  his  character,  it  is  easy  to  conceive  that  his  reign  might  have  been 
very  happy  and  glorious. 

He  rebuilt  Samaria,  or  rather  completed  the  rebuilding  of  it  which  Gabinius  had 
begun.  His  attention  seems  to  have  been  drawn  to  its  excellent  site,  and  strong 
military  position;  and,  from  the  magnificent  scale  on  which  it  was  restored,  we  con- 
ceive that  he  contemplated  the  possibility  of  withdrawing  his  court  to  it,  in  the  very 
likely  contingency  of  being  unable  to  maintain  himself  at  Jerusalem.  He  gave  the 
completed  city  the  name  of  Sebaste — the  name,  in  Greek,  of  his  great  patron  Augus- 
tus. He  also  built  Gaba  in  Galilee,  and  Heshbon  in  Perea ;  besides  many  others 
which  he  called  by  the  names  of  the  different  members  of  his  own  family — as,  Anti- 
patris,  from  the  name  of  his  father  Antipater;  Cypron,  near  Jericho,  after  his  mother 
Cypros  (who  was  descended  from  an  Arabian  family,  although  born  at  Ascalon  in 
Palestine) ;  and  Phasaelis,  in  the  plains  of  Jericho,  after  his  brother  Phasael.  In 
most  of  these  cities  he  planted  colonies  of  his  foreign  soldiers,  to  hold  the  country  ia 
subjection. 

To  extend  his  fame,  Herod  even  built  numerous  splendid  edifices,  and  made  large 
improvements  in  cities  beyond  the  limits  of  his  own  dominion — such  as  gymnasiums 
atPtolemais,  Tripolis,  and  Damascus;  the  city  walls  at  Bibulus;  porticoes, or  covered 
walls,  at  Tyre,  Beyrutus,  and  Antioch;  bazars  and  theatres  at  Zidon  and  Damascus; 
an  aqueduct  at  Laodicea  on  the  sea ;  and  baths,  reservoirs,  and  porticoes,  at  Ascalon. 
He  also  made  groves  in  several  cities;  to  others  he  made  rich  presents,  or  furnished 
endowments  for  the  support  of  their  games;  and  by  such  means  his  fame  wias  widely 
spread  in  the  Roman  empire. 

At  Jerusalem  Herod  built  himself  a  splendid  palace,  on  Mount  Zion,  the  site  of  the 
oiiginal  fortress  of  Jehus,  and  of  the  citadel  which  had  so  much  annoyed  the  Jews 
during  the  Maccabean  wars.  It  was  in  the  Grecian  style  of  architecture,  and  two 
large  and  sumptuous  apartments  ni  it  Herod  named  Csesareum,  in  honor  of  the  em- 
peror, and  Agrippeura,  after  his  favorite  Agrippa. 

We  receive  a  better  idea  of  the  largeness  of  Herod's  views,  however,  by  his  build- 
ing the  town  and  forming  the  harbor  at  what  he  named  Csesarea.  The  site  had 
formerly  been  marked  by  a  caslle  called  Strato's  tower,  on  the  coast  between  Dora 
and  Joppa.  Here  he  made  the  most  convenient  and  safest  port  to  be  found  on  all  the 
coast  of  Phcenicia  and  Palestine,  by  running  out  a  vast  semi-circular  mole  or  break- 
water, of  great  depth  and  extent,  into  the  sea,  so  as  to  form  a  spacious  and  secure 
harbor  against  the  stormy  winds  from  the  south  and  west,  leaving  only  an  entrance 
into  it  from  the  north.  This  soon  became  a  noted  point  of  departure  from,  and 
entrance  into,  Palestine  ;  and,  as  such,  is  often  mentioned  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 
It  also  acquired  a  new  importance  as  the  seat  of  government  after  Judea  became  an 
imperial  province  ;  Cajsarea  being  then  the  usual  residence  of  the  procurator. 

In  the  year  B.  C.  22,  the  want  of  the  usual  rains  in  Syria  and  Palestine  produced  a 
severe  famine,  which  was  followed  by  a  pestilence  that  carried  off  great  multitudes 
of  the  people.  Plerod  behaved  nobly  on  this  occasion.  He  exhausted  his  treasury 
and  even  the  silver  plate  of  his  table  in  purchasing  provisions  from  Egypt,  and  in 
buying  wool  for  clothing,  as  most  of  the  sheep  of  the  country  had  been  slaughtered 
in  the  dearth.  This  bounty  was  not  confined  to  his  own  dominions,  but  extended  to 
the  neighboring  Syrians.  By  this  conduct  so  much  of  gratitude  and  kind  feeling 
toward  him  was  produced,  as  only  the  continued  and  growing  tyranny  of  his  subse- 
quent reign  could  obliterate. 

The  next  year  Herod  contracted  a  marriage  with  another  Mariamne,  the  daughter 
of  the  priest  Simon.  To  pave  the  way  for  this  alliance,  the  king  removed  the  exist- 
ing high-priest,  Jesus  the  son  of  Phabet,  and  invested  the  father  of  Mariamne  with 
that  once  high  ofl[ice.  Herod  next  began  to  build  a  castle,  which  he  called  Herodium, 
on  a  small  round  hill,  near  the  place  where  he  repulsed  the  Parthians,  under  the 
cupbearer  Pacorus,  when  they  pursued  him  on  his  flight  from  Jerusalem.  The  situ- 
ation and  the  protection  which  the  castle  offered  were  so  inviting,  that  numbers  of 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


459 


460  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

opulent  people  be2;an  to  build  themselves  houses  around,  so  that  ia  a  short  time  the 
spot  was  occupied  by  a  fair  city. 

About  this  tiuie  Herod  might  be  deemed  to  have  attained  the  summit  of  all  his 
wishes.  Strong  in  the  favor  of  the  emperor,  he  was  feared,  if  not  loved,  by  the 
people  under  his  rule,  and  respected  by  the  Roman  governors  and  by  the  neighboring 
princes  and  kings.  Of  the  favor  and  confidence  of  Augustus  he  received  proofs 
which  were  of  high  value  t^^  him.  As  a  reward  for  his  services  in  clearing  the 
couiitry  of  rubbers,  the  valuanie  districts  of  Trachonitis,  Auranitis,  and  Batanea, 
bevond  Jordan,  were  added  to  his  dominion  ;  and,  wliat  was  perhaps  more  for  his 
perbonal  influence  and  honor,  he  was  soon  after  named  the  emperor's  procurator  in 
§vr»a,  and  orders  were  given  to  the  governor  of  that  great  province  to  undertake 
nothing  of  importance  without  his  knowledge  and  advice.  Herod  also  procured  from 
the  emperor  the  dignity  of  a  tetrarch  for  his  only  surviving  brother,  Pheroras ;  for 
Herod  himself  had  given  him  a  territory  in  Perea  beyond  Jordan,  with  a  revenue  of 
one  hundred  talents,  in  order  that  he  might  live  in  a  style  suitable  to  his  birth,  with- 
out being  dependant  on  the  king's  successor.  As  some  acknowledgment  for  all  these 
favors,  Herod  built  a  temple  of  white  marble  at  Paneas  (Banias,  the  sources  of  the 
Jordan),  and  dedicated  it  to  Augustus.  But  this  act,  and  others  of  a  similar  chara- 
ter,  were  so  highly  offensive  to  the  Jews,  that,  to  pacify  them,  Herod  was  obliged  to 
remit  a  portion  of  their  tribute. 

It  seems  likely  that  the  reflections  made  upon  his  conduct  in  building  heathen 
temples  first  drew  his  attention  to  the  condition  of  Jehovah's  temple  at  Jerusalem, 
which  in  the  lapse  of  time  had  gone  much  out  of  repair,  and  had  sustained  great 
damage  during  the  civil  wars.  He  was  then  led  to  form  the  bold  design  of  pulling  it 
down  and  rebuilding  it  entirely  on  a  more  magnificent  scale.  To  this  he  was  induced 
not  only  from  the  magnificence  of  his  ideas,  his  love  of  building,  and  the  desire  of 
fame,  but  also  to  conciliate  the  good  opinion  of  his  discontented  subjects,  and  create 
a  new  interest  in  the  continuance  of  his  life  and  welfare. 

Herod  made  his  proposal  in  a  general  assembly  of  the  people  at  Jerusalem,  proba- 
bly at  the  passover,  in  the  year  B.  C.  19,  the  eighteenth  of  his  reign.  The  people 
were  much  startled  by  the  offer.  They  recognised  the  grandeur  of  the  undertaking, 
and  the  need  and  benefit  of  it ;  but  they  were  fearful  that,  after  he  had  taken  down 
the  old  building,  he  might  be  unable  or  unwilling  to  build  the  new.  To  meet  this 
objection,  Herod  undertook  not  to  demolish  the  old  temple  until  all  the  materials 
required  for  the  new  one  were  collected  on  the  spot;  and  on  these  terms  his  offer  was 
accepted  with  as  much  satisfaction  as  the  Jews  were  capable  of  deriving  from  any 
of  his  acts.  Herod  kept  his  word.  A  thousand  carls  were  speedily  at  Avork  in  drawing 
stones  and  materials;  ten  thousand  of  the  most  skilful  workmen  were  brought  to- 
gether; and  a  thousand  priests  were  so  far  instructed  in  masonry  and  carpentry  as 
might  enable  them  to  expedite  and  superintend  the  work.  After  two  years  had  been 
spent  in  these  preparations,  the  old  temple  was  pulled  down,  and  the  new  one  com- 
menced in  the  year  B.  C.  17.  And  with  such  vigor  was  the  work  carried  on,  that  the 
sanctuary,  or,  m  effect,  the  proper  temple,  was  finished  in  a  year  and  a  half,  and  the 
rest  of  the  temple,  containing  the  outer  buildings,  colonnades,  and  porticoes,  in  eight 
years  more,  so  as  to  be  then  fit  for  divine  service,  according  to  the  king's  intention, 
B.  C.  7.  But  the  expense  of  finishing  and  adorning  the  whole  continued  to  be  long 
after  carried  on  from  the  sacred  treasury,  until  the  fatal  government  of  Gessius  Flo- 
rus,  in  the  year  A.  D.  62.  Hence,  during  the  ministry  of  Christ  (A.  D.  2S),  the  Jews 
said  to  him,  "  Forty  and  six  years  hath  this  temple  been  in  building,  and  wilt  thou 
erect  it  in  three  days?"  (John  ii.  20.) 

By  the  first  Mariamne,  Herod  had  two  sons,  Alexander  and  Aristobulus,  wliom  ne 
sent  to  be  educated  at  Rome,  where  they  remained  three  years,  under  the  immediate 
inspection  of  Augustus,  who  had  kindly  lodged  them  in  his  own  palace.  Two  years 
after  the  foundation  of  the  temple,  Herod  went  to  Rome  himself,  to  pay  his  respects 
to  the  emperor,  and  take  back  to  Judea  his  sons,  whose  education  was  now  complete. 
He  was  received  with  unusual  friendliness  by  Augustus,  and  was  entertained  with 
much  distinction  during  his  stay.  Soon  after  his  return  he  married  the  elder  of  the 
brothers  to  Glaphyra,  the  daughter  of  Archelaus,  king  of  Cappadocia,  and  the  younger 
to  Berenice,  the  daughter  of  his  own  notorious  sister  Salome.  Now  it  happened  that 
both  the  young  men  inherited  a  full  share  of  the  pride  and  hauteur  of  their  mother 
Mariamne,  and  were  disposed  to  look  down  upon  all  the  connexions  of  their  father. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  4«l 

Thai  they  ever  entertained  any  designs  against  him  is  nut  probable,  but  it  is  very 
piobal)le,  from  their  conduct,  (hat  apart  from  their  respect  for  him,  they  deemed  tiieir 
right  to  the  crown  irreiragabh;,  derived  from  their  mother  rather  ihan  from  him,  and, 
m  point  of  fact,  much  gieater  than  his  own.  By  corrupting  her  own  daugliter,  wlio 
was  married  to  one  of  the  brothers,  Salome  made  herself  acquainted  with  their  more 
private  sentiments,  and  learned  that  their  sympathies  leaned  all  to  the  side  of  their 
murdered  mother,  and  that  in  their  own  domestic  circles  they  spoke  with  strong  ab- 
horrence of  ihe  authors  of  her  undeserved  and  untimely  death,  and  lamented  the  va- 
rious acts  of  cruelty  of  which  their  father  had  been  guilty.  This  was  enough  to  de- 
termine Salome  to  accomplish  their  ruin,  as  she  saw  clearly  that  ii  ever  they  possess- 
ed power,  she  was  likely  to  suffer  for  the  part  she  had  taken  in  compassing  llie  death 
of  Mariamne.  She  was  also  envious  of  their  popularity;  for  the  very  same  feeling 
which  inclined  them  to  rest  upon  their  connexion  with  the  Asamonean  dynasty,  in- 
clined the  Jews  to  regard  them  with  peculiar  interest  and  favor  as  the  last  relics  of 
that  illustrious  house.  Salome  therefore  took  every  occasion  of  prejudicing  Herod 
against  his  sons,  and  of  turning  his  paternal  love  and  pride  into  jealousy  and  dislike. 
To  this  end  indeed,  little  more  was  needed  than  to  make  known  to  him,  with  some 
exaggeration,  the  true  slate  of  their  feelings. 

The  first  measure  which  Herod  took  to  check  the  pride  of  the  two  brothers  was, 
three  years  after  his  return  (B.  C.  13),  to  bring  to  court  his  eldest  son  Antipater, 
whom  he  had  by  his  first  wife  Doris,  while  he  was  in  a  private  station,  and  whom 
he  had  divorced  on  his  marriage  with  Mariamne.  But  this  measure,  intended  to 
teach  them  wholesome  caution,  only  operated  in  provoking  Alexander  and  Aristobu 
lus  to  greater  discontent  and  more  intemperate  language  than  before.  In  fact,  they 
had  almost  insensibly  become  the  heads  of  the  Asamonean  party,  still  very  powerful 
in  the  country,  and  were  urged  on  by  the  necessities  of  that  position,  and  by  the  con- 
viction that  the  popular  feeling  was  entirely  on  their  side.  As  to  Antipater,  he  had 
all  the  ambition  of  his  father  with  all  the  artfulness  of  his  aunt.  Openly,  beseemed 
to  advocate  the  cause  of  the  brothers,  and  to  extenuate  their  indiscretions,  while  he 
took  care  to  surround  the  king  with  persons  who  reported  to  him  all  their  sayings 
with  the  most  invidious  aggravations.  By  this  means  the  affection  with  which  Herod 
had  regarded  the  brothers,  not  only  for  their  own  noble  qualities,  but  for  their  mother's 
sake,  was  alienated  from  them,  and  fixed  upon  Antipater.  Him,  the  father  at  length 
recommended  to  Augustus  as  his  successor,  and  obtained  from  him  authority  to  leave 
the  crown  to  him  in  the  first  instance,  and  afterward  to  the  sons  of  Mariamne, 
B.  C.  11. 

The  curious  reader  will  find  in  Josephus  a  full  account  of  all  the  various  plots 
which  were  laid  by  Antipater,  assisted  by  his  aunt  Salome  and  his  uncle  Pheroras, 
to  bring  about  the  destruction  of  the  young  princes.  This  they  at  last  effected  by  a 
false  charge  that  they  designed  to  poison  their  father.  On  this,  he  brought  them  to 
trial  before  a  council  held  at  Beyrutus,  at  which  the  Roman  governors  Saturnius  and 
Volumnius  presided,  and  where  Herod  pleaded  in  person  against  his  sons  with  such 
vehemence  that  he,  with  some  difficulty,  procured  their  condemnation,  although 
nothing  could  be  clearly  proved  against  them  but  an  intention  to  withdraw  to  some 
foreign  country,  where  they  might  live  in  peace.  The  time  and  the  mode  of  putting 
the  sentence  into  execution  were  left  to  the  king's  own  discretion.  This  was  not  until 
he  came  to  Sebaste,  where,  in  a  fit  of  rage,  produced  in  the  same  manner,  and  through 
the  same  agencies  as  his  previous  treatment  of  these  unfortunate  youncr  men,  he 
ordered  them  to  be  strangled,  B.  C.  6.  In  these  two  unfortunate  brothers  the  noble 
family  of  the  Asamoneans  may  be  said  to  have  become  utterly  extinct. 

It  was  somewhat  before  this  time  that  Herod,  being  greatly  in  want  of  money,  be- 
thought himself  of  opening  the  tomb  of  David,  having  probably  heard  the  story  of 
the  treasure  which  the  first  Hyrcanus  was  reported  to  have  found  there.  As  might 
be  expected,  he  discovered  nothing  but  the  royal  ornaments  with  which  the  king  hud 
been  buried. 

In  the  spring  of  the  year  B.  C.  5  the  birth  of  the  great  harbinger,  John  the  Baptist, 
announced  ihe  approach  of  One  greater  than  he,  whose  sandal-thong  he,  thereafter, 
declared  himself  unwortbv  to  loose. 

At  and  for  some  lime  before  the  date  to  which  we  are  now  arrived,  the  relations  of 
Herod  with  Rome  had  become  more  unpleasant  than  at  any  former  period.  l\\it  long 
before  he  put  Alexander  and  Aristobulus  to  death,  Herod  had  a  quarrel  with  Obadas 


462  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

king  of  Arabia,  which  led  him  to  march  some  troops  mto  that  country,  and  to  the 
defeat  of  the  banded  robbers,  against  whom  chiefly  he  acted,  and  of  a  party  of  Arabs 
who  came  to  their  relief.  This  aflair  was  reported  to  Augustus  in  such  a  manuer  as 
raised  his  wrath  against  Herod  ;  and  attending  only  to  the  fact  that  Herod  had  march- 
ed a  military  force  into  Arabia,  which  Herod's  friends  could  not  deny,  he,  without 
inquiring  into  the  provocation  and  circumstances,  wrote  to  Herod  a  very  severe  letter, 
the  substance  of  which  was,  that  he  had  hitherto  treated  him  as  a  friend,  but  should 
henceforth  treat  him  as  a  subject.  Herod  sent  an  embassy  to  clear  himself;  but 
Augustus  repeatedly  refused  to  listen  to  them;  and  so  the  king  was  obliged  for  a 
time  to  submit  to  all  the  injurious  treatment  which  the  emperor  thought  proper  to 
inflict.  The  chief  of  these  was  the  degrading  his  kingdom  to  a  Roman  province. 
For  soon  after,  Josephus  incidentally  mentions,  that  "  the  whole  nation  took  an  oatli 
of  fidelity  to  Caesar  and  to  the  king  jointly,  except  six  thousand  of  the  Pharisees,  who, 
through  their  hostility  to  the  regal  government,  refused  to  take  it,  and  were  fined  for 
their  refusal  by  the  king ;  but  the  wife  of  his  brother  Pheroras  paid  the  fine  fur  them." 
As  this  was  shortly  before  the  death  of  Pheroras  himself  it  coincides  with  the  time 
of  this  decree  for  the  enrolment  of  which  St.  Luke  (ii.  1)  makes  mention;  and  we 
may  therefore  certainly  infer  that  the  oath  was  administered  at  the  same  time,  ac- 
cording to  the  usage  of  the  Roman  census,  in  which  a  return  of  persons'  ages  and 
properties  was  required  to  be  made  upon  oath,  under  penalty  of  the  confiscation  of 
the  goods  of  the  delinquents.  And  the  reason  for  registering  ages  was,  that  among 
the  .Syrians,  males  from  fourteen  years  of  age  and  females  from  twelve,  until  their 
six  v-fifth  year,  were  subject  to  a  capitation  or  poll-tax,  by  the  Roman  law.  This 
tax  was  two  drachma  a  head,  or  half  a  staler,  equal  to  thirty  cents  of  our  money.* 

(  yrenius,  a  Roman  senator  and  procurator,  or  collector  of  the  emperor's  revenue, 
was  employed  to  make  the  enrolment.  This  person,  Avhom  Tacitus  calls  Quirinus, 
and  describes  as  "  an  active  soldier  and  rigid  commissioner,"!  was  well  qualified  for 
an  employment  so  odious  to  Herod  and  to  his  subjects,  and  probably  came  to  execute 
the  decree  with  an  armed  force.  By  the  wary  policy  of  the  Romans,  to  prevent  in- 
surrection as  well  as  to  expedite  business,  all  were  required  to  repair  to  their  own 
cities.  Even  in  Italy  the  consular  edict  commanded  the  Latin  citizens  not  to  be 
enrolled  at  Rome,  but  all  in  their  own  cities.  And  this  precaution  was  of  course 
more  necessary  in  such  turbulent  provinces  as  Judea  and  Galilee.J 

The  decree  was  peremptory,  and  admitted  of  no  delay :  therefore,  in  the  autumn 
of  the  year  5  of  the  popular  era  Before  Christ,'5>  a  carpenter  of  Nazareth  in  Gali- 
lee, by  name  Joseph,  journeyed  with  his  wife  Mary,  although  she  was  then  large  with 
child,  to  Bethlehem  in  Judea,  that  being  their  paternal  city,  as  they  were  both  "of 
the  race  and  lineage  of  David."  They  were  not  among  the  first  comers,  and  the 
place  was  so  thronged  that  they  could  not  find  room  even  in  the  lodging-rooms  of 
the  caravanserai  of  Bethlehem,  but  were  obliged  to  seek  shelter  in  the  stables  of  the 
same.  Here  the  woman  was  taken  in  labor,  and  gave  birth  to  a  male  child.  That 
child,  thus  humbly  born,  was  the  long-promised  "  Desire  of  Nations,"  the  "  Saviour 
of  the  World" — JESUS  CHRIST.  Nor  did  he  come  sooner  than  he  was  expected. 
The  Jews  expected  anxiously,  and  from  day  to  day,  the  Great  Deliverer  of  whom 
their  prophets  had  spoken;  and  the  precise  fore-calculations  of  the  prophet  Daniel 
had  given  them  to  know  that  the  time  of  his  coming  was  near.     This  indeed  partly  ex- 

*  See  the  case  of  Christ,  and  Peter  afterward,  where  "a  stater,"  the  amount  for  both,  was  procured  by 
miracle.     Matt.  xvii.  24-27. 

t  Impif^er  militim  et  acribus  minifteriis. 

t  For  this  clear  view  of  the  somewhat  perplexed  subject  of  the  Census  alluded  to  by  St.  Luke,  we  are  in 
debttd  to  Dr.  Hales,  from  whose  excellent  '•  Analysis  of  Chronology"  we  have,  indeed,  obtained  much  and 
various  aid  in  the  present  history. 

I)  That  the  birth  of  Christ  is  thus  given  to  the  autumn  of  the  year  five  before  Christ,  is  an  apparent  anom- 
aly, which  may  require  a  few  words  of  explanation.  The  Era  of  the  Birth  of  Christ  was  not  in  use  until 
A.  D.  5,^2  in  the  time  of  Justinian,  when  it  was  introduced  by  Dionysius  Exiguus,  a  Scythian  by  birth,  and 
a  Roman  abbot ;  and  which  only  began  to  prevail  in  the  West  about  the  time  of  Charles  Martel  and  Pope 
Gregory  II.,  A.  D.  730.  It  has  long  been  agreed  by  a?l  chronologers  that  Dionysius  made  a  mistake  in  pla 
cing  liie  birth  of  Christ  some  years  too  late  ;  but  the  amount  of  the  dilfercnce  has  been  variously  estimated, 
at  two,  three,  four,  five,  or  even  eight  years.  The  most  general  conchision  is  that  which  is  adopted  in  oui 
Bibles,  and  which  places  the  birth  of  Christ  four  years  before  the  common  era,  or  more  probably  a  few 
months  more,  according  to  the  conclusion  of  Hales,  which  we  have  deemed  it  proper  to  adopt.  The  grounds 
of  this  conclusion  are  largely  and  ably  stated  in  the  "  Analysis,''  vol.  i.,  p.  SS-Q.'J.  As  to  the  day — it  appears 
that  tlie  25th  of  December  was  not  fixed  upon  till  the  time  of  Constantine,  in  the  fourth  century,  although 
there  was  an  early  tradition  in  its  favor.  It  is  probable  that  it  really  took  place  about  or  at  the  Feast  of 
Tabernacles  (say  the  auluiiinal  eijuinox)  of  B.  C.  5,  or  at  the  Passover  (say  the  vernal  equinox)  of  B.  C.  4 
The  former  is  the  opinion  of  Hales  and  others,  and  the  latter  of  Archbishop  Usher  and  our  Bibles 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  463 

plains  the  uneasy  relations  between  Herod  and  his  subjects;  and  the  distaste  of  the 
fatter  to  the  kingship  which  he  had  taken.  For  they  wanted  no  king,  until  their 
king  Messiah  should  come  to  take  the  throne  of  his  father  David,  and  lead  them  forth, 
conquering  and  to  conquer,  breaking  the  nations  in  pieces  as  an  iron  rod  breaks  the 
vessels  of  the  potter,  and  bringing  all  the  Gentiles  to  their  feet.  Full  of  these  mag- 
nificent ideas  of  their  king  Messiah,  they  failed  to  recognise  the  promised  Deliverer, 
in  One  who  came  to  deliver  them,  not  from  the  Romans — but  from  their  sins;  whose 
kingdom  was  not  to  be  of  this  world — and  whose  reign,  not  over  lands  and  territories, 
but  in  the  hearts  of  men. 

Nor  was  he  expected  only  by  the  Jews.  He  was  the  "  Desire  of  Nations."  There 
were  strong  pulsations  of  the  universal  heart,  in  expectation  of  some  great  cliange, 
of  the  advent  of  some  distinguished  personage  who  should  bring  in  a  new  order  of 
things,  of  some  kind  or  other,  and  who  should  work  such  deeds  and  establish  such 
dominion  as  never  before  existed.  It  was  even  expected  that  this  great  personage 
should  issue  from  Judea ;  an  expectation  which  was  probably  derived  from  the  more 
distinct  anticipations  of  the  Jews,  if  not  partly  from  a  remote  glimpse  at  the  mean- 
ing of  those  prophecies  which  referred  to  Messiah,  and  which  many  educated  per- 
sons must  have  read  in  the  Greek  translation  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures.  But  the 
expectations  which  the  nations  entertained  were,  like  those  of  the  Jews,  connected 
with  dreams  of  a  universal  temporal  empire,  which  the  expected  Messiah  was  to  es- 
tablish. As,  however,  they  had  not  the  strong  national  interest  in  the  expectation  of 
a  conquering  king,  they  clung  with  less  tenacity  than  the  Jews  to  this  notion  of  his 
functions,  although,  blinded  by  it,  they  were  for  a  while  as  unable  as  the  Hebrews  to 
recognise  the  Amointed  of  God  in  the  infant  of  Betiilehem. 

The  prevalence  and  character  of  this  expectation  account  for  the  watchfulness  of 
Herod,  and  for  the  horrible  promptitude  with  which  he  ordered  the  massacre  of  all 
the  mfants  of  Bethlehem  as  soon  as  the  inquiries  of  the  Parthian  magi  gave  him 
cause  to  suspect  that  the  King  of  the  Jews  had  been  born  there. 

The  census,  which  was  begun  by  Cyrenius,  was  not  completed  to  the  extent 
originally  contemplated,  for  Herod  found  means  to  disabuse  Augustus  of  the  impres- 
sion under  which  he  had  acted,  and  was  restored  to  the  i.-nperial  favor  and  confidence. 
To  make  him  some  amends  the  emperor  was  disposed  to  » .ave  consigned  to  him  the 
forfeited  kingdom  of  the  Nabathaeans  ;  but  the  painful  disagreements  and  atrocities 
in  the  family  of  Herod  were  about  the  same  time  brought  so  conspicuously  under  his 
notice,  that,  with  his  usual  sagacity,  he  doubted  the  wisdom  of  committing  the  con- 
quest and  government  of  a  new  kingdom  to  an  old  man  who  had  proved  himself  in- 
capable of  ruling  his  own  house. 

We  have  before  incidentally  mentioned  the  part  which  was  taken  by  the  wife  of 
Pheroras,  in  paying  the  fines  of  the  Pharisees,  who  refused  to  take  the  oath  required 
of  all  the  people.  In  consequence  of  this,  many  of  that  powerful  body  began  to 
whisper  that  God  would  give  the  kingdom  to  Pheroras;  on  which  account  Herod 
caused  several  Pharisees  and  some  members  of  his  own  family  to  be  executed.  Fur- 
ther, regarding  the  wife  of  Pheroras  as  the  cause  of  all  this  trouble,  he  very  peremp- 
torily required  him  to  divorce  lier.  His  brother  replied  that  nothing  but  death  should 
separate  him  from  his  wife,  and  retired  in  disgust  to  Perea,  in  his  own  territory  be- 
yond Jordan.  Thus  was  quite  destroyed  the  good  understanding  which  had  for  so 
many  years  subsisted  between  the  two  brothers.  Blinded  by  resentment,  Pheroras 
readily  came  into  the  plans  of  Antipater :  and  between  them  it  was  settled  that 
Herod  should  be  taken  off  by  poison ;  that  Antipater  should  sit  on  his  throne ;  and 
that  meanwhile  he  should  contrive  to  be  sent  to  Rome,  to  preclude  any  suspicion  of 
his  part  in  the  transaction.  This  plot  would  probably  have  succeeded  but  for  the 
death  of  Pheroras  himself,  Avhich  led  to  the  discovery  of  the  whole,  and  even  made 
known  to  Herod  the  part  which  Antipater  had  taken  in  compassing  the  death  of  the 
two  sons  of  the  first  Mariamne.  It  appeared  also  that  the  second  Marianme  was  a 
party  in  this  conspiracy,  in  consequence  of  which  she  was  divorced,  the  name  of  her 
son  was  struck  out  of  the  king's  will,  and  her  father,  the  high-priest  Simon,  was  de- 
posed from  his  office,  which  was  given  to  Matthias  the  son  of  Theophilus.  On  these 
disclosures,  Herod  managed  to  get  Antipater  back  from  Rome,  without  allowing  him  to 
become  acquainted  with  what  had  transpired.  On  his  arrival  he  was  formally  accused 
before  Quintilius  Varus,  the  prefect  of  Syria,  who  was  then  at  Jerusalem,  and  was 
imprisoned  until  the  affair  should  have  been  submitted  to  the  judgment  of  Augustus. 


464  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

Meanwhile  Kerod,  then  in  the  sixty-ninth  year  of  his  age,  fell  ill  of  that  grievous 
disease  of  whicli  he  died,  and  which,  by  some  singular  dispensation  of  Providence; 
ai)i)ears  to  have  been  the  peculiar  lot  of  tyrannous  and  proud  sovereigns,  and  which 
rendered  him  wrelched  iu  himself  and  a  terror  to  all  around  him.  A  report  got  into 
circulation  that  his  disease  afforded  no  chance  of  his  recovery,  in  consequence  of  which 
a  dangerous  tumult  was  excited  by  two  celebrated  doctors,  named  Judas  and  Matthias, 
wlio  instigated  their  disciples  to  pull  down  and  destroy  a  golden  eagle  of  large  size 
and  exquisite  workmanship,  which  had  been  placed  over  one  of  the  gates  of  the  tem- 
ple. Scarcely  had  this  rash  act  been  completed,  when  the  royal  guards  appeared  and 
seized  the  two  leaders  and  forty  of  their  most  zealous  disciples.  Some  of  them  Avere 
burnt,  and  others  execuied  in  various  ways  by  Herod's  order.  Being  suspected  of 
having  privately  encouraged  the  tumult,  Matthias  was  deprived  of  his  high-priest- 
hood, and  the  office  given  loJoazar,  the  brother  of  his  wife. 

In  the  meantime  tlie  disease  of  Herod  became  more  loathsome  and  intolerable.  It 
appears  to  have  been  an  erosion  of  the  bowels  and  other  viscera  by  worms,  which 
occasioned  violent  spasms  and  the  most  exquisite  tortures,  until  he  at  lengih  became 
a  mass  of  putrefaction.  Experiencing  no  benefit  from  the  warm  baths  of  Calirrhoe 
beyond  Jordan,  he  gave  up  all  hopes  of  recovery,  and  after  having  distributed  presents 
among  his  attendants  and  soldiers,  he  returned  to  Jericho.  His  sufferings  were  not 
likely  to  humanize  his  naturally  savage  disposition.  He  was  convinced,  by  the  recent 
outbreak,  that  his  death  would  occasion  no  sorrow  in  Israel,  and  therefore,  to  oblige 
the  nation  to  mourn  at  his  death,  he  sent  for  the  heads  of  the  most  eminent  families 
in  Judea,  and  confined  them  in  prison,  leaving  orders  with  his  sister  Salome  and  her 
husband  Alexas  to  put  them  all  to  death  as  soon  as  he  should  have  breathed  his  last. 
This  sanguinary  design  was,  however,  not  executed  by  them. 

At  length  Herod  received  full  powers  from  Rome  to  proceed  against  his  son  An- 
tipater.  At  this  intelligence,  the  dying  tyrant  appeared  to  revive;  but  he  soon  after 
attempted  suicide,  and  although  prevented,  the  wailing  cries,  usual  in  such  cases, 
were  raised  throughout  the  palace  for  him,  as  if  he  were  actually  dead.  When  An- 
tipaier,  in  his  confinement  heard  these  well-known  lamentations,  he  attempted  by 
large  bribes  to  induce  his  guard  to  permit  his  escape;  but  he  was  so  universally 
hated  for  procuring  the  death  of  the  sons  of  Mariamne,  that  the  guard  made  his  offers 
known,  and  Herod  ordered  his  immediate  execution.  On  the  fifth  day  after,  Herod 
himself  died,  shortly  before  the  Passover,  in  the  seventieth  year  of  his  age,  and  the 
thirty-seventh  from  his  appointment  to  the  throne.  Before  his  death  was  announced, 
Salome,  as  if  by  his  order,  liberated  the  nobles  confined  in  the  hjppodrome,  whose 
death  she  had  been  charged  to  execute,  but  dan  d  not,  had  she  been  so  inclined.  His 
corpse,  under  the  escort  of  his  life-guard,  composed  of  Thracians,  Germans,  and  Gauls, 
was  carried  with  great  pomp  to  Herodium,  and  there  buried. 

Herod  had  ten  wives,  two  of  Avhoin  bore  him  no  ciiildren,  and  whose  names  history 
has  not  preserved.  As  it  is  of  some  importance  to  understand  clearly  the  combina- 
tions of  relationship  among  his  descendants  by  these  different  wives,  the  details  in  the 
note  below  will  not  be  unacceptable  to  the  reader.* 

'The  wives  of  Herod  "  llie  Great"  were : — 

I.  Doris.,  the  mctlier  of  Antipater. 

II.  Mariamne,  tlie  daughter  of  Alexandra.     She  had — 

1.  Alexaii(lf>r,  '.vho  married  Glapliyra,  Itic  daiigliler  of  the  king  of  Cappadocia,  by  whom  he  had — Tigiaiies, 
king  of  Arincjiia,  and  Ale-vander,  wlio  married  ;t  daughter  of  Antioclius  kiig  of  Comagene. 

2.  Aristobiilus,  who  married  Berenice  tlie  daughter  of  Salome,  the  sister  of  Herod,  by  whom  he  had — 
Herod,  king  of  ("halcis,  wIki  married,  first,  Mariamne,  tlie  daughter  of  olympias  (sister  of  Arcliclaus  the 
eiliii;irt'li)  ;  and  afterward  his  niece  Berenice,  by  whom  he  had  Aristobulus,  Bcrcnicicus,  and  Hyrcanus. 
Tlie  eldest  of  these,  Aristoliulus,  married  Salome  (she  whose  dancing  cost  John  the  Baptist  lus  head), 
then  the  widow  of  the  tetrarcli  Pliilp,  by  whom  he  had  Agrippa,  Herod,  and  Aristobulus.  Aurippa  I.,  king 
ol  the  Jews,  who  married  Cypros  the  dauijhter  of  (Mariamne  s  daughter)  Sahimpso,  by  whom  he  had  Dru- 
sius  ;  Agrippa  II.,  who  was  at  first  king  of  Chalcis,  and  afterward  tetrarch  of  Trachoiiitis  ;  Berenice,  whose 
second  tiushand  was  her  uncle  Ilerod,  king  of  Chalcis  ;  .Mariamne,  married  first  to  Arclielaus  son  of  CheJ- 
cias,  and  afterward  to  Demetrius,  alabarch  of  the  Jews  at  Alexandria,  by  whom  she  had  Berenice  and 
Agrippa  ;  Drusilhi,  who  was  first  married  to  Aziz,  king  of  Emesa,  and  afterward  to  Felix  the  Roman  pro- 
curator of  Judi  ;i,  by  wliom  she  had  a  son  named  Agrippa,  who,  with  his  wife,  perislied  in  the  flames  ol 
Vesuvius.  The  tliird  son  of  Aristobulus  the  son  of  Mariamne,  was  Aristobulus,  who  married  Jotape, 
daughter  to  the  king  of  Emesa  :  and  there  were  two  daughters.  Hnroilins,  who  married,  first,  Herod  (called 
Philip  in  the  Gospels),  son  of  Herod  the  Great  by  the  second  Mariamne,  by  whom  she  had  Salome  (the 
dancer),  and  alterward  to  his  half-brotlior  Herod  Antipas,  the  tetrarch  of  Galilee,— botli  her  uncles.  Mart 
anme,  who  married  her  uncle  Antipater. 

3.  Tlie  tbiid  son  uf  Mariamne  was  Herod,  who  died  young  while  at  his  studies  in  Ronu: 
Mariamne  had  also  two  daughters  : — 

4.  Salampso,  who  married  her  cousin  Phasael,  after  having  been  promised  to  Pheroras. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  465 

Herod  was  succeeded  in  the  kingdom  of  Judea  by  his  son  Archelaus,  whose  evi\ 
conduct  so  displeased  the  Romans,  that  they  reduced  Judea  to  the  form  of  a  Roman 
province  ruling  it  by  procurators  ur  governors,  sent  and  recalled  at  tneir  pleasure ; 
the  power  of  life  and  death  was  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Jews,  and  vested  m 
Roman  governor ;  and  the  taxes  bemg  gathered  by  the  publicans,  were  paid  more 

directly  to  the  emperor.  ,     ^vt       m  •  .  u         • 

As  there  are  several  Herods  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament,  it  may  not  be  amiss 
here  to  distinguish  them,  according  to  the  best  authority  which  can  be  obtained. 
1  Herod  the  kin<r  of  Judea  (already  noticed),  who  died  while  Christ  was  an  infant. 
(See  Malt  ii.  19.)  ^2.  His  son,  Herod  Antipas,  the  tetrarch*  of  Galilee,  who  took  awav  his 
brother  Philip's  wife,  and  beheaded  John  the  Baptist.  (See  Malt.  xiv.  3-10.)  3.  i  hat 
Herod  who  put  the  Apostle  James  to  death,  and  was  afterward  smitten  by  the  angel  ot 
the  Lord  with  a  strange  and  sudden  death.  (See  Acts  xii.  2,  and  ver.  20-23.)  Histo- 
rians consider  him  the  grandson  of  the  first  Herod,  and  the  father  of  King  Agrippa, 
before  whom  Paul  made  his  defence.  The  almighty  Disposer  of  all  events,  at  wnose 
nod  empires  rise  and  fall,  and  nations  flourish  or  decay,  marks  with  undeviating  at- 
tention, and  a  retributive  hand,  not  only  the  sins  of  a  people,  but  the  turpitude  ot 
those  who  profess  to  govern. 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

Having,  in  the  preceding  pages,  given  an  accurate  account  of  every  material  occur- 
rence  related  in  the  sacred  Scriptures,  from  the  creation  of  the  world  to  the  deatli 
the  prophet  Nehemiah,  and  thence  to  the  rebuilding  of  the  temple  of  Jerusalem 
by  Herod,  we  shall  conclude  the  Old  Testament  History  by  devoting  a  lew  pages 
here  to  the  prophecies  concerning  Christ  and  the  Christian  Religion. 

The  comino-  of  a  Saviour,  which  was  the  hope  of  Israel  and  the  expectation  ot  ttie 
Jews  in  ever'v'  age,  is  frequently  foretold  throughout  the  Old  Testament  scriptures. 
They  represent  it  as  announced  by  the  voice  of  God  to  the  first  human  pair,  and  as 
forming,  from  the  first  to  the  last,  the  theme  of  all  the  prophets.  And,  however  im- 
perfect°a  summary  view  of  such  numerous  prophecies  must  necessarily  be,  a  few  re- 
marks respectino-  'them  shall  be  prefixed  to  the  more  direct  and  immediate  proofs  of 
the  inspiration  o{  scripture,  derived  from  existing  facts,  in  order  that  the  reader  may 
be  rather  induced  to  search  the  scriptures  to  see  how  clearly  they  testify  of  Jesus, 
than  contented  to  rest  satisfied  with  the  mere  opening  of  the  subject.       ,    ,    .    ^  ,„, 

A  few  of  the  leading  features  of  the  prophecies  concerning  Christ,  and  their  fulfil- 
ment, shall  be  traced  as  they  mark  the  time  of  his  appearance,  the  place  of  his  birth, 
and  the  family  out  of  which  he  was  to  arise,  his  life  and  character,  his  sufferings  and 
his  death,  the  nature  of  his  doctrine,  and  the  extent  of  his  kingdom. 

5.  Cypres,  who  married  Antipater,  the  son  of  Salome,  sister  of  Herod  the  Great. 

III.  Herod's  third  wife  was  Pallas,  by  whom  he  had  a  son,  Phasael. 

IV.  Phasdra,  who  had  a  daughter  called  Roxana,  married-fo  a  son  of  Pheroras.  u„^h,„A  nf 

V.  Mariamn'e,  daughter  of  the  high-priest  Simon.  Herod  had  by  hrr-Herod-Ph,l.p,  the  first  husband  of 
Herodias,  by  whom  he  had  Salome  (the  dancmg  lady),  whose  first  husband  was  Phihp,  and  her  becond 
Aristobulus,  the  son  of  Herod  king  of  Chalcis.  .     ,    ,        ,,        .v,         ^    r  i   j„o   ,„ri  Wprnrl  An- 

VI  Malthace,  a  Samaritan  woman,  who  was  mother  to  Archelaus  the  ethnarch  of  Judea,  and  Herod  An 
tipas,  the  tetrarch  of  Galilee,  who  married  first  a  daughter  of  the  Arabian  king  Aretas  whom  he  put  a^  ay, 
atid  took  Herodias,  the  wife  of  his  brother  Hemd-Philip,  who  was  still  hvmg.  Maltliace  had  also  a  daughter, 
Olvmoias,  who  married  Joseph,  a  nephew  to  Herod  the  Great.  ,.  ,   ,     »  „j  n,„ 

VIlI  Cleopatra,  who  was  the  mother  of  Herod  and  Philip,  tetrarch  of  Trachomtis,  which  last  married  the 
notpd  Salome,  daugliter  of  Herod-Philip  and  Herodias. 

VIII.  Elphis  had  a  daughter  called  Salome,  married  to  a  son  of  Pheroras.  •„•„,„*»!, 

'  The  ti'lc  and  office  of  lelra.ch  had  its  origin  from  the  Gauls,  who  having  made  an  incursion  into  Asia 
Minor,  succeeded  in  taking  from  the  king  of  Bthynia  that  part  of  it  which  from  them  took  t^e  name  ot  ua- 
•  atia.  The  Gauls  who  made  this  invasion  consisted  of  three  tribes  ;  and  each  tribe  was  ^'"'ieJ  into  four 
parts,  or  tetrarchates,  each  of  which  obeyed  its  own  tetrarch.  The  tetrarch  was  "^  f°"r,^e  ~f '"^J^ 
to  the  king.  The  appellation  of  tetrarch,  which  was  thus  originally  applied  to  the  chief  magibtrate 
0°  the  fourth  part  of  a  tribe,  subject  to  the  authority  of  the  king,  was  afterward  "t*^"^'^^ '"  •^^„?Pf'''=„^;'""' 
and  given  to  any  governors,  subject  to  some  king  or  emperor,  without  regard  1°  "le  PJ^t'O'^J'""  °; ''  f  P^PJ^ 
or  tr?be  whi.-h  they  governed.  Thus  Herod  Antipas  and  Philip  were  denominated  tetrarchs  althongh  they 
did  not  rule  as  much  as  the  fourth  part  of  the  whole  territory.  Although  tliese  rulers  were  dependant  upon 
the  Roman  emperor,  they  nevertheless  governed  the  people  within  t^eirjunsdiction  according  to  tier  own 
choice  and  authority.  They  were,  however,  inferior  in  point  of  rank  to  the  ethnarchs,  who,  although  they 
did  not  pubUcly  assume  the  name  of  king,  were  addressed  with  that  title  by  their  subjects,  as  was  the 
ea.se,  for  instance,  with  respect  to  Archelaus.     (Matt.  li.  22  ;  Jos.  Antiq.  xvii.  11,  4.) 

30 


466  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

The  time  of  the  Messiah's  appearance  in  the  world,  as  predicted  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, is  defined  by  a  number  of  concurring  circumstances  that  fix  it  to  the  very  date 
of  the  advent  of  Christ.  The  sceptre  was  not  to  depart  from  Judah,  nor  a  lawgiver 
to  cease  from  among  his  descendants,  till  Shiloh  should  come.  (Gen.  xlix.  10.)  The  de- 
sire of  all  nations,  the  messenger  of  the  covenant,  the  Lord  whom  they  sought,  was 
to  come  to  the  second  temple,  and  to  impart  to  it,  from  his  presence,  a  greater  glory 
than  that  of  the  former.  (Hag.  ii.  7-9  ;  Mai.  iii.  L)  A  messenger  was  to  appear  before 
him,  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness,  to  prepare  his  way.  (Isa.  xl.  3 ;  Mai. 
iii.  1  ;  iv.  5.)  A  specified  period, — marked,  according  to  similar  computations  in  the 
Jewish  scriptures,  by  weeks  of  years,  each  day  for  a  year, — was  set,  from  the  going 
forth  of  the  command  to  restore  and  to  build  Jerusalem,  after  the  Babylonish  captivity, 
unto  Messiali  the  prince.  (Dan.  ix.  25.)  A  period  somewhat  longer  was  determined 
upon  the  people  and  upon  the  holy  city.  (Isa.  ix.  24.)  After  the  Me.ssiah  was  to  be  cut 
off,  the  people  of  the  prince  that  should  come  were  to  destroy  the  city  and  the  sanc- 
tuary ;  desolations,  even  to  the  consummation,  were  determined,  and  the  sacrifice  and 
oblation  were  to  cease.  (Dan.  ix.  26, 27.)  A  king  did  reign  over  the  Jews  in  their  own 
land,  though  the  ten  tribes  had  long  ceased  to  be  a  kingdom;  their  national  council, 
the  members  of  which,  as  Jews,  were  lineally  descended  from  Judah,  exercised  its 
authority  and  power — the  temple  was  standing — the  oblation  and  sacrifice,  according 
to  the  law  of  Moses,  were  there  duly  and  daily  offered  up — and  the  lime  prescribed 
for  the  coming  of  the  Messiah  had  drawn  to  its  close — at  the  commencement  of  the 
Christian  era.  Before  the  public  ministry  of  Jesus,  a  messenger  appeared  to  prepare 
his  way;  and  Josephus,  in  the  history  of  that  time,  speaks  of  the  blameless  life  and 
cruel  death  of  "  John  that  was  called  the  Baptist,"  and  describes  his  preaching  and 
baptism.  (Josephus's  Antiquities,  b.  18,  c.  5,  sec.  2.)  But  every  mark  that  denoted  the 
fulness  of  the  time,  and  of  its  signs,  when  the  Messiah  was  to  appear,  was  erased  soon 
after  the  death  of  Christ,  and  being  fixed  to  that  single  period,  those  marks  could  no 
more  be  restored  again  than  time  past  could  return.  The  time  determined  on  the 
people  and  on  the  holy  city,  seventy  weeks  or  four  hundred  and  ninety  years,  passed 
away.  The  tribe  of  Judah  were  no  longer  united  under  a  king.  Banished  from  their 
own  land,  and  subjected  to  every  oppression,  there  was  no  more  a  lawgiver  of  the 
tribe  of  Judah,  though  Judah  was  he  whom  his  brethren  were  to  serve.  Of  the  tem- 
ple one  stone  was  not  left  upon  another.  The  sacrifice  and  oblation,  which  none  but 
priests  could  offer,  altogether  ceased  when  the  genealogies  of  the  tribe  of  Levi  were 
lost,  and  when  the  Jews  had  no  temple,  nor  country,  nor  priest,  nor  altar.  Ere  Jeru- 
salem was  destroyed,  or  desolation  had  passed  over  the  land  of  Judea,  the  expectation 
was  universal  among  the  Jews  that  their  Messiah  was  then  to  appear ;  and  heathen 
as  well  as  Jewish  historians  testify  of  the  belief  then  prevalent  over  the  whole  East 
that  the  ancient  prophecies  bore  a  direct  and  express  reference  to  that  period.  And 
the  question  might  now  go  to  the  heart  of  a  Jew,  however  loth  to  abandon  the  long- 
cherished  hope  of  his  race,  how  can  these  prophecies  be  true,  if  the  Messiah  be  not 
come  ?  or  where,  from  the  first  words  of  Moses  to  the  last  of  Malachi,  can  there  be 
found  such  marks  of  the  time  when  Shiloh  was  to  come,  or  Messiah  the  prince  to  be 
cut  off,  as  pertained  to  the  period  when  their  forefathers  crucified  Jesus — a  period 
which  closed  over  the  glory  of  Judah,  and  which,  in  the  continued  unbelief  of  the 
Jews,  has  not  heretofore  left,  for  nearly  eighteen  centuries,  a  bright  page  in  their  his- 
tory beyond  it  ? 

Though  the  countrymen  of  Christ  when  he  came  would  not  receive  him,  yet  it  was 
of  the  Jews  that  Jesus  was  to  come ;  and  the  human  lineage  of  the  Messiah  is  as 
clearly  marked  in  the  prophecies  as  the  time  of  his  appearance.  The  divinity  of  the 
person  of  the  Messiah,  and  his  taking  upon  himself  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh,  is 
declared  in  the  Old  Testament  as  well  as  in  the  new.  He  whose  name  was  to  be 
called  the  wonderful,  the  counsellor,  the  mighty  God,  was  to  become  a  child  that  was 
to  be  born,  a  son  that  was  to  be  given.  (Isa.  ix.  6.)  It  was  the  seed  of  the  woman 
that  was  to  bruise  the  serpent's  head.  (Gen.  iii.  15.)  The  line  of  his  descent,  accord- 
ing to  the  flesh,  and  the  place  of  his  birth,  were  expressly  foretold.  It  was  in  the  seed 
of  Abraham  that  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  were  to  be  blessed.  (Gen.  xxii.  IS.)  It 
was  from  the  midst  of  the  Israelites,  of  their  brethren,  that  a  prophet  like  unto  Mo- 
ses was  to  arise.  (Deut.  xviii.  15.)  And  he  was  to  be  not  only  of  the  tribe  of  Judah, 
(Gen.  xlix.  8,  &c.),  but  also  of  the  house  or  family  of  David.  From  the  root  of  Jesse 
a  branch  was  to  grow  up,  on  which  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  was  to  rest,  and  to  which 


HISTORY  OF  THE  LIBLE.  467 

the  Gentiles  would  seek.  (Ifea.  xi.  1-10.)  It  was  unto  David  that  a  righteous  branch 
was  to  arise,  a  king,  whose  name  was  to  be  called  the  Lord  our  righteousness.  (Jer. 
xxiii.  5,  6.)  And  it  was  in  Bethlehem  Ephratah,  in  the  land  of  Judah,  little  as  it  was 
among  the  thousands  of  Israel,  that  he  was  to  come,  whose  goings  forth  had  been  of 
old,  from  everlasting.  (Mieah,  v.  2.)  And  Jesus  is  he  alone  of  the  seed  of  the  woman, 
of  the  descendants  of  Abraham,  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  of  the  house  of  David,  in 
whom  all  the  families  of  the  earth  can  be  blessed;  to  whom  the  Gentiles  seek,  and 
who,  ere  the  family  genealogies  of  the  Jews  were  lost,  was  shown  by  them  to  be  born 
of  the  lineage  of  David,  and  in  the  town  of  Bethlehem. 

The  history  of  the  life  of  Christ  by  the  four  evangelists  is  simply  a  record  of  what 
he  said  and  did,  and  his  character  is  illustrated  by  his  words  and  actions  alone.  Chris- 
tians have  often  tried  to  delineate  it ;  and  if  in  the  attempt  their  thoughts  have  har- 
monized with  the  divine  records,  their  hearts  may  well  have  then  felt  as  it  were  the 
impression  of  that  divine  image  after  which  man  was  at  first  created.  Even  some 
who  never  sought  to  be  the  champions  of  the  Christian  faith,  have  been  struck  with 
irresistible  admiration  of  the  life  of  its  author.  Rousseau  acknowledges  that  it  would 
have  been  nothing  less  than  a  miracle  that  such  a  character,  if  not  real,  could  ever 
have  been  thought  of  by  fishermen  of  Galilee.  And  Lord  Byron  nut  only  called  Ciirisl 
diviner  than  Socrates,  but  he  he  has  no  less  truly  than  nobly  said,  that  "  if  ever  God 
was  man,  or  man  God,  he  was  both."  But  the  divine  character  is  such  that  none  but 
a  divine  hand  could  draw  ;  and  seeking  in  the  prophecies  what  the  Messiah  was  to 
be,  we  read  what  Jesus  was  while  he  dwelt  among  men. 

"  Thou  art  fairer  than  the  children  of  men  ;  grace  is  poured  into  thy  lips,  therefore 
God  hath  blessed  thee  forever.  The  sceptre  of  thy  kingdom  is  a  right  sceptre — thou 
lovest  righteousness  and  hatest  iniquity.  (Psalm  xlv.  2,  6,  7.)  The  spirit  of  the  Lord 
shall  rest  upon  hirn,  the  spirit  of  knowledge  and  of  the  fear  of  the  Lord.  He  shall 
not  judge  after  the  sight  of  his  eyes,  neither  reprove  after  the  hearing  of  his  ears. 
But  with  righteousness  shall  he  judge  the  poor,  and  reprove  with  equity  for  the  meek 
of  the  earth.  And  righteousness  shall  be  the  girdle  of  his  loins,  and  faithfulness  the 
girdle  of  his  reins.  (Isa.  xi.  2-5.)  He  shall  feed  his  flock  like  a  shepherd,  he  shall 
gather  the  lambs  with  his  arm,  and  carry  them  in  his  bosom.  (Isa.  xl.  11.)  He  shall 
not  cry,  nor  lift  up,  nor  cause  his  voice  to  be  heard  in  the  streets.  A  bruised  reed  shall 
he  not  break,  and  the  smoking  flax  shall  he  not  quench.  (Isa.  xlii.  2,  3.)  Thy  king 
Cometh  unto  thee :  he  is  just,  and  having  salvation,  lowly,  and  riding  upon  an  ass. 
(Zech.  ix.  9.)  He  hath  done  no  violence,  neither  was  there  any  deceit  in  his  lips.  (Isa. 
liii.  9.)  He  was  oppressed  and  afflicted,  yet  he  opened  not  his  mouth  ;  he  was  brought 
as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,  and  as  a  sheep  before  her  shearers  is  dumb,  so  he  opened 
not  his  mouth.  (Isa.  liii.  7.)  I  gave  my  back  to  the  smiters,  and  my  cheek  to  them 
that  plucked  off"  the  hair;  I  hid  not  my  face  from  shame  and  spitting.  (Isa.  1.  6.)  He 
shall  not  fail  nor  be  discouraged,  till  he  have  set  judgment  in  the  earth.  (Isa.  xlii.  4.) 
I  have  set  my  face  as  a  flint,  and  I  know  that  I  shall  not  be  ashamed.  |lsa.  1.  7.)  He 
shall  deliver  the  needy  Avhen  he  crieth,  the  poor  also,  and  him  that  hath  no  helper. 
He  shall  redeem  their  soul  from  deceit  and  violence,  and  precious  shall  their  blood  be 
in  his  sight.  Men  shall  be  blessed  in  him — all  nations  shall  call  him  blessed."  Psalm 
Ixxii.  12,  14,  17. 

The  death  of  Christ  was  as  unparalleled  as  his  life,  and  the  prophecies  are  as  mi- 
nutely descriptive  of  his  suflTerings  as  of  his  virtues.  His  growing  up  as  a  tender 
plant  (Isa.  liii.  2)  ;  his  riding  in  humble  triumph  into  Jerusalem;  his  being  betrayed 
for  thirty  pieces  of  silver  (Zech.  xi.  12),  and  scourged,  and  buff"eted,  and  spit  upon  ;  the 
piercing  of  his  hands  and  of  his  feet,  and  yet  every  bone  of  him  remaining  unbroken  ; 
the  last  off'ered  draught  of  vinegar  and  gall;  the  parting  of  his  raiment,  and  casting 
lots  upon  his  vesture  (Psalm  xxii.  69) ;  the  manner  of  his  death  and  of  his  burial  (Isa. 
liii.  9),  and  his  rising  again  without  seeing  corruption  (Psalm  xvi.  10),  were  all  as 
minutely  predicted  as  literally  fulfilled.  The  last  three  verses  of  the  fifty-second  and 
the  whole  of  the  fifty-third  chapter  of  Isaiah,^written  above  seven  hundred  years 
before  the  Christian  era,  and  forming,  word  for  word,  a  part  of  the  Jewish  as  well  as 
of  the  Christian  scriptures, — prophetically  describe,  like  a  very  history  of  the  facts, 
the  suff"erings  and  the  death  of  Christ ;  his  rejection  by  the  Jews ;  his  humility,  his 
meekness,  his  affliction,  and  his  agony ;  how  his  words  were  disbelieved ;  how  his 
state  was  lowly;  how  his  sorrow  was  severe;  how  his  visage  and  his  form  were 
marred  more  than  the  sons  of  men ;  and  how  he  opened  not  his  mouth  but  to  make 


468  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

intercession  for  the  transgressors.  In  direct  opposition  to  every  dispensation  of  Prov- 
idence which  IS  registered  in  the  records  of  the  Jews,  this  prophecy  represents  spot- 
less innocence  suffering  by  the  appointment  of  Heaven — death  as  the  issue  of  perfect 
obedience — God's  righteous  servant  as  forsaken  by  him — and  one  who  was  perfectly 
immaculate  bearing  the  chastisement  of  many  guilty,  sprinkling  many  nations  from 
their  iniquity  by  virtue  of  his  sacrifice,  justifying  many  by  his  knowledge,  and  dividing 
a  portion  with  the  great,  and  the  spoil  vviih  the  strong,  because  he  had  poured  out  his 
soul  unto  death. 

The  prophecies  concerning  the  humiliation,  the  sufferings,  and  the  cuttmg  off  of 
the  Messiah,  need  only  to  be  read  from  ihe  Jewish  scriptures,  to  show  that  the  very 
unbelief  of  the  Jews  is  an  evidence  against  them,  and  the  very  scandal  of  the  cross 
a  strong  testimony  to  Jesus.  For  thus  it  is  written,  and  thus  it  behooved  Christ  to  suf- 
fer, according  to  the  scriptures.  And  those  things  which  God  before  had  showed  by 
the  mouth  of  all  his  prophets  that  Christ  should  suffer,  he  hath  so  fulfilled. 

That  the  Jews  still  retain  these  prophecies,  and  are  the  means  of  preserving  them 
and  communicating  them  throughout  the  world,  while  they  bear  so  strongly  against 
themselves,  and  testify  so  clearly  of  a  Saviour  that  was  first  to  suffer  and  then  to  be 
exalted,  are  facts  which  give  a  confirmation  to  the  truth  of  Christianity,  than  which 
it  is  difficult  to  conceive  any  stronger.  The  prophecies  that  testify  of  the  sufferings 
of  the  Messiah  need  no  forced  interpretation,  but  apply,  in  a  plain  and  literal  manner, 
to  the  history  of  the  sufferings  and  of  the  death  of  Christ.  In  the  testimony  of  the 
Jews  to  the  exisience  of  these  prophecies,  long  prior  to  the  Christian  era;  in  their  re- 
maining unaltered  to  this  hour;  in  the  accounts  given  by  the  evangelists  of  the  life 
and  death  of  Christ;  in  the  testimony  of  heathen  authors,  and  in  the  arguments  of 
the  first  onposers  of  Christianity,  from  the  mean  condition  of  its  author  and  the  man- 
ner of  his  death, — we  have  now  more  ample  evidence  of  the  fulfilment  of  all  these 
prophecies  than  could  have  been  conceived  possible  at  so  great  a  disiance  of  time. 

But  if  there  be  any  truth,  the  perception  and  acknowledgment  of  which  should  lead 
to  a  sense  of  its  importance,  or  a  feeling  of  its  power,  it  is  surely  that  of  the  cutting 
off  of  the  Messiah,  as  making  reconciliation  for  iniquity,  or  the  death  of  Christ  as  a 
sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  men.  It  is  not  merely  the  knowledge  of  his  righteous  life, 
and  of  his  ignominious  death,  in  confirmation  of  the  word  of  prophecy,  but  an  inte- 
rest also  in  them  that  every  sinner  needs.  There  exists  not  the  man,  except  he  be 
alike  ignorant  of  the  spirit  within  him  and  of  the  father  of  spirits,  who  could  think 
of  standing  for  himself,  to  answer  for  his  sins,  in  the  immediate  presence  of  an  all- 
holy  God,  and  to  abide  the  scrutiny  of  omniscience,  and  the  awards  of  strict  unmiti- 
gated justice  enforced  by  almighty  power.  Nor  could  man  of  himself,  in  whom  sin 
has  once  dwell,  be  ever  meet,  whatever  his  thoughts  of  immortality  might  be,  for 
participating  in  the  holiness  or  partaking  of  the  happiness  of  Heaven.  And  who  is 
there  that,  even  in  the  search  after  divine  truth,  can  pass  by  Calvary,  or  cast  but  a 
glance  tovvard  it,  and  there  behold  in  the  sufferings  of  t'hrist  a  clear  prophetic  mark 
of  his  messiahship,  without  pondering  deeply  on  the  guiltiness  of  sin,  which  nothing 
less  than  the  voluntary  death  of  the  Son  of  God  could  expiate,  and  on  that  infinite 
goodness  and  love  which  found  and  gave  the  ransom,  whereby,  though  guilt  could  not 
be  unpunished,  the  guilty  might  be  saved.  And  if  he  reflect  upon  the  manner  in 
which  this  vision  and  prophecy  were  sealed  up,  who  that  has  a  heart  within  him,  or 
that  can  be  drawn  with  those  cords  of  love  which  are  the  bands  of  a  man,  can  refrain 
from  feeling  the  ])ersonal  application  to  himself  of  the  words  of  Jesus — "I,  if  I  be 
lifted  up  from  the  eartii,  will  draw  all  men  unto  me  ?" 

But  the  prophecies  further  present  us  with  the  character  of  the  Gospel  as  well  as 
of  its  author,  and  with  a  description  of  the  extent  of  his  kingdom  as  well  as  of  his 
sufferings.  That  he  was  to  make  a  full  and  clear  revelation  of  the  will  of  God,  and 
establish  a  new  and  perfect  religion,  was  frequently  and  explicitly  foretold.  (Deut. 
xviii.  18, 19.  Isa.  ix.  6,  7  ;  xlii.  6 ;  xi.  1-5  ;  Iv.  3,  4.  Jer.  xxxi.  31-34.  Ezek.  xxxiv. 
23,  24.)  The  words  of  God  were  to  be  put  into  his  mouth,  and  whoever  would  not 
hearken  unto  him,  God  would  require  it  of  them.  He  was  to  be  given  for  a  covenant 
of  the  people,  for  a  light  of  the  Gentiles,  to  open  the  blind  eyes.  His  law  was  to  be 
put  in  the  inward  parts,  or  to  be  written  not  in  tables  oi"  stone,  but  in  the  heart.  And 
the  religion  of  Jesus  is  |)ure,  spiritual,  perfect,  and  adapted  alike  to  all.  It  is  a  reve- 
lation of  the  whole  counsel  of  God  ;  it  is  a  law  whicli  lias  to  be  written  on  the  heart ; 
a  kingdom  which  is  established  within.     The  doctrine  of  the  gospel  is  altogether  a 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  469 

doctrine  according  to  godliness.  This  its  enemies  will  not  deny,  for  it  is  the  cause 
whv  they  hate  it.  Its  very  excellence  and  perfection  is  a  slumbling-block  to  them. 
There  is  not  a  sin  which  it  does  not  reprobate,  nor  a  virtue  which  it  does  not  inculcate. 
And  too  pure  and  perfect  it  would  indeed  be  for  man,  were  not  reconciliation  made  for 
iniquitv,  and  redemption  to  be  found  from  its  bondage.  , 

But  the  complete  revelation  of  the  will  of  God,  which  of  itself  would  have  ponited 
out  a  highway  of  holiness  that  men  could  never  have  reached,  was  to  be  accompanied 
with  a  r'evelation  also  of  the  grace  and  mercy  of  God,  which  might  well  suffice  to 
show  that  the  lic^ht  was  indeed  light  from  Heaven.  And  while  Jesus  gave  new  com- 
mandments unto  men,  he  announced  tidings  of  great  joy,  which  it  never  entered  into 
the  heart  of  man  to  conceive.  In  fulfilment  of  the  prophetic  character  and  othce  ol 
the  Messiah,  he  published  salvation.  Never  was  any  anointed  like  Christ  to  preach 
good  tidin<^s  to  the  meek  ;  to  bind  up  the  broken-hearted  ;  to  proclainr  liberty  to  the 
captive,  the  opening  of  the  prison  to  ihem  that  are  bound  ;  to  comfort  them  that 
mourn  in  Zion ;  to  give  to  those  Avho  mourn  for  sin,  or  who  seek  for  true  consolation 
amid  the  bereavements  or  any  of  the  evils  of  life,  beauty  for  ashes,  the  oil  ol  joy  tor 
mourning,  and  the  irarment  of  praise  for  the  spirit  of  heaviness.  And  none  like  hira 
ever  proclaimed  either  the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord,  or  the  day  of  judgment  ot  our 
God.  (Isa.  ki.  1-3.)  What  many  wise  men  of  old  sought  to  know,  Jesus  taught. 
What  they  desired  to  see,  he  hath  revealed.  All  that  he  taught,  as  well  as  all  that 
he  did  and  suff"ered,  bore  witness  of  him  as  the  promised  Messiah;  and  that  kingdom 
has  now  come  nigh  which  the  prophets  saw  afar  off. 

That  the  gospel  emanated  from  Judea— that  it  was  rejected  by  a  great  proportion 
of  the  Jews— that  it  was  opposed  at  first  bv  human  power— that  kings  have  acknowl- 
edged and  supported  it— that  it  has  already  continued  for  many  ages— and  that  it  has 
been  propa-rated  throughout  manv  countries— are  facts  thai  were  clearly  ioretold,  and 
have  been  literally  fulfilled.  "  Out  of  Zion  shall  go  forth  the  law ;  and  the  word  ol 
the  Lord  from  Jerusalem.  (Isa.  ii.  3,  4.  Micah,  iv.  2.)  He  shall  be  for  a  sanctuary, 
but  for  a  stone  of  stumbling  and  for  a  rock  of  offence  to  both  the  houses  of  Israel ;  lor 
a  gin  and  for  a  snare  lo  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem.  Who  hath  believed  our  report, 
and  to  whom  is  the  arm  of  the  Lord  revealed?  (Isa.  via.  14;  liu.  1.)  1  he  kings  ot 
the  earth  set  themselves,  and  the  rulers  lake  counsel  together  against  the  Lord  and 
against  his  anointed.  (Psalm  ii.  2.  Matt.  x.  17  ;  xvi.  18  ;  xxi v.  9-14.)  To  a  servant 
of  rulers,  Kings  shall  see  and  arise,  princes  also  shall  worship.  Ihe  Gentiles  shall 
come  to  thv  light,  and  kings  to  the  brightness  of  thy  rising.  (Isa.  xlix.  7-23.)  ihe 
Gentiles  shall  see  thy  righteousness  ;  a  people  that  know  me  not  shall  be  called  alter 
mv  name  Behold  thou  shall  call  a  nation  that  thou  knowest  not,  and  nations  that 
know  not  thee  shall  run  unto  thee."  (Isa.  xi.  10 ;  Iv.  5.)  No  one  is  now  ignorant  ot 
the  facts,  that  a  system  of  religion  which  inculcates  piety,  and  purity,  and  love,— 
which  releases  man  from  every  burdensome  rite  and  from  every  barbarous  instuution, 
and  proffers  the  greatest  of  blessings,— arose  from  the  land  of  Judea,  was  rejected  by 
the  Jews,  persecuted  by  Jews  and  Gentiles,  and  yet  has  subsisted  for  many  ages,  and 
has  been  spread  into  many  countries,  and  is  outwardly  owned  by  kings  and  by  people 
as  the  faith  of  the  civilized  world.  , 

The  final  extension  of  the  gospel  over  all  the  earth  is  the  theme  of  many  propne- 
cies  (Isa.  xxv.  7;  ii.  2;  xx.xv.  1  ;  xl.  5;  xlii.  4;  lii.  10;  liv.  1-5:  Ix.  5;  kv.  1. 
Psalm  Ixxii.  8-17  ;  ii.  8 ;  xxii.  27,  28.  Hosea.  1.  10.  Micah,  iv.  1),  while  it  is  also 
clearly  implied  in  others,  that  a  long  period  was  to  elapse  before  the  reign  of  darkness 
was  to  cease,  or  the  veil  to  be  taken  off  all  nations.  After  the  Messiah  was  to  be  cut 
off,  and  the  city  of  Jerusalem  and  the  sanctuary  to  be  destroyed,  desolations,  even  to 
the  consummation,  and  until  judgment  should  come  upon  the  desolator,  were  deter- 
mined ;  the  children  of  Israel  were  to  abide  many  days  without  a  king,  or  ephod,  or 
sacrifice  ;  desolations  of  many  generations  were  to  pass  over  the  land  ot  Judea ;  Je- 
rusalem was  to  be  trodden  down  of  the  Gentiles,  and  blindness  in  part  was  to  happen 
to  Israel,  till  the  times  of  the  Gentiles  should  be  fulfilled  ;  and  a  great  apostacy  was 
to  arise,  and  to  prevail  for  a  long,  but  limited  period,  before  the  stone  that  was  to  be 
cut  out  without  hands  was  to  become  a  great  kingdom  and  fill  the  whole  earth,  or  the 
last  days  should  arrive,  wherein  the  mountain  of  the  Lord's  house  would  be  finally 
established  and  exalted  above  all,  and  all  nations  flow  into  it.  ..(Dan.  ix.  27.  Hosea, 
iii.  4.  Isa.  Ixi.  4.  Luke,  xxi.  24.  Rom.  xi.  25.  2  Thess.  ii.  1-12.  Dan.  u.  45. 
Isa.  ii.  2.     Micah,  iv.  1.)     But  already,  far  bevcmd  the  conception  of  man  to  have  har- 


470  HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

bored  the  thought,  hath  the  light  which  has  come  out  of  Judea  enlightened  the  na- 
tions ;  already  have  the  scriptures  been  made  known  in  a  tenfold  degree  more  than 
any  other  book  ;  long  has  he  been  a  light  to  the  Gentiles,  and  long  have  kings  seen 
and  arisen,  and  princes  rendered  worship  to  him  whom  man  despised,  and  whom  the 
Jewish  nation  abhorred.  The  Christian  faith  made  at  first  its  bloodless  way  through- 
out the  world.  And  though  many  a  conspiracy  has  been  formed,  and  many  a  bloody 
warfare  waged  against  it,  it  not  only  stands  unsubdued  and  unshaken  after  every  as- 
sault, but  the  vain  rage  of  its  adversaries  has  been  subservient  toils  extension  and  its 
triumphs.  As  a  matter  of  history,  the  progress  of  Christianity  is  at  least  astonishing  ; 
as  the  fulfilment  of  many  prophecies,  it  is  evidently  miraculous. 

In  closing  even  this  brief  and  very  imperfect  summary  of  the  prophecies  relative  to 
the  Christian  faith  and  to  its  author,  are  we  not  authorized  to  consider  ancient  proph- 
ecy, as  bearing  testimony  to  Jesus  as  the  Saviour;  the  time  and  the  place  of  the  birth 
of  Christ ;  the  tribe  and  family  from  which  he  was  descended  ;  his  life,  his  character, 
his  sufferings,  and  his  death  ;  the  nature  of  his  doctrine,  and  the  fate  of  his  religion  ; — 
that  it  was  to  proceed  from  Jerusalem;  that  the  Jews  would  reject  it;  that  it  would 
be  opposed  and  persecuted  at  first ;  that  kings  would  nevertheless  acknowledge  its 
divine  authority  ;  and  that  it  would  spread  throughout  many  a  nation,  even  to  the  ut- 
termost parts  of  the  earth. 

Why,  then,  were  so  many  prophecies  delivered  ?  Why,  from  the  calling  of  Abra- 
ham to  the  present  time,  have  the  Jews  been  separated,  as  a  peculiar  people,  from  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth  ?  Why,  from  the  age  of  Moses  to  that  of  Malachi,  during 
the  space  of  a  thousand  years,  did  a  succession  of  prophets  arise,  all  testifying  of  a 
Saviour  that  was  to  come  ?  Why  was  the  book  of  prophecy  sealed  for  nearly  four 
hundred  years  before  the  coming  of  Christ?  Why  is  there  still,  to  this  day,  undis- 
puted, if  not  miraculous  evidence  of  the  antiquity  of  all  these  prophecies,  by  their 
being  sacredly  preserved,  in  every  age,  in  the  custody  and  guardianship  of  the  enemies 
of  Christianity  ?  Why  was  such  a  multitude  of  facts  foretold  that  are  applicable  to 
Christ  and  to  him  alone  ?  Why? — but  that  all  this  mighty  preparation  might  usher 
in  the  gospel  of  righteousness,  and  prepare  the  way  for  the  kingdom  of  God;  and  that 
Christians  also,  in  every  age,  might  add  to  their  "  peace  and  joy  in  believing"  the  per- 
fect trust,  that  however  great  the  promises  of  God  may  be,  they  still  are  sure;  and 
that  he  who  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  gave  him  up  for  us  all,  will  with  him  also, 
if  his  we  be,  freely  give  us  all  things.  And  if  we  ever  read  a  book  for  any  object, 
ought  we  not  diligently  to  search  the  scriptures,  to  see  how  clearly  they  testify  of 
Christ  ?  And  ought  not  every  word  of  such  testimony  to  be,  like  all  scripture  be- 
sides, profitable  for  doctrine  and  for  instruction  in  righteousness  ?  And  may  it  not  be 
profitable  "  for  reproof  and  for  correction"  to  all  who  mind  only  earthly  things — who 
are  eager  to  seek  after  unprofitable  knowledge — who  could  talk,  with  all  volubility, 
of  the  temporal  concerns  of  others  or  their  own — who  could  expatiate  freely,  perhaps, 
on  the  properties  of  a  beast,  the  quality  of  their  food,  or  the  beauty  of  a  garment — 
and  who,  although  they  have  had  the  Bible  constantly  beside  them,  have,  for  many 
a  year,  remained  ignorant  of  the  value  of  the  treasure  it  contains,  or  of  the  fulness  of 
the  Itjstimony  whicli  God  has  given  of  his  son?  None  surely  would  any  longer  wil- 
fully refrain  from  searching  the  scriptures  to  see  how  they  "testify  of  Jesus,  or  from 
seeking  the  words  of  eternal  life  which  may  be  found  in  them,  were  they  to  lay  to 
heart  the  thought  that  the  second  coming  of  Christ  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead, 
is  as  certain  as  that  the  prophetic  tidings  of  his  first  advent — once  heard  afar  off- 
have  already  proved  true. 


END  OF  THE    OLD  TESTAMENT  HISTORY. 


NEW    AND    COMPLETE    HISTORY 

OF    THE 

HOLY    BIBLE, 

AS    CONTAINED    IN    THE 

OLD  AND    NEW    TESTAMENTS 


The  Birth  of  Christ.— Jlatt.  ii. 


PART  II.— THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  HISTORY. 
BY    ROBERT    SEARS, 

AlUED  BY  THE    WRITINGS    OF    OUR   MOST    CELEBRATED    BIBLICAL    SCHOLARS.  AND   OTHER   LEARNED 
PERSONS,  WHO    HAVE    MADE    THE    SCRIPTURES    THEIR    STUDY. 


NEW    YORK: 

PUBLISHED  BY  ROBERT  SEARS, 


128    NASSAU    STREET. 


MDCCCXLIX. 


NEW   AND   COMPLETE 

HISTORY    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

PART    II. 

CONTAINING  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT 


CHAPTER    I. 

The  historical  part  of  the  New  Testament  is  contained  in  the  four  Gospels  of 
Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and  John;  and,  in  a  very  particular  manner,  claims  the  most 
serious  attention  of  every  person,  as  it  conveys  to  us  the  blessed  tidings  of  our  re- 
covering that  happy  state  which  our  first  parents  forfeited  in  paradise.  Indeed,  the 
New  Testament  is  the  best  commentary  on  the  Old.  By  a  diligent  comparison  of 
both  together,  with  all  the  parallel  passages  marked  only  in  the  margin  of  our  com- 
mon bibles,  an  infinitely  greater  knowledge  of  Scripture  will  generally  be  acquired 
than  is  commonly  eiilier  thought  of  or  believed.  The  truth  is,  there  is  so  great  a 
unity  in  all  the  parts  of  the  Bible — such  an  intimate  connexion  in  its  matter,  phrase- 
ology, doctrines,  facts,  and  the  like— so  many  allusions  made  from  one  passage  to 
another,  that  there  is  scarcely  a  question  connected  with  biblical  interpretation  that 
may  not,  by  this  means  only,  be  very  safely  and  satisfactorily  determined. 

In  passing  from  the  contemplation  of  Jewish  affairs  to  the  glorious  objects  presented 
to  our  notice  in  the  New  Testament,  we  seem  to  emerge  from  dreary  and  uncomfort- 
able shades,  into  the  clieerful  light  of  day ;  and  leave,  without  regret,  a  road  ren- 
dered tedious  by  Jewish  ceremonies,  crowded  with  human  traditions,  and  encumbered 
with  heathen  altars,  to  pursue  the  open  path  marked  out  by  the  reforming  hand  of 
the  Son  of  (jod. 

From  an  early  period  after  the  fall  of  man,  a  gracious  intimation  had  been  given  of 
God's  intention  to  visit  the  world  by  a  Divine  Person,  who  should  restore  sinners  from 
their  ruined  condition,  destroy  the  power  of  death  and  hell,  and  lead  his  followers  to 
eternal  felicity.  Promises  to  this  effect  were,  from  season  to  season,  given  to  God's 
chosen  people  ;  this  great  object  held  a  place  in  all  the  predictions  of  the  prophets, 
and  was  shadowed  forth  in  all  the  types  and  ceremonies  of  the  Jewish  law.  The 
character  of  this  sacred  Messenger  was  drawn  with  sufficient  clearness,  to  render  him 
desirable  with  all  the  truly  pious,  and  to  distinguish  him,  when  come,  to  the  view  of 
every  humble  and  earnest  inquirer. 

It  was  about  four  thousand  years  after  the  creation  of  the  world,  and  when  the 
Roman  empire  having  gained  the  ascendency  over  all  nations,  a  universal  peace  had 
taken  place  ;  while  Augustus  Caesar  was  emperor  at  Rome,  and  Herod,  by  Caesar's 
authority,  had  been  made  king  of  Judea ;  that  the  period  arrived  for  the  fulfilment  of 
these  gracious  promises,  in  the  birth  of  "  the  Prince  of  Peace."  A  general  expecta- 
tion seems  to  have  prevailed  among  the  Jews,  that  about  this  time  the  great  De- 
liverer was  to  make  his  appearance;  nor  are  there  wanting  evidences,  that  such  an 
event  was  looked  for,  even  in  the  gentile  or  heatben  world. 

But  though  the  tram  of  divine  providence  had  all  along  tended  to  this  object,  the 
appearance  of  the  expected  Redeemer,  as  we  shall  see,  was  not  to  be  marked  by 
earthly  pomp.  On  the  contrary,  as  if  God  would  show  his  utter  disregard  of  what 
poor  depraved  mortals  so  highly  esteem,  "  the  King  of  glory"  was  to  be  ushered  into 


476  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

the  world  in  the  most  obscure  condition;  while  divine  honor  and  heavenly  attention 
were  to  supply  ihe  place  of  vain  and  empty  worldly  grandeur:  the  carnal  and  the"" 
higli-minded  were  to  be  disappointed  in  liieir  calculations,  while  humble,  pious  souls 
were  to  rejoice  in  his  salvation. 

As  an  introduction  to  the  event  about  to  take  place,  an  angel  appeared  to  a  priest 
Qamed  Zacharias  (while  offering  incense  in  the  temple),  informing  him  that  he 
should  have  a  son,  who  was  to  be  called  John:  that  this  child  should  be  hlled  with 
the  Holy  Ghost  from  his  birth  ;  and  that  he  should  be  the  forerunner  of  the  Lord 
from  heaven,  in  order  to  prepare  his  way.  Zacharias,  though  a  righteous  man,  beuig, 
with  his  wife  Elisabeth,  far  advanced  in  years,  seemed  to  hesitate  through  unbelief; 
whereupon  the  angel,  declaring  his  name  to  be  Gabriel,  assured  the  priest  that  he 
should  be  "  dumb,  and  not  able  to  speak,"  till  the  fulfilment  of  this  prediction ;  thus 
at  once  confirming  tlie  truth  of  the  message,  and  chastizing  the  unbelief  of  Zacharias. 

Li  the  sixth  month  from  this  period  of  time,  the  angel  Gabriel  was  sent  to  a  virgin 
of  the  house  of  David,  whose  name  was  Mary ;  a  poor  young  woman,  promised  in 
marriage  to  Joseph,  a  carpenter,  who  was  likewise  of  the  house  of  David  ;  that  royal 
family  being,  at  this  time,  reduced  to  a  low  condition.  Saluting  the  highly-favored 
virgin,  the  angel  made  known  to  her  that  she  should  bear  a  son,  whose  name  should 
be  called  Jesus;*  that  God  would  give  him  the  throne  of  David,  and  a  kingdom 
without  end  ;  and  that  tliis  holy  child  sliould  be  produced  by  the  power  of  the  Divine 
Spirit;  on  account  of  which  he  should  be  called  "  the  Son  of  God." 

Shortly  after  this  wonderful  occurrence,  Elisabeth  was  honored  by  a  visit  from 
Mary,  who  was  her  near  relation,  and  both  of  them,  in  a  divine  rapture,  rejoiced  and 
praised  God,  on  account  of  the  approaching  visitation  of  mercy  and  grace  toward  his 
people.  Nor  was  it  long  before  Zacharias  witnessed,  in  the  birth  of  Jolui,  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  angel's  prediction  ;  and  having  his  tongue  loosed,  he  straightway  employed 
it  in  divine  praises,  and  in  prophesying  the  dawn  of  the  gospel-day. 

In  the  meantime  the  angel  of  the  Lord  appearing  to  Joseph  in  a  dream,  removed 
from  his  mind  all  suspicion  with  respect  to  the  cliaracter  of  iVlary  his  espoused  wife ; 
shortly  after  which,  in  consequence  of  a  decree  from  the  Roman  emperor,  for  the 
taxing  (or  enrolling)  of  all  his  subjects,  in  the  several  cities  of  their  respective  families, 
Josepb  and  Mary  repaired  together  to  Bethlehem, t  the  city  of  David,  to  whose  family 
they  both  belonged.  The  inn  at  this  place  being  crowded  with  strangers,  there  was 
found  no  other  accommodation  for  this  humble  pair,  than  a  stable;  and  here  the  long- 
promised  infant  i^as  born,  and,  being  wrapped  in  swaddling  clothes,  was  laid  in  a 
manger.:): 

♦The  name /esus,  in  Greek,  corresponds  with  Joshua,  in  Hebrew;  both  of  them  signifying  a  Saviour: 
and  Christ  is  tlie  same  in  Greelc,  with  Messiah  in  Hebrew,  i.  e.  the  anointed.  This  title  is  given  to  our  Sav- 
iour, in  allusion  to  the  custom  of  anointing  kings,  priests,  and  sometimes  prophets,  with  oil;  Jesus  being 
anointed  to  the  great  office  of  Redeemer,  by  the  holy  Spirit,  which  was  given  him  without  measure. 

t  A  city  of  Judah,  situated  on  an  eminence  overlooking  Tekoah,  at  the  distance  of  nine  miles  south, 
and  about  six  miles  southwest  of  Jerusalem.  It  was  also  called  Epliralh  (Gen.  \x.xv.  16-19),  and  Ephratah, 
Ruth  iv  11.  Though  a  city  of  no  great  note,  it  was  celebrated  as  the  birlh-placeof  David  (I  Sam.  xvi.  1) , 
and  it  became  famous  as  the  birth-place  of  the  Messiah  (Mic.  v.  3,  Matt.  ii.  5-8).  The  village  of  Uelhlehem, 
in  lTb4,  was  supposed  to  contain  six  hundred  men  capable  of  bearing  arms  ;  but  war  and  tyrannical  gov- 
ernment have  reduced  it  to  a  miserable  condition.  Mr.  Whiting,  an  American  missionary,  visited  it  in 
18.34,  when  it  had  just  suffered  severely  from  oppressive  despotism;  and  he  passed  over  the  ruins  of  houses 
and  fields  that  had  just  then  been  demolished,  and  parks  of  olive  and  (ig-trees  which  had  been  cut  down  by 
order  of  the  pacha,  for  alleged  rebeUion  and  flight.  It  is  now  called  Beet-la-hm,  and  contains  about  1,000 
professmg  Christians. 

t  There  has  been  much  misconception  both  as  regards  the  "  inn"  and  the  "  manger :"  for  although  it  has 
been  rightly  apprehended  by  some  recent  wniers,  that  the  inn  must  be  understood  to  answer  to  the  still 
existing  "  caravansary"  of  the  East,  they  have  wanted  that  practical  aciiuainlance  with  details,  which 
C"uld  alone  enable  them  to  apply  their  general  information  efleclively  to  the  illustration  of  the  present  pas- 
sage. 

In  the  East  there  is  not,  and  we  have  no  information  or  probability  that  there  ever  were,  such  places  of 
ertertainment  as  we  understand  when  we  speak  of  "  inns."  A  person  who  comes  to  a  town,  where  he 
has  no  friends  to  receive  him  into  their  houses,  seeks  accommodation  at  the  caravansary  or  khan,  where 
he  may  stay  as  long  as  he  pleases,  generally  without  payment ;  but  is  only  provided  with  lodging  for  him- 
self and  beast,  if  he  has  any,  and  with  water  from  a  well  on  the  premises.  The  room  or  cell  which  he  ob- 
tains is  perfectly  bare.  He  may  procure  a  mat,  perhaps,  but  nothing  more  :  and  hence  every  one  who 
travels,  provided  he  has  a  beast,  takes  with  him  a  rug,  a  piece  of  carpet,  or  even  a  mattress  (that  is,  a  thick 
quilt,  padded  with  wool  or  cotton),  or  something  of  the  sort,  to  form  his  bed  wherever  he  rests,  whether  ma 
town  or  country  caravansary  :  but  one  who  travels  on  foot  can  not  thus  encumber  himself,  and  is  well  content 
to  make  tlie  cloak  he  had  worn  by  day  serve  for  bed  and  bedding  at  night.  It  is  the  same  witli  respect  to  food  : 
he  purchases  what  he  needs  from  the  town  or  village  in  or  near  which  the  khan  may  be  situated  ;  and  if  he 
requires  a  cooked  meal,  he  dresses  it  himself,  for  which  purpose  a  traveller's  baggage  also  contains  one  or 
more  pots  and  dishes,  with  a  vessel  for  water.  A  foot  traveller  dispenses  with  warm  meals  ;  unless  he 
may  sometimes  be  enabled  to  procure  something  ready  dressed,  in  the  markets  of  the  more  considerable 
(owns  to  which  he  comes.    In  those  parts  where  towns  are  widely  asunder,  khans  are  more  or  less  dis- 


fflSTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


477 


478  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

Such  were  the  lowly  circumstances  under  which  the  divine  Saviour  made  his  ap- 
pearance in  our  world'!  But  though  disregarded  by  men,  his  birth  passed  not  unno- 
ticed nor  unsung  by  angels.  The  event  was  made  known  to  a  company  of  shepherds, 
by  one  of  these  cefeslial  messengers,  who  was  suddenly  joined  by  a  multitude  of  the 
heavenly  hosts,  praising  God,  and  saying,  "  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on  earth 
peace,  good  will  toward  men."  This  intelligence,  thus  wonderfully  cominunicated, 
carried  the  shepherds  in  haste  to  view  the  infant,  and  produced  a  report  which  struck 
with  astonishment  all  who  heard  it. 

In  conformity  with  the  Jewish  law,  the  child  Jesus  was  circumcised,  at  eight  days 
old,  and,  some  time  afterward,  presented  before  the  Lord,  in  the  temple  at  Jerusa- 
lem. On  this  occasion  two  memorable  testimonies  were  borne  to  his  character,  as 
the  Messiah.  Old  Simeon,  a  devout  man,  who  waited  for  the  consolation  of  Israel, 
took  the  holy  infant  in  his  arms,  and  blessing  God,  said,  "  Lord,  now  lettest  thou  thy 
servant  depart  in  peace,  according  to  thy  word  ;  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  thy  salva- 
tion !"— while  Anna,  an  aged  widow  of  great  piety,  coming  into  the  temple  at  the 
same  time,  "  gave  thanks  likewise  unto  the  Lord,  and  spake  of  him  to  all  them  that 
looked  for  redemption  in  Jerusalem." 

persed  over  tlie  open  country  ;  and  in  these,  or  wherever  they  are  not,  the  traveller  lives  upon  the  victuals 
which  he  has  brought  with  him  from  the  last  inhabited  town,  in  the  knowledge  that  these  remote  khans 
offer  nothing  but  shelter,  and  that  no  provisions  can  be  obtained  in  their  neighborliood.  These  facts  may 
be  found  usefully  to  illustrate  those  passages  of  Scripture  which  allude  to  traveUing,  and  to  the  accom- 
modation of  travellers. 

As  to  the  khans  themselves,  they  vary  considerably  in  their  arrangements  and  importance  ;  and  it  would 
here  answer  no  illustrative  purpose  to  particularize  them  all.  We  shall  therefore  merely  mention  the  plan 
and  arrangement  winch  most  generally  prevail  in  such  establishments,  and  of  which  the  others  are  merely 
variations  :  the  rather,  as  it  so  happens,  that  it  is  from  these  that  we  are  ourselves  best  able  to  collect  what 
seems  a  clear  understanding  of  the  present  text.  ,  ,   r  ,, 

A  khan,  then,  usually  presents,  externally,  the  appearance  of  a  square,  formed  by  strong  and  lofty  walls, 
-"ith  a  high,  and  often  handsome  gateway,  which  offers  an  entrance  to  the  interior.  On  passing  through 
this,  the  traveller  finds  himself  in  a  large  open  quadrangle,  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  a  number  of  distinct 
rece'sses,  the  back  walls  of  which  contain  doors  leading  to  the  small  cells  or  rooms  which  afford  to  travel- 
lers the  accommodation  they  require.  Every  apartment  is  thus  perfectly  detached,  consisting  of  the  room 
and  the  recess  in  front.  In  the  latter  the  occupant  usually  sits  till  the  day  has  decUned,  and  there  he  often 
prefers  to  sleep  at  night.  Besides  these  private  apartments,  there  is  usually  in  the  centre  of  one  or  more 
of  these  sides  of  the  Quadrangle,  a  large  and  lofty  hall,  where  the  principal  persons  may  meet  for  conver- 
sation or  entertainment.  The  floor  of  all  these  apartments— the  recesses,  rooms,  and  halls,  are  raised  two 
or  three  feet  above  the  level  of  the  court  which  they  surround,  upon  a  platform  or  bank  of  earth  faced 
with  masonry.  In  the  centre  of  the  court  is  a  well  or  cistern,  offering  to  the  travellers  that  most  essential 
of  conveniences  in  a  warm  climate— pure  water. 

Many  caravansaries  are  without  stables  ;  the  cattle  being  accommodated  in  the  open  area.  But  the 
most  complete  establishments  have  very  excellent  stables,  in  covered  avenues  which  extend  behind  the 
ranges  of  apartments— that  is,  between  the  back  walls  of  these  ranges  of  building,  and  the  external  wall 
of  the  khan ;  and  the  entrance  to  it  is  by  a  covered  passage  at  one  of  the  corners  of  the  quadrangle.  The 
stable  is  on  a  level  with  the  court,  and  consequently  below  the  level  of  the  buildings,  by  the  height  of  the 
platform  on  which  they  stand.  Nevertheless,  this  platform  is  allowed  to  project  behind  into  the  stable,  so 
as  to  form  a  bench,  to  which  the  horses'  heads  are  turned,  and  on  which  they  can,  if  they  like,  rest  the 
nose-bags,  of  hair-cloth,  from  which  they  eat,  to  enable  them  to  reach  the  bottom,  when  its  contents  get 
low  It  also  often  happens  that  not  only  this  bench  exists  in  the  stable,  but  also  recesses  corresponding  to 
those  in  front  of  tlie  apartments,  and  formed  by  the  side  walls,  which  divide  tlie  rooms,  being  allowed  to 
project  belund  into  the  stable,  just  as  the  projection  of  the  same  walls  into  the  great  area  forms  the  re- 
cesses in  front.  These  recesses  in  the  stable,  or  the  bench,  if  there  are  none,  furnish  accommodation  to 
the  servants  or  others  who  have  charge  of  the  beasts  :  and  when  persons  find  on  their  arrival  that  the 
apartments  usually  appropriated  to  travellers  arc  already  occupied,  they  are  glad  to  find  accommodation  in 
the  stable,  particularly  wlien  the  nights  are  cold  or  the  season  inclement. 

Now,  in  our  opinion,  the  ancient  oi  the  existing  usages  of  tlie  East  supply  no  greater  probability  than 
that  the  Saviour  of  tiie  world  was  born  in  such  a  stable  as  this.  Not  knowing  that  there  were  stables  to 
oriental  caravansaries,  some  recent  writers  of  great  information  and  ability  have  concluded  that  our  Lord 
was  born  in  a  place  distinct  from  and  unconnected  in  any  way  with  the  "  inn"— probably  in  a  shed  or  out- 
house—perhaps in  a  cave.  ,  .       ■       .     .    , 

The  word  rendered  "  manger"  has  given  occasion  to  some  discussion.  The  most  eminent  scholars,  since 
Salmasius,  ha/e  held  that  it  means  a  stable  or  stall  for  cattle.  The  same  thing  is  implied,  if  it  be  under- 
stood to  mean  a  manger.  This  being  the  case,  it  is  evident  from  our  description,  that  the  part  of  the  stable 
could  not  reasonably  have  been  other  than  one  of  those  recesses,  or  at  least  a  portion  of  the  bench,  wnich 
we  have  mentioned  as  affording  accommodation  to  travellers  under  certain  circumstances.  If  we  will 
have  the  word  to  mean  "  a  manger,"  with  Campbell  and  others,  then  we  are  to  consider  tliat  the  OrientaU 
have  no  mangers,  but  feed  their  cattle  from  hiiir-bags  ;  a  fact  which  led  Bishop  Pearce  to  entertain  the 
strange  idea  that  the  infant  .lesus  was  cradled  in  such  a  bag.  It  can  not  even  be  shown  that  the  classical 
ancients  although  they  fed  their  horses  differently  from  the  Orientals,  had  any  such  mangers  as  ours  ;  but 
either  nose-bags  or  vessels  of  stone  or  metal.  Therefore,  if  we  would  retain  the  word  "  manger,"  we  must 
needs  understand  it  in  the  large  sense  of  an  eating  place,  not  an  eating  ^Aidj-- that  is,  the  place  to  which 
the  horses'  heads  were  turned  when  they  ate,  or  on  which  the  thing  from  which  they  ate  rested  while  tiiey 
did  eat.  And  this  brings  us  to  the  same  conclusion  as  before  ;  for,  in  the  above  description,  we  have  shown 
that  in  the  stable,  tiieir  heads  are  turned  toward  the  same  bench  or  recesses.  Wo  therefore  think  that  we 
are  fairly  entitled 'to  the  conclusion  which  we  have  stated.  The  explanation  here  given  was  strongly  sug- 
gested to  the  present  writer's  mind  while  himself  finding  accommodation  in  a  recess  of  such  stab  es, 
when  there  was  "  no  room"  for  him  in  the  proper  lodging  apartments  of  caravansaries  :  and  he  is  disposed 
to  hope  that  it  may  be  found  to  obviate  the  difficulties  which  have  been  discovered  in  the  case  betore  us 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  479 

In  the  meantime  a  new  and  uncommon  star  had  appeared  in  the  heavens,  which 
served  as  a  signal  that  the  star  of  Jacob  had  arisen  upon  the  world,  and  as  a  guide  to 
certain  persons  called  '•  wise  men,"  who  came  from  the  east  to  Jerusalem,  to  inquire 
after  him  who  was  "  born  king  of  the  Jews."  When  Herod  the  king  had  received 
information  of  these  things,  he  determined,  if  possible,  to  crush  at  once  the  child  whom 
he  considered  as  the  rival  of  his  family.  Accordingly,  he  requested  of  the  wise  men, 
that  when  they  had  found  the  object  of  their  search,  they  should  bring  him  word, 
that  he  also  might  join  in  paying  him  adoration. 

On  leaving  Jerusalem,  the  eastern  sages  found,  to  their  joy,  that  the  star  which 
they  had  seen  before  they  set  out  on  their  journey,  had  again  appeared  !  It  now  be- 
came their  guide  to  Bethlehem,  and  stood  over  the  house  where  the  holy  family  at 
this  time  resided,  Having  worsliipped  the  wonderful  babe,  and,  according  lo  the 
eastern  custom,  made  an  offering  of  gold,  frankincense,  and  myrrh  ;  and  being  warned 
in  a  dream  of  Herod's  bloody  intention,  "  they  departed  into  iheir  own  country  another 
way."  The  tyrant,  thus  batlled  in  his  purpose,  caused  all  the  children  to  be  destroyed 
m  Bethlehem  and  the  neighboring  country,  "from  two  years  old  and  under;"  but 
Joseph  had  received  timely  notice  by  an  angel,  and  the  heaven-protected  infant  wag 
now  in  Egypt. 

The  death  of  Herod  (who  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Archelaus)  being  made  known 
to  Joseph,  by  an  angel,  he  returned  with  Mary  and  the  young  child,  and  dwelt  in 
Nazareth,  a  city  of  Galilee,  where  "  the  child  grew  and  waxed  strong  in  spirit,  filled 
with  wisdom;  and  the  grace  of  God  was  upon  him."  From  this  place  Joseph,  the 
supposed  father,  and  Mary,  the  mother  of  Jesus,  went  yearly  to  Jerusalem,  to'  the 
feast  of  the  passover.  On  one  of  these  occasions,  when  he  was  twelve  years  old, 
having  accompanied  them  to  the  feast,  he  was  left  behind,  on  the  return  of  his 
parents,  who  travelled  a  day's  journey  under  the  supposition  that  Jesus  was  in  com- 
pany with  some  of  their  relations. 

When,  however,  afier  discovering  their  mistake,  thev  returned  to  the  city  to  make 
mquiry,  he  was  found  in  the  temple,  "  sitting  in  the  midst  of  the  doctors,  both  hearing 
them,  and  asking  them  questions,"  while  the  uncommon  wisdom  of  his  youthful  mind 
astonished  all  who  heard  him.  "  Wist  ye  not,"  said  he  to  his  parents,  when  they 
had  thus  found  him,  "  that  I  must  be  about  my  father's  business?"  He  then  went 
down  with  them  to  Nazareth,  and  was  subject  to  them;  "increasing  in  wisdom  and 
stature,  and  in  favor  with  God  and  man." 

While  thus  the  early  part  of  the  life  of  Jesus  was  spent  at  Nazareth  in  Galilee, 


Herod,  tetrarch  of  Galilee,  and  Annas  and  Caiaphas  being  high-priests,  John  received 
a  divine  commission ;  in  consequence  of  which,  he  went  forth  into  the  country  about 
Jordan,  preaching  the  necessity  of  repentance  for  the  remission  of  sins;  exhorting  the 
people  to  the  practice  of  righteousness;  directing  iheir  attention  to  the  Messiah,  who 
was  shortly  to  follow  him  ;  and  baptizing  all  who  gave  evidence  of  the  power  of  his 
doctrme  on  their  hearts  ;  hence  he  was  called  "John  the  Baptist." 

The  appearance  of  this  preacher,  who  was  clothed  in  raiment  of  camel's  hair,  with 
a  leathern  girdle  about  his  loins  ;  the  doctrines  which  he  so  earnestly  inculcated  ;  and 
the  strict  sanctity  and  self-denial  of  his  life,  excited  great  attention  amono-  the  people, 
and  drew  crowds  to  his  baptism.  In  the  meantime,  to  the  multitudes  who  attended 
his  ministry,  he  failed  not  to  declare  the  superioritv  of  the  approaching  Messiah  ;  in- 
forming the  people,  that  while  he  himself  baptized  with  water  only,  a  mi<^htier  One 
would  come  after  him,  who  should  baptize  with  the  Holy  Ghost.  ° 

While  John  was  thus  employed,  Jesus,  who  had  hitherto  lived  in  retirement,  beino- 
now  about  thirty  years  of  age,  made  his  appearance  at  the  river  Jordan,  and  claimed 
the  orainance  of  baptism  at  the  hands  of  his  servant.  On  this  occasion  God  was 
pleased  to  introduce  his  Son  to  the  world  ;  for  upon  his  being  baptized,  and  going  up 
out  of  the  water,  the  heavens  were  opened,  the  Holy  Ghost  descended  upon  him  like 
a  dove,  and  the  voice  of  the  eternal  Father  proclaimed,  "  This  is  my  beloved  Son  in 
whom  I  am  well  pleased."  ,         -   -"' 

^  Immediately  after  this  solemnity,  Jesus  was  conducted,  by  an  impui 
Spirit,  into  the  wilderness,  where,  in  a  state  of  seclusion  from  the  V. 
forty  days  in  fasting  and  communion  with  God,  as  a  preparation  for  tl 
of  the  ministry,  which  he  was  about  to  undertake.     Here  he  was 


480  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

three  powerful  temptations  from  the  devil,  each  of  which  was  repelled  by  an  appeal 
to  the  written  word  of  God. 

First,  he  was  tenipted  to  turn  stones  into  bread,  that  he  might  thus  at  once  prove 
his  power,  as  the  Son  of  God,  and  allay  his  hunger.  But  he  answered,  "  It  is  written, 
Man  shall  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the 
mouth  of  God."  Secondly,  the  devil  requested  that  he  would  prove  himself  to  be 
under  the  protection  of  Heaven,  by  casting  himself  down  from  the  pinnacle  (or  battle- 
ments) of  the  temple  ;  but  Christ  showed  the  wickedness  of  tempting,  or  rashly  pre- 
suming on  divine  providence,  by  answering,  "  It  is  written,  Thou  shalt  not  tempt  the 
Lord  thy  God."  Thirdly,  he  was  promised,  by  this  impudent  tempter,  all  the  king- 
doms of  the  world,  if  he  would  fall  down  and  worship  him  to  which,  with  holy  in- 
dignation, Jesus  answered,  "  Get  thee  hence,  Satan ;  for  it  is  written,  Thou  shalt 
worship  the  Lord  ihy  God,  and  him  only  shalt  thou  serve." 

The  infernal  enemy,  thus  baffled  in  all  his  attempts,  was  compelled  to  leave  the 
conqueror;  angels  came  and  ministered  to  his  wants;  and  Jesus  went  forth  from  his 
retirement,  to  enter  on  the  glorious  work  of  blessing,  reforming,  and  redeeming  lost 
man. 

While  the  Eedeemer  was  thus  secluded  from  the  world,  the  report  of  John's  min- 
istry and  baptism  having  excited  the  notice  of  the  Jewish  council,  messengers  were 
sent  from  that  body  to  learn  who  this  strange  character  might  be.  To  their  inquiry 
on  tliis  point,  John  answered,  that  he  was  not  the  Christ,  nor  the  prophet  Elijah 
(who  in  their  opinion  was  to  revisit  the  earth);  but  that  he  was  come  as  "  the  voice 
of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness,  make  straight  the  way  of  the  Lord" — according  to 
the  prophecy  of  Isaiah  ;  declaring,  at  the  same  time,  that  there  was  one  who  had 
appeared  among  the  people,  the  latchet  of  whose  shoes  he  was  not  worthy  to  loose. 

Un  the  next  day,  Jesus  having  now  returned  from  the  desert,  John  saw  him  ap- 
proaching, and  took  occasion  to  point  him  out  to  the  people,  under  the  character  of 
"  tlie  Lamb  of  God,  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world  ;"  announcing  him  as 
the  person  of  whose  coming  he  had  before  given  notice,  and  testifying,  in  plain  and 
positive  terms,  that  he  was  the  Son  of  God.  Again,  on  the  following  day,  looking  on 
the  divine  Saviour  as  he  was  walking  at  some  little  distance,  he  repeated  his  fcjrmer 
expression,  "Behold  the  Lamb  of  God !"  in  consequence  of  which,  two  of  John's 
disciples  attached  themselves  to  Christ,  and  became  his  followers. 

One  of  these  disciples  was  Andrew  ;  the  other,  though  not  named,  was  probably 
John,  who  afterward  wrote  one  of  the  gospels,  and  is  distinguished  by  the  title  of 
"the  beloved  disciple."  Shortly  afterward  they  were  joined  by  three  others,  viz., 
Simon  Peter  (who  is  called  Cephas) ;  Philip,  of  Bethsaida;  and  Nathanael,  of  whom 
Jesus  tesiified  that  he  was  an  Israelite  indeed,  in  whom  was  no  guile.  With  these 
disciples  our  Lord  attended  a  marriage  in  Cana*  of  Galilee,  where  he  Avrought  his 

*  Cana  of  Galilee  (see  engraving,  page  461),  is  a  village,  consisting  of  a  few  miserable  huts.  The  ground 
rises  gently  toward  the  village  :  it  is  stony,  and  partially  covered  with  short  grass  :  olive  trees  grow  here. 
The  hills  in  the  distance  are  gray  and  barren.  The  ruins  of  a  church  are  shown  to  the  traveller :  it  is  said 
to  have  been  erected  by  the  Eriiperess  Helena  on  the  spot  where  the  nuptial  feast  was  celebrated,  of  which 
we  have  an  account  in  .lolin,  ii.  1-10  ;  and  there  is  also  exhibited  a  stone  vessel,  which  is  gravely  said  to 
itiave  been  one  of  those  used  on  that  occasion.  When  Dr.  Clarke  visited  Cana,  in  walking  among  the  ruins, 
he  observed  large  massy  pots  of  stone,  answering  to  the  description  given  by  the  evangelist.  They  were 
not  preserved  or  exhibited  as  relics,  but  were  lying  about,  disregarded  by  the  modern  inhabitants,  as  anti- 
quities with  the  use  of  which  they  were  unacquainted.  From  their  appearance,  and  the  number  of  them, 
it  is  quite  evident  that  the  practice  of  keeping  water  in  large  stone  pots,  each  holding  from  eighteen  to 
twenty-seven  gallons,  was  once  common  in  this  country. 

About  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  village  is  a  spring  of  delicious  water,  close  to  the  road,  whence  all 
the  water  is  taken  for  the  supply  of  the  inhabitants.  Ilere  pilgrims  usually  halt,  as  the  source  of  the  water 
which  our  Saviour,  by  his  first  miracle,  converted  into  wine.  At  such  places  it  is  usual  to  meet,  either 
shepherds  reposing  with  their  flocks,  or  caravans  halting  to  drink.  There  being  a  fow  olive  trees  near  the 
spot,  Iravellars  alight,  spread  their  carpets,  and,  having  filled  their  pipes,  generally  smoke  tobacco  and 
take  coffee  :  always  preferring  repose  in  those  places  to  the  accommodations  which  are  offered  in  the  villages. 
While  Mr  Rae  Wilson  was  sitting  upon  the  shattered  wall  which  enclosed  "  the  well  of  Cana,  six  females, 
havini;  their  faces  veiled,  came  down  to  the  well,  each  carrying  on  her  head  a  pot  for  the  purpose  of  being 
filled  with  water."  "These  vessels  are  formed  of  clay,  hardened  by  the  heat  of  the  sun,  and  are  of  a 
globular  shape  and  large  at  the  mouth,  not  unlike  the  bottles  used  in  our  country  for  holding  vitriol,  but 
not  so  large.  Many  of  them  have  handles  attached  to  the  sides :  and  it  was  a  wonderful  coincidence 
with  Scripture,  that  the  vessels  appeared  to  contain  much  about  the  same  quantitv  a.»  those  which,  the 
evangelist  informs  us,  were  employed  on  occasion  of  the  celebration  of  the  marriage  which  was  honor- 
ed by  the  Saviour's  presence  ;  viz.,  three  firkins,  of  about  twelve  gallons,  each.  It  is  a  further  re- 
markable circumstance,  that,  in  tlie  Holy  Land,  it  rarely  happens  that  men  are  employed  for  the  purpose  of 
drawing  water  ;  but  it  is  a  duty  entirely  devolving  on  the  females,  and  shows  strongly  that  such  a  practice 
has  been  continued  from  the  earliest  ages."  (Gen.  xxi.  31,  xxiv.  1 1-31).  Exod.  ii.  16.)  The  female  figures 
seen  in  the  foreground  of  our  engraving  were  barefooted,  and  very  miserable.  They  were  all  veiled  with 
a  large  calico  sheet  which  they  wrapped  in  folds  around  them. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


481 


Mi:   "'''^l ,„^ 

■Vljl  ,;''    ---^        lililil! 


li    rf 


i;i!:^!: 


''iMi^^ 


482  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

first  public  miracle,  by  turning  water  into  wine ;  thus  supplying  the  need  of  the 
guests,  and  confirming  the  faith  of  his  disciples. 

From  Cana,  Jesus  went  to  Capernaum,  a  city  of  Galilee ;  and  thence,  after  a 
short  stay,  to  Jerusalem,  where  he  attended  the  feast  of  the  passover,  for  the  first 
time  after  his  entrance  into  the  ministry.  On  this  occasion  he  found  the  temple  oc- 
cupied as  a  place  of  traffic  by  some  who  sold  oxen,  sheep,  and  doves,  for  the  sacrifices, 
and  by  others  who  accommodated  the  traders  by  changing  money.  Fillsd  with  holy 
indignation  to  see  the  house  of  God  thus  profaned,  he  drove  them  forth  from  the 
temple  with  a  scourge  of  small  cords,  pouring  out  the  money  of  the  exchangers,  and 
overturning  the  tables  at  which  they  were  sitting. 

The  miracles  which  were  performed  by  our  Lord,  during  this  feast  of  the  passover, 
induced  numbers  to  believe  in  him,  and  excited  the  attention  of  many  others.  Among 
these  was  Nicodemus,  a  ruler  of  the  Jews,  who  made  a  visit  to  Jesus  by  night,  in 
order  to  have  a  private  conference  with  him  on  the  subject  of  his  doctrines  and  the 
nature  of  that  kingdom  which  had  been  lately  spoken  of. 

In  answer,  therefore,  to  his  first  address,  the  great  Teacher  assured  him  that  it  was 
absolutely  necessary,  in  order  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  that  a  man 
should  be  "  born  again  ;"  or  that  such  a  renewal  of  the  heart  should  be  experienced 
as  might  be  termed  "a  new  birth."  Having  further  informed  him  that  this  divine 
change  was  to  be  effected  by  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  our  Lord  went  on  to 
instruct  him  in  the  doctrine  of  salvation,  by  faith  in  the  Son  of  God ;  and  closed  his 
discourse  by  showing  the  difference  between  the  follower  of  evil  and  the  follower  of 
truth — a  discourse  which,  eventually,  appears  to  have  made  a  salutary  impression  on 
the  mind  of  Nicodemus. 

The  passover  being  ended,  Jesus  left  Jerusalem  and  went  into  other  parts  of  Judea, 
where  he  employed  his  disciples  in  baptizing,  and  was  followed  by  great  numbers;  of 
people ;  and  when  an  account  of  this  was  brought  to  John  the  Baptist,  that  faithful 
herald,  so  far  from  being  displeased  at  the  rising  glory  of  his  Master,  rejoiced  in  the 
prospect,  and  again  took  the  occasion  to  set  forth  the  superior  excellence  of  the  per- 
son and  ministry  of  the  Son  of  God. 

The  course  of  John  was  now  near  its  close ;  for  about  this  time,  having  reproved 
Herod  for  taking  away  his  brother  Philip's  wife,  he  Avas  imprisoned  by  the  tetrarch, 
and  not  long  after  was,  by  his  order,  put  to  death.  A  more  particular  account  of  this 
event  will  be  given  hereafter.  In  the  meantime,  Jesus  departed  from  Judea  on  a 
journey  to  Galilee ;  and  passing  in  his  way  through  the  country  of  Samaria,  he  held 
a  conversation  with  a  woman  of  that  country,  which  produced  a  happy  change  in 
her  character,  and  through  her  means  many  of  the  Samaritans  were  brought  to  hear 
his  word,  and  to  believe  m  him  as  the  promised  Messiah. 

Arriving  in  Galilee,  he  proclaimed  "  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom  of  God"  to  the 
people,  many  of  whom  were  disposed  to  receive  the  heavenly  message;  and  being 
humbly  and  earnestly  applied  to  by  a  nobleman  in  behalf  of  his  son,  who  was  sick 
at  Capernaum,  the  compassionate  Saviour  gave  the  healing  word,  and  the  young  man 
was  restored. 

While  in  the  country  of  Galilee  (where,  we  are  told,  he  had  come  "  in  the  power 
of  the  spirit"),  Jesus  eiiierrd  into  a  synagogue  at  Nazareth,  and  stood  up  to  read. 
The  book  of  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah  was  delivered  to  him,  and  he  opened  to  a  predic- 
tion which  pointed  immediately  to  himself  This  passage,  he  declared  to  the  congre- 
gation, was  that  day  fullilled.  But  some  of  his  remarks  gave  such  offence  to  the 
Nazarenes,  that  they  violently  thrust  him  out,  and  led  him  to  the  brow  of  the  moun- 
tain on  which  the  city  sto^d,  designing  to  cast  him  down  headlong  from  the  precipice. 
This,  however,  he  miraculously  avoided,  by  passing  through  the  midst  of  them  and 
going  his  way. 

Leaving  Nazareth*  after  this  outrage,  Jesus  took  up  his  abode  in  Capernaum,  where 
he  went  on  to  preach  the  necessity  of  repentance  as  a  preparation  for  that  divine 
kingdom  which  was  now  at  hand.  Here,  as  he  walked  by  the  sea  of  Galilee,  he  saw 
Simon  Peter,  and  Andrew  his  brother,  who  were  fishermen,  and  who  it  seems  had 

»  A  city  of  Zebulon  in  Galilee,  about  seventy  miles  north  of  Jerusalem :  it  stood  low  in  public  estimation 
for  the  cliaracter  of  its  inhabitants  (John  i.  46),  yet  it  became  famous  as  the  residence  of  Jesus  until  he 
entered  on  liis  ministry  (Matt.  i.  23,  Luke  ii.  51,  iv.  16).  Nazareth  still  exists  with  a  population  of  fromo.OOO 
to  7,()U0,  some  of  whom  are  Moliainrnedans,  but  mostly  of  several  sects  of  ignorant  and  superstitious  pro- 
fessors of  Christianity.  The  Roman  Catliolics  have  a  church  here,  called  the  "  Church  of  the  Annuncia- 
tion," the  most  magnificent  of  any  in  the  land,  except  that  at  Jerusalem. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


48^ 


484  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

returned  for  awhile  to  their  former  employment.  These  he  now  called  to  become 
his  constant  attendants,  as  well  as  James  and  John,  the  sons  of  Zebedee,  whom  he 
found  engaged  in  the  same  occupation. 

These  fishermen  (who  were  henceforward  to  be  employed  in  catching  me?i)  let 
down  their  nets  at  the  direction  of  Christ,  and  enclosed  such  a  multitude  of  fish  as 
struck  them  with  astonishment  and  awe  ;  and  having  brouglit  their  vessels  to  the 
iaiKJ,  they  forsook  all  and  followed  their  Master. 

The  ministry  of  our  Lord  at  Capernaum  was  marked  with  signal  and  wonderful 
instances  of  his  power  and  goodness.  While  he  was  in  the  synagogue,  there  ap- 
peared a  man  in  the  congregation  possessed  with  the  spirit  of  a  demon,  who  cried 
out  in  a  fearful  manner,  and  acknowledged  him  to  be  "  the  Holy  One  of  God."  At 
the  word  of  Jesus  the  man  was  straightway  released  from  the  fury  of  this  foul  spirit. 
Coming  from  the  synagogue  into  the  house  of  Simon  Peter,  he  found  the  mother  of 
Peter's  wife  lying  ill  of  a  fever,  and  taking  her  by  the  hand  "  he  rebuked  the  fever," 
which  immediat'ely  left  her,  and  she  arose  restored  to  health. 

The  fame  of  these  miracles  drew  together  in  the  evening  great  numbers  of  people, 
who  thronged  the  house  where  Jesus  had  taken  up  his  lodging,  bringing  with  them 
those  that  "  were  sick  with  divers  diseases,"  and  "  inany  that  were  possessed  with 
devils,"  toward  all  of  Avhom  the  gracious  Saviour  manifested  the  kindness  of  his 
heart  by  delivering  them  from  their  various  maladies.  The  voice  of  fame,  however, 
did  not  occasion  our  Lord  to  forget  the  exercises  of  devotion,  nor  did  his  labors  cause 
him  to  neglect  them;  for  we  are  told  that,  rising  up  early  the  next  morning,  "he 
departed  into  a  solitary  place,  and  there  prayed." 

The  blessings  of  the  ministry  and  miracles  of  Christ  were  not  confined  to  Ca- 
pernaum. "  He  went  about  all  Galilee,  teaching  in  their  synagogues,  and  preach- 
ing the  gospel  of  the  kingdom,  and  healing  all  manner  of  sickness  and  all  manner 
of  disease  among  the  people."  His  fame  also  went  throughout  the  country  of 
Syria,  whence  they  brought  the  afflicted  to  experience  the  eflfecls  of  his  heal- 
ing power.  "  And  there  followed  him,"  Ave  are  told,  "  great  multitudes  of  people, 
from  Galilee,  and  from  Decapolis,  and  from  Jerusalem,  and  from  Judea,  and  from 
beyond  Jordan." 

But  though  our  Redeemer  was  thus  compassionate  to  the  bodies  of  men,  to  heal 
their  souls  and  to  reform  their  conduct  was  his  great  object.  He  availed  himself, 
therefore,  of  the  opportunity  which  the  vast  crowd  collected  together  now  afforded  to 
deliver  a  discourse,  which  is  generally  termed  "  the  sermon  on  the  mount," — a  dis- 
course replete  with  those  heavenly  doctrines  and  precepts  which  forn)  so  distinguish- 
ing a  character  of  his  holy  religion. 

On  coming  down  from  the  mountain,  he  was  addressed  by  a  man  afflicted  Avith  the 
leprosy,  in  compliance  with  whose  humble  petition  Jesus  put  forth  his  hand  and 
healed  him.  Afterward  he  entered  again  into  Capernaum,  where  he  was  attended 
by  crowds,  who  came  to  hear  him  and  to  be  cured  of  their  diseases.  Among  others, 
a  man  sick  of  the  palsy  was  brought  forward,  but  because  of  the  multitude  about 
the  door  he  was  let  down  on  his  bed  through  the  roof  of  the  house.  This  remarkable 
instance  of  faith  met  the  approbation  of  our  Lord,  who  pronounced  the  cure  of  the 
sick  man  by  saying,  "  Son,  be  ol'  good  cheer ;  thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee." 

Some  of  ihe  scribes  and  Pharisees  who  were  present  on  liiis  occasion  considered 
this  declaration  as  blasphemy;  but,  to  show  them  that  he  had  indeed  the  power  to 
forgive  sins,  Jesus  addressed  the  paralytic  man,  saying,  "  Arise,  and  take  up  thy  bed, 
and  fo  thv  way  into  thine  house."  The  word  of  Christ  was  inmiediaiely  obeyed, 
and  "  he  departed  to  his  own  house,  glorifying  God."  Shortly  after  this  wonderful 
event,  Matthew  (otherwise  called  Levi),  a  publican,  or  tax-gatherer,  was  called  by 
Christ  to  become  his  disciple  and  attendant ;  and  such  was  the  influence  of  this  call 
that  he  innnediatcly  left  his  employment  and  followed  Jesus. 

The  lime  of  thepassover*  being  now  again  near  at  hand,  Jesus  went  up  to  Jeru- 
salem, in  order  to  be  present  at  the  feast.  Here  he  performed  a  remarkable  cure  on 
a  poor  afilicled  man,  who  had  labored  under  an  infirmity  for  thirty-eight  years.  This 
helpless  creature  was  lying  near  a  pool,  called  Bethesda,t  to  which  numbers  of  dis- 

<  Ttiis  is  simply  called,  by  the  evangelist,  "  a  feast  of  the  Jews  ;"  though  it  seems  probable  that  it  was  the 
feast  of  the  passover.  .  ,  ,  .     ,         ,     ,  ^   .   ■. 

t  No  pool  named  Uethesda  is  noticed  by  tlie  Jewish  writers  ;  but  it  is  IhouRlit  by  some  that  it  may  have 
heen  the  great  pool  of  which  they  say,  that,  lietwecn  llehron  and  Jerusalem  was  the  fountain  Iiitliam, 
from  which  the  waters  were  conducted  in  pipes  to  to  the  gi  eat  pool  in  Jerusalem.    Benjamin  of  TuUela  speaks 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  485 

eased  persons  resorted,  on  account  of  a  supernatural  virtue  produced  in  the  water  by 
the  going  down  of  an  angel,  at  certain  seasons,  into  the  pool.  The  first  wjio  stepped 
ui  after  the  stirring  of  the  water  was  healed  of  his  disorder :  but  this  poor  man, 
having  no  one  to  assist  him  at  such  seasons,  still  missed  the  opportunity  of  a  cure. 
The  compassionate  Jesus,  however,  found  him,  and  administered  to  him  that  relief 
which  he  sought  in  vain  at  the  pool  of  Bethesda. 

It  was  the  sabbath-day  when  this  act  of  mercy  was  performed ;  and  as  the  Jews 
saw  the  man  who  had  been  healed  carrying  his  bed,  they  took  occasion  to  find  fault, 
and  to  persecute  Jesus  as  a  breaker  of  the  Sabbath.  This  produced  a  defence  on  the 
part  of  Christ,  in  which  we  find  him  declaring  himself  the  Son  of  God — asserting 
his  authority  over  the  living  and  the  dead — and  appealing  to  undeniable  evidences  to 
prove  and  establish  the  divine  character  to  which  he  laid  claim. 

Not  long  after  this,  our  Lord  again  incurred  the  censure  of  the  Pharisees  for  heal- 
ing on  the  Sabbath.  In  a  synagogue  in  Galilee,  he  found  a  man  whose  right  hand 
was  withered:  he  restored  the  hand  to  soundness,  and  defended  his  conduct;  but  his 
arguments,  though  they  confounded  his  adversaries,  served  to  incense  them  the  more, 
and  they  communed  together  and  took  counsel  how  they  might  destroy  him. 

In  consequence  of  these  malicious  designs,  Jesus  retired  to  the  sea  of  Tiberias,* 
where  he  continued  to  teach  the  multitudes  that  resorted  to  him,  and  to  heal  all  who 
were  diseased.  Here  too,  after  havmg  spent  a  whole  night  in  prayer  on  a  mountain, 
he  called  together  his  disciples,  from  among  whom  he  chose  twelve,  ordaining  them 
as  apostles,  or  special  messengers,  who  were  to  hold  the   highest  offices  in  the 

of  a  pool,  as  existing  in  his  time,  at  which  the  ancients  were  supposed  to  have  slain  their  sacrifices  ;  and 
he  very  probably  had  in  view  the  pool  wJiich  is  at  present  considered  to  represent  the  "pool  of  Bethesda" 
of  our  text.  Many,  from  the  mention  or  sheep  in  connexion  with  the  pool,  surmise  that  here  the  sheep 
destined  for  sacrifice  were  washed.  If  so,  the  washing  was  either  before  or  after  the  victims  were  slaugh- 
tered :  but  it  was  not  re(iuired  that  they  sliould  be  washed  before  being  slauglitered  ;  and  for  the  washing 
of  the  victims  after  they  had  been  slain,  there  was  in  the  temple  a  chamber  with  a  proper  supply  of  water. 
It  is  perhaps  best,  therefore,  to  take  the  word  KoAi>/y/?/)(5pa,  rendered  "  pool,"  in  its  more  definite  acceptation 
of  "bath,"  and  understand  that  the  pool  was  a  bath  for  unclean  persons,  for  whose  accommodation  the 
"five  porches"  or  cloistered  walks  were  erected. 

Bethesda  means  "house  of  mercy,  grace,  or  goodness  ;"  doubtless  because  many  miserable  objects  there 
received  mercy  and  healing.  Athanasius  speaks  of  the  pool  itself  as  still  existing  in  his  time,  althouo-h  the 
surrounding  buildings  were,  as  we  might  expect,  in  ruin.  •  The  place  to  which  the  name  of  the  pool  of 
Bethesda  is  now  given,  is  very  possibly  the  same  thus  mentioned.  Chateaubriand  thinks  it  offers  the  only 
example  now  left  of  the  piimitive  arcliitecture  of  the  Jews  at  Jerusalem.  In  conformity  with  other  fravel- 
lers,  he  states  that  it  is  still  to  be  seen  near  St.  Stephen's  gate.  It  was  situated  near  the  temple,  on  the 
north  ;  and  is  a  reservoir  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long,  and  forty  wide.  The  sides  are  walled,  aud  these 
walls  are  composed  of  a  bed  of  large  stones,  joined  together  by  iron  cramps  ;  a  wall  of  mixed  materials  runs 
upon  these  large  stones  ;  a  layer  of  flints  is  stuck  upon  the  surface  of  this  wall ;  and  a  coating  laid  over 
these  flints.  The  four  beds  are  perpendicular  to  the  bottom,  and  not  horizontal ;  the  coating  was  on  the 
side  next  to  the  water,  and  the  large  stones  rested,  as  they  still  do,  against  the  ground.  Tne  pool  is  now- 
dry  and  filled  up.  Here  grow  some  pomegranate-trees  and  a  species  of  wild  tamarind  of  a  bluish  color  • 
the  western  angle  is  quite  full  of  nopals.  On  the  west  side  may  also  be  seen  two  arches,  which  probably 
led  to  an  aqueduct  that  carried  the  water  into  the  interior  of  the  temple,  chauteaubriand  considers  that 
this  pool  is  at  the  same  time  the  Bethesda  of  Scripture  and  the  Stagnum  SaJonwnis  of  Josephus  •  and  pre- 
sumes that  it  offers  all  which  now  remains  of  the  Jerusalem  of  David  and  Solomon. 

*  Reflections  .it  Tiberias.— The  composure  which  came  over  my  feverisli  spirits  at  this  hour  was  inex 
pressibly  refreshing :  I  laid  myself  down  upon  the  ground,  and,  resting  my  head  upon  a  stone  near  me, 
drew  a  little  coolness  from  the  soil :  while  the  simple  train  of  reflections  which  naturally  sprung  up  from 
the  scene  around  me  added  much  to  my  enjoyment.  At  a  great  distance  to  the  north  was  the  mountainous 
horizon,  on  the  summit  of  which  stands  Safet,  glistening  with  its  noble  castle.  It  is  not  improbably  sup- 
posed that  our  Saviour  had  this  spot  in  his  eye,  and  directed  the  attention  of  his  disciples  to  it,  when  he 
said,  "  A  city  that  is  set  on  a  hill  can  not  be  hid  ;"  for  it  is  in  full  view  from  the  Mount  of  Beatitudes  as 
well  as  from  this  place  ;  and,  indeed,  seems  to  command  all  the  country  round  to  a  great  extent.  Tracing, 
at  a  glance,  the  margin  of  this  simple  lake,  on  the  opposite  or  eastern  side,  the  eye  rests  on  the  inhospi- 
table country  of  the  Gadarenes— inhospitable  to  this  day.  But  that  which  awakens  tlie  tenderest  emo- 
tions in  viewing  a  scene  like  this,  is  the  remembrance  of  One  who,  formerly,  so  often  passed  this  way  ;  and 
never  passed  without  leaving,  by  his  words  and  actions,  some  memorial  of  his  divine  wisdom  and  love. 
Here,  or  in  this  neigliborhood,  most  of  his  mighty  works  were  done  :  and  in  our  daily  religious  services  we 
have  read,  with  tlie  most  intense  interest,  those  passages  of  the  gospel  which  refer  to  these  regions. 
However  uncertain  other  traditional  geographical  notices  may  be,  here  no  doubt  interrupts  our  enjoyment 
m  tracing  the  Redeemer's  footsteps.  Tliis,  and  no  other,  is  the  sea  of  Galilee— in  its  dimensions,  as  I 
should  judge,  resembling  exactly  tlie  size  of  the  isle  of  Malta,  about  twenty  miles  in  length,  twelve  in 
breadth,  and  sixty  in  circumference.  Here  Jesus  called  tho  sons  of  Zebedee,  from  mending  their  nets,  to 
Lecome  "fishers  of  men."  Here  he  preached  to  the  multitudes  crowding  to  the  water's  edge,  himself 
putting  off  a  little  from  the  shore  in  Simon  Peter's  boat.  But  there  is  not  now  a  single  boat  upon  the  lake 
to  remind  us  of  its  former  use.  Yonder,  on  the  riglit  must  have  been  the  very  spot  where,  in  the  middle 
of  tlieir  passage  from  this  side  toward  Bethsaida  and  Cajiernaum,  the  disciples  were  affrighted  at  seeing 
Jesus  upon  the  water— when  he  gently  upbraided  the  sinliing  faith  of  Peter— when  he  said  to  the  winds 
and  waves,  '^  Be  still  !"— and  the  sweet  serenity  which  now  rest  upon  the  surface  is  the  very  same  still- 


of  aiJ  who  profess  to  be  his  ;  and  followed  up  by  that  solemn  charge,  "  Feed  my  lambs— feed  my"sheep."° 

31 


486  "        A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

church,  and  to  whom  he  gave  authority  not  only  to  preach  in  his  name,  but  to  heal 
diseases  and  to  cast  out  devils. 

The  names  of  these  twelve  apostles  were  Simon,  surnamed  Peter,  and  Andrew  his 
brother  ;  James  and  John,  the  sons  of  Zebedee;  Philip  and  Bartholomew  ;  Matthew 
the  publican,  and  Thomas,  surnamed  Didymus ;  James,  the  son  of  Alpheus,  and 
Judas  (or  Jude)  his  brother  ;*  Simon  the  Canaanite,  surnamed  Zelotes ;  and  Judas 
Iscarioi,  who  proved  the  betrayer  of  his  Master. 


CHAPTER   II. 

Having  appointed  the  twelve  apostles  to  their  high  office,  our  Lord,  attended  by 
the  whole  company  of  his  disciples  and  a  great  multitude  from  different  parts,  stood 
in  a  plain,  and  repeated,  in  substance,  a  considerable  part  of  his  sermon  on  the  mount, 
after  wiiich  he  entered  into  Capernaum,  where  he  restored  to  health  the  servant  of  a 
Roman  centurion,!  and  then,  leaving  Capernaum,  he  entered  into  the  city  of  Nain. 

Hitherto  we  have  seen  the  great  Saviour  of  men  displaying  his  power  in  healing 
diseases  and  expelling  demons  :  we  are  now  to  behold  him  exercising  his  authority 
over  DEATH  !  At  the  gate  of  the  city  of  Nain  he  met  a  train  of  mourners,  attending 
the  corpse  of  a  young  man,  who  was  the  only  son  of  his  mother,  and  she  a  widow. 
Jesus  had  compassion  on  the  disconsolate  parent :  he  spoke  to  her  a  word  of  encour- 
agement ;  and,  addressing  the  corpse  as  it  lay  on  the  bier,  commanded  the  young  man 
to  arise.  His  word  was  attended  with  life :  "  he  that  was  dead  sat  up  and  began  to 
speak,  and  he  delivered  him  to  his  mother." 

This  astonishing  miracle  struck  the  multitude  with  awe,  and  a  rumor  concerning 
this  great  prophet  "went  forth  throughout  all  Judea,  and  throughout  all  the  region 
round  about."  In  the  meantime,  the  disciples  of  John  resorting  to  their  master  in 
prison  and  giving  him  an  account  of  these  miracles,  he  sent  two  of  his  disciples  to 
Jesus,  with  an  inquiry  whether  he  was  indeed  the  expected  Messiah.  It  does  not 
seem  probable  that  this  step  was  taken  in  consequence  of  any  doubt  in  the  mind 
of  John;  but,  for  whatever  purpose  it  might  have  been  intended,  our  Lord  returned 
an  appropriate  answer,  and  then  bore  his  testimony  to  the  character  of  this  faithful 
and  eminent  servant  of  God. 

After  an  awful  warning  to  the  cities  of  Chorazin,  Bethsaida,  and  Capernaum — 
where  most  of  his  mighty  works  had  been  done — and  a  gracious  invitation  to  labor- 
ing and  heavy-laden  sinners,  to  come  and  find  rest  in  his  service,  our  Lord  entered 
into  the  house  of  Simon,  a  Pharisee,  being  invited  by  the  owner  to  eat  with  him  ; 
and  here. an  occurrence  took  place,  which  served  further  to  manifest  the  abundant 
grace  of  the  Redeemer's  heart. 

A  woman  who  had  been  a  notorious  sinner,  but  who  was  now  a  real  penitent, 
humbly  approached  with  an  alabaster-box  of  ointment,  stooped,  weeping,  at  the  feet 
of  Jesus,  and,  washing  them  with  her  tears,  wiped  them  with  the  hairs  of  her  head, 
and  anointed  them  with  the  ointment.  The  condescension  of  Christ  in  suffering  this 
freedom  from  a  person  of  her  character,  met  the  disapprobation  of  the  Pharisee;  but 
Jesus  showed  him  by  a  striking  parable,  the  impropriety  of  his  censure,  and  pro- 
nounced the  sins  of  the  penitent  woman  forgiven. 

After  this,  accompanied  by  his  twelve  apostles,  "he  went  throughout  every  city 
and  village,  preaching  and  sliowing  the  glad  tidings  of  the  kingdom  of  God."  Certain 
women  also,  "  who  had  been  healed  of  evil  spirits  and  infirmities,"  attended  him,  and 
assisted  in  supplying  his  wants.  Among  these  was  Mary  Magdalene,  out  of  whom. 
we  are  told,  he  had  cast  seven  devils. 

Having  healed  a  poor  creature  who  was  blind  and  dumb,  and  possessed  by  a  demon, 
Jesus  was  accused  by  the  Pharisees,  of  casting  out  devils  through  Beelzebub,  the 
prince  of  devils.  This  wicked  and  absurd  charge  he  clearly  confuted;  and  warned 
them  that  their  sinful  malice  in  thus  sinning  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  would  never  be 
forgiven.  Some  of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  then  required  of  him  a  sign  from 
heaven;  but  he  refused  to  gratify  their  vain  curiosity;  and  having  delivered  many 
solemn  admonitions,  and  much  divine  instruction,  he  departed  to  the  seaside,  where 

»  Called  also  Lebbeus,  whose  surname  was  Thaddeus. 
1  A  captain  over  a  hundred  soldiers. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


487 


ii'vji'i!''''  •  ''' 


488  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

he  taught  the  people  in  a  series  of  parables,  which  he  afterward  expounded  more 
fully  to  his  disciples. 

He  who  had  power  over  demons,  diseases,  and  death,  could  also  control  the  winds 
and  the  seas.  An  instance  of  this  occurred,  when  going  on  board  a  vessel  with  his 
disciples,  in  order  to  pass  over  the  lake  of  Tiberias,*  there  arose  a  great  tempest,  and 
the  ship  was  covered  with  the  waves.  In  the  midst  of  the  storm,  Jesus  was  asleep 
in  the  hinder  part  of  the  vessel ;  but  the  disciples,  overwhelmed  with  fear,  broke  in 
upon  his  slumber,  crying  out,  "  Master,  master,  we  perish !"     He  arose  from  his  pil- 

*  Tiberias,  one  of  the  principal  cities  of  Galilee,  was  erected  by  the  tetrarch  Herod  Antipas,  who  gave  it 
(his  appellation  in  honor  of  the  emperor  Tiberius.  It  was  this  Herod  who  beheaded  Jolin  the  Baptist  (Matt. 
XIV.  3-11),  and  wlio  sought  llio  life  of  Christ  himself  (Luke  xiii.  31).  He  probably  resided  in  Tiberias  ; 
which  may  be  the  reason  wliy  the  Saviour  never  visited  this  place.  It  was  situated  near  the  sea  of  Gali- 
lee, on  a  plain  of  singular  fertility,  which  was  greatly  increased  by  assiduous  cultivation.  Josephus  de- 
scribes this  region  as  a  perfect  paradise,  blessed  with  a  delicious  temperature,  and  producing  the  fruits  of 
every  climate  under  heaven,  not  at  stated  periods  merely,  but  in  endless  succession  throughout  the  year. 
The  neglect  of  agriculture  in  modern  times  has,  of  course,  made  it  less  productive  ;  but  the  mildness  of 
the  climate,  and  the  riclmess  of  the  soil,  are  still  extolled  by  travellers.  When  the  Romans  made  war 
upon  the  .lews,  Tiberias  surrendered  without  waiting:  for  a  siege  :  on  this  account  the  .lews  remained  un- 
molested ;  and  after  tlie  aestruction  of  Jerusalem,  this  city  became  eminent  for  its  academy,  over  which  a 
succession  of  Jewish  doctors  presided  until  the  fourth  century.  In  the  early  ages  of  Christianity,  Tiberias 
was  an  episcopal  see  ;  in  the  seventh  century  it  was  taken  by  the  Saracens  under  the  calif  Omar  ;  and 
though  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Christians  during  the  crusades,  the  Mahometans  regained  the  pos- 
session of  it  toward  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century.  Widely  scattered  ruins  of  walls  and  other  build- 
ings, as  well  as  fragments  of  columns,  indicate  the  ancient  extent  of  Tiberias.  The  stone  of  these 
ruins  is  described  by  the  Rev.  William  Jowett  as  being  "  very  black,  so  that  there  is  nothing  about  them  of 
the  splendor  of  antiquity — nothing  but  an  air  of  mourning  and  desolation.  In  this  circumstance  they  dif- 
fer so  greatly  from  the  magnificent  antiquities  of  Egypt  and  Greece,  as  to  leave  the  most  sombre  impres- 
sion on  the  fancy:  they  are  perfectly  funereal." 

The  modern  town  of  Tiberias,  which  is  delineated  in  our  engraving,  is,  by  the  natives,  called  Tabaria,  or 
Tabbareeah  ;  it  occupies  part  of  the  site  of  the  ancient  city,  and  is  situated  at  a  short  distance  to  the  east 
from  the  sea  of  Galilee.  It  is  surrounded  with  walls  and  towers,  which  at  first  view  are  very  imposing: 
on  a  nearer  approach,  however,  their  insignificance  is  apparent.  A  few  cannon  would  put  them  down  in  . 
an  instant,  though  to  an  assault  from  the  natives  they  would  present,  probably,  a  very  long  and  effectual 
resistance.  One  fourth  of  the  space  within  the  walls  is  stated  by  Dr.  Richardson  to  be  unoccupied  by 
house  or  building  ,  and  many  parts  of  the  town  are  in  a  ruined  and  filthy  condition.  The  population  has 
been  computed  at  one  thousand  five  hundred  or  two  thousand  persons  ;  eighty  houses  are  occupied  by 
Christians,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  by  Turks,  but  the  largest  portion  (amounting  to  two  hundred)  is 
tenanted  by  Jews  of  all  nations,  who  come  here  to  spend  the  rest  of  their  days.  On  the  north  side  of  the 
town,  not  far  from  the  lake,  there  is  a  Greek  church,  the  architectnre  of  which  exhibits  much  of  the 
character  of  those  sacred  edifices  which  were  erected  by  the  Emperess  Helena:  it  is  said  to  occupy  the 
dent  cal  spot  on  which  stood  the  house  of  tlie  apostle  Peter,  who,  previously  to  his  becoming  a  disciple  of 
.'esus  Christ,  had  been  a  fisherman  on  the  lake. 

To  the  south  of  Tiberias  lie  the  celebrated  hot  baths,  the  water  of  which  contains  a  strong  solution  of 
muriate  of  soda  (common  salt),  with  a  considerable  intermixture  of  iron  and  sulphur;  it  emits  a  powerful  - 
sulphurous  smell.  A  tliermometer  placed  in  difl^erent  spots  where  tlie  water  gushes  out,  rose  to  the  various 
heights  of  131,  132,  138,  and  139  degrees  of  Fahrenheit ;  in  the  bath,  where  it  cools  after  standing  some 
time,  its  temperature  was  1 10.  An  humble  building  is  erected  over  the  bath,  containing  mean  apartments, 
on  one  side  for  men,  on  the  other  for  women  :  it  is  much  frequented,  as  a  cure  for  almost  every  complaint, 
particularly  by  the  Jews,  who  have  a  great  veneration  for  a  Roman  sepulchre  excavated  in  a  cliff  near  the 
spot,  which  they  imagine  to  be  the  tomb  of  Jacob.  Ahout  a  mile  from  the  town,  and  exactly  in  front  of  the 
lake,  is  a  cliain  of  rocks,  in  which  are  distinctly  seen  cavities  or  grottoes  that  have  resisted  the  ravages  of 
time.  These  are  uniformly  represented  to  travellers  as  the  places  referred  to  in  the  gospel  history,  which 
were  the  resort  of  miserable  and  fierce  demoniacs,  upon  one  of  whom  Jesus  Christ  wrought  a  miraculous 
and  instantaneous  cure  (Matt.  viii.  28  ;  Mark  v.  2,  3  ;  Luke  viii.  37). 

The  sea  of  Galilee,  which  is  seen  in  the  back  ground  of  our  engraving,  derives  its  name  from  its  situa- 
tion on  [he  eastern  borders  of  the  province  of  Galilee  ;  it  was  anciently  called  the  sea  of  Chinnereth,  or 
Chinneroth  (Numb,  xxxiv.  11  ;  Josh.  xii.  3),  from  its  vicinity  to  a  (own  of  that  name.  In  I  Mac.  xi.  67,  it  is 
called  the  water  -^f  Geiinesar,  and  in  Luke  v.  1,  the  lake  of  Gennesaret,  from  the  neighboring  land  of  that 
name.  Its  .»ost  common  appellation  is  the  sea  of  Tiberias,  from  the  contiguous  town  of  Tiberia,  which  has 
been  described  in  the  preceding  paragraphs. 

This  ci.,,p.cious  lake  is  from  twelve  to  fifteen  miles  in  length,  and  from  six  to  nine  in  breadth  ;  along  the 
shore  its  depth  varies,  and  in  some  parts  it  may  be  sixty  feet.  The  water  is  perfectly  fresh,  and  is  used  by 
the  inhabitants  of  Tiberias  to  drink,  and  for  every  culinary  purpose  The  waters  of  the  northern  part  of 
this  lake  abound  with  delicious  fish.  It  is  remarkable  that  there  is  not  a  single  boat  of  any  description  on 
the  sea  of  Tiberias  at  present,  although  it  is  evident  from  the  gospel  history  that  it  was  much  navigated  in 
the  lime  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  fish  are  caught  partly  by  the  fishermen  going  into  the  water  up  to  their 
v/aists,  and  throwing  in  a  hand-net,  and  partly  with  casting-nets  from  the  beach  ;  the  consequence  is,  that 
a  very  small  quantity  only  is  taken,  in  comparison  of  what  might  be  obtained  if  boats  were  employed.  This 
accounts  for  the  circumstance  of  fish  being  so  dear  at  Tiberias,  as  to  be  sold  at  the  same  price  per  pound 
as  meat.  Viewed  from  a  height,  the  water  looks,  amid  the  surrounding  mountains,  like  an  immense  les 
erviir  ;  and  from  the  northern  part  being  covered  with  volcanic  remains,  it  has  been  conjectured  that  vhis 
lake  was  at  one  period  the  crater  of  a  volcano.  It  has  been  compared  by  travellers  to  Loch  Lomond  in 
Scotland  ;  and,  like  the  lake  of  Windermere  in  Westmoreland,  it  is  often  greatly  agitated  by  winds.  A 
strong  current  marks  the  passage  of  the  Jordan  through  this  hike  ;  and  when  this  is  opposed  by  contrary 
winds,  which  blow  here  with  the  force  of  a  hurricane  from  the  southeast,  sweeping  into  the  lake  from  the 
mountains,  a  boisterous  sea  is  instantly  raised,  which  the  small  vessels  of  the  country  (such  as  were 
anciently  in  use)  were  ill  qualified  to  resist.  Such  a  tempest  is  described  in  Matt.  viii.  24-26,  which  was 
miraculously  calmed  by  Jesus  Christ  with  a  word.  The  broad  and  extended  surface  of  this  lake,  "  cove, 
ing  the  bottom  of  a  profound  valley,  surrounded  by  lofty  and  precipitous  eminences,  when  added  totlieira 
pression  under  which  every  Christian  pilgrim  approaches,  gives  to  it  a  character  of  unparalleled  dignity 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  489 

low,  and  gently  reproving  their  want  of  faith,  "  rebuked  the  winds  and  the  sea,  and 
there  was  a  great  calm  !" 

Arriving  in  the  country  of  the  Gadarenes  (or  Gergesenes),  on  the  other  side  of  the 
lake,  he  was  met  by  two  men,  coming  out  from  among  the  tombs,  who,  though  pos- 
sessed witli  devils,  and  raging  with  madness,  cried  out,  acknowledging  Jesus  to  be 
the  Son  of  God.  From  these  unhappy  creatures  he  expelled  the  infernal  spirits,  suf- 
fering them,  at  their  own  request,  to  take  possession  of  a  herd  of  swine,  which  were 
feeding  near  the  seaside;  whereupon  the  whole  herd  ran  violently  down  into  the 
sea,  and  perished.  . 

The  loss  of  the  swine,  and  probably  the  fear  of  some  other  calamity,  induced  the 
wicked  Gadarenes  earnestly  to  request  that  Jesus  would  leave  their  country ;  and 
thus  they  lost  the  benefits  and  blessings  of  his  ministry;  for  he  accordingly  departed 
from  the  coast  of  Gadara,  aud  returned  to  the  city  of  Capernaum. 

While  in  the  house  of  Matthew,  who  had  made  an  entertainment  for  his  master, 
he  received  an  application  from  the  ruler  of  the  synagogue,  by  the  name  of  Jairus, 
who  fell  at  his  feet,  begging  that  he  would  come  and  heal  his  little  daughter,  then 
lying  at  the  point  of  death.  Before  he  arrived  at  the  ruler's  house,  the  spirit  of  the 
damsel  had  fled;  but  Jesus,  taking  her  by  the  hand,  awoke  her  from  the  sleep  of 
death,  and  restored  her  to  the  astonished  and  rejoicing  parents. 

After  several  other  miracles  of  mercv  and  goodness,  and  a  considerable  time  spent 
in  proclaiming  the  good  news  of  salvation,  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  where  he 
observed  the  multitudes  as  sheep  without  a  shepherd,  Jesus  determined  that  the 
gospel  should  be  more  diffusively  published.  Accordingly,  having  called  together  his 
twelve  apostles,  and  addressed  them  with  a  discourse  filled  with  suitable  instruction, 
advice,  and  encouragement,  lie  sent  them  forth,  by  two  and  two,  to  preach- the  king- 
dom of  God  among  "  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel,"  and  to  work  miracles 
through  his  power.  . 

Thus  commissioned,  the  apostles  went  forward  into  the  work;  nor  did  their  master 
remain  inactive:  "He  departed  thence,  to  teach  and  to  preach"  in  the  different  cities 
of  the  Jews. 

In  the  meantime  John  the  Baptist  had  ended  his  mortal  race,  having  fallen  a  sac- 
rifice to  the  pride  of  Herod,  and  the  cruelly  of  his  unlawful  wife  Herodias.  At 
Herod's  birth-night  feast,  the  daughter  of  this  Herodias  so  pleased  the  king,  by  her 
expertness  in  dancing,  that  he  promised,  with  an  oath,  to  give  her  whatsoever  she 
might  ask.  The  occasion  was  seized  by  the  wicked  Herodias,  who  instructed  her 
daughter  to  ask  the  head  of  John  the  Baptist.  This  was  accordingly  done;  and  the 
bloody  gift  was  presented  to  the  damsel  in  a  charger. 

On  the  return  of  the  twelve  apostles,  and  their  report  to  Christ,  he  took  them  with 
him  to  a  desert  place,  there  to  spend  some  little  time  in  retirement.  Thither,  how- 
ever, the  people  quickly  followed  him ;  and  in  this  wilderness,  the  situation  of  the 
multitude  drew  forth  a  new  instance  of  the  Redeemer's  power  and  goodness.  They 
were  without  food,  and  likely  to  suffer  for  the  want  of  it.  But  a  lad  present  having 
five  barley  loaves  and  two  small  fishes,  these  were  so  increased,  under  the  wonder- 
working hands  of  Christ,  that  five  thousand  men,  besides  a  number  of  women  and 
children,  were  amply  supplied,  aud  twelve  baskets  were  filled  with  the  fragments 
which  remained. 

This  miracle,  so  pleasing  to  the  multitude,  produced  a  determination,  on  their  part, 
to  make  Christ  a  temporal  king;  but,  far  from  acceding  to  these  views,  he  dismissed 
the  crowd,  and  sending  his  disciples  on  before  him,  ha  a  vessel,  he  retired  to  a  mount- 
ain, and  spent  the  evening  in  prayer. 

While  Jesus  was  thus  engaged  iu  secret  devotion,  the  disciples  were  tossed  on  the 
water  by  a  tempestuous  wind.  But  about  the  fourth  watch  of  the  night  (or  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning),  they  saw  him  aoproaching  the  vessel,  walking  on  the  waves. 
Struck  with  the  sight  of  what  appeared  to  them  to  be  a  spirit,  "  they  cried  out  for  ^ 
fear."  But  Jesus  quickly  removed  their  apprehensions ;  and  Peter,  in  the  forward- ' 
ness  of  his  heart,  obtained  leave  to  meet  him  on  the  water.  Soon,  however,  b'^  '^ar 
overpowered  his  faith,  and,  beginning  to  sink,  he  was  dependant  on  the  hand  of  his 
master  for  deliverance  from  death. 

Landing  on  the  coast  of  Gennesareth,  Jesus  was,  in  a  little  time,  surrounded  by 
numbers  brhiging  the  sick  in  beds,  to  be  healed.  In  the  meantime,  many  of  the 
people  who  had  been  miraculously  fed  by  Christ,  followed  him  to  the  city  of  Caper- 


490  A  WEW  AND  COMPLETE 

naum.  But  Jesus  taking  occasion  to  reprove  their  selfish  motives,  directed  their  at- 
tention to  that  food  which  would  nourish  the  soul;  declaring  himself  to  be  tlie  bread 
of  God  which  came  down  from  heaven,  to  give  life  to  the  world.  The  heavenly  dis- 
course which  he  delivered,  gave  offence  to  some  of  his  carnal  followers,  while  il  ex- 
hibited the  only  means  of  restoring  lost  sinners  to  spiritual  life  and  eternal  felicity. 

After  reproving  the  Pharisees  for  their  hypocritical  attention  to  mere  external 
ceremonies,  while  they  overlooked  inward  purity  and  a  rigliteous  conduct,  we  lind 
our  Lord  departing  into  the  borders  of  Tyre  and  Sidon.  Here,  at  the  humble  entreaty 
of  a  Syrophenician  woman,  in  behalf  of  her  daughter,  who  was  grievously  distressed 
by  a  demon,  he  delivered  the  afflicted  creature  from  her  calamity  ;  and  then,  leaving 
these  coasts,  came  near  to  the  sea  of  Galilee,  where,  for  a  while,  he  rested  himself 
on  a  mountain. 

To  this  place  the  multitudes  quickly  resorted,  bringing  with  them  the  lame,  the 
blind,  the  dumb,  the  maimed,  and  many  others,  and  laying  them  at  the  feet  of  Jesus 
to  be  healed.  Here,  too,  his  power  and  compassion  were  again  manifested,  in  a 
miraculous  supply  of  food;  the  fainting  multitude,  to  the  number  of  four  thousand, 
beside  women  and  children,  being  fed  from  seven  loaves  and  a  few  small  fishes ;  and 
seven  baskets-full  of  the  fragments  being  afterward  gathered  up. 

From  tiie  place  above  mentioned,  Jesus  passed  over  to  Dalinanutha,  in  the  coasts 
of  Magdala,  where  he  was  beset  by  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees,  who  demanded  of 
him  a  sign  from  heaven,  hut  met  as  they  deserved,  with  a  refusial  and  reproof. 
Going  thence  to  the  city  of  Bethsaida,  he  restored  a  blind  man  to  sight;  after 
which,  we  find  him  visiting  the  towns  of  Gaesarea  Philippi.  In  this  journey  our  Lord 
entered  into  a  private  conversation  with  his  disciples,  on  the  subject  of  his  own  person 
and  character ;  and  from  that  time  began  to  give  them  some  intimation  concerning 
his  approaching  sufferings,  and  his  resurrection  from  the  dead. 

The  disciples  had  heretofore  seen  their  Lord,  great  indeed  in  power,  but  lowly  in 
appearance.  It  remained  for  some  of  them  to  witness  a  splendor  in  his  person,  in- 
finitely transcending  the  pomp  of  the  greatest  earthly  king.  Taking  with  him  three 
of  his  chosen  followers,  Peter,  James,  and  John,  and  ascending  a  high  momitain,  for 
the  purpose  of  private  devotion,  it  came  to  pass,  while  engaged  in  prayer,  that  he 
was  suddenly,  and  in  a  glorious  manner,  transfigured  in  their  presence.  His  face 
shone  as  the  sun,  and  his  raiment  became  white  and  dazzling.  At  the  same  time 
also,  appeared  two  glorified  saints,  Moses  and  Elijah,  who  entered  into  a  conversa- 
tion with  Jesus,  concerning  his  approaching  death,  which  was  to  be  accomplished  at 
Jerusalem. 

It  seems  to  have  been  the  night-season  when  this  wonderful  event  took  place.  The 
three  disciples,  fatigued  with  the  labors  of  the  day,  had  sunk  down  to  sleep,  but 
awakened  with  the  splendor  of  the  light,  they  beheld  the  glorious  scene ;  while,  as 
it  passed  off,  a  briglil  cloud  overshadowed  them,  and  a  voice  from  the  cloud  pro 
claimed,  "  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased  ;  hear  ye  him  !" 

On  coming  down  from  the  mountain,  the  next  day  after  the  transfiguration,  we  find 
Jesus  healing  a  youth,  who  from  his  childhood  had  been  afflicted  with  lunacy  and  a 
dumb  spirit;  and  some  time  afterward,  at  Capernaum,  directing  Peter  to  go  to  the 
sea,  and  take  from  the  mouth  of  the  first  fish  which  should  come  to  his  hook,  a  piece 
of  money,  for  the  purpose  of  paying  tribute  to  the  tax-gatherers. 

In  the  way  to  Capernaum,  the  disciples,  not  yet  fully  acquainted  with  the  spiritual 
nature  of  their'TMaster's  kingdom,  had  held  some  dispute  among  themselves,  who 
should  be  the  greatest.  Jesus,  therefore,  knowing  what  had  passed,  took  occasion  to 
warn  them  against  a  vain  ambition;  inculcating  on  their  minds  a  spirit  of  genuine 
humility,  as  the  proper  temper  to  be  possessed  by  his  servants,  and  pointing  out  the 
necessity  of  renouncing  all  onjccts  which  might  be  inconsistent  with  the  service  of 
God,  though  dear  to  the  feelings,  as  the  hand,  the  foot,  or  the  eye,  to  the  body. 

After  discourse  of  this  sort,  and  much  more,  in  which  our  Lord  instructed  his  dis- 
ciples in  the  proper  manner  of  dealing  with  each  other,  as  members  of  his  church, 
and  pressed  on  them  a  ready  disposition  toward  the  forgiveness  of  injuries;  we  find 
him  appointing,  in  addition  to  the  twelve  apostles,  seventy  disciples,  whom  "  he  sent 
two  and  two  before  his  face,  into  every  city  and  place,  whither  he  himself  would 
come." 

In  the  meantime,  going  up  to  Jerusalem,  to  the  feast  of  tabernacles,  Jesus  entered 
into  the  temple  and  taught.     On  this  occasion  much  division  and  contention  ensued 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


491 


Defile  between  Jerusalem  and  Jericho. 


492  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

among  the  people.  Some,  offended  at  his  faithful  dealing,  "  sought  to  take  htm  ;"  "  but 
his  Jiour  was  not  yet  come."  Some  believed  iii  him,  as  the  promised  Messiah,  and 
others  rejected  him.  At  length  the  Pharisees  sent  chief-priests  and  officers  to  appre- 
hend him  ;  but,  overpowered  with  the  force  of  his  words,  they  returned  without  him, 
declaring,  "  Never  man  spake  like  this  man." 

Afier  another  mstruciive  lecture,  on  the  following  dajr,  and  a  disputation  with  the 
Jews,  we  have  an  account  of  the  return  of  the  seventy  disciples  to  their  master,  with 
the  report  of  their  success.  While  engaged  in  discourse  with  these  disciples,  a  cer- 
tain lawyer  (or  expounder  of  the  Jewish  laws),  came  forward,  and  with  much  self- 
consecjuence  and  secret  contempt  of  Jesus,  proposed  a  plausible  question,  but  with  a 
design  to  involve  him  in  a  difficulty.  He  begged  to  be  informed  what  he  must  do,  for 
the  attainment  of  eternal  life.  Had  the  question  been  proposed  with  an  humble  and 
teachable  disposition,  our  Lord  would  doubtless  have  given  a  direct  and  explicit  an- 
swer; but  knowing  the  proud  and  captious  temper  of  the  scribe,  he  replied  in  a  way 
which  might  tend  to  humble  or  silence  him.  He  therefore  referred  him  to  the  de- 
mands of  the  law,  upon  obedience  to  which  the  scribe  placed  his  dependance,  assuring 
him  a  complete  compliance  with  those  claims,  of  perfect  love  to  God  and  man,  would 
secure  to  him  the  blessing  desired.  "  This  do,  and  thou  shalt  live ;"  as  if  he  had  said 
"  Perform,  punctually  and  perpetually,  without  interruption  or  imperfection,  all  the 
injunctions  of  the  huly  and  spiritual  law  of  God,  and  eternal  life  shall  be  thine,  but, 
remember,  that  the  least  deviation  or  defect  will  ruin  thee  for  ever."* 

The  scribe,  willing  to  stand  on  his  own  defence,  and  to  evade  conviction,  proposed 
another  question — "  Who  is  my  neighbor  ?"  It  should  seem  that  he,  like  all  others 
who  seek  salvation  by  their  own  doings,  was  desirous  of  narrowing  the  demands  of 
the  law  as  much  as  possible,  and  reducing  the  number  of  those  to  whom  the  duties 
of  love  were  owing.  Our  Lord  wisely  took  this  occasion  of  confuting  the  prevalent 
notion  that  neighbors  were  only  such  persons  as  lived  near  each  other,  or  were  con- 
nected by  the  ties  of  blood  or  religion.  He  therefore  showed,  by  a  parable,  that  we 
ought  to  extend  our  kindness  to  all  our  fellow-creatures  in  distress,  of  whatever  nation 
or  profession,  even  to  those  who  have  been  separated  from  us  by  party  quarrels  and 
distinctions. 

"A  certain  traveller,"  said  our  Lord,  "going  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho,!  was  set 

*  In  this  manner,  St.  Paul  speaks  (Gal.  iii.  10),  "  For  as  many  as  are  of  the  works  of  the  law,"  that  is, 
who  seek  justification  by  it,  "  are  under  the  curse  ;"  for  it  is  written,  "  Cursed  is  everyone  that  continueth 
not  in  all  things  which  are  written  in  the  book  of  the  law  to  do  them." 

+  Jericho  was  at  lliis  lime  a  very  iiiiporlaiit  city  ;  indeed,  it  would  seem  from  Josephus  to  have  been  next 
in  consequence  to  .Terusalem  itself.  At  tins  place  also  twelve  thousand  priests  and  Levites  were  stationed, 
with  a  view  to  the  rotation  of  service  at  .Jerusalem.  Hence  the  peculiar  propriety  with  wliicli  our  Lord  in- 
troduces the  priest  and  Levite  as  passing  this  way.  The  road  to  Perea,  beyond  Jordan,  also  passed  this 
way,  whence  it  was  one  of  the  most  frequented  roads  of  Palestine.  How  fitly  the  road  from  Jerusalem  to 
Jericho  was  made  the  scene  of  this  interesting  stor)%  will  appear  when  it  is  understood  that  this  road  has 
always  been  infested  by  numerous  daring  ami  desperate  robbers  ;  and  its  character  is  so  notorious,  even  at 
the  present  day,  in  this  ruspect,  that  travellers  are  rarely  allowed  by  the  governor  of  Jerusalem  to  proceed 
to  Jenclio  and  the  Dead  sea  without  an  escort.  Josephus  intimates,  and  Jerome  says,  that  the  savage 
mountainous  wilderness  through  which  tliis  road  passed  had  acquired  the  name  of  the  bloody  way.  The 
monks  however  hav£  restricted  tliis  name,  or  rather  that  of  the  "  Valley  of  Abdonim"  (blqod),  to  a  small 
round,  grassy  valley,  wliich  lliey  have  fixed  upon  as  the  place  where  the  supposed  facts  of  tliis  parable  look 
place.  That  the  region  is  well  suited  for  a  scene  of  robbery  and  murder  will  appear  by  the  following,  from 
Mr,  Buckingham  : 

"  The  whole  of  this  road  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho  is  held  to  be  the  most  dangerous  about  Palestine  j 
and,  indeed,  in  this  portion  of  it,  the  very  aspect  of  tlie  scenery  is  sullicient,  on  llie  one  hand,  to  tempt  to 
robbery  and  murder,  and,  on  the  other,  to  occasion  a  dread  of  it  in  those  who  pass  that  way.  It  was  partly 
to  prevent  any  accident  liappening  to  us  a.t  this  early  stage  of  our  journey,  and  partly  perliaps  to  calm  oui 
fears  on  that  score,  that  a  messenger  liad  been  despatched  by  our  guides  to  an  encampment  of  tlieir  tribe 
near,  desiring  them  to  send  an  escort  lo  meet  us  at  this  place.  We  were  met  here  accordingly  by  a  band 
of  about  twenty  persons,  on  foot,  all  armed  with  matchlocks,  and  presenting  the  most  lerocious  and  robber- 
like apjiearanre  that  could  be  imagined.  The  effect  of  this  was  heightened  by  the  shouts  which  they  sent 
forth  from  hill  to  hill,  and  which  were  re-echoed  thiough  all  the  valleys  ;  while  the  bold  projecting  crags  of 
rock,  and  the  dark  shadows  in  which  everything  was  buried  below,  the  towering  height  of  the  chffs  above, 
and  the  forbidding  desolation  which  everywhere  reigned  around,  |)resenled  a  picture  that  was  quite  in  har- 
mony throughout  all  its  parts.  It  made  us  feel  most  forcibly  the  propriety  of  its  being  chosen  as  the  scene 
of  the  delightful  tale  of  compassion  which  we  had  before  so  often  admired  for  its  doctrine,  independently 
of  its  local  beauty.  In  these  gloomy  solitudes,  pilhage,  wounds,  and  death,  would  be  accompamed  witf. 
double  terror  from  the  frightful  aspect  of  everything  around.  Here  the  unfeeling  act  of  passing  by  a  fellow 
creature  in  distress,  as  the  priest  and  Levite  are  said  to  have  done,  strikes  one  with  horror,  as  an  act  al- 
most more  than  inhuman.  And  here,  too,  the  compassion  of  the  (Jood  Samaritan  is  doubly  virtuous,  from 
the  purity  of  the  motive  which  must  have  led  to  it,  in  a  spot  where  no  eyes  were  fixed  on  him  to  draw  forth 
•.he  performance  of  any  duty,  and  from  the  courage  which  w-as  necessary  to  admit  of  a  man's  exposing  him- 
self, by  such  delay,  to  the  risk  of  a  similar  fate  to  that  from  which  he  was  endeavoring  to  rescue  a  fellow- 
crealurc." 

If  space  allowed,  we  should  also  be  glad  to  transcribe  the  account  which  Sir  F  Hcnniker  gives  of  his 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  493 

upon  by  thieves,  who  not  only  rifled  him  of  his  clothes  and  money,  but  so  dangerously 
wounded  him,  that  they  left  him  almost  expiring  on  the  ground.  By  chance  a  priest 
came  that  way,  and  saw  the  poor  wretch  weltering  in  his  blood  :  but  the  sight  did 
not  affect  him,  he  passed  along  unconcerned.  Next  came  a  Levite,  as  void  of  tender- 
ness and  humanity  as  the  priest.  At  last  the  groans  of  the  poor  wreich  stirred  up 
the  curiosity  of  a  Samaritan  to  see  the  cause,  which  he  no  sooner  discovered,  but, 
moved  with  compassion,  he  went  to  him,  raised  his  head,  recalled  his  fainting  spirits, 
and  closed  his  gaping  wounds  with  healing  balsams;  then  mounting  him  on  his  own 
beast  he  gently  conveyed  the  man  to  the  first  inn,  where  at  his  own  cost  he  entertained 
him  while  he  stayed  with  him,  and  at  his  departure  promised  the  host  to  be  at  what- 
ever further  expense  should  be  incurred."  Our  blessed  Saviour  applying  this  parable 
to  the  lawyer,  asked  him  which  he  thought  was  neighbor  to  the  poor  traveller.  The 
lawyer  replied,  "  Undoubtedly  he  that  was  kind,  and  careful  of  him."  Then  says  he 
to  the  lawyer,  "  Go  thou  and  do  likewise."  Hereby  plainly  intimating,  that  no  dis- 
tance of  country  or  religion  destroyed  the  true  notion  of  neighborhood,  but  every  per- 
son with  whom  we  converse  in  peace  and  charity  is  that  neighbor,  whom  we  are  to 
love  as  ourselves. 

Two  sisters,  Martha  and  Mary,  who  make  a  considerable  figure  in  the  sacred  his- 
tory, now  present  themselves  to  our  notice.  While,  at'a  certain  time,  Jesus  was  en- 
tertained at  the  house  of  these  pious  women,  Mary  took  her  seat  at  the  feet  of  the 
divine  teacher,  in  order  to  receive  instruction ;  while  Martha,  sufiering  herself  to  be 
over-anxious  in  making  provision,  complained  of  her  sister's  neglect,  in  not  rendering 
her  assistance.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  Christ  gave  to  Martha  that  memorable 
admonition,  so  worthy  of  attention  from  the  human  family  in  general :  "  Martha, 
Martha,  thou  art  careful  and  troubled  about  many  things.  But  one  thing  is  needful. 
And  Mary  hath  chosen  that  good  part  which  shall  not  be  taken  away  from  her." 

A  great  part  of  the  gospel  records,  which  yet  remain  to  be  noticed,  consist  in  a  de- 
tail of  the  discourses  delivered  by  Christ  to  his  disciples,  together  with  reproofs  to 
the  hypocritical  scribes  and  Pharisees,  and  a  number  of  interesting  parables.  A  brief 
notice  of  the  most  remarkable  of  these  objects,  as  we  pass  on,  is  all  that  the  limits 
of  our  history  will  allow. 

In  answer  to  the  request  of  his  disciples,  we  find  our  Lord  giving  them  instructions 
on  the  subject  of  prayer,  and  encouraging  them  to  the  exercise  of  this  sacred  privi- 
lege. When  a  certain  Pharisee,  with  whom  Jesus  dined,  found  fault  because  he  did 
not  use  the  ceremony  of  the  elders,  by  first  washing,  he  took  occasion  to  expose  the 
vain  pretences  and  hypocrisy  of  these  people,  who,  while  they  were  superstitiously 
nice  in  small  matters,  passed  over  judgment  and  the  love  of  God:  and  warning  his 
disciples  against  such  principles,  he  exhorted  them  not  to  fear  the  displeasure  of  man, 
but  to  stand  in  aAve  of  him  who  has  power  to  cast  into  hell,  as  well  as  to  kill  the  body. 

Occurrences  which,  in  a  religious  light,  might  appear  unimportant,  afforded  occa- 
sion to  this  heavenly  teacher,  for  the  most  important  religious  instruction.  Thus, 
when  one  of  the  company  desired  him  to  interfere  in  the  settlement  of  an  inheritance, 
Jesus  cautioned  him,  as  well  as  the  congregation  in  general,  to  "  beware  of  covetous- 
ness ;"  and,  in  an  impressive  parable,  represented  the  folly  and  final  wretchedness  of 
those  who  feel  secure  of  happiness  in  the  possession  of  earthly  plenty,  and  are  dis- 
posed to  "  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry,"  while  they  are  "not  rich  toward  God." 

Our  Lord  was  now,  it  seems,  on  another  circuit  through  Galilee ;  where,  in  one  of 
the  synagogues,  he  released  from  her  affliction,  a  woman  who  had  been  bowed  to- 
gether with  her  infirmity  for  eighteen  years ;  after  which,  we  are  informed  of  his  re- 
turning toward  Jerusalem,  teaching  in  the  different  cities  and  villages  on  the  way. 

Being  at  the  table  of  one  of  the  Pharisees,  in  the  course  of  this  journey,  Jesus  im- 
proved the  season  by  the  parable  of  the  Wedding  Supper  ;  setting  forth,  under  fig- 
ures, the  rich  provision  of  the  gospel,  and  representing  the  various  success  of  his  min- 
isters in  delivering  the  gracious  invitation  to  sinners.  On  leaving  the  house,  multi- 
tudes followed  him ;  and  the  publicans  and  sinners  drawing  near  to  hear  him,  the 
self-righteous  scribes  and  Pharisees  murmured  at  his  condescension  to  these  people. 
Our  Lord  defended  his  conduct  on  this  occasion,  in  three  parables,  the  last  of  which, 

being  stripped  naked  by  the  Arabs,  and  left  severely  wounded,  on  this  road,  in  the  year  1820.  As  this  travel- 
ler states,  a  similar  circumstance  happened  to  the  monk  Brocard  (not  indeed  two  hundred  years  ago,  as  he 
says,  but),  toward  the  end  of  tlie  tlurteenth  century.  Many  other  testimonies  might  be  collected  of  the 
dangerous  -.haracter  of  the  road  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho. 


494  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

called  the  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son,  is  so  very  interesting  and  important,  that  we 
must  not  omit  a  brief  sketch  of  its  contents. 

A  certain  man  is  represented  as  having  two  sons ;  the  younger  of  whom,  having 
received  his  portion,  went  into  a  distant  country,  where  he  "wasted  his  substance 
with  riotous  living."  Reduced  by  poverty  and  famine  to  a  state  of  wretchedness,  he 
became  a  keeper  of  swine,  to  a  citizen  of  that  country ;  but  happily,  in  this  situation, 
"  he  came  to  himself,"  and  took  the  resolution  to  try  once  more  the  kindness  of  a  fa- 
ther. Accordingly,  he  returned,  with  an  humble  and  penitent  confession,  to  his  injured 
parent,  who  received  him  with  joy  and  feasting,  while  ihe  elder  brother,  murmuring 
at  his  reception,  refused  to  unite  in  the  pleasure  and  festivity  of  the  day. 

This  parable,  which  seems  evidently  to  represent,  in  the  person  of  the  younger 
brother,  the  publicans  and  sinners,  and  in  that  of  the  elder,  the  scribes  and  Pharisees, 
contains  also  important  instruction  for  us.  In  the  younger  brother  we  may  see  the 
sad  fruits  of  sin  and  dissipation,  both  in  a  temporal  and  spiritual  point  of  view,  as 
well  as  the  happy  result  of  a  return  to  God  ;  while  the  disposition  and  conduct  of  the 
elder,  still  serve  to  mark  the  character  of  the  self-righteous,  wherever  they  are  found. 

The  parable  of  the  unjust  steward,  which  follows  that  of  the  prodigal,  is  intended 
to  admonish  us,  so  to  use  the  possessions  of  this  world  (called  "  the  mammon  of  un- 
righteousness") as  to  secure  the  friendship  of  the  distressed,  especially  among  the 
friends  of  Christ;  in  other  words,  to  use  these  worldly  things  to  the  glory  of  God  and 
the  good  of  men.  And  in  the  next  parable  which  comes  under  our  notice,  two  char- 
acters are  represented,  m  their  ditferent  states,  both  in  this  world  and  in  that  beyond 
the  grave. 

Tins  is  the  parable  of  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus  the  beggar:  the  former  living  in 
splendor  and  plenty,  but  forgetful  of  God  and  religion  ;  the  latter  lying,  an  afflicted 
outcast,  at  the  rich  man's  gate,  but  blessed  with  the  fav^or  of  Heaven.  Such  was  the 
state  of  things  in  this  world  ;  but  greatly  was  it  reversed  in  the  other !  The  beggar 
dying,  "  was  carried  by  the  angels  into  Abraham's  bosom,"  while,  in  hell,  the  rich 
man  lifting  up  his  eyes  in  torment,  saw  the  blessedness  of  the  once-afflicted  Lazarus. 

After  just  mentioning  the  healing  of  the  ten  men  who  were  diseased  with  leprosy; 
the  parable  of  the  importunate  widow,  which  was  designed  to  encourage  us  to  perse- 
verance in  prayer  ;  and  that  of  the  Pharisee  and  publican,  showing  the  contrast  be- 
tween proud  self-righteousness  and  humble  penitence, — we  hasten  on  to  the  feast  of 
the  dedication,  at  Jerusalem,  where  we  find  our  Lord  restoring  to  sight  a  man  who 
had  been  blind  from  his  birth. 

This  miracle,  though  attested  in  the  clearest  manner,  had  no  effect  toward  re- 
moving the  prejudice  and  enmity  of  the  Pharisees.  It  was  wrought  on  the  sabbath 
day,  and  this,  in  their  esteem,  afforded  some  pretext  for  opposition.  They  accused 
Jesus  of  profaning  the  sabbath,  and  cast  the  man  (who  had  now  become  his  disciple) 
out  of  the  synagogue.  This  opposition  became  still  more  violent,  when  Christ,  in  a 
discourse  held  with  the  Jews,  in  the  porch  of  the  temple,  declared,  "  1  and  my  Father 
are  one."  They  even  took  up  stones  to  stone  him  ;  "  but  he  escaped  oui  of  their 
hands,  and  went  again  beyond  Jordan,"  where  many  resorted  to  him,  and  believed  on 
nini. 

We  must  not  omit  to  mention  here,  among  other  instances  of  his  goodness,  the 
gracious  regard  shown  to  helpless  infancy,  by  the  Redeemer  ;  who,  when  some  per- 
sons present  brought  young  children  to  him,  that  they  might  share  in  his  favor, 
"  took  them  up  in  his  arms,  put  his  hands  upon  them,  and  blessed  them."  Then, 
departing  thence,  he  went  on  to  some  other  place  which  he  had  designed  to  visit. 

In  the  way,  he  was  accosted  by  a  ydung  ruler,  who,  in  an  earnest  manner,  desired 
to  know  Avhat  he  should  do  to  inherit  eternal  life.  The  result  of  the  conversation 
showed,  that  this  amiable  youth,  with  all  his  morality,  was  incajjable  of  renouncing 
the  world  for  Christ,  and  Josus  improved  the  serious  occasion,  by  delivering  a  general 
caution  against  setting  the  heart  on  the  perishing  riches  of  this  world;  assuring  his 
disciples,  that  those  who  had  forsaken  all  for  him,  should,  in  some  sense,  be  great 
gainers,  even  in  this  life ;  and  that  in  the  world  to  come,  they  should  have  life  ever- 
lasting. 

The  next  event  to  which  we  shall  here  pay  attention,  is  the  resurrection  of  Laz- 
arus. This  man  was  the  brother  of  Martha  and  iViary,  who  have  been  already  intro- 
duced to  our  notice.  Of  this  little  family  (who  resided  in  the  town  of  Rethany),  it  is 
testified,  that  they  were  all  beloved  of  Jesus.     Yet  Lazarus,  though  loved  of  his 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


'1 95 


496  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

Lord,  was  sick,  and  eventually  died  of  his  illness.  In  the  meantime  a  message  from 
the  two  sisters  had  reached  the  Saviour,  mentioning  the  sickness  of  his  friend  ;  but 
continuitifT  some  time  where  he  was,  he  did  not  reach  the  house  of  mourning  till  four 
day'  after  the  death  and  burial  of  Lazarus. 

This  circumstance,  however,  offered  no  difficulty  to  him  who  was  "  the  Resurrec- 
tion and  the  Life."  Accompanied  by  a  train  of  mourners,  and  the  sisters  of  the 
deceased,  with  whom  he  wept  on  this  occasion,  he  came  to  the  sepulchre;  and  the 
stone  which  covered  the  mouth  being  removed,  Jesus,  after  addressing  his  heavenly 
Father,  "cried  with  a  loud  voice,  Lazarus,  come  forth!"  His  word  was  attended 
with  life-giving  power :  the  grave  resigned  its  prisoner  ;  "  and  he  that  was  dead  came 
forth,"  bound  with  grave-clothes,  and  his  head  wrapt  with  a  napkin.  "  Loose  him," 
said  Christ,  "and  let  him  go." 

From  that  day  forth,  the  Jews,  convinced  of  his  miraculous  power,  but  still  cherish- 
ing their  enmity  against  hira,  "  took  counsel  together  to  put  him  to  death."  On  this 
accourft  "  Jesus  walked  no  more  openly  among  the  Jews,"  till  the  time  appointed  for 
his  suflTering  ;  but  went,  with  his  disciples,  into  the  country  near  the  wilderness,  to  a 
city  called  Ephraim. 


CHAPTER    III. 

The  passover,  which  now  drew  near,  was  the  season  appointed  in  the  divine  pui- 
pose  for  the  death  of  Jesus  Christ — himself  the  great  passover,  the  atoning  sacrifice 
for  the  sins  of  men.  He  departed,  therefore,  from  the  place  of  his  retreat,  in  order  to 
meet  the  fate  which  he  well  knew  awaited  him,  and  of  which  he  informed  his  disci- 
ples in  the  journey  to  Jerusalem.* 

*  Jerusalem  {Northioest  View).—"  Beautiful  for  situation,  the  joy  of  the  whole  earth,  was  mount  Zion." 
to  the  heart  of  every  devout  Israelite  :  for  thither  "  the  tribes  of  the  Lord  went  up  to  give  thanks  unto  the 
name  of  tlie  Lord  ;"  and  "  there"  also  were  "  set  thrones  of  judgment,  the  thrones  of  the  house  of  David." 
(Psahn  xlviii.  2,  cxxii.  4,  5.)  Jerusalem  is  situated  near  the  centre  of  Palestine,  among  tlie  iiiuunlains 
about  thirty-seven  miles  from  the  Mediterranean  sea,  and  twenty-tliree  from  the  river  Jordan.  The  most 
ancient  name  of  this  city  was  Salem  (Gen.  xiv.  18) ;  and  it  was  afterward  called  Jebus,  from  one  of  the 
sons  of  Canaan  (Josh,  xviii.  28).  Being  a  very  strong  position,  it  resisted  many  attempts  of  the  Israelites 
to  subdue  it,  until  at  length  it  wa«  riauced  by  David  (2  Sam.  v.  6-9),  after  which  it  received  its  present  name, 
and  was  also  called  the  city  of  r)avid. 

After  its  destruction  i)y  the  Chald.eans,  Jerusalem  was  rebuilt  by  the  Jews  on  their  return  from  the  Baby- 
lonish captivity,  about  the  year  R.  C.  ."iSfi.  They  exerted  themselves  much,  in  order  to  restore  its  former 
splendor  ;  and  Herod  the  Great  expended  vast  sums  in  its  embellishment.  At  length  it  was  taken,  K.  D. 
72,  by  the  Romans  under  Titus,  who  inelTectually  endeavored  to  save  its  celebrated  temple  ;  the  founda- 
tions of  wliich  were  plouglied  up  by  the  Roman  soldiers.  Thus,  agreeably  to  the  predictions  of  the  prophets, 
"  Zion  was  ploughed  as  a  field,  and  Jerusalem  became  heaps"  (Jer.  xxvi.  18,  Mic.  iii.  12)  ;  and,  conformably 
to  the  prophecy  of  Jesus  Christ,  not  one  stone  was  left  upon  another  which  was  not  thrown  down  (Matt. 
xxiv.  2).  As,  however,  the  Jews  continued  to  return,  the  emperor  Hadrian  planted  a  Roman  colony  there, 
and  erected  a  city  on  part  of  the  former  site  of  Jerusalem,  which  he  called  .^lia  Capitolina,  and  exerted 
himself  to  obliterate  all  traces  both  of  Judaism  and  Christianity.  But  in  tlie  reign  of  Constantine,  the  first 
Christian  emperor,  it  resumed  i:s  ancient  name,  which  it  has  retained  to  the  present  day.  Julian  the  apos 
tate,  who,  after  his  father,  succeeded  to  the  throne  of  his  uncle  Constantine,  endeavored  to  rebuild  the 
temple  ;  but  his  design  (and  that  of  the  Jews  whom  he  patronised)  was  frustrated,  A.  D.  363.  An  earth- 
quake, a  whirlwind,  and  a  fiery  eruption,  compelled  the  workmen  to  abandon  their  design. 

The  subse(|uent  history  of  Jerusalem  may  be  narrated  in  few  words.  In  A.  D.  613  it  was  taken  by 
Cosrhoes,  king  of  Persia,  who  slew  ninety  thousand  of  the  inhabitants  ;  and,  to  the  utmost  of  his  power, 
demolished  whatever  the  Christians  had  venerated.  In  A.  D.  627  the  emperor  Heracli us  defeated  Cosrhoes 
and  Jerusalem  was  recovered  by  the  Greeks.  The  calif  Omar,  the  third  in  succession  from  Mohainmedj 
was  its  next  conqueror;  A.  D.  6^6  he  captured  it  from  the  Christians  after  a  siege  of  four  months  ■  and  it 
continued  under  the  califs  of  Bagdad  until  A.  D.  868,  when  it  was  taken  by  Ahmed,  a  Turkish  sover- 
eign of  Egypt.  During  the  space  of  220  years  it  was  subject  to  several  masters,  Turkish  and  Sara- 
cenic :  and  in  1099  it  was  taken  by  the  crusaders  under  Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  when  the  standard  of  the  cross 
was  tnumpliantly  displayed  upon  its  walls,  and  it  again  became  the  capital  of  a  kingdom.  The  Clu-islian 
monarchy  of  .Jerusalem  was  of  short  duration. 

Godfrey  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  Baldwin,  who  died  in  1 118.  In  the  year  1188  Saladin,  sultan  of  the 
East,  captured  the  city,  which  was  restored  to  the  Latin  princes  by  Saleh  Ismael,  emir  of  Damascus  and 
fifty  years  afterward  they  lost  it  to  the  sultans  of  Egypt,  who  held  it  until  1382.  Selim  the  Turkish  sultan, 
reduced  Rgypt  and  Syria,  including  Jerusalem,  in  l.il7  ;  and  it  still  continues  under  the  Turkish  dominion, 
"trodden  down  of  the  Gentiles,"  in  literal  fulfilment  of  our  Lord's  prediction. 

Our  engraving  (page  49.^),  exhibits  a  general  view  of  Jerusalem  with  the  walls.  This  city  occupies  an 
irregular  square  between  two  miles  and  a  half  and  three  miles  in  circumference.  The  walls  by  which  it  is 
surrounded  are  flanked,  at  irregular  distances,  by  sciuare  towers,  and  have  battlements  all  around  on  their 
summits,  with  loop-holes  for  arrows  or  musketry  close  to  the  top.  The  walls  appear  to  be  about  fifty  feet 
in  leiglit,  but  are  not  surrounded  by  a  ditch  :  within  them  are  seen  crowded  dwellings,  remarkable  in  no 
respect,  except  being  terraced  by  flat  roofs,  and  generally  built  of  stone.  The  large  building,  with  a  cupola 
oward  tlie  left,  is  the  mosque  of  Omar,  the  most  elegant  edifice  of  the  Turks  in  Jerusalem.  It  occupies 
the  site  of  the  great  temple  of  Solomon,  and  is  held  in  such  profound  veneration  by  the  Mussulmans,  as 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  497 

On  leaving  Jericho,  where  they  called  on  the  way,  Jesus  was  addressed  ty  two 
blind  men  (one  of  whom  was  known  by  the  name  of  Bartimeiis,  the  son  of  Timeus), 
who  cried  out  to  him,  "Jesus,  thou  son  of  David,  have  mercy  on  us  !"  The  com- 
passionate Saviour  restored  their  sight,  and  they  followed  him  with  thankful  hearts, 
glorying  God. 

In  the  crowd  which  gathered  around  Jesus,  in  passing  through  Jericho,  was  a  man 
by  the  name  of  Zaccheus,  a  chief  man  among  the  publicans,  and  rich.  Being  low  of 
stature,  he  ran  before  the  multitude,  and  climbed  a  sycamore-tree,  in  order  to  have  a 
sight  of  this  great  prophet.  He  was  not,  however,  concealed  from  the  eye  of  Christ, 
who  called  him  down  from  the  tree,  and  graciously  declared,  that  salvation  had  come 
to  his  house  ;  while  Zaccheus,  under  a  divine  influence,  professed  his  intention  to  give 
half  his  goods  to  the  poor,  and  his  readiness  to  restore  fourfold  to  any  person  who 
might  have  been  defrauded  by  his  dealings. 

Six  days  before  the  passover,  Jesus  came  to  Bethany,*  where,  being  at  supper  in 
the  house  of  Martha,  with  his  disciples  and  Lazarus,  Mary  expressed  her  holy  affec- 
tion by  pouring  on  his  head  an  alabaster-box  of  precious  ointment,  anointing  his  feet 
also,  and  wiping  them  with  her  hair;  and  this  aot  Jesus  declared,  was  the  anointing 
of  his  body  to  his  approaching  burial. 

Having  come  to  the  motmt  of  Olives,  he  sent  two  of  his  disciples  to  procure  a  colt 
(the  foal  of  an  ass)  on  which,  though  never  before  ridden  by  man,  he  made  his  entry 
into  the  city  of  Jerusalem  ;  thus  fulfilling  a  prophecy  respecting  the  Messiah,  in  Zech. 
ix.  9.  In  the  meantime,  the  multitude  that  surrounded  him  spread  their  garments  in 
the  way,  and  cutting  branches  from  the  trees,  strewed  them  in  the  road,  according  to 
the  usual  custom  of  expressing  joy,  on  the  arrival  of  a  great  prince.  Many  also  from 
Jerusalem  met  him  with  branches  of  palm-trees  ;  while  all  his  disciples  and  followers 
united  in  crying,  "  Hosanna  to  the  Son  of  David  !" 

The  heart  of  Jesus,  however,  was  far  from  being  elated  with  this  triumph,  "  When 
he  was  come  near,  he  beheld  the  city,  and  wept  over  it  !"  He  saw  the  approaching 
doom  of  this  devoted  place,  when  God,  in  righteous  indignation,  would  give  it  up  to 
the  power  of  the  Roman  armies;  and,  in  a  prophecy  directed  to  the  city,  he  foretold 
that  doom. 

Having  entered  into  the  temple,  and  again  expelled  the  profane  rabble  of  traders 
and  money-changers,  who,  it  seems,  had  resumed  their  seats,!  he  healed  the  blind 

to  have  become  forbidden  ground  to  any  Jew  or  Christian,  who,  if  detected  entering:  its  precincts,  must 
either  adopt  tlie  Mussulman  faitli  or  forfeit  liis  life.  Two  modern  travellers,  liowever  (the  late  Mr.  Burck- 
hardt,  and  M.  Badhia  under  the  assumed  name  of  Ali  Bey),  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  view  of  the  interior  of 
this  building,  in  the  garb  of  Moslems  ;  and  subsequently  it  was  visited  and  ex-arnined  in  detail,  four  several 
times,  by  Dr.  Richardson,  whose  skill  as  a  physician  had  procured  for  him  that  extraordinary  privilege.  The 
elevated  platform  or  terrace  upon  which  it  stands  is  bounded  by  embankment-walls,  and  others  of  ancient 
construction,  forming  a  level  area  of  795  feet  in  length  by  750  feet  in  breath.  The  two  low  cupolas  tow- 
ard the  right  of  our  plate  indicate  the  church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  of  the  interior  of  which  a  view  has 
been  given  at  page  503.  It  is  erected  on  the  site  of  the  magnificent  ancient  church  which  was  destroyed  by 
fire  some  years  ago :  it  has  been  rebuilt  by  various  sects  of  Christians,  who  have  separate  portions  of  the 
building  allotted  to  them  for  the  performance  of  their  respective  services.  The  general  plan  of  the  former 
building  is  stated  to  have  been  preserved  with  such  exactness,  that  the  descriptions  of  it  given  by  former 
travellers  are  equally  applicable  to  the  modern  edifice.  The  Greek,  Armenian,  and  Latin  Christians,  sev- 
erally have  their  convents  ;  the  principal  is  that  of  Saint  Salvador,  which  is  occupied  by  monks  of  the 
Franciscan  order,  who  hospitably  entertain  pilgrims  of  all  Christian  nations.  It  will  accommodate  about  two 
hundred  persons,  and  is  so  completely  enclosed  by  lofty  walls  as  to  resemble  a  fortress. 

The  population,  ordinarily  re.sident  in  .lerusalem,  may  be  stated  at  12,000  ;  but  it  is  considerably  increas- 
ed by  the  pilgrims  who  (lock  thither  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year,  particularly  at  Easter,  wlien  they  are 
crowded  into  the  several  c*)nvents. 

'  Bethany,  as  we  are  informed  {John  xi.  18),  was  "  nigh  unto  Jerusalem,  about  fifteen  furlongs  off." 
The  place  is  not  mentioned,  at  least  under  this  name,  in  the  Old  Testament ;  but  it  occurs  several  tunes  in 
the  Talmudical  writings.  It  is  situated  to  the  east  of  the  Mount  of  Olives,  on  the  road  to  Jericho,  its  situ- 
ation is  pleasant  and  somewhat  romantic,  being  sheltered  by  the  Mount  of  Olives  on  tlie  norlli,  and  abound- 
ing with  trees  and  long  grass.  It  is  now  a  poor  village,  inhabited  by  Arabs  ;  and  the  cultivation  of  the  ad- 
jacent soil  is  much  neglected.  It  seems,  however,  about  our  Savij)ur's  time  to  have  enjoyed  some  Kind  of 
trade  (perhaps  in  olives,  figs,  and  dates,  which  abounded  in  this  neighborhood),  as  the  Jewish  writers  men- 
tion "  the  sliops  of  Bethany,"  which  were,  as  they  inform  us,  destroyed  tiiree  years  before  Jerusalem. 
Bethany  is  at  present  cliiefly  noticed  on  account  of  its  mention  in  the  gospels  ;  and  in  consequence  of 
wliich,  it  contains  a  full  proportion  of  the  sort  of  objects  to  which  the  att,;iiiioii  of  pilgrims  is  usually  direct- 
ed :  these  are  the  tomb  of  Lazarus,  with  the  ruins  uf  the  house  he  is  supposed  to  have  occupied,  and  also 
the  houses  of  his  sisters,  and  of  Simon  the  leper.  That  which  is  shown  as  the  house  of  Lazarus  is  a  ruin,  the 
stones  of  which  are  very  large,  and  of  a  sohd  and  sombre  cast  of  architecture  ,  and  which  the  Rev.  V.  Mon- 
roe ("  Summer's  Ramble  in  Syria,"  vol.  i.,  p.  189)  conjectures  to  have  formed  part  of  the  convent  built  by 
Fulco,  king  of  Jerusalem.  Near  these  ruins  is  the  alleged  tomb  of  Lazaras,  thus  noticed  by  the  same 
writer  :  "  The  exterior  doorway  of  the  tomb  at  Lazarus  is  formed  artificially  cf  stone-work  ;  but  the  steep, 
narrow,  and  winding  staircase  which  leads  below,  is  cut  in  the  living  rock,  as  well  as  the  grave  itself." 

t  It  does  not  apppar  probable,  that  this  transaction,  recorded  so  late  in  two  of  the  evaugehsts,  is  the  same 
with  that  mentioned  by  Jolm,  so  early  in  the  pubhc  ministry  of  Clirist. 


498  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

and  the  lame,  who  came  to  him  there ;  though  his  wonderful  works,  and  the  shout- 
ings of  the  children  in  the  temple,  crying,  "  Hosanna  to  the  Son  of  David,"  sorely  dis- 
pleased the  chief  priests  and  scribes,  who  "sought  to  destroy  him,  and  could  not  find 
what  they  might  do;  for  all  the  people  were  very  attentive  to  hear  him." 

In  the  course  of  his  public  exercises,  Jesus  having  addressed  his  heavenly  Father, 
praying  thai  God  would  glorify  his  own  name,  a  voice  from  heaven  declared,  "  I  have 
both  glorified  it,  and  will  glorify  it  again."  This  voice  was  mistaken  by  some  for 
thunder;  others  said  an  angel  had  spoken  to  him;  but  Jesus  assured  them  that  this 
voice  had  come,  not  on  his  account,  but  for  their  sakes,  that  they  might  profit  by  this 
divine  testimony. 

After  many  discourses  and  admonitions  delivered  to  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  who 
endeavored,  but  in  vain,  "  to  entangle  him  in  his  talk,"  as  well  as  several  parables, 
which  we  here  pass  over,  we  find  our  Lord,  in  a  prophetic  way,  informing  his  disci- 
ples on  the  subject  of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  ;  the  certainty  of  that  calamitous 
event,  and  the  circuinstaaces  which  would  attend  it.  He  foretels  also  the  spread  of 
the  gospel ;  represents,  in  the  parable  of  the  five  talents,  and  in  that  of  the  ten 
virgins,  the  state  of  tbe  visible  church  on  earth;  and  closes  his  discourse  with  an  ac- 
count of  the  great  day  of  judgment ;  when  he,  as  the  king,  will  sit  upon  the  throne 
of  his  ijlory,  and  pass  on  the  righteous  and  the  wicked  their  final  sentence. 

We  next  take  a  view  of  our  divine  Saviour,  preparing  to  eat  the  last  passover  with 
his  disciples;  while  Judas  Iscariot,  one  of  the  twelve  apostles,  makes  a  bargain  with 
the  chief  priests  and  capiains,  to  betray  him  into  their  hands.  Thirty  pieces  of  silver 
were  the  price  of  his  master's  blood  :  and  from  that  time  "  he  sought  opportunity  to 
betray  him  in  the  absence  of  the  multitude." 

At  the  supper  of  the  passover,  which  Jesus  informed  his  disciples  was  the  last  he 
should  eat  with  them  on  earth,  he  made  a  declaration  that  one  of  them  would  betray 
him;  and  intimating  to  Judas  that  he  was  acquainted  with  his  design,  the  traitoi 
went  out,  in  order  to  accomplish  his  purpose.  On  this  memorable  night,  Jesus  insti- 
tuted what  is  termed  the  Lord's  Supper;  giving  to  his  disciples  the  bread,  in  token 
of  his  body,  hroken  for  his  people ;  and  then  the  wine,  representing  his  blood,  shed 
for  the  remission  of  sins.  At  this  passover  too,  our  Lord  gave  a  notable  example  of 
humble  condescension,  by  girding  himself  with  a  towel,  and  washing  the  feet  of  his 
disciples. 

Judas  being  now  gone,  Jesus  entered  on  a  long  discourse  fitly  adapted  to  the  situa- 
tion of  his  disciples  under  the  melancholy  prospect  of  parting  Avith  their  Lord.  This 
was  closed  by  a  fervent  prayer  in  their  behalf;  and  then  he  went  out  with  his  disci- 
ples, and,  crossing  the  Brook  Kedron,  entered  into  a  garden  called  Gethsemane,*  where 

*  Oltve  trees  now  standing  in  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane  (see  engraving,  p,  499).— Tlie  Garden  of 
Getlisernaiie  is  one  of  thos'^  sacred  places  in  tlie  vicinity  of  Jerusalem,  which  is  visited  by  every  christian 
pilcrrim.  This  deeply  inten  stini?  spot  is  situated  between  the  foot  of  the  Mount  of  Olives  and  the  brook 
Kedron  :  it  was  a  place  frejucntly  resorted  to  by  Jesus  Christ  and  his  Apostles.  Thither  Judas  proceeded, 
accompanied  by  a  number  of  oflicers,  to  betray  him  ;  and  here  the  Saviour  endured  his  "  agony  and  bloody 
sweat."  (]-uke,  x.xii.  39-19.  Matt,  x.tvi.  Sfi-56.  Mark,  xiv.  3-2-4fi.  John,  xviii.  1-12.)  This  garden  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  coarse  low  wa',!,  of  a  few  feet  in  height,  and  about  the  third  part  of  an  acre  in  extent.  When 
Mr.  Catherwood  was  here  in  1834,  taking' the  drawings  for  his  beautiful  panorama  of  Jerusalem,  it  was  plant- 
ed with  olive,  almond,  and  fiv  trees.  Eight  of  the  olive  trees  are  so  large,  thai  they  are  said  to  have  been 
in  existence  ever  since  the  time  of  Jesus  Christ.  Although  we  are  informed  by  Josephus  that  Titus  cut 
down  all  the  trees  within  one  hundred  furlongs  of  the  city  ;  yet  it  is  not  improbable  that  these  trees  (which 
are  unquestionably  of  very  remote  antiquity)  may  have  arisen  from  the  roots  of  the  ancient  trees  ;  because 
the  olive  is  very  long-lived,  an  I  possesses  the  peculiar  property  of  shooting  up  again,  however  freciuently 
it  may  he  cut  down.  The  tree.<.  now  standing  in  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane,  arc  of  the  species  known  to 
botanists  as  the  Olea  Europa  :  I  Ley  are  wild  olives,  and  appear  pollarded  from  extreme  age,  and  their  stems 
are  very  rough  and  knarlcd  :  tluy  are  highly  venerated  by  the  members  of  the  Roman  communion  here, 
wlio  consider  any  attempt  to  rut  or  injure  them  as  an  act  of  profanation.  Should  any  one  of  them, 
indeed,  be  known  to  pluck  an:  of  the  leaves,  he  would  incur  a  sentence  of  excommunication.  Of  the 
stones  of  the  olives,  beads  arc  i;'ade,  which  the  monks  of  the  Latin  convent  regard  as  one  of  the  most 
sacred  objects  that  can  be  presented  to  a  Christian  traveller. 

At  the  upper  end  of  the  garden  is  a  naked  ledge  of  rock,  where  Peter,  James,  and  .Tohn,  are  said  to  have 
slept  during  the  Redeemer's  agony  ;  and  a  few  paces  thence  a  grotto  is  shown,  in  which  it  is  reported  that 
he  underwent  the  bitterest  part  of  his  agony,  and  "  liis  sweat  was  .as  it  were  great  drops  of  blood  falling 
down  to  the  ground."  (Luke,  xxii.  44.)  A  small  plot  of  ground,  twelve  yards  long,  is  separated  as  accurs- 
ed ground,  being  the  reputed  spot  where  Judas  betrayed  his  master  with  a  kiss. 

The  ridiculous  gi-avily  with  which  the  precise  places  are  shown,  where  the  most  affecting  and  important 
incidents  in  o\ir  Saviour's  history  occurred,  can  not  entirely  destroy  the  interest  we  feel,  when  we  imagine 
ourselves  to  he  near  the  spot  where  the  disciples  and  their  Lord  so  often  met  to  converse  about  the  things 
pertaining  to  his  kingdom,  and  to  receive  instruction  in  the  mysterious  plan  of  redemption  which  was  then 
opening  sn  gloriously  upon  a  ruined  world. 

The  prospect  from  the  Ganlen  of  Gethsemane  is  one  of  the  most  pleasing  in  the  vicinity  of  Jerusalem. 
Tlie    walls  of  the  city  are    ver)    distinctly  seen  hence,  at  the  extreme  edge  of   a  precipitous     bank 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


499 


1  in 


000  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

he  had  often  before  retired.  Here  he  gave  his  disciples  notice  of  his  being  about  to 
be  taken,  even  on  that  night,  when  they  would  all  be  scatteied  from  him,  as  sheep 
when  the  shepherd  is  smitten  (Zech.  xiii.  7). 

This  declaration  roused  the  zeal  of  Peter,  who,  too  full  of  confidence,  avowed  his 
determination  never  to  forsake  his  master ;  but  Christ  assured  him,  that  before  the 
cock  should  crow  twice  on  that  night,  Peter  would  thrice  deny  that  he  knew  him. 
The  event,  as  we  shall  see,  proved  the  knowledge  which  Jesus  had  of  Peter's  weak- 
ness, and  served  as  a  warning  to  him  ever  afterward. 

And  now,  taking  with  him  three  of  his  disciples,  Peter,  James,  and  John,  and  re- 
tiring from  the  rest,  Jesus  began  to  feel  that  severe  anguish  of  mind,  whieh  was  the 
consequence  of  his  taking  our  sins,  and  standing  in  the  place  of  transgressors.  Nor 
was  this  all.  Having  withdrawn  a  small  distance  from  the  three  disciples,  he  fell  on 
his  face  in  prayer,  and  being  in  an  agony,  "his  sweat  was  as  it  were  great  drops  of 
blood  falling  down  to  the  groiuid."  In  this  conflict  of  soul,  there  appeared  an  angel 
from  heaven,  strengthening  him;  after  which  he  returned  and  joined  the  company  of 
his  disciples. 

In  the  meantime,  Judas,  with  a  band  of  armed  men,  approached,  with  lanterns 
and  torches;  and  giving  them  the  appointed  token,  by  kissing  his  master,  they  took 
hold  on  I  he  unresisting  Jesus,  and  having  bound  him,  they  led  him  away  to  Caiaphas, 
the  high-priest.  After  a  mock  trial  before  the  Jewish  council — where  he  sulfered 
the  most  shameful  treatment — he  was  pronounced  worthy  of  death;  but,  as  the  Jews 
had  not  now  the  power  of  life  and  death  in  their  hands,  he  was  sent  to  Pontius 
Pilate,  the  Roman  governor,  in  order  that  this  sentence  might  be  confirmed. 

We  must  not,  however,  omit  to  take  notice  of  Peter,  while  his  master  stood  ar- 
raigned before  the  council.  While  all  the  other  disciples,  except  John,  had  fled, 
Peter,  following  at  a  distance,  obtained  admittance  into  the  palace  of  the  high-priest. 
Here  he  was  three  times  charged,  by  some  present,  with  being  a  disciple  of  Jesus,  and 
three  times  he  denied  the  charge.  But  when,  on  the  third  denial,  the  cock  crew  a 
second  time,  "Jesus  turned  and  looked  on  Peter."  His  heart  was  immediately  smit- 
ten ;  he  remembered  his  Lord's  prediction,  and  "  he  went  out  and  wept  bitterly." 

In  the  case  of  Peter  there  was  hope;  but  in  that  of  Judas  there  was  none.  When 
the  traitor  saw  that  his  master  was  condemned,  his  guilty  soul  was  stung  with  re- 
morse ;  "  he  brought  again  the  thirty  pieces  of  silver  to  the  chief  priests  and  elders,' 
and  declaring  that  he  had  "betrayed  the  innocent  blood,"  he  cast  them  down  in  ihe 
temple,  and  departing  in  despair,  went  and  hanged  himself. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

From  the  bar  of  Pilate,  Jesus  was  passed  to  Herod,  the  tetrarch  of  Galilee — who 
happened  at  that  time  to  be  in  Jerusalem — and  from  Herod  he  was  returned  to  Pilate. 
His  trial  then  proceeded;  and,  notwithstanding  the  persuasion  of  the  governor  that 
Jesus  was  innocent,  the  voice  of  the  multitude  and  of  the  chief  priests  prevailed  ;  and 
Pilate,  bavin?  scourged  him,  delivered  him  up  to  their  fury.  The  most  cruel  indig- 
nities followed.  They  crowned  him  with  thorns,  mocked  him,  spit  upon  him,  smote 
him  on  the  head,  and  ultimately  led  him  away  to  be  crucified. 

Pilate  had,  indeed,  shown  a  desire  to  deliver  Christ  from  the  sentence  of  condem- 
nation, and,  as  it  was  the  cnstoni  at  the  passover,  to  release  a  prisoner,  he  proposed 
him  as  the  object  of  favor  on  this  occasion;  but  such  was  the  malice  of  his  enemies, 
that  they  cried  out  for  the  death  of  Jesus,  and  for  the  release  of  Barabbas,  who  was 
a  murderer  and  a  robber;  and  such  was  the  time-serVing  spirit  of  Pilate,  that  he 
could  not  resist  the  wishes  of  the  multitude. 

'ihe  place  of  execution  was  called  Calvary,  a  little  without  the  city  of  Jerusalem; 
and  thiiher  Jesus  was  conducted,  bearing  his  cross.  If  was  the  third  hour  of  the 
day  (or  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning)  when,  arriving  at  the  place,  they  crucified  Jesus 
Christ,  nailing  his  hands  and  feet  to  the  cross,  and  raising  him  up  between  the  heavens 
and  the  earth;  while,  full  of  divine  compassion  on  his  murderers,  he  prayed,  "  Father, 

Tlirouifh  tlio  trpfts,  the  bridge  over  the  Kedron  is  clearly  pcrceptihlc  :  and  the  Turkish  burial-ground  is  a. 
marked  \^nu\\,  froni  tlie  tombs  being  mostly  white,  With  turbans  on  the  top,  to  indicate  the  Moslem  faith  of 
the  individuals  whose  remains  ar«  there  interred. 


fflSTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  50'1 

forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do !"  At  the  same  time,  also,  they  cruci- 
fied two  thieves — who  had  been  brought  along  with  Jesus — the  one  on  his  right 
hand,  and  the  other  on  his  left. 

The  cross  of  Christ  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  objects  which  can  be  presented 
to  the  Christian  reader.  An  eminent  divine  says  of  it :  "  Let  it  be  to  the  Jews  a 
scandal,  or  oflTensive  to  their  fancy,  prepossessed  with  expectations  of  a  Messiah 
flourishing  in  secular  pomp  and  prosperity ;  let  it  be  folly  to  the  Greeks,  or  seem  ab- 
surd to  men  puffed  up  and  corrupted  in  mind,  with  fleshly  notions  and  maxims  of 
worldly  craft,  disposing  them  to  value  nothing  which  is  not  grateful  to  present  sense 
or  fancy,  that  God  should  put  his  own  beloved  Son  into  so  very  sad  and  despicable  a 
condition  ;  that  salvation  from  death  and  misery  should  be  procured  by  so  miserable  a 
death ;  that  eternal  joy,  glory,  and  happiness,  sJiould  issue  from  these  fountains  of 
sorrow  and  shame;  that  a  person  in  external  semblance  devoted  to  so  opprobrious 
usage  should  be  the  Lord  and  Redeemer  of  mankind,  the  King  and  Judge  of  all  the 
world ;  let,  I  say,  this  doctrine  be  scandalous  and  disdainful  to  some  persons  tainted 
with  prejudice ;  let  it  be  strange  and  incredible  to  others  blinded  with  self-conceit ; 
let  all  the  inconsiderate,  all  the  proud,  all  the  profane  part  of  mankind,  openly  with 
their  mouth,  or  closely  in  heart,  slight  and  reject  it :  yet  to  us  it  must  appear  grateful 
and  joyous;  to  us  it  is  a  faithful  and  most  credible  proposition,  worthy  of  all  accepta- 
tion, that  Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners,  in  this  way  of  suflfering 
for  them."  In  such  a  light  as  this  must  every  true  Christian  look  upon  the  cross  of 
his  blessed  Redeemer. 

The  cruel  mode  of  punishment  by  crucifixion  appears  to  have  been  in  use  from  the 
earliest  recorded  period  of  history.  Possibly  it  was  the  invention  of  some  barbarous 
tribe  to  prevent  the  escape  of  a  captive,  by  fastening  him  to  a  tree;  or  used  to  inflict 
death  on  an  enemy,  by  leaving  him  exposed  upon  a  tree,  to  be  a  prey  to  birds  and 
beasts,  or  to  die  of  hunger.  In  time,  however,  it  was  adopted  by  the  most  civilized 
nations  of  antiquity.  Among  the  Carthaginians,  persons  of  all  ranks,  even  com- 
manders of  armies,  were  subject  to  it :  among  the  Romans,  however,  it  was  considered 
as  the  punishment  of  slaves,  and  inflicted  on  that  class  only.  With  reference  to  the 
Hebrews,  it  seems  doubtful  whether  crucifixion  was  a  mode  of  punishment  practised 
by  them  in  ancient  times.  The  putting  the  sons  of  Saul  to  death,  as  recorded  2  Sam. 
xxi.,  has  been  adduced  as  an  argument  that  it  was;  and  the  term  "hanged  on  a  tree,' 
which  is  used.  Acts  x.  39,  to  describe  crucifixion,  seems  to  favor  such  a  view. 

Whatever  the  original  form  of  crosses  may  have  been,  we  can  not  tell ;  but  in  the 
course  of  time  they  were  made  of  two  pieces  of  wood,  and  they  have  been  divided  by 
antiquaries  into  three  kinds:  1,  the  crux  decussata,  or  cross  divided  like  the  letter  X, 
and  usually  called  St.  Andrew's  cross;  2,  the  ci-ux  commissa,  or  joined  cross,  consisting 
of  an  upright  piece  of  timber,  with  a  transverse  piece  on  the  extreme  top,  at  right 
angles  with  the  first,  like  the  letter  T  ;  and  3,  the  crux  immissa,  or  let-in  cross,  in 
which  the  transverse  piece  of  timber  is  let  into  the  upright,  but  placed  somewhat  be- 
low the  top  of  the  upright,  in  this  form  f.  It  is  the  latter  cross  on  which  our  Saviour 
is  usually  represented  to  have  suffered,  and  though  there  may  not  be  any  absolute 
authority  for  ascertaining  the  precise  form  of  the  cross  used  on  this  occasion,  yet  the 
circumstance  of  an  inscription  being  placed  over  his  sacred  head  renders  the  con- 
jecture probable. 

It  is  said  by  St.  John,  (xix.  17),  that  Jesus  went  forth  "bearing  his  cross."  Ac- 
cordingly, we  find  painters  representing  our  Saviour  bearing  the  entire  cross  on  which 
he  suffered.  This,  however,  if  we  take  into  consideration  the  great  weight  the  cross 
is  thought  to  have  been,  from  its  size,  and  from  its  being  made  of  the  hardest  wood, 
generally  of  oak,  could  scarcely  be  possible;  and  painters  themselves  have  also  been 
practically  sensible  of  this;  for  the  same  painter  who  represents  Christ  bearing  his 
jross,  gives  a  representation  of  one  shorter  and  more  portable,  than  that  which  he  ex- 
nibits  in  a  painting  of  the  crucifixion.  But  this,  some  imagine,  may  be  correct. 
They  think  that  the  cross  which  our  Saviour  carried  was  a  representation  of  the  cross 
of  actual  crucifixion;  and  that  it  was  usual  for  prisoners  to  bear  such,  to  suggest  to 
the  people  in  the  streets  through  which  they  were  conducted  the  kind  of  punishment 
they  were  about  to  undergo.  Lipsius,  on  the  contrary,  explains  that  the  heaviest 
part  of  the  cross,  the  perpendicular  beam,  was  either  fixed  in  the  ground  before,  or 
was  ready  to  be  set  up  when  the  condemned  person  arrived;  and  he  contends,  that  the 

32 


502  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

part  which  the  prisoner  carried  was  the  large  cross-beam  to  which  the  arms  of  the 
crucified  were  fastened.  There  are  others,  again,  who  think  that  the  crosses  of  the 
ancients  were  not  so  lofty,  large,  and  massive,  as  those  depicted  by  painters;  and 
certainly  instruments  of  such  dimensions  would  be  unnecessary  for  the  purpose. 
Pone  crucem  servo,  "  Put  the  cross  to  the  slave,"  is  an  expression  used  by  Juvenal. 
It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  it  was  the  real  cross  which  our  Saviour  carried,  and  that 
he  was  nailed  to  it  before  it  was  raised  and  fixed  in  the  ground;  which  is  in  accord- 
ance with  the  general  opinion. 

The  manner  in  which  this  was  done  has  been  thus  graphically  described :  "  When 
the  malefactor  had  carried  his  cross  to  the  place  of  execution,  a  hole  was  dug  in  the 
earth  in  which  it  was  to  be  fixed ;  the  criminal  was  stripped ;  a  stupefying  potion 
was  given  him;  the  cross  was  laid  on  the  ground ;  he  was  distended  upon  it,  and 
four  soldiers,  two  on  each  side,  at  the  same  time  were  employed  in  driving  four  large 
nails  through  his  hands  and  feet.  After  they  had  deeply  fixed  and  riveted  these  nails 
in  the  wood,  they  elevated  the  cross  with  the  sutferer  upon  it ;  and  in  order  to  infix  it 
the  more  firmly  and  securely  in  the  earth,  they  let  it  violently  fall  into  the  cavity 
they  had  prepared  to  receive  it.  This  vehement  precipitation  of  the  cross  must  have 
occasioned  a  most  dreadful  convulsive  shock,  and  agitated  the  whole  frame  of  the 
malefactor  in  a  dire  and  most  excruciating  manner.  These  several  particulars  were 
observed  in  the  crucifixion  of  our  Lord.  Upon  his  arrival  at  Calvary,  he  was  strip- 
ped ;  the  medicated  cup  was  offered  to  him ;  he  was  fastened  to  the  cross;  and  while 
they  were  employed  in  piercing  his  hands  and  his  feet,  it  is  probable  that  he  offered 
to  Heaven  that  most  benevolent  and  affecting  prayer  for  his  murderers,  '  Father,  for- 
give them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do.'  " 

Of  whatever  size  the  cross  on  Avhich  our  Redeemer  paid  the  penalty  of  our  trans- 
gressions might  have  been,  we  learn  from  St.  Mark  that  it  was  of  great  weight.  He 
intimates  to  us,  in  a  parallel  passage  to  that  of  St.  John,  that  the  soldiers,  finding  that 
Jesus,  exhausted  by  his  sufferings,  was  no  longer  able  to  bear  his  cross,  laid  hold  of 
one  Simon,  a  Cyrenian,  who  happened  to  be  passing,  and  compelled  him  to  bear  it 
for  the  suflerer  (Mark  xv.  21).  The  practice  of  a  prisoner  bearing  his  own  cross,  at 
least  among  the  Romans,  very  probably  arose  from  the  deep  disgust  and  horror  with 
which  they  looked  upon  this  instrument  of  punishment ;  the  prisoner,  accordingly, 
was  condemned  to  bear  his  own  instrument  of  torture. 

Previous  to  crucifixion,  it  was  the  custom  to  scourge  the  sufferer,  after  which  he 
was  stripped  naked  ;  and  it  is  probable,  as  we  have  seen,  that  he  was  laid  down  on 
the  cross  for  the  purpose  of  having  the  nails  driven  into  his  hands  and  feet ;  or,  as 
was  sometimes  the  case,  of  being  fastened  to  the  cross  with  ropes.  The  cross  wSs 
then  elevated,  and  afterward  the  legs  were  broken,  and  wounds  were  inflicted  vi^ith  a 
spear  or  other  sharp  instrument,  to  hasten  death.  But  this  was  not  invariably  done; 
and  as,  m  the  case  of  its  omission,  death  would  not  ensue  for  a  length  of  time,  guards 
were  placed  to  prevent  the  relations  and  friends  from  giving  them  any  relief,  taking 
them  away  while  alive,  or  removing  their  bodies  after  they  were  dead.  Sometimes 
crucifixion  took  place  with  the  head  downward ;  and  St.  Peter  is  said  to  have  suf- 
fered death  in  this  way,  at  his  own  express  desire,  deeming  himself  unworthy  to 
suffer  in  the  same  position  with  his  beloved  master. 

In  leading  to  his  death  a  person  condemned  to  crucifixion,  it  was^  usual  to  carry 
an  inscription  before  him,  stating  the  crime  for  which  he  suffered.  To  the  charge 
of  Jesus,  no  crime  could  be  laid;  but  to  his  cross  they  fastened  this  inscription: 
"  This  is  the  King  of  the  Jews,"  Luke  xxiii.  38.  This  was  written  in  throe  differ- 
ent languages,  and  the  reason  which  has  been  given  for  this  is,  that  none  might  be 
unapprized  of  its  contents.  It  was  written  in  Greek,  which  was  the  general  language 
of  commerce  in  western  Asia,  and  which  would  be  familiar  to  many  Jews  from  Eu- 
rope, Egypt,  and  elsewhere ;  it  also  was  written  in  the  Syriac,  called  "  Hebrew,"  the 
vernacular  language  of  Palestine ;  and  it  was  written  in  Latin,  probably  for  the  use 
of  the  Romans,  many  of  whom  would  assemble  at  Jerusalem  during  the  paschal 
week. 

To  advert  to  the  many  passages  of  holy  writ  which  point  to  the  cross  of  Christ  as 
the  foundation  of  a  sinner's  hope,  would  extend  our  work  beyond  the  assigned  limits. 
It  must  suflSce,  therefore,  to  say,  that  it  is  the  sum  and  substance  of  the  Bible,  and 
that,  if  we  would  be  saved  by  it,  we  must  look  to  it  with  an  eye  of  faith,  as  eagerly 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


503 


Intf-riorof  the  Cliurcli  of  the  Holy  Sej.ululire,  at  .lerur^alom. 


504  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

and  fixedly  as  the  Israelites  of  old,  when  bitten  by  the  fiery  serpents,  looked  to  the 
^T-dzen  serpent — which  prefigured  the  cross — erected  by  Moses  to  effect  their  cure. 
There  alone  is  our  hope  of  redemption. 

The  punishment  of  crucifixion,  it  has  been  said,  was  so  common  among  the  Romans, 
that,  by  a  very  usual  figure,  pains,  afflictions,  troubles,  &c.,  were  called  crosses. 
Hence,  our  Saviour  says,  that  his  disciples  must  take  up  their  cross,  and  follow  him 
(Matt.  xvi.  24).  The'cross,  therefore,  is  the  sign  of  ignominy  and  suffering,  yet  it  is 
the  badge  and  glory  of  the  Christian.  Christ  is  the  way  we  are  to  follow;  and 
there  is  no  way  of  attaining  that  glory  and  happiness  which  are  promised  in  the 
gospel,  but  by  the  cross  of  Christ. 

While  under  the  agonies  of  the  cross,  the  Redeemer  manifested  his  filial  affection, 
by  committing  his  mother  to  the  care  of  the  beloved  John;  and  in  the  same  situation, 
he  gave  a  signal  instance  of  the  power  and  freeness  of  his  grace,  toward  one  of  the 
thieves,  who  hung  beside  him.  The  heart  of  this  poor  creature  was  smitten  with 
conviction  and  repentance,  and,  addressing  a  prayer  to  the  dying  Saviour,  he  received 
the  soul-cheering  answer,  "  To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  paradise." 

About  the  sixth  hour  (or  middle  of  the  day)  a  supernatural  darkness  covered  the 
whole  land,  which  continued  till  the  ninth  hour  (or  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon), 
when  Jesus  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  "  Eloi,  Eloi,  lama,  sabachthani  !" — that  is,  "  My 
God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me !" — thus  showing  that  his  soul  was  in 
pangs,  as  well  as  his  body.  After  a  little  space,  he  cried  again  with  a  loud  voice, 
and  commending  his  spirit  into  the  hands  of  his  Father,  "  he  bowed  his  head,  and 
gave  up  the  ghost." 

At  this  awful  event,  the  veil  of  the  temple  was  rent  in  twain  from  the  top  to  the 
bottom  ;  the  earth  quaked,  and  the  rocks  were  torn  asunder ;  the  graves,  too,  of  many 
of  the  saints  were  opened,  and  the  dead,  arising,  appeared  to  many  in  the  city  of 
Jerusalem.  These  fearful  tokens  gave  a  solemn  check  to  the  feelings  of  the  multi- 
tude that  attended,  and  produced  on  the  minds  of  several  a  conviction  that  Jesus  was 
the  Son  of  God. 

Thus  expired  this  wonderful  Sufferer  ! — a  ransom  for  sinners,  a  Saviour  to  all  who 
truly  believe  in  his  name.  And  now,  as  the  next  day  was  the  sabbath  of  the  Jews, 
as  the  bodies  were  not  to  remain  on  the  cross  on  that  day,  and  as  they  were  making 
preparation  for  its  approach,  they  petitioned  Pilate  that. the  legs  of  the  crucified  might 
be  broken,  and  that  they  might  be  taken  away.  The  soldiers,  therefore,  having 
broken  the  legs  of  the  two  malefactors,  when  they  came  to  Jesus  and  found  that  he 
was  already  dead,  forebore  to  perform  the  operation  on  him ;  but  one  of  them,  to  in- 
sure his  death,  pierced  his  side  with  a  spear,  whence  there  issued  blood  and  water. 

When  the  evening  was  come,  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  a  rich  man  and  a  counsellor, 
and  one  who  "  waited  for  the  kingdom  of  God,"  having  begged  of  Pilate  the  body  of 
Jesus,  took  it  down  from  the  cross,  and,  assisted  by  Nicodemus,  wrapped  it  in  fine 
linen,  Avith  a  quantity  of  spices,  after  the  Jewish  mode  of  burying.  Thus  prepared, 
they  laid  the  sacred  body  in  Joseph's  own  new  tomb,  which  was  hewn  out  of  a  rock, 
in  a  garden  near  at  hand,  and  rolling  a  large  stone  to  the  door  of  the  sepulchre,  they 
departed. 

At  the  same  time,  several  pious  women  who  followed  Jesus  from  Galilee,  and 
who  from  a  distance  had  beheld  the  mournful  scene  of  his  sufferings,  being  present 
at  his  burial,  and  seeing  how  the  body  was  deposited,  "  returned  and  prepared  spices 
and  ointments,"  intending  after  the  Sabbath  to  visit  the  sepulchre  for  the  purpose  of 
embalming  the  body  of  their  Lord.  The  chief  priests  and  Pharisees,  on  their  part, 
took  a  different  course.  By  the  authority  of  Pilate,  they  sealed  the  stone  at  the 
mouth  of  the  tomb,  setting  around  it  a  guard  of  soldiers,  to  prevent  any  attempt  by 
the  disciples  of  Jesus  to  steal  him  away,  and  thus  pretend  that  their  Master  was 
risen. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things,  till  the  commencement  of  the  third  day,  being  the 
first  day  of  the  week.  Early  in  the  morning  of  that  day,  Mary  Magdalene,  with 
Salome,  and  another  female  disciple  by  the  name  of  Mary,  coming  to  the  sepulchre 
for  the  purpose  (as  before  mentioned)  of  embalming  the  body  of  Christ,  found  the 
stone  removed  from  the  door.  Scenes  the  most  awful  and  glorious  had  just  before 
"been  exhibited.  A  great  earthquake  shook  the  place;  the  angel  of  the  Lord  descend- 
mg  from  heaven,  rolled  away  the  stone  and  sat  upon  it ;  and  while  the  keepers,  struck 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  505 

with  terror,  became  as  dead  men,  Jesus,  awaking  from  the  sleep  of  death,  arose  and 
left  the  tomb.* 

His  first  appearance  after  this  great  event  was  to  Mary  Magdalene,  who  stood 
weeping  at  the  sepulchre  when  Peter  and  John,  who  had  made  a  visit  to  the  place, 
had  departed.  Afterward  he  appeared  to  a  company  of  women  on  their  return  from 
.  the  sepulchre ;  then  to  two  of  the  disciples  on  their  way  to  a  village  called  Emmaus, 
a  few  miles  from  Jerusalem.  The  reports,  however,  of  these  witnesses  of  the  resur- 
rection met  with  but  little  credit  with  the  rest  of  the  disciples,  till  Jesus,  on  the  even- 
ing of  the  same  day,  presented  himself  among  them,  and  confirmed  their  faith  by 
appealing  to  his  lately  wounded  hands  and  feet. 

In  the  meantime,  the  affrighted  guards  had  fled  from  the  sepulchre  and  related 
their  tale  of  wonder  to  the  chief  priests,  who,  alarmed  at  the  consequences  that 
might  follow,  hired  these  wretched  creatures  to  say  that  the  disciples  came  by  night, 
and  stole  av/ay  the  body  of  Jesus  while  they  were  asleep.  This  absurd  report  was 
accordingly  propagated,  and  prevailed  among  the  Jews  as  a  fact. 

It  is  proper  we  should  here  take  notice  of  the  case  of  Thomas,  called  Didymus, 
who,  not  being  with  the  disciples  when  Jesus  made  his  appearance  among  thein  as 
above  mentioned,  declared  that  he  would  not  believe  in  the  reality  of  his  resurrection 
unless  he  should  see  and  feel  the  print  of  the  nails  in  his  hands,  and  the  eflfect  of  the 
wound  in  his  side.  Accordingly  about  eight  days  after,  when  the  disciples  were  all 
together,  Jesus  again  appearing  among  them  presented  his  hands  and  his  side  to 
Thomas,  with  a  reproof  for  his  unbelief;  while  the  astonished  disciple,  overpowered 
with  conviction,  exclaimed,  "  My  Lord  and  my  God." 

"  After  these  things,  Jesus  showed  himself  again  to  his  disciples  at  the  sea  of 
Tiberias,"  where  several  of  them  were  employed  in  fishing,  and  then,  by  appoint- 
ment, he  met  the  eleven  apostles  on  a  mountain  in  Galilee,  where  he  delivered  to 
them  the  great  gospel  commission,  to  go  forth  and  "  teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them 
in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;"  pronouncing  at 
the  same  time,  "  He  that  believeth,  and  is  baptized,  shall  be  saved  ;  but  he  that  be- 
lieveth  not  shall  be  damned." 

Forty  days  was  the  time  pre-ordained  for  our  Lord's  continuance  upon  earth  after 
his  resurrection.  These  days  being  now  almost  expired,  the  apostles,  according  as 
they  had  been  ordered,  with  some  of  their  select  friends,  returned  to  Jerusalem,  and 
there  assembled  themselves  in  a  private  place,  as  they  had  always  done  after  the 
crucifixion  of  their  Master.  Here  our  blessed  Lord  appeared  to  them  for  the  last 
time ;  and  after  instructing  them  in  many  particulars  concerning  the  kingdom  of 
God,  and  the  manner  in  which  they  were  to  behave  themselves  in  propagating  the 
doctrine  of  the  gospel,  he  put  them  in  mind  that,  during  his  abode  with  them  in  Gali- 
lee, he  had  often  told  them  that  all  things  written  in  the  law,  the  prophets,  and  the 
Psalms,  concerning  him  were  to  be  exactly  accomplished.  At  the  same  time  "  he 
opened  their  understandings ;"  that  is,  he  removed  their  prejudices  by  the  operation 
of  his  Spirit,  cleared  their  doubts,  improved  their  memories,  strengthened  their  judg- 
ments, and  enabled  them  to  discern  the  true  meaning  of  the  Scriptures.  He  then 
reminded  them  that  both  Moses  and  the  prophets  had  foretold  that  the  Messiah  was 
to  suffer  in  the  very  same  manner  he  had  suffered ;  that  he  was  to  rise  from  the  dead 
on  the  third  day  as  he  had  done ;  and  that  repentance  and  remission  of  sins  was  to 

*The  Resurrection.— Twice  had  the  sun  gone  down  on  the  earth,  and  all  as  yet  was  quiet  at  the  sepul- 
chre ;  Death  held  his  sceptre  o'er  the  Son  of  God  ;  still  and  silent  the  hours  passed  on  ;  tlie  guards  stood  by 
their  posts  ;  the  rays  of  midnight  moon  g;leamed  on  their  helmets  and  on  their  spears  ;  the  enemies  of  Christ 
exulted  in  their  success  ;  the  hearts  of  his  friends  were  sunk  m  despondency  and  sorrow  ;  while  the  spirits 
of  glory  waited  with  anxious  suspense  to  behold  the  event — wondering  at  the  depth  of  the  ways  of  God. 
At  length,  the  morning  star,  arising  m  the  east,  announced  the  approach  of  light :  the  third  day  began  to 
dawn  on  the  world,  when  on  a  sudden  the  earth  trembled  to  its  centre,  and  the  powers  of  Heaven  were 
shaken  ;  an  angel  of  God  descended  ;  the  guards  shrunk  back  from  the  terror  of  liis  presence,  and  fell  pros- 
trate on  the  ground.  His  countenance  was  like  lightning,  and  his  raiment  was  white  as  snow  ;  he  rolled 
away  the  stone  from  the  door  of  the  sepulchre,  and  sat  on  it. 

But  who  is  this  that  cometh  from  the  tomb,  with  dyed  garments  from  the  bed  of  death  ?  He  that  is  glo- 
iious  in  his  appearance,  walking  in  the  greatness  of  his  strength?  It  is  thy  Prince,  O  Zion  !  Christian,  it 
is  your  Lord  I  He  hath  trodden  the  winepress  alone  ;  he  hath  stained  his  raiment  with  blood  ;  but  now,  as 
the  firstborn  from  the  womb  of  nature,  he  meets  the  morning  of  his  resurrection.  He  arises,  a  conqueror 
from  the  grave  :  he  returns  with  blessings  from  the  world  of  spirits  ;  he  brings  salvation  to  the  sons  of 
men.  Never  did  the  returning  sun  usher  in  a  day  so  glorious  I  It  was  the  jubilee  of  the  universe  I  The 
morning  stars  sang  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  aloud  for  loy  !  Tl;e  Father  of  Mercies  looked 
down  from  his  throne  in  the  heavens  with  complacency  ;  he  beheld  his  world  restored — he  saw  his  work, 
that  it  was  good.  Then  did  the  desert  rejoice  ;  the  face  of  nature  was  gladdened  before  him,  when  the 
Wessings  of  the  Eternal  descended,  as  the  dews  of  heaven,  for  tne  ref'  eslung  of  the  nations. 


rm  A  NEW  AND   COMPLETE 

oe  preached  in  the  Messiah's  name  among  all  nations,  beginning  with  tne  Jews.  He 
told  them  that  ihey  were  to  testify  unto  the  world  the  exact  accomplishment  in  him 
of  all  things  foretold  concerning  the  Messiah ;  and  closed  his  instructions  to  them  bv 
giving  them  a  particular  charge,  that  they  should  not  depart  from  Jerusalem  uniii 
tiiey  had  received  that  miraculous  effusion  of  the  Holy  Ghost  which  he  had  promised 
and  would  shortly  send  down  upon  them.  He  likewise  gave  them  to  understand, 
that  after  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  upon  them  they  would  have  juster  notions 
of  those  matters,  and  be  sufficiently  enabled  to  be  the  authentic  witnesses  of  his  life 
and  actions  throughout  the  world. 

After  our  blessed  Lord  had  thus  fortified  his  apostles  for  the  important  work  they  were 
going  to  undertake,  he  led  them  out  of  the  city  to  that  part  of  the  momit  of  Olives 
which  was  nearest  to  Bethany.  On  their  arrival  there,  he  gave  them  some  farther 
instructions  relative  to  the  measures  they  were  to  follow  in  order  to  propagate  his 
gospel,  after  which  he  lifted  up  his  hands  and  blessed  them.  While  he  was  doing 
this,  and  his  apostles  were  placed  in  an  adoring  posture,  he  was  parted  from  them  in 
the  midst  of  the  day,  being  gradually  taken  up  in  a  shining  cloud,  and  triumphantly 
carried  into  heaven,  where  he  now  sitteth  at  the  right  hand  of  God  his  Father,  "  to 
whom  be  honor,  glory,  and  power,  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen." 

In  this  illustrious  manner  did  the  Great  Redeemer  of  mankind  depart,  after 
having  finished  the  grand  work  about  which  he  was  sent  into  the  world ;  a  work 
which  angels  with  joy  described  was  to  happen,  and  which  through  all  eternity  to 
come,  at  periods  the  most  immensely  distant  from  the  time  of  its  execution,  will  be 
looked  back  upon  with  inexpressible  delight  by  every  inhabitant  of  heaven ;  for 
though  the  minute  affairs  of  time  may  vanish  together  and  be  lost  when  they  are 
removed  far  back  by  the  endless  progression  of  duration,  yet  this  object  is  such  that 
no  distance,  however  great,  can  lessen  it.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  erected  on  the 
incarnation  and  sufferings  of  tlic  Son  of  God,  and  therefore  no  mortal  whatever  can 
forget  the  foundation  on  which  his  happiness  stands  established ;  nor  will  any  fail  of 
obtaining  a  seat  in  those  mansions,  provided  he  preserves  a  proper  subjection  to  Him 
who  reigneth  for  ever  and  ever,  and  whose  favor  is  better  than  life  itself. 

■It  may  not  be  improper,  in  this  place,  to  admit  a  few  reflections  on  the  life  of  the 
blessed  Jesus— a  life  the  greatest  and  best  that  was  ever  led  by  man,  or  was  ever  the 
subject  of  any  history,  since  the  universe  was  called  from  its  original  chaos  by  the 
powerful  word  of  the  Almighty. 

The  human  character  of  the  blessed  Jesus  is  entirely  different  from  that  of  all 
other  men  whatever ;  for  whereas  they  have  selfish  passions  deeply  rooted  in  their 
breasts,  and  are  influenced  by  them  in  almost  everything  they  do,  Jesus  was  so  en- 
tirely free  from  them,  that  the  most  severe  scrutiny  can  not  furnish  one  single  action, 
in  the  whole  course  of  his  life,  wherein  he  consulted  his  own  interest  only.  No;  he 
was  influenced  by  very  different  motives  :  the  happiness  and  eternal  welfare  of  sin- 
ners regulated  his  conduct ;  and  while  others  followed  their  respective  occupations, 
Jesus  had  no  other  business  than  that  of  promoting  the  happiness  of  the  sons  of  men. 
Nor  did  he  wait  till  he  was  solicited  to  extend  his  benevolent  hand  to  the  distressed : 
"  he  went  about  doing  good,"  and  always  accounted  it  "  more  blessed  to  give  than 
to  receive;"  resembling  God  rather  than  man.  He  went  about  doing  good  ;  benevo- 
lence Avas  the  very  life  of  his  soul :  he  not  only  did  good  to  objects  presented  to  him 
for  relief,  but  he  industriously  sought  them  out,  in  order  to  extend  his  compassion- 
ate assistance. 

[t  is  common  for  persons  of  the  most  exalted  faculties  to  be  elated  with  success 
and  applause,  or  dejected  by  censure  and  disappointments;  but  the  blessed  Jesus  was 
n(jt  elated  by  the  one  nor  depressed  by  the  other.  He  was  never  more  courageous 
than  when  he  met  with  the  greatest  opposition  and  cruel  treatment;  nor  more  hum- 
ble than  when  the  sons  of  men  worshipped  at  his  feet. 

He  came  into  the  world  inspired  with  the  grandest  purpose  that  ever  was  formed, 
that  of  saving  from  eternal  perdition,  not  a  single  nation,  but  the  whole  world;  and 
in  the  execution  of  it,  went  through  the  longest  and  heaviest  train  of  labors  tha.  ever 
was  sustained,  with  a  constancy  and  resolution,  on  which  no  disadvantageous  impres- 
sion could  be  made  by  any  accident  whatever.  Calumny,  threatenings,  bad  success, 
with  many  other  evils  constantly  attending  him,  served  only  to  quicken  his  endeavors 
m  this  glorious  enterprise,  which  he  unweariedly  pursued  even  till  he  finished  it  by 
his  death. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  507 

The  generality  of  mankind  are  prone  to  retaliate  injuries  received,  and  all  seem  to 
lake  a  satisfaction  in  complaining  of  the  cruelties  of  those  who  oppress  them;  where- 
as the  whole  of  Christ's  labors  breathed  nothing  but  meekness,  patience,  and  forgive- 
ness, even  to  his  bitterest  enemies,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  most  excruciating  torments. 
The  words,  "Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do,"  uttered  by  him 
when  his  enemies  were  nailing  him  to  the  cross,  fitly  express  the  temper  which  he 
maintained  through  the  whole  course  of  his  life,  even  when  assaulted  by  the  heaviest 
provocations.  He  was  destined  to  suiferings  here  below,  in  order  that  he  might  raise 
his  people  to  honor,  glory,  and  immortality,  in  the  realms  of  bliss  above;  and  there- 
fore patiently,  yea  joyfully,  submitted  to  all  that  the  malice  of  earth  and  hell  could 
inflict.  He  was  vilified,  that  we  might  be  honored ;  he  died,  that  we  might  live  for 
ever  and  ever. 

To  conclude  :  the  greatest  and  best  men  have  discovered  the  degeneracy  and  cor- 
ruption of  human  nature,  and  shown  themselves  to  have  been  nothing  more  than  men; 
but  it  was  otherwise  with  Jesus.  He  was  superior  to  all  the  men  that  ever  lived,  both 
with  regard  to  the  purity  of  his  manners,  and  the  perfection  of  his  virtues.  He  was 
holy,  harmless,  undefiled,  and  separated  from  sinners. 

Whether  we  consider  him  as  a  teacher,  or  as  a  man,  "  he  did  no  sin ;  neither  was 
guile  found  in  his  mouth."  His  whole  life  was  perfectly  free  from  spot  or  weakness; 
at  the  same  time  it  was  remarkable  for  the  greatest  and  extensive  exercises  of  virtue. 
But  never  to  have  committed  the  least  sin,  in  word  or  in  deed,  never  to  have  uttered 
any  sentiment  that  could  be  censured,  upon  the  various  topics  of  religion  and  morali- 
ty, which  were  the  daily  subjects  of  his  discourses,  and  that  through  the  course  of  a 
life  filled  with  action,  and  led  under  the  observation  of  many  enemies,  who  had  al- 
ways access  to  converse  with  him,  and  who  often  came  to  find  fault,  is  a  pitch  of  per- 
fection evidently  above  the  reach  of  human  nature ;  and  consequently  he  who  pos- 
sessed it  must  have  been  divine. 

Such  was  the  person  who  is  the  subject  of  the  evangelical  history.  If  the  reader, 
by  reviewing  his  life,  doctrine,  and  miracles,  as  they  are  here  represented  to  him,  united 
in  one  series,  has  a  clearer  idea  of  these  things  than  before,  or  observes  a  beauty  in 
his  actions  thus  linked  together,  which  taken  separately  do  not  appear  so  fully;  if  he 
feels  himself  touched  by  the  character  of  Jesus  in  general,  or  with  any  of  his  sermons 
and  actions  in  particular,  thus  simply  delineated  in  writing,  whose  principal  charms 
are  the  beauties  of  truth  :  above  all,  if  his  dying  so  generously  for  men  strikes  him 
with  admiration,  or  fills  him  with  joy  in  the  prospect  of  that  pardon  which  is  thereby 
purchased  for  the  world:  let  him  seriously  consider  with  himself  what  improvement 
he  ought  to  make  of  the  divine  goodness. 

Jesus,  by  his  death,  hath  set  open  the  gates  of  immortality  to  the  sons  of  men;  and 
by  his  word,  spirit,  and  example,  graciously  offers  to  make  them  meet  for  the  glorious 
rewards  in  the  kingdom  of  the  heavenly  Canaan,  and  to  conduct  them  into  the  inher- 
itance of  tlie  saints  in  light.  Let  us,  therefore,  remember,  that  being  born  under  the 
dispensation  of  his  gospel,  we  have,  from  our  earliest  years,  enjoyed  the  best  means 
of  securing  to  ourselves  an  interest  in  that  favor  of  God,  which  is  life;  and  that 
loving-kindness,  which  is  better  than  life. 

We  have  been  called  to  aspire  after  an  exaltation  to  the  felicity  of  the  heavenly 
mansions  exhibited  to  mortal  eyes  in  the  man  Jesus  Christ,  to  fire  us  with  the  noblest 
ambition.  His  gospel,  teaches  us  that  we  are  made  for  eternity  ;  and  that  our  present 
life  is  to  our  future  existence,  as  infancy  is  to  manhood.  But  as  in  the  former,  many 
things  are  to  be  learned,  many  hardships  to  be  endured,  many  habits  to  be  acquired, 
and  that  by  a  course  of  exercises,  which  in  themselves  though  painful,  and  possibly 
useless  to  the  child,  yet  are  necessary  to  fit  him  for  the  business  and  enjoyments  of 
manhood.  So  while  we  remain  in  this  infancy  of  human  life,  things  are  to  be  learn- 
ed, hardships  to  be  endured,  and  habits  to  be  acquired,  by  a  laborious  discipline,  which, 
Qowever  painful,  must  be  undergone,  because  necessary  to  fit  us  for  the  employments 
and  pleasures  of  our  riper  existence,  in  the  realms  above,  always  remembering  that 
whatever  our  trials  may  be,  in  this  world,  if  we  ask  for  God's  assistance,  he  has  prom- 
ised to  give  it.  Inflamed,  therefore,  with  the  love  of  immortality  and  its  joys,  let  us 
submit  ourselves  to  our  heavenly  teacher,  and  learn  of  him  those  graces,  which  alone 
can  render  life  pleasant,  death  desirable,  and  fill  eternity  with  ecstatic  joys. 

We  can  not  close  the  solemn  scene  of  the  life  of  our  dear  Lord  and  Saviour  with 
greater  propriety  than  by  making  a  few  observations  on  the  nature  of  his  religion,  and 


508  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

considering  the  great  benefits  which  will  infallibly  result  to  all,  who  shall,  by  faith, 
receive  and  embrace  his  holy  doctrine. 

The  religion  of  Christ  is  the  perfection  of  human  nature,  and  the  foundation  of 
uniform,  exalted  pleasure:  of  public  order,  and  private  happiness.  Christianity  is  the 
most  excellent  and  the  most  useful  inslitulion,  having  "  the  promise  of  the  life  that 
now  is,  and  of  that  which  is  to  come."  It  is  the  voice  of  reason  ;  il  is  also  the  lan- 
guage of  scripture:  "  the  ways  of  wisdom  are  ways  of  pleasantness,  and  all  her  paths 
are  peace."  And  our  blessed  Saviour  himself  assures  us,  that  his  precepts  are  easy, 
and  the  burden  of  his  religion  light. 

The  Christian  religion  comprehends  all  we  ought  to  believe,  and  all  we  ought  to 
practise:  its  positive  rights  are  few,  and  perfectly  intelligible  to  every  capacity;  and 
the  whole  is  manifestly  adapted  to  establish  in  us  a  proper  sense  of  the  great  obliga- 
tions we  lay  under  both  to  God  and  Christ. 

The  gospel  places  religion  not  in  abtruse  speculation,  and  metaphysical  subtleties  ; 
not  in  outward  show,  and  tedious  ceremony;  not  in  superstitious  austerities  and  en- 
thusiastic visions  ;  but  in  purity  of  heart  and  holiness  of  life.  Tlie  sum  of  our  duty 
(according  to  our  great  master  himself)  consists  in  the  love  of  God,  and  of  our  neigh- 
bor. According  to  St.  Paul,  in  denying  ungodliness,  and  worldly  lusts ;  and  in  living 
soberly,  righteously  and  godly  in  this  present  world.  According  to  St.  James,  in  vis- 
iting the  fatherless  and  widow  in  affliction,  and  in  keeping  ourselves  unspotted  from 
the  world.  This  is  the  constant  strain  and  tenor  of  the  gospel.  This  it  inculcates 
most  earnestly,  and  on  this  it  lays  the  greatest  stress. 

It  may  be  asked  if  the  Christian  religion  is  only  a  view  of  the  law  of  nature,  or 
merely  a  refined  system  of  morality  ?  To  which  we  answer,  that  it  is  a  great  deal 
more  than  either.  It  is  an  act  of  grace,  a  stupendous  plan  of  Providence,  for  the  re- 
covery of  mankind  from  a  state  of  degradation  and  ruin,  to  the  favor  of  the  Almighty, 
and  to  the  hopes  of  a  happy  immortality  through  a  mediator. 

Under  this  dispensation,  true  religion  consists  in  a  repentance  toward  God,  and  in 
faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  the  person  appointed  by  the  supreme  Authority  of 
heaven  and  earth,  to  reconcile  apostate  man  to  his  offended  Creator.  And  what  hard- 
ship is  there  in  all  this  ?  Surely  none.  Nay,  the  practice  of  religion  is  much  easier 
than  the  servitude  of  sin. 

It  certainly  must  be  allowed  by  all  that  our  rational  powers  are  impaired,  and  the 
soul  weakened  by  sin.  The  animal  passions  are  strong,  and  apt  to  oppose  the  dictates 
of  the  spirit  of  God  :  objects  of  sense  make  powerful  impressions  on  the  mind.  We 
are,  in  every  situation,  surrounded  with  many  snares  and  temptations.  In  such  a  dis- 
ordered state  of  things,  to  maintain  an  undevialing  path  of  duty,  can  not  be  effected 
by  poor  weak  man.  There  are,  however,  generous  aids  afforded  us  to  persevere  in 
the  ways  of  the  Lord. 

The  gracious  author  of  nature  has  planted  in  the  human  breast  a  quick  sense  of 
good  and  evil ;  a  faculty  which  strongly  dictates  right  and  wrong;  and  though  by  the 
strength  of  appetite  and  warmth  of  passion,  men  are  often  hurried  into  immoral  prac- 
tices, yet  in  the  beginninir,  especially  when  there  has  been  the  advantage  of  a  good 
education,  it  is  usually  with  reluctance  and  opposition  of  mind.  What  inward  strug- 
gles precede  !  What  bitter  pangs  attend  their  sinful  excesses  !  What  guilty  l)lushes 
and  uneasy  fears  !  VVIiat  frightful  pruspecls  and  pale  reviews  !  "  Terrors  are  upon 
them,  and  a  fire  not  blown  consumeth  ihem."  To  make  a  mock  at  sin,  and  to  com- 
mit iniquity  without  remorse,  requires  great  length  of  time,  and  much  painful  labor; 
more  labor  than  is  requisite  to  attain  that  habitual  goodness  which  is  the  glory  of  the 
man,  the  ornament  of  the  Christian,  and  the  cliief  of  his  happiness. 

The  soul  can  no  more  be  reconciled  to  acts  of  wickedness  and  injustice,  than  the 
body  to  excess,  but  by  suffering  many  bitter  pains,  and  cruel  attacks. 

The  mouth  of  conscience  may,  indeed,  be  stopped  for  a  time,  by  false  principles : 
Its  secret  whispers  may  be  drowned  by  the  noise  of  company,  and  stifled  by  ibe  en- 
tertainments of  sense;  but  this  principle  of  conscience  is  S(j  deeplv  rooted  in  human 
nature,  and,  at  the  same  time,  her  voice  is  so  clear  and  strong,  that  the  siiuier's  arts 
will  be  unable  to  lull  her  into  a  lasting  security. 

When  the  hour  of  calamity  arrives,  when  sickness  seizeth,  and  death  approaches 
the  sinner,  conscience  now  constrains  him  to  listen  to  her  accusations,  and  will  not 
suffer  the  temples  of  his  head  to  take  any  rest.     "  There  is  no  peace  to  the  wicked;' 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  509 

the  foundations  of  peace  are  subverted,  they  are  at  utter  enmity  with  their  reason, 
with  their  conscience,  and  with  their  God. 

Not  so  is  the  case  of  true  religion.  For  when  religion,  pure  and  genuine,  forms  the 
tempers,  and  governs  the  life,  conscience  applauds,  and  peace  takes  his  residence  in 
the  breast.  The  aoul  is  in  its  proper  state.  There  is  order  and  regularity  both  in  the 
faculties  and  actions.  Conscious  of  its  own  integrity,  and  secure  of  divine  approba- 
tion, the  soul  enjoys  a  calmness  not  to  be  described.  But  why  do  we  call  this  happy 
frame  calmness  only  ?  It  is  far  more  than  mere  calmness.  The  air  may  be  calm,  and 
the  day  overcast  with  thick  mists  and  clouds.  The  pious  and  virtuous  mind  resem- 
bles a  serene  day,  enlightened  and  enlivened  with  the  brightest  rays  of  the  sun. 
Though  all  without  may  be  clouds  and  darkness,  there  is  light  in  the  heart  of  a  pious 
man.  "  He  is  satisfied  from  himself,  and  is  filled  with  peace  and  joy  in  believing." 
In  the  concluding  scene  (the  awful  moment  of  dissolution)  all  is  peaceful  and  serene. 
The  immortal  part  quits  its  tenement  of  clay,  with  the  well-grounded  hopes  of  as- 
cending to  happiness  and  glory. 

Nor  does  the  gospel  enjoin  any  duty  but  what  is  fit  and  reasonable.  It  calls  upon 
all  its  professors  to  practise  reverence,  submission,  and  gratitude  to  God ;  justice, 
truth,  and  universal  benevolence  to  men  :  and  to  maintain  the  government  of  our  own 
minds.  And  what  has  any  one  to  object  against  this  ?  From  the  least  to  the  great- 
est commandment  of  our  dear  Redeemer,  there  is  not  one  which  impartial  reason  can 
find  fault  with.  "  His  law  is  perfect ;  his  precepts  are  true  and  righteous,  altogether. 
Not  even  those  excepted,  which  require  us  to  love  our  enemies,  to  deny  ourselves,  and 
to  take  up  our  cross.  To  forgive  an  injury  is  more  generous  and  manly  than  to  re- 
venge it;  to  control  a  licentious  appetite  than  to  indulge  it;  to  suffer  poverty,  re- 
proach, and  even  death  itself,  in  the  sacred  cause  of  truth  and  integrity,  is  much 
wiser  and  better,  than,  by  base  compliances,  to  make  shipwreck  of  faith  and  a  good 

COHSCIGIICG- 

Thus  in  a  storm  at  sea,  or  a  conflagration  on  the  land,  a  man  with  pleasure  aban- 
dons his  lumber  to  secure  his  jewels.  Piety  and  virtue  are  the  wisest  and  most  rea- 
sonable things  in  the  world ;  vice  and  wickedness  the  most  irrational  and  absurd. 

The  all-wise  Author  of  our  being  hath  so  framed  our  natures,  and  placed  us  in  such 
relations,  that  there  is  nothing  vicious  but  what  is  injurious ;  nothing  virtuous  but 
what  is  advantageous  to  our  present  interest,  both  with  respect  to  body  and  mind. 
Meekness  and  humility,  patience  and  universal  charity,  and  grace,  give  a  joy  un- 
known to  transgressors. 

The  divine  virtues  of  truth  and  equity  are  the  only  bands  of  friendship,  the  only 
supports  of  society.  Temperance  and  sobriety  are  the  best  preservatives  of  health 
and  strength ;  but  sin  and  debauchery  impair  the  body,  consume  the  substance,  re- 
duce us  to  poverty,  and  form  the  direct  path  to  an  immature  and  untimely  death. 

To  render  our  duty  easy,  we  have  the  example,  as  well  as  the  commands,  of  the 
blessed  Jesus.  The  masters  of  morality  among  the  heathens  gave  excellent  rules 
for  the  regulation  of  men's  manners ;  but  they  wanted  either  the  honesty,  or  the 
courage  to  try  their  own  arguments  upon  themselves.  It  was  a  strong  presun^ption 
that  the  yoke  of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  was  grievous,  when  they  laid  "  heavy 
burdens  upon  men's  shoulders,"  which  they  themselves  refused  to  touch  with  one  ot 
their  fingers.  Not  thus  our  great  law -giver,  Jesus  Christ  the  righteous.  His  be- 
havior was  in  all  respects  conformable  to  his  doctrine.  His  devotion  tovsrard  God, 
how  sublime  and  ardent !— benevolence  toward  men,  how  great  and  diffusive  .  He 
was  in  his  life  an  exact  pattern  of  innocence ;  for  he  "  did  no  sin  ;  neither  was  guile 
found  in  his  mouth."  In  the  Son  of  God  incarnate  is  exhibited  the  brightest,  the 
fairest  resemblance  of  the  Father,  that  heaven  and  earth  ever  beheld,  an  example 
peculiarly  persuasive,  calculated  to  inspire  resolution,  and  to  animate  us  to  use  our 
utmost  endeavors  to  imitate  the  divine  pattern,  the  example  of  "  the  Author  and 
Finisher  of  our  faith,"  of  him  "  who  loved  us  and  gave  himself  for  us."  Our  profes- 
sion and  character  as  Christians  oblige  us  to  make  this  example  the  model  of  our 
lives.  Every  motive  of  decency,  gratitude,  and  mterest,  constrani  us  to  tread  the 
paths  he  trod  before  us.  ^   j       u    <  i  ♦ 

We  should  also  remember  that  our  burden  is  easy ;  because  God,  who  knowetn 
whereof  we  are  made,  who  considereth  that  we  are  but  dust,"  is  ever  ^eady  to  assist 
us.  The  heathens  themselves  had  some  notion  of  this  assistance,  though  guided 
only  by  the  glimmermg  lamp  of  reason.    But  what  they  looked  upon  as  probable, 


510  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

the  gospel  clearly  and  strongly  asserts.  We  there  hear  the  apostle  exhorting,  "  Let 
us  come  boldly  to  the  throne  of  grace,  that  we  may  obtain  mercy,  and  find  grace  to 
help  in  time  of  need."  We  there  hear  the  blessed  Jesus  himself  arguing  in  this  con- 
vincing manner:  "  If  ye,  being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your  children, 
how  much  more  shall  your  heavenly  Father  give  the  holy  spirit  to  them  that  ask 
him  ?" 

We  would  not  here  be  understood  to  mean,  that  the  agency  of  the  spirit  is  irresist- 
ible, and  lays  a  necessitating  bias  on  all  the  faculties  and  affections.  Were  this  the 
case,  precepts  and  prohibitions,  promises  and  threatenings,  would  signify  nothing; 
and  duty  and  obligation  would  be  words  without  a  meaning.  The  spirit  assisteth  in 
a  manner  agreeable  to  the  frame  of  human  nature ;  not  controlling  the  free  use  of 
reason,  but  by  assisting  the  understanding,  influencing  the  will,  and  moderating  the 
affections.  But  though  Ave  may  not  be  able  to  explain  the  mode  of  his  operations, 
the  Scriptures  warrant  us  to  assert,  that  when  men  are  renewed  and  prepared  for 
heaven,  it  is  "  through  sanctification  of  the  spirit,"  and  "belief  of  the  truth."  How 
enlivening  the  thought ! — how  encouraging  the  motive !  We  are  not  left  to  struggle 
alone  with  the  difficulties  which  attend  the  practice  of  virtue,  in  the  present  imper- 
fect state.  The  merciful  Father  of  our  spirit  is  ever  near  to  help  our  infirmities,  to 
enlighten  the  understanding,  to  strengthen  good  resolutions,  and,  in  concurrence  with 
our  own  endeavors,  to  make  us  conquerors  over  all  opposition.  Faithful  is  he  to  his 
promises,  and  Avill  not  suffer  the  sincere  and  well  disposed  to  be  tempted  above  what 
they  are  able  to  bear.  What  can  be  desired  more  than  this?  To  promote  the  hap- 
piness of  his  people,  everything  is  done  that  is  requisite,  his  grace  is  all-sufficient,  his 
spirit  is  able  to  conduct  us  through  this  vale  of  tears,  to  never-fading  bliss. 

We  should  also  remember,  that  the  great  doctrine  of  the  gospel,  concerning  the 
propitious  mercy  of  Grod  to  all  penitents,  through  Christ  Jesus,  greatly  contributes  to 
the  consolation  of  Christians.  Let  it  be  granted,  that  the  hope  of  pardon  is  essential 
to  the  religion  of  fallen  creatures,  and  one  of  its  first  principles,  yet,  considering  the 
doubts  and  suspicions  which  are  apt  to  arise  in  a  mind  conscious-  of  guilt,  it  is  un- 
doubtedly a  great  and  inestimable  favor,  to  be  relieved  in  this  respect,  by  the  inter- 
position of  Divine  assistance.  This  is  our  happiness.  We  are  fully  assured,  that 
upon  our  true  repentance,  we  shall,  "  through  the  mediation  of  Christ,"  receive  the 
"  full  remission  of  sins,"  and  be  restored  to  the  same  state  and  favor  with  our 
Maker,  as  if  we  had  never  transgressed  his  laws.  Here  the  gospel  triumphs.  With 
these  assurances  it  abounds.  Upon  this  head  the  declaration  of  our  blessed  Saviour 
and  his  apostles  are  so  express  and  full,  that  every  one  who  believes  them,  and  knows 
himself  to  be  a  true  penitent,  must  banish  every  doubt  and  fear,  and  rejoice  with  joy 
unspeakable.  "  Come  unto  me  all  ye  that  labor,  and  are  heavy-laden,  and  I  will 
give  you  rest"  (Matt.  xi.  28).  "All  manner  of  sin  and  blasphemy  shall  be  forgiven 
unto  men"  (Matt.  xii.  31).  "Be  it  known  unto  you  therefore  men  and  brethren, 
that  through  this  man  is  preached  unto  you  the  forgiveness  of  sins;  and  by  him  all 
that  believe  are  justified  from  all  things,  from  which  we  could  not  be  justified  by 
the  law  of  Moses."  (Acts xiii.  38,39.)  What  grace  and  favor  is  this!  Who  can 
dwell  upon  the  transporting*  theme  too  long !  Now  our  Avay  is  plain  before  us,  and 
the  burden  we  are  to  bear  is  made  comfortably  easy.  No  sins  are  unpardonable,  if 
repented  and  forsaken. 

Consider  this,  all  ye  who  have  never  yet  regarded  religion,  but  pursued  a  course 
of  vice  and  sensuality  all  your  lives  long.  Though  your  conduct  has  been  base  to 
the  last  degree,  your  case  is  not  desperate.  Far  from  it.  The  God  whom  you  have 
so  highly  offended  commiserates  your  errors,  is  ever  ready  to  extend  his  pardoning 
mercy  to  his  most  degenerate  creatures,  upon  their  fiith  and  repentance,  and  "  is 
in  Christ  Jesus  reconciling  the  world  to  himself,  not  imputing  unto  [penitent]  sin- 
ners their  trespasses.  Let  the  wicked  [therefore]  iorsake  his  way,  and  the  unright- 
eous man  his  thoughts ;  and  let  hin\  return  unto  the  Lord,  and  he  will  have  mercy 
upon  him  ;  and  to  our  God,  for  he  will  abundantly  pardon."  (Isaiah  Iv.  7.) 

Another  particular,  which  renders  the  Christian  religion  delightful  is,  its  leading 
us  to  the  perfect,  eternal  life  of  heaven.  It  can  not  be  denied  but  that  Ave  may  draw 
from  the  light  of  nature  strong  presumptions  of  a  future  state.  The  present  existence 
does  not  look  like  an  entire  scene,  but  rather  like  the  infancy  of  human  nature,  Avhich 
is  capable  of  arriving  at  a  much  higher  degree  of  maturity;  l)ut  whatever  solid 
foundation  the  doctrine  of  a  future  state  may  have  had,  in  nature  and  reason,  cer- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  Ml 

tai!i  u  1?,  thrf)ug,i  the  habitual  nejjlert  of  reflection,  and  the  force  of  irregular  passions, 
this  doctrine  was,  before  the  coming  of  our  blessed  Saviour,  very  much  disfigured, 
and  in  a  great  measure  lost,  among  the  sons  of  men. 

In  the  heathen  world,  a  fuiure  state  of  rewards  and  punishments  was  a  matter 
of  mere  speculation  and  uncertainty,  sometimes  hoped  for,  sometimes  doubted  of, 
and  sometimes  absolutely  denied.  The  law  of  Moses,  though  of  divine  original,  is 
chiefly  enforced  by  promises  of  temporal  blessings ;  and,  even  in  the  writings  of 
the  prophets,  a  fuiure  immortality  is  very  sparingly  mentioned,  and  obscurely  rep- 
resented, but  the  doctrine  of  our  Saviour  hath  "  brought  life  and  immortality  to 
light."  '  In  the  gospel  we  have  a  distinct  account  of  another  world,  attended  with 
many  engaging  circumstances;  about  which  the  decisions  of  reason  were  dark  and 
confused.  We  have  the  testimony  of  the  Author  of  our  religion,  who  was  raised 
from  the  dead,  and  who  afterward,  in  the  presence  of  his  disciples,  ascended  into 
heaven.  In  the  New  Testament  it  is  expressly  declared,  that  good  men,  "when 
absent  from  the  body,  are  present  with  the  Lord."  Here  we  are  assured  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  body  in  a  glorious  form,  clothed  with  immortal  vigor,  suited  to 
the  active  nature  of  the  animating  spirit,  and  assisting  its  most  enlarged  operations 
and  incessant  progress  toward  perfection.  Here  we  are  assured  that  "  the  righte- 
ous shall  go  into  life  everlasting,"  that  they  shall  enter  into  the  heavenly  Canaan, 
where  no  ignorance  shall  cloud  the  understanding,  no  vice  disturb  the  will.  In 
these  regions  of  perfection,  nothing  but  love  shall  possess  the  soul;  nothing  but 
gratitude  employ  the  tongue ;  there  the  righteous  shall  be  united  to  an  innumer- 
able company  of  angels,  and  to  the  general  assembly  and  church  of  the  first-born. 
There  they  shall  see  their  exalted  Redeemer,  at  the  right-hand  of  Omnipotence, 
and  sit  down  with  him  on  his  throne ;  there  they  shall  be  admitted  into  the  im- 
mediate presence  of  the  supreme  Fountain  of  life  and  happiness,  and,  beholdinfr  his 
face,  be  changed  into  the  same  image,  from  glory  to  glory. 

Here  language — here  imagination  fails  us !  It  requires  the  genius,  the  knowl- 
edge, the  pen  of  an  angel,  to  paint  the  happiness,  the  blissful  scene  of  the  New 
Jerusalem,  which  human  eyes  can  not  behold,  till^  this  mortal  body  shall  be  puri- 
fied from  its  corruption,  and  dressed  in  the  robes  of  immortality :  "  Eye  hath  not 
seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  hath  it  entered  into  the  heart  to  conceive,  the  joys 
which  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that  love  him." 

What  is  the  heaven  of  the  heathens  when  compared  with  the  heaven  of  the 
Christians  ?  The  hope,  the  prospect  of  this,  is  sufficient  to  reconcile  us  to  all  the 
difficulties  that  may  attend  our  progress,  sweeten  all  our  labors,  alleviate  every 
grief,  and  silence  every  murmur. 

But  why,  says  the  libertine  in  the  gayety  of  his  heart,  should  there  be  any  diffi- 
culties, or  restraint,  at  all  ?  God  hath  made  nothing  in  vain.  The  appetites  he 
hath  planted  in  the  human  breast  are  to  be  gratified.  To  deny  or  restrain  them, 
is  ignominious  bondage ;  but  to  give  full  scope  to  every  desire  and  passion  of  the 
heart,  without  check  or  control,  is  true  manly  freedom. 

In  opposition  to  this  loose  and  careless  way  of  reasoning,  let  it  be  considered, 
that  the  liberty  of  a  rational  creature  doth  not  consist  in  an  entire  exemption  from 
all  control,  but  in  following  the  dictates  of  reason,  as  the  governing  principle,  and 
in  keeping  the  various  passions  in  due  subordination.  To  follow  the  regular  notion 
of  those  affections  which  the  wise  Creator  hath  implanted  within  us,  is  our  duty; 
but  as  our  natural  desires,  in  this  state  of  trial,  are  often  irregular,  we  are  bound 
to  restrain  their  excesses,  and  not  indulge  them,  but  in  a  strict  subserviency  to  the 
integrity  and  peace  of  our  minds,  and  to  the  order  and  happiness  of  human  society 
established  in  the  world.  Those  who  allow  the  supreme  command  to  be  usurped 
by  sensual  and  brutal  appetites,  may  "promise  themselves  liberties,"  but  are  truly 
and  absolutely  the  "  servants  of  corruption."  To  be  vicious,  is  to  be  enslaved. 
We  behold  with  pity  those  miserable  objects  that  are  chained  in  the  galleys,  or 
confined  in  dark  prisons  and  loathsome  dungeons ;  but  how  much  more  abject 
and  vile  is  the  slavery  of  the  sinner  !  No  slavery  of  the  body  is  equal  to  the  bond- 
age of  the  mind ;  no  chains  press  so  closely,  or  gall  so  cruelly,  as  the  fetters  of 
sin,  which  corrode  the  very  substance  of  the  soul,  and  fret  every  faculty. 

It  must,  indeed,  be  confessed,  that  there  are  some  profligates,  so  hardened  by 
customs,  as  to  be  past  all  feeling ;  and,  because  insensible  of  their  bondage,  boast 
tf  this  msensibility  as  a  mark  of  their   native   freedom,  and  of  their   happiness. 


512  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

Vain  men  !     They  might  extol  with  equal  propriety  the  peculiar  happiness  ol  an 
apoplexy,  or  the  profound  tranquillity  of  a  lethargy. 

Thus  have  we  endeavored  to  place,  in  a  plain  and  conspicuous  light,  some  of 
the  peculiar  excellences  of  the  Christian  religion ;  and  hence  many  useful  reflec- 
tions will  naturally  arise  in  the  mind  of  every  attentive  reader.  It  is  the  religion  of 
Jesus  that  hath  removed  idolatry  and  superstition,  and  brought  immortality  lo  light, 
when  concealed  under  a  veil  of  darkness  almost  impenetrable.  This  hath  set  the 
great  truths  of  religion  in  a  clear  and  conspicuous  point  of  view,  and  proposed  new 
and  powerful  motives  to  influence  our  minds,  and  to  determine  our  conduct.  Noth- 
ing is  enjoined  to  be  believed  but  what  is  worthy  of  God,  nothing  to  be  practised 
but  Avhat  is  friendly  to  man.  All  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel  are  rational  and  con- 
sistent;  all  its  precepts  are  truly  wise,  just,  and  good.  The  gospel  contains  noth- 
ing grievous  to  an  ingenuous  mind ;  it  debars  us  from  nothing  but  doing  harm  to 
ourselves,  or  to  our  fellow-creatures;  and  permits  us  to  range  anywhere  but  in  the 
paths  of  danger  and  destruction.  It  only  requires  us  to  act  up  to  its  excellent  com- 
mands, and  to  prefer  to  tlie  vanishing  pleasure  of  sin,  the  smiles  of  a  reconciled 
God,  and  "an  eternal  weight  of  glory." 

Surely  no  man  who  is  a  real  friend  to  the  cause  of  virtue,  and  to  the  interest 
of  mankind,  can  ever  be  an  enemy  to  Christianity,  if  he  truly  understands  it,  and 
seriously  reflects  on  its  wise  and  useful  tendency.  It  conducteth  us  to  our  journey's 
end,  by  the  plainest  and  securest  path;  where  the  "steps  are  not  straitened,  and 
where  he  that  runneth  stumbleth  not." 

We  ought  daily  to  adore  the  God  of  nature  for  lighting  up  the  sun,  that  glorious, 
though  imperfect  image  of  his  own  unapproachable  lustre ;  and  appointing  it  lo  gild 
the  earth  with  its  various  rays,  to  cheer  us  with  its  benign  influence,  and  to  guide 
and  direct  us  in  our  journeys  and  our  labors.  But  how  incomparably  more  valuable 
is  that  "  day-spring  from  on  high  which  hath  visited  us,  to  give  light  to  them  that  sit 
in  darkness,  and  in  the  shadow  of  death,  and  to  guide  our  feel  into  the  way  of  peace  ?" 
Oh  Christians,  whose  eyes  are  so  happy  to  see,  and  your  ears  lo  hear,  what  abundant 
reason  have  you  to  give  daily  and  hourly  praise  to  your  beneficent  Creator  !  When, 
therefore,  your  ininds  are  delighted  with  contemplating  the  riches  of  the  gospel; 
when  you  reflect  (as  you  certainly  must  do)  with  wonder  and  joy  on  the  happy  means 
of  your  redemption  ;  when  you  feel  the  burden  of  your  guilt  removed,  the  freedom 
of  your  address  to  the  throne  of  grace  encouraged,  and  see  the  prospect  of  a  fair  in- 
heritance of  eternal  glory  opening  upon  you ;  then,  in  the  pleasing  transports  of  your 
souls,  borrow  the  joyful  anthem  of  the  psalmist,  and  say,  with  the  humblest  gratitude 
and  self-resignalion,  "God  is  the  Lord  who  showeth  us  light;  bind  the  sacrifice  with 
cords,  even  to  the  horns  of  the  altar."  Adore  "  God,  who  first  commanded  the  light 
to  shine  out  of  darkness,"  that  by  the  discoveries  of  his  word,  and  the  operations  of 
his  spirit,  he  hath  "  shined  in  your  hearts,  lo  give  you  the  knowledge  of  his  glory,  as 
reflected  from  the  face  of  his  Son." 

Let  us,  therefore,  who  live  under  the  gospel,  the  mosi  gracious  dispensation  be- 
stowed by  God  to  mankind,  "  count  all  things  but  loss,  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord;"  and  not  sufl'er  ourselves,  by  the  slight  cavils  of 
unbelievers,  to  he  "  moved  away  from  the  hope  of  the  gospel."  Let  us  demonstrate 
that  we  believe  the  superior  excellency  of  the  Christian  dispensation,  by  conforming 
to  its  precepts.  Let  us  show  that  we  are  Christians  in  deed  and  in  truth  ;  not  by 
endless  disputes  about  trifles,  and  the  transports  of  a  blind  zeal,  but  by  abounding  in 
those  "  iruits  of  righteousness,  which  are,  through  Christ,  to  the  praise  and  g-lory  of 
God." 

From  what  has  been  said,  we  may  clearly  perceive  how  groundless  all  those  pre- 
judices are  which  some  conceive  against  religion,  as  if  it  were  a  peevish,  morose 
thing,  burdensome  to  human  nature,  and  inconsistent  with  the  true  enjoyment  of  life. 
Such  sentiments  are  too  apt  to  prevail  in  the  heat  of  youth,  when  the  spirits  are  brisk 
and  lively,  and  the  passions  warm  and  impetuous ;  but  it  is  wholly  a  mistake,  and  a 
mistake  of  the  most  dangerous  tendency.  The  truth  is,  there  is  no"  pleasure  like  that 
of  a  good  conscience;  no  real  peace  but  what  results  from  a  sense  of  the  Divine  favor. 
This  enables  the  mind,  and  can  alone  support  it  under  all  the  various  and  unequal 
scenes  of  the  present  state  of  trial.  This  lays  a  sure  foundation  of  an  easv,  comfort- 
able life,  of  a  serene,  peaceful  death,  and  of  eternal  jov  and  liap))iness  hereafier: 
whereas  vice  is  ruinous  to  all  our  most  valuable  interests;  spoils  the  native  beauty. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


513 


and  subverts  the  order  of  the  soul ;  renders  us  the  scorn  of  man,  the  rejected  of  God, 
and,  without  timely  repentance,  will  rob  us  of  a  happy  eternity.  Religion  is  the 
health,  the  liberty,  and  the  happiness  of  the  soul ;  siu  is  the  disease,  the  servitude, 
and  destruction  of  il. — It  will  perhaps  be  said,  that  the  sons  of  vice  and  riot  have 
pleasure  in  sensual  indulgences.  This  we  allow;  but  must  observe,  that  it  is  alto- 
gether of  the  lowest  kind — empty,  fleeting,  and  transient ;  "  like  the  crackling  of  thorns 
under  a  pot,  so  is  the  mirth  of  the  wicked."  It  makes  a  noise  and  a  blaze  for  the 
present,  but  soon  vanishes  away  into  smoke  and  vapor. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  pleasure  of  religion  is  solid  and  lasting,  and  will  attend  us 
through  all,  even  the  last  stages  of  life.  When  we  have  passed  the  levity  of  youth, 
and  have  lost  all  relish  for  gay  entertainments ;  when  old  age  steals  upon  us,  and 
stoops  toward  the  grave,  this  will  cleave  fast  to  us,  and  give  us  relief 

Clad  in  this  immortal  robe,  we  need  not  fear  the  awful  summons  of  the  king  of 
terrors,  nor  regret  our  retiring  into  the  chambers  of  the  dust.  Our  immortal  part  will 
wing  its  way  to  the  arms  of  its  Redeemer,  and  find  rest  in  the  heavenly  mansions. 
And  though  our  earthly  part,  this  tabernacle  of  clay,  returns  to  its  original  dust,  and 
IS  dissolved,— our  joy,  our  consolation,  our  confidence  is,  that  "  we  have  a  building 
of  God,  a  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens." 

Such  will  be  the  happy  consequences  attendant  on  ail  those  who  strictly  adhere  to 
the  Christian  religion,  and  diligently,  through  the  course  of  their  lives,  follow  the 
precepts  laid  down  by  their  divine  Master,  the  great  Saviour  and  Redeemer  of  the 
world. 


MIRACLES,  PARABLES,  AND  DISCOURSES  OF  JESU?. 

Our  Saviour's  miracles  were  exceedingly  numerous,  various,  and  benevolent,  m 
their  character,  but  only  a  very  small  number  of  them  are  specifically  mentioned. 
The  following  is,  therefore,  only  a  list  of  those  more  particularly  noted  of  the  mira- 
cles of  Christ : — 


MIRACLES. 


Water  turned  into  wine        .... 
The  Capernaum  nobleman's  son  cured 
Surprising  drauglit  of  fishes 

Demoniac  cured 

Peter's  mother-in-law  healed 

Leper  healed 

Centurion's  servant  healed  .... 
Widow's  son  raised  from  the  dead.  . 

Tempest  calmed 

Demoniacs  of  Gadara  cured    .        .        ,        . 
Man  sick  of  the  palsy  cured 
Jarius's  daughter  raised  to  life         .        .        . 
Sight  restored  to  two  blind  men  . 

Dumb  demoniac  cured 

Woman  diseased  with  issue  of  bloodhealed 
Diseased  cripple  at  Bethesda  cured 
Man  with  a  withered  hand  cured 

Demoniac  cured 

Five  thousand  fed 

Canaanite  woman's  daughter  cured       .        , 
Man  deaf  and  dumb  cured     .... 

Four  thousand  fed 

Blind  man  restored  to  sight .... 
Boy  possessed  of  a  devil  cured 
Man  born  blind  restored  to  sight  . 
Woman  of  eighteen  years'  infirmity  cured     , 
Dropsical  man  cured     .        .  .        . 

Ten  lepers  cleansed 

Lazarus  raised  from  the  grave  to  life   . 
Two  blind  men  restored  to  sight    . 

Fig-tree  blasted 

The  ear  of  Malchus  healed       .        .        .        , 
Wondrous  draught  of  fishes    .        .        .        , 


PLACES. 


Cana.  .  .  . 
Cana  .  .  .  . 
Sea  of  Galilee. 
Capernaum  . 
Capernaum.  . 
Capernaum  .  . 
Capernaum.  . 
Nain  .  .  .  . 
Sea  of  Galilee. 
Gadara  .  .  . 
Capernaum.  . 
Capernaum  .  . 
Capernaum.  . 
Capernaum  .  . 
Capernaum.  . 
Jerusalem  .  . 
Judea  .  .  .  . 
Capernaum  .  . 
Decapolis  .  . 
Near  Tyre  .  . 
Decapolis  .  . 
Decapolis  .  .  . 
Bethsaida  .  . 
Tabor  .  .  .  . 
Jerusalem  .  . 
Galilee  .  .  . 
Galilee  .  .  . 
Samaria  .  .  . 
Bethany .  .  , 
Jericho  .  .  . 
Olivet  .  .  .  . 
Gethsemane 
Sea  of  Galilee. 


RECORD. 


John  ii.  1-11. 
John  IV.  46-54. 
Luke  V.  1-11. 
Mark  i.  22-28. 
Mark  i.  30,  31. 
Mark  i.  40-45. 
Matt.  viii.  5-13. 
Luke  vii.  11-17. 
Matt.  viii.  23-27. 
Matt.  viii.  28-34. 
Matt.  ix.  1-8. 
Matt.  ix.  16-26. 
Matt.  ix.  27-31. 
Matt.  ix.  32,  33. 
Luke  viii.  43-48. 
John  V.  1-9. 
Matt.  xii.  10-13. 
Matt.  xii.  22.  23. 
Matt.  xiv.  15.-21. 
Matt.  XV.  23-28. 
Mark  vii.  31-37. 
Matt,  XV   32-39. 
Mark  viii    22-26 
Matt.  xvii.  14-21 
John  ix. 

Luke  xiii.  11-17 
Luke  xiv.  1-6 
Luke  xvii    11-19. 
John  xi. 

Matt  XX.  30-34 
Ma^tt  xxi.  18-21. 
Luke  xxii.  .59-51. 
John  xxi.  1-14. 


Parable,  a  comparison  or  similitude,  ingeniously  and  impressively  representing 
moral  or  religious  truth  (Matt.  xiii.  3,  10,  18,  23).  Jothain's  parable  is  the  most  an- 
cient on  record  (Judg.  ix.  7-15).  Our  Saviour's  parables  are  most  instructive  (Matt, 
xiii.  53,  54) ;  and  the  following  are  the  principal  recorded : — 


514 


A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 


SUBJECT    OF    PA.BABLE 


Buildingr  on  rock  and  sand 

Blind  leading  the  blind 

Two  debtors     . 

Evil  spirit  returning  . 

Sower  and  the  seed 

Tares  in  the  tield 

Growth  of  seed 

Grain  of  mustard-seed 

Leaven  in  meal 

Treasure  hid  in  the  field 

Pearl  of  great  price 

Net  cast  into  the  sea 

t;ood  householder    . 

Wlio  need  a  physician 

Bridegroom's  attendants 

New  cloth  on  an  old  garment    . 

Now  wine  in  old  bottles 

iiread  of  life        .... 

What  defiles  a  man 

Lost  sheep 

The  lord  and  unmerciful  servant 
Good  Samaritan 

Rich  fool 

Lord  and  his  servants 

Barren  fig-tree 

Ainbitious  guests 

Great  supper .  . 

Haling  father  and  mother 

Building  a  tower 

King  going  to  war 

Lost  sheep,  with  additions 

Lost  piece  of  silver    . 

Prodigal  son     .... 

Unjust  steward  .... 

Rich  man  and  Lazarus   . 

Master  and  servant    . 

Unjust  judge  and  widow 

Pharisee  and  publican 

Sheepfold  .... 

Good  shepherd    .... 

Laborers  in  the  vineyard 

Ten  pounds  for  trading 

Two   sons        .... 

Husbandmen  and  vineyard 

Haughty  builders    . 

Marriage  feast     .... 

Wedding  garment    . 

Budding  of  trees 

Wicked  servant 

Ten  virgins 

Talents  for  trading 

Sheep  and   goats 

True  vine        .... 


PLACE. 


Galilee 
Galilee  . 
Galilee 
Galilee  . 
Galilee     . 
Galilee  . 
Gahlee 
Galilee  . 
Galilee     . 
Gaillee  . 
Galilee 
Galilee  . 
Galilee     . 
Galilee  . 
Galilee 
Galilee  . 
GaUlee 
Galilee  . 
Galilee     . 
Galilee  . 
Galilee 
Jerusalem 
Galilee     . 
Galilee  . 
Galilee 
Galilee  . 
Gahlee     . 
Gahlee  . 
Galilee     . 
Galilee 
Galilee     . 
Galilee  . 
Galilee     . 
Galilee  . 
Galilee 
Galilee  . 
Jerusalem 
Jerusalem 
Jerusalem 
Jerusalem 
Beyond  Jordan 
Jericho  . 
Jerusalem 
Jerusalem 
Jerusalem 
Jerusalem 
Jerusalem 
Jerusalem 
Jerusalem 
Jerusalem 
Jerusalem 
Jerusalem 
Jerusalem 


RECOKD. 


Matt.  vii.  24. 
Luke  vi.  39. 

—  vii.  41. 
Matt,  xii.43 

—  xiii.  3. 

—  —     25. 
Mark  iv  2fi. 
Matt.  xiii.  31. 

—  —    33. 

—  —    44. 

—  —    45. 

—  —  52! 

—  ix.  12. 

—  —  15. 

—  —  16. 

John  vi.  32. 
Matt.  XV.  11. 

—  xviii.  12. 

—  —     23. 
Luke  X.  30. 

—  .xii.  16. 

—  —    36. 

—  xiii. 

—  XIV. 


fi. 


—  "—  16. 

—  —  26. 

—  —  2S. 

—  —  31. 

—  XV.  3. 


—  —     11. 

—  xvi.    1. 

—  —     19. 

—  xvii.  7. 

—  xviii.  1. 

—  —   9. 
John  X.  I. 

—  —  11 
Matt.  XX.  1 
Luke  xix.  11. 
Matt.  xxi.  28. 

—  —    33. 

—  —    42 

—  xxii.  I. 

—  —    11. 

—  —    29. 

—  xxiv.  44. 

—  XXV.      1. 

—  —     14. 

—  —    31. 
John  XV.  1. 


The  following  list  of  the  remarkable  discourses  of  Christ  will  illustrate  his  wisdom 
and  his  doctrine : — 


DISCOURSES 


Conversation  with  Nicodemus  

the  Samaritan  woman 

Discourse  in  the  synagogue , 

Sermon  on  the  mount .     . 

Ordination  charge  to  the  apostles 

Derninciations  against  Choraziu  

Discourse  concerning  healing  t!ie  infirui  man  at  Bethesda 

— — on  his  disciples  plu-king  ears  of  corn  on  the  sahbath     . 

Refutation  of  charge  of  working  miracles  by  agency  of  Beelzebub 

Discourse  on  the  bread  of  life 

concerning  internal  jmrity  . 

against  giving  or  taking  offence  and  forgiving  of  injuries 

at  the  feast  of  tabernacles  . 

— — on  occasion  of  the  adulteress 

concerning  the  sheep  . 

Denunciation  against  the  scribes  and  Pharisees 
Discourse  on  humility  and  prudence   . 
Directions  how  to  attain  heaven 
Discourse  on  the  sufferings  of  Christ 
Denunciations  against  the  Pharisees 
Predictions  of  the  ruin  of  Jerusalem 
Discourse  of  consolation  . 

on  the  way  to  Gethsemane 


-with  Peter  after  his  resurrection 
-with  his  disciples  before  his  ascension 


PLACE. 


Jerusalem  .     . 

Sychar     .     .  . 

Nazareth ,   .     . 

Near  Nazareth 

Galilee   .     .     . 

Galilee     .     .  . 

Jerusalem  .     . 

Judea  .     . 

Capernaum 

Capernaum 

Capernaum 

Caiiernaum 

Jerusalem 

Jerusalem 

Jerusalem 

Per.-ea 

Galilee     . 

Pera;a     . 

Jerusalem 

Jerusalem 

Jerusalem 

Jerusalem 

Jerusalem 

Galilee 

Mount  Olivet 


RECORD. 


John  iii.  1-21. 
John  iv.  1-42. 
Lukeiv.  16-31. 
Matt,  v.,  vi.,  vii. 
Matt.  X. 
Matt.  xi.  20-24. 
John  V. 
Matt.  xii.  1-8. 
Matt.  xii.  22-37. 
John  vi. 
Matt.  XV.  1-20. 
Matt,  xviii. 
John  vii. 
John  viii.  1-11. 
John  X. 

Luke  xi.  37-45. 
Luke  xiv.  7-14. 
Matt.  xix.  16-30. 
'Matt.  .XX.  17-19. 
Matt,  xxiii. 
Matt.  xxiv. 
John  xiv-xvi.    . 
Matt,  xxvi.  31-36. 
John  xxi.  5-32. 
Luke  xxiv.  50-53 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


515 


D16  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 


CHAPTER   V. 

FROM  THE  ASCENSION  OF  OUR  BLESSED  LORD  INTO  HEAVEN  TO  THE  FTTLL  ESTABLISHMENT 
OF  CHRISTIANITY  BY  HIS  APOSTLES,  AND    OTHER  PROPAGATORS  OF  HIS  GOSPEL. 

The  blessed  Saviour  of  the  world  having  fulfilled  all  things  prophesied  of  his  mis 
sion  here  on  earth,  and  having,  in  a  most  solemn  manner,  taken  leave  of  his  disciples, 
visibly  retired  before  their  eyes  to  eternal  rest  in  his  Father's  kingdom.  With  hearts 
full  of  grief  and  admiration  they  deplored  the  loss  of  the  presence  of  their  dear-loved 
Lord  :  and,  with  longing  eyes,  paid  their  last  attendance  till  he  disappeared.  They 
continued,  for  some  time,  fondly  looking  toward  the  place  where  their  Lord  was 
gone,  till  at  length  two  angels  in  the  shape  of  men,  and  gloriously  apparelled,  ap- 
peared before  them,  and  delivered  a  message  of  consolation  to  this  effect:  "  Forbear, 
O  Galileans,  your  further  admiration  :  your  gracious  Lord,  whom  even  now  you  be- 
held ascending  to  heaven,  shall  one  day  come  to  judge  the  world  in  as  glorious  a 
manner  as  he  now  departed  from  you.  He  hath  not  absolutely  left  you,  but  is  gone 
to  take  possession  of  that  kingdom  which  he  will  continue  to  govern  to  the  end  of 
the  world." 

The  apostles  and  disciples  of  our  Lord  (among  whom  was  Mary  the  mother  of 
Jesus,  and  some  other  pious  Avomen  who  had  attended  him  in  his  ministry)  being 
greatly  comforted  by  this  divine  message,  immediately  returned  to  Jerusalem,  where 
they  spent  their  lime  in  acts  of  religious  worship,  assembling  daily  in  a  certain  upper 
room,  which  they  had  made  choice  of  for  that  purpose. 

Peter  had  thought  it  necessary  that  a  proper  person  should  be  chosen  to  supply  the 
place  of  the  perfidious  Judas,  that  the  number  of  the  apostles  might  be  twelve,  as 
was  originally  appointed  by  their  Master.  To  effect  this,  in  one  of  their  assemblies 
(which  consisted  of  one  hundred  and  twenty)  Peter  addressed  himself  to  his  fellow- 
apostles  in  a  speech  which  he  had  made  for  the  purpose,  the  substance  of  which  was 
to  this  effect :  "  Ye  know,  brethren,  what  the  royal  prophet  David  (Psal.  xli.  9)  fore- 
told, and  which  has  been  punctually  fulfilled,  concerning  Judas,  who  was  of  our 
society,  a  fellow-disciple,  and  an  apostle  chosen  with  us.  For  a  sum  of  money  he 
betrayed  his  Master  to  his  enemies,  after  which,  being  troubled  for  what  he  had 
done,  he  returned  the  money  to  the  priest,  who,  not  daring  to  put  it  into  the  treasury, 
bought  a  field  with  it  for  the  interment  of  strangers.  This  fact,  and  the  fate  of  Judas, 
were  universally  known  to  all  that  dwelt  in  Jerusalem,  and  therefore  the  field  that 
was  bought  with  that  money  was  vulgarly  known  by  the  name  of  the  Field  of  Blood. 
To  Judas,  therefore,  belongs  that  which  is  mentioned  by  the  holy  psalmist  (Psal. 
Ixix.  25,  and  cix.  8),  not  by  way  of  execration,  but  of  prediction :  that,  as  he  should  come 
to  a  desperate  miserable  end,  so  the  office  which  he  had  held  with  the  rest  of  the  twelve, 
should  be  bestowed  on  another.  It  is  then  our  duty,  according  to  this  prophecy,  to 
make  choice  of  some  one  of  these  persons  that  are  present  (and  who  have  continued 
with  us  ever  since  our  Lord  undertook  the  charge  and  care  of  us,  till  his  ascension 
into  heaven)  that  he  may  succeed  Judas  in  the  apostleship." 

The  proposition  made  by  Peter  was  unanimously  approved  of  by  the  assembly; 
upon  which  two  candidates  were  immediately  nominated,  namely,  Jonas,  surnamed 
Barnabas,  and  Matthias,  one  of  the  seventy  disciples.  The  choice  of  one  of  these 
two  was  to  be  determined  by  lot,  previous  to  which  the  apostles  solemnly  invoked 
the  divine  direction  in  the  following  words:  "Thou,  Lord,  which  knowest  the  hearts 
of  all  men,  show  whether  of  thoee  two  thou  hast  chosen,  that  he  may  take  part  of 
this  ministry  and  apostleship,  from  which  Judas,  by  transgression,  fell"  (Acts  i.  24, 
25).  Having  said  this,  they  proceeded  to  draw  lots,  which  happening  to  fall  on 
Matthias,  he  was  accordingly  elected  into  the  number  of  the  twelve  apostles. 

The  number  of  the  apostJes  being  now  complete,  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,*  they 

*  This  word  is  derived  from  the  Creek,  and  signifies  the  fiftieth,  because  tlie  feast  of  Pentecost  was 
celebrated  lUc  fiftieth  day  after  the  sixteenth  of  the  montli  Nisan,  which  was  the  second  day  of  the  feast 
of  tlie  Passover  iLevit.  xxiii.  15,  16).  And  for  the  same  reason  it  is  called  the  past  of  Weeks,  because  it 
was  observed  seven  weeks  after  tlie  Passover  (Ucut.  xvi.  9).  It  was  at  first  instituted  in  order  to  oblige 
the  Jews  to  repair  to  the  temple  of  the  Lord,  there  to  acknowledge  liis  dominion  and  sovereignty  over  all 
their  labors,  and  there  to  render  thanks  to  him  for  the  law,  winch  he  gave  them  on  the  fiftieth  day  after 
their  de[)arlure  out  of  Egypt.  In  like  manner,  the  Christian  Church  celebrates  the  feast  of  Pentecost  fifty 
days,  or  seven  weeks,  after  the  Passover,  or  resurrection  of  our  blessed  Saviour,  to  put  us  in  remembran'^e. 
that  the  (lift.!  nf  the  Spirit  were  then  poured  out  in  a  plentiful  manner,  as  the  fust-fruits  of  our  Saviour's 
ascpnsK-i  ill* ,  iv  »ven,  and  that  the  Gospel  began  to  be  published  by  the  apostles  on  the  like  day  that  ths 
ancient  /-aw  v  a  -iven  to  the  Hebrews. 


fflSTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  517 

all  assembled  together  at  their  accustomed  place,  in  order  to  perform  their  religious 
duties.  While  they  were  thus  employed,  a  prodigious  noise  (much  like  the  rushing 
of  a  loud  impetuous  wind)  suddenly  filled  all  the  house  in  wnich  they  were,  and  a 
kind  of  fiery  vapor,  or  exhalation,  formed  in  the  figure  of  a  man's  tongue,  but  divided 
a  little  at  the  tip,  sat  on  the  head  of  each ;  whereupon  they  were  all  immediately 
filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and,  by  its  divine  inspiration,  were  enabled  to  speak  in 
several  different  languages. 

At  this  time  there  were  at  Jerusalem  many  Jews  and  proselytes,  who  had  come 
thither  from  different  parts  of  the  world,  to  the  celebration  of  the  feast.  When  these, 
therefore,  were  informed  of  the  great  miracle  which  had  taken  place  with  the  apos- 
tles, and  were  convinced  of  the  truth  of  it  by  hearing  them  speak  the  languages  of 
their  respective  countries,  they  were  greatly  astonished,  and  knew  not  what  to  make 
of  so  singular  an  event.  Some  of  them  argued  among  themselves  to  this  effect : 
"  How  have  these  men,  who  are  natives  of  Galilee,  and  have  continued  all  their  lives 
there,  acquired  this  knowledge?  For  in  our  respective  languages  we  hear  them 
preaching  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  and  the  wonderful  things  God  hath  wrought  by 
him.  This  certainly  must  imply  something  of  very  great  moment."  But  others 
were  of  a  different  opinion,  and,  in  a  scoffing  manner,  ridiculed  the  miracle,  attribut- 
ing the  powers  possessed  by  the  apostles  to  arise  from  inebriation :  "  These  men," 
said  they,  "are  full  of  new  Avine." 

To  destroy  this  calumny,  and  to  open  the  eyes  of  the  yet-deluded  and  perverse 
Jews,  Peter,  in  the  name  of  the  rest,  addressed  the  multitude  in  a  most  admirable 
speech,  the  substance  of  which  was  to  the  following  effect:  "  Ye  men  of  Judea,  and 
all  that  at  this  time  see  and  hear  what  the  Lord  haih  done,  be  assured  these  things 
are  not  the  effect  of  wine :  ye  know  in  your  consciences  it  can  not  be  so,  since  it  is 
but  the  third  hour  of  the  day.*  But  this  is  the  completion  of  a  famous  prophecy  of 
Joel,  who  saith.  In  the  last  days  I  will  pour  out  my  spirit  upon  all  flesh ;  yoar  sons 
and  your  daughters  shall  prophesy,  your  young  men  shall  see  visions,  and  your  old 
men  shall  dream  dreams.  (See  Joel  ii.  28.)  All  ranks  and  qualities  of  men  shall  re- 
ceive the  effusion  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  those  who  were  never  brought  up  in  the 
schools  of  the  prophets,  shall  be  enabled  to  preach  the  gospel  of  Christ  wherever  they 
go.  And  after  that  there  shall  be  fearful  and  astonishing  sights  and  prodigies,  and 
many  great  slaughters  in  Judea,  as  forerunners  and  prognostics  of  the  destruction 
which  shall  befall  this  people  for  their  crucifying  Christ,  and  from  which  the  only  way 
to  rescue  yourselves  is,  to  repent  and  acknowledge  him,  which  is  the  design  of  this 
miraculous  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Observe  and  attend,  ye  men  of  Israel,  for 
you  are  chiefly  concerned  in  this  great  affair.  This  Jesus  of  Nazareth  being  demon- 
strated to  be  sent  from  God  by  the  mighty  works  he  did  among  you,  all  which  you 
know  to  be  true;  him,  I  say,  being  permitted  to  fall  into  your  hands,  you  apprehended 
and  barbarously  crucified ;  him,  whom  God,  by  his  determinate  council,  had  given  to 
retrieve  you  from  your  lost  condition,  ye,  with  profane  hands,  have  slain.  This  same 
Jesus,  whom  ye  thus  treated,  hath  God  raised  again,  delivering  him  from  the  power 
of  death;  and,  besides  many  other  things,  the  prophecies  concerning  him  required 
that  he  should  not  long  lie  under  death.  Hear  what  David  the  royal  psalmist  says: 
I  have  set  the  Lord  always  before  me  ;  because  he  is  at  my  right  hand,  I  shall  not 
be  moved.  Therefore  my  heart  is  glad,  and  my  glory  rejoiceth;  my  flesh  also  shall 
rest  in  hope.  For  thou  wilt  not  leave  my  soul  in  hell,  neither  wilt  thou  suffer  thine 
holy  one  to  see  corruption.  Thou  wilt  show  me  the  path  of  life ;  in  thy  preseree  is 
fulness  of  joy,  at  thy  right  hand  there  are  pleasures  for  evermore.  Give  me  leave, 
brethren,  to  speak  freely  concerning  David,  who  thus  prophesied.  He  died  like  other 
men,  had  a  solemn  interment,  and  we  have  his  monument  this  day  to  show,  and 
whence  he  never  arose.  Therefore,  he  spake  not  of  himself,  but  by  way  of  prediction 
of  the  Messiah,  whom  he  knew  would  infallibly  spring  from  his  loins,  and  be  a  prince 
and  ruler  of  his  church.  These  words  of  his  were  prophetic,  and  literally  verified  in 
the  resurrection  of  Jesus,  whose  soul  did  not  continue  so  long  in  a  state  of  separation 
as  that  his  body  should  be  corrupted;  and  accordingly  God  raised  him  up  in  three 
days,  of  which  all  we  apostles  were  eye-witnesses.  He  having,  therefore,  assumed 
his  regal  state  and  office  in  heaven,  and  God  having  given  him  power  to  send  the 
Holy  Ghost,  he  hath  now  punctually  fulfilled  his  promise  in  sending  it  on  us  in  the 

*  That  is,  nine  o'clock,  the  time  of  morning  prayers,  to  which  the  Jews  generally  went  fasting. 

33 


518  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

most  extensive  manner ;  one  great  effect  of  which  yourselves  can  testify,  by  having 
heard  us  speak  languages  vi^hich,  a  short  time  before,  we  did  not  understand.  This 
great  and  important  truth,  therefore,  I  now  proclaim  to  you,  that  God  the  Father  hath 
raised  up  that  Christ,  whom  ye  Jews  have  crucified,  and  that  he  now  sits  on  the  right 
hand  of  him  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

This  speech,  or  rather  sermon,  of  Peter's,  so  wrought  upon  the  minds  of  the  people, 
that  they  called  out  most  passionately  to  him,  and  the  rest  of  the  apostles,  request- 
ing their  advice  what  measures  they  should  pursue,  in  order  to  shake  off  that  guih 
with  which  they  had  been  so  long  loaded.  Peter  readily  complied  with  their  request, 
and  in  a  most  tender  and  affectionate  address,  told  them,  that  in  order  to  lay  aside 
iheir  infidelity,  they  must,  with  true  contrition,  acknowledge  their  sins,  enter  upoa 
the  Christian  profession  with  a  firm  resolution  of  never  falling  from  it ;  and  that  they 
must  receive  baptism  from  the  apostles,  who  were  thereby  empowered  to  convey  re- 
mission of  sins  to  all  true  penitents.  "  Repent  and  be  baptized  every  one  of  you  in 
the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  for  the  remission  of  sins,  and  ye  shall  receive  the  gift  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  For  the  promise  is  unto  you  and  to  your  children,  and  to  all  that  are 
afar  off,  even  as  many  as  the  Lord  our  God  shall  call."     (Acts  ii.  38,  39.) 

In  consequence  of  this  affectionate  address,  those  who  were  really  touched  with 
what  Peter  had  said  immediately  renounced  their  former  course  of  life,  and  proved 
the  sincerity  of  their  hearts  by  receiving  baptism.  On  that  day  about  three  thousand 
people  were  converted  to  the  faith  of  Christ,  who  continued  assiduous  in  hearing  the 
apostles  teach,  and  in  bringing  their  goods  liberally  for  the  relief  of  the  distressed. 
Nor  were  the  converts  only  impressed  with  fear  and  reverence,  but  a  general  surprise 
took  place  among  all  that  saw  these  strange  and  early  operations  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
which  were  still  farther  confirmed  by  several  miracles  performed  by  the  apostles. 

The  gospel  thus  gaining  ground,  those  that  received  it  assembled  together  for  the 
service  of  God,  constantly  observing  the  times  of  public  prayers,  and  receiving  the 
sacrament  of  the  Lord's  supper ;  they  distributed  to  the  necessities  of  the  poorer  sort 
as  freely  as  God  had  given  them  ability,  spending  their  time  in  acts  of  devotion  and 
charity,  and  exercising  works  of  mercy  to  all.  By  the  pious  examples  of  these  many 
others  were  induced  to  join  them,  which  gave  the  apostles  a  fruitful  harvest  of  their 
ministry,  and  by  their  repeated  exhortations,  others  were  daily  rescued  from  the 
wicked  and  dangerous  converse  of  the  perverse  Jews,  and  heartily  embraced  the  doc- 
trine of  Christ. 

After  this  wonderlul  reformation  among  the  people  in  consequence  of  Peter's  dis- 
courses, that  apostle,  accompanied  by  John,  went  one  day  to  the  temple  about  three 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  which  was  one  of  the  times  generally  set  apart  for  prayer. 
As  they  entered  in  at  the  gate  of  the  temple  toward  the  east  in  Solomon's  porch, 
which  was  called  the  beauliful  gate,  they  saw  a  poor  cripple,  who  had  been  lame  from 
his  birth,  lying  there,  and  begging  alms  of  those  who  passed  him.  As  soon  as  the 
cripple  saw  Peter  and  John,  he  looked  up  in  their  faces  and  earnestly  begged  charity 
of  them ;  upon  which  Peter,  lookmg  steadfastly  at  him,  said,  "  Silver  and  gold  have 
I  none,  but  such  as  I  have  give  I  thee;  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth,  rise 
up  and  walk."  No  sooner  were  these  words  spoken  than  the  poor  cripple  was  made 
whole.  His  joints  became  straight  and  his  nerves  strong,  so  that  he  went  with  the 
apostles  into  the  temple,  "  walking,  and  leaping,  and  praising  God." 

The  poor  man,  who  had  sat  daily,  for  a  long  time,  asking  alms  at  the  door  of  the 
temple,  was  universally  known  by  the  people,  who  seeing  him  walking  and  praising 
God,  were  amazed  at  the  greatness  of  the  cure ;  they  therefore  flocked  in  great  num- 
bers round  the  apostles,  by  whom  the  poor  man  kept  close,  being  unwilling  to  part 
with  those  from  whom  he  had  received  so  distinguished  a  benefit.  Peter,  observing 
the  astonishment  of  the  multitude,  and  thinking  it  a  convenient  opportunity  of  in- 
creasing ihe  number  of  his  followers,  addressed  himself  to  them  in  a  long  and  very 
pertinent  harangue,  the  substance  of  which  was  to  this  effect :  "  Ye  men  of  Israel, 
why  do  you  look  upon  this  cure  as  a  thing  strange?  Or  why  do  you  attribute  any- 
thing to  us  in  this  matter,  as  if  it  were  in  our  power  to  perform  so  great  a  miracle  ? 
The  God  of  our  fathers  gave  this  power  to  Jesus,  whom  you  delivered  to  Pilate  to  be 
crucified,  releasing  a  known  murderer  and  a  thief,  and  putting  to  death  him,  who 
came  to  give  life  to  the  world  ;  whom  God  hath  been  pleased  to  raise  fVom  the  dead, 
and  make  us  witnesses  thereof.  Be  assured,  it  is  by  belief  in  him  that  this  man  hath 
been  recovered  from  his  lameness.     The  man  you  all  well  know,  having,  for  many 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  519 

years,  seen  him  a  begging  cripple  ;  and  the  faith  we  have  in  the  power  of  him  on 
whom  we  believe,  halh  wrought  the  remarkable  cure  at  which  you  all  so  greatly 
wonder.  I  do  imagine,  brethren,  that  such  among  you  who  rejected  Christ  did  it 
through  ignorance,  not  knowing  him  to  be  the  Messiah  ;  and  that  the  like  was  the 
case  with  your  rulers.  ■  But  by  these  means  the  many  prophecies  in  the  scriptures, 
that  the  Messiah  should  be  put  to  death,  have  been  fulfilled.  Do  you,  therefore, 
amend  your  lives,  that  your  past  offences  may  be  pardoned,  and  that,  at  the  second 
coming  of  Christ  for  the  delivery  and  rescue  of  the  faithful,  you  may,  by  repentance, 
be  admitted  into  the  number  of  the  elect.  The  Christ  you  have  persecuted,  and  of 
whose  resurrection  we  have  been  eye-witnesses,  hath  now  entered  upon  his  sovereignty 
in  Heaven,  whereby  hath  been  fulfilled  all  the  prophecies  concerning  him,  particularly 
that  of  Moses,  who  truly  said  unto  the  fathers,  A  prophet  shall  the  Lord  your  God 
raise  up  unto  you  of  your  brethren,  like  unto  me,  and  him  shall  ye  hear  in  all  things 
whatsoever  he  shall  say  unto  you.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  every  soul  which 
shall  not  hear  that  prophet,  shall  be  destroyed  from  among  the  people.  And  not 
only  Moses,  but  all  the  prophets,  from  Samuel,  as  many  as  have  spoken,*  have  fore- 
told the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  with  the  destruction  of  those  who  should  reject,  and 
the  especial  mercies  to  them  that  should  believe  in  him.  Ye  are  the  particular  per- 
sons of  whom  the  prophets  foretold,  and  to  whom  the  promise  and  covenant  which 
God  made  with  Abraham  (that  in  his  seed  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  should  be 
blessed)  did  primarily  belong.  Ye  are  the  heirs  of  this  covenant,  and  God  hath  been 
pleased  to  make  the  first  overtures  of  mercy  to  you,  that  ye  might  receive  the  gospel 
of  his  beloved  Son,  and  repent  of  the  iniquities  which  ye  have  done  unto  him."  This 
was  the  purport  of  St.  Peter's  speech  on  this  occasion:  and  such  was  its  efficacy,  that 
it  converted  so  many  of  his  hearers,  as  to  make  the  whole  number  amount  to  no  less 
than  five  thousand. 

While  Peter  was  instructing  the  people,  "  the  captain  of  the  temple,"  at  the  insti- 
gation of  the  priests  and  Sadducees,  came  with  an  armed  force,  suddenly  seized  the 
two  apostles,  and  conducted  them  to  prison.  The  next  morning  the  great  sanhedrim 
met,  and  having  ordered  the  apostles  to  be  brought  before  them,  demanded  by  what 
power  they  had  wrought  that  miracle  upon  the  lame  man,  and  who  it  was  that  gave 
them  authority  to  preach  to  the  people  ?  In  answer  to  these  questions,  Peter,  being 
endued  with  an  extraordinary  presence  of  mind  and  elocution  of  tongue,  spoke  to  this 
effect :  "  Ye  rulers  of  the  people,  and  elders  of  Israel,  we  are  this  day  examined  be- 
fore you  concerning  an  action,  which  is  so  far  from  being  criminal,  that  it  is  an  act  of 
special  mercy.  Be  assured,  that  the  miraculous  cure  performed  on  the  lame  man 
was  wrought  by  no  other  means  than  by  invoking  the  name  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
whom  ye  crucified,  and  God  most  miraculously  raised  again.  This  is  he  that  was 
prophecied  of  under  the  title  of  a  refuse  stone,  rejected  by  you,  the  chief  of  the  Jews, 
and  treated  with  contempt ;  but  is  now,  by  his  resurrection,  enthroned  in  power,  and 
is  indeed  become  the  ruler  and  king  of  the  church,  the  prime  foundation-stone  of  the 
whole  fabric.  In  him  alone  must  salvation  now  be  hoped  for  by  all  ;  nor  can  ye 
expect  to  be  saved  unless  you  readily  receive  and  heartily  embrace  his  doctrine." 

The  council,  seeing  with  what  courage  and  freedom  of  speech  the  apostles  behaved 
themselves,  and  withal  considering  that  their  education  alone  could  not  have  raised 
them  above  the  capacity  of  other  men  (being  neither  skilled  in  the  learning  of  the 
Jews,  nor,  as  men  of  distinction,  instructed  in  their  laws),  they  were  greatly  aston- 
ished ;  and  still  more  so  when  they  recollected  that  the  two  apostles  were  of  those 
who  had  attended  Jesus  in  his  lifetime,  and  saw  the  man  on  whom  they  had  wrought 
the  miraculous  cure  stand  by  them  ready  to  attest  the  truth  of  it.  From  these  con- 
siderations, they  knew  not  for  some  time  how  to  act,  till  at  length  they  resolved  to 
hold  a  private  conference  among  themselves,  and  for  that  purpose  ordered  the  apos- 
tles to  withdraw.  As  soon  as  they  were  gone,  the  council  entered  into  debate  on  the 
subject,  arguing  with  one  another  to  this  effect:  "As  to  the  men,  we  have  nothing 
to  accuse  them  of;  for  that  they  have  performed  a  great  miracle  is  apparent  to  rhany, 
and  the  man  that  was  healed  is  a  living  witness  of  the  truth  of  it.     Since,  therefore, 

*  The  account  of  the  prophets  is  here  begun  from  Samuel,  because  the  schools  of  the  prophets  were  first 
instituted  and  erected  by  him  ;  and  not  that  there  was  no  prophet  before  him.  The  sons  of  the  prophets 
spent  tlie  greater  part  of  their  time  in  studying  the  law,  and  praising  and  serving  God,  and  some  were  sent 
on  messages  to  the  people  (for  all  were  not  called  to  the  prophetic  office)  and  therefore  it  is  added,  as  many 
as  have  spoken  ;  that  is,  as  many  out  of  the  schools  of  the  prophets  as  were  Divinely  called  to  the  prophetic 
office. 


b20  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

they  ]  ave  not  been  guilty  of  any  breach  of  our  laws,  to  prevent  their  further  seducing 
the  people  (who  are  too  apt  to  be  led  away  by  them)  we  will  call  them  m  and  forbid 
them,  upon  severe  penalties,  to  preach  Christ  and  his  gospel  any  more."  In  conse- 
quence of  this  resolution,  the  two  apostles  were  called  in,  and  commanded  not  to  talk 
privately  or  teach  publicly  anything  concerning  the  faith  of  Christ.  But  the  Chris- 
tian heroes,  whose  commission  was  from  a  higher  power  than  any  on  earth,  slighting 
this  interdict  and  all  their  threats,  made  answer,  "  That  since  they  had  received  a 
command  from  Heaven  to  declare  to  all  nations  what  they  had  heard  or  seen,  it  was 
certainly  their  duty  to  obey  God  rather  than  them."  This  was  a  fair  appeal  to  the 
consciences  of  their  very  judges ;  but  their  judges,  instead  of  being  satisfied  with  it, 
would  probably  have  proceeded  to  some  greater  violence,  had  not  the  people's  venera- 
tion for  the  apostles  put  a  restraint  upon  their  malice.  All,  therefore,  that  they  dared 
to  do  was  to  repeat  and  enforce  their  menaces;  having  done  which,  they  ordered 
them  to  be  discharged. 

As  soon  as  the  two  apostles  were  dismissed,  they  returned  with  great  joy  to  their 
brethren,  who  with  infinite  satisfaction  heard  the  report  of  all  that  had  passed.  They 
then  unanimously  glorified  God,  who  by  his  holy  prophet  David  had  foretold  what  was 
now  come  to  pass:  that  the  Jews  should  oppose  Christ,  say  false  things  of  him,  deny 
and  crucify  him  first,  and,  when  God  had  raised  him  from  the  dead,  oppose  the  preach- 
ing of  him  ;  that  the  princes  and  governors,  Herod  and  Pontius  Pilate,  should  combine 
against  him,  and  the  rulers  should,  in  council,  endeavor  to  suppress  the  propagation 
of  his  doctrine.  "And  now.  Lord,"  said  they,  "behold  their  threatenings,  and  grant 
unto  thy  servants  that  with  all  boldness  they  may  speak  thy  word,  by  stretching  forth 
thy  hand  to  heal,  and  that  signs  and  wonders  may  be  done  by  the  name  of  thy  holy 
child  Jesus."  No  sooner  had  they  concluded  their  prayer  than  the  house  in  which 
they  were  was  shaken  with  a  mighty  wind,  in  like  manner  as  it  had  been  before  on 
the  day  of  Pentecost ;  whereupon  they  were  instantly  replenished  with  fresh  measures 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and,  notwithstanding  all  the  threats  of  the  Jewish  rulers,  found 
themselves  invigorated  to  preach  the  gospel  of  Christ  Avith  more  boldness  and  reso- 
lution than  ever. 

The  charity  at  this  time  among  believers  was  very  large  and  extensive.  Such  as 
had  houses,  or  possessions  of  any  kind,  sold  them,  and  deposited  the  money  in  the 
hands  of  the  apostles,  to  be  by  them  distributed  in  due  proportions  according  to  the 
necessities  of  their  brethren.  This  a  certain  Levite  (a  native  of  Cyprus,  called  Joses, 
but  by  the  apostles  surnamed  Barnabas,  or  "  the  Son  of  Consolation")  did  with  great 
readiness  and  singleness  of  heart,  selling  the  estate  of  which  he  was  possessed,  and 
giving  the  whole  produce  to  the  apostles.  In  imitation  of  this  good  man,  one  Ana- 
nias, with  his  wife  Sapphira,  resolved  to  devote  all  they  had  to  ihe  service  of  the 
church ;  in  consequence  of  which  they  sold  their  estate  :  but  afterward  altering  their 
minds,  jointly  agreed  to  keep  some  part  of  the  money,  intending  thereby  to  impose  upon 
the  apostles.  Ananias  going  first  into  the  presence  of  the  apostles,  with  great  assurance 
and  seeming  cheerfulness,  produced  the  money  and  laid  it  at  their  feet.  But  Peter, 
who  by  Divine  inspiration  knew  the  cheat,  in  a  holy  indignation  and  abhorrence  of 
so  vile  an  act  of  sacrilege,  reprehended  him  in  words  to  this  effect :  "  How,  0  Ananias, 
hath  Satan  persuaded  thee  thus  to  attempt  to  deceive  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  purloining 
part  of  that  which  thou  hadst  consecrated  to  God's  service  and  the  use  of  his  church  ? 
Before  thy  land  was  sold,  was  it  not  wholly  thine  ?  And  when  it  was  sold,  didst 
thou  not  receive  the  full  price  for  it  ?  Was  it  not  then  in  thy  full  power  to  perform 
thy  vow  ?  Thy  iniquitous  conduct  in  concealing  a  part  of  the  money  is  not  only  an 
injury  to  the  church,  but  to  God,  who  knew  thy  private  vow,  that  it  was  consecrating 
of  all,  and  not  this  part  only  which  thou  hast  brought  to  us."  These  piercing  words, 
together  with  the  horrors  of  conscious  guilt,  so  impressed  the  mind  and  heart  of 
Ananias,  that  he  fell  down  dead  on  the  spot,  to  the  great  astonishment  and  terror  of 
all  present,  and  his  body  was  immediately  taken  away  for  interment.  About  thiee 
hours  after,  his  wife  Sapphira  Avent  to  the  assembly,  not  in  the  least  suspecting  what 
had  happened  to  her  sacrilegious  consort.  Peter  asked  her  whether  the  sum  wiiich 
her  husband  had  brought  was  the  whole  for  which  their  estate  was  sold.  To  this 
she  answered  in  the  affirmative  ;  upon  which  Peter  reprehended  her  in  words  to  tiiis 
effect:  "How  durst  you  both  combine  to  provoke  God,  to  try  whether  he  will  punish 
this  your  impious  fraud  or  nat?  That  you  may  see  how  highly  God  resents  yout 
sacrilegious  intentions,  behold  the  meu  are  coming  in  who  have  buried  your  deaJ 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  521 

nusband,  and  now  ihey  shall  do  as  much  for  you."  No  sooner  had  he  spoken  these 
words  than  Sapphira  fell  dead  at  his  feet,  and  the  same  persons  that  had  buried  Ana- 
nias carried  her  out  from  the  assembly,  and  laid  her  by  him.  These  remarkable 
instances  of  the  Divine  wrath  filled  all  the  converts  with  fear  and  trembling,  and 
prevented,  in  a  great  measure,  that  hypocrisy  and  dissimulation  by  which  others 
might  have  flattered  themselves  with  deceiving  the  church. 

Miracles  of  severity  were  not,  however,  much  practised  by  the  apostles.  Acts  of 
mercy  were  their  proper  province,  and  healing  the  diseased  and  freeing  the  possessed, 
a  great  part  of  their  employment.  In  the  execution  of  this  business  the  divine  power 
so  far  attended  them,  that  even  the  shadow  of  Peter  passing  by  cured  the  sick,  who, 
in  the  open  streets,  were  laid  on  beds  and  couches,  on  purpose  to  receive  the  benefit 
of  his  salutary  influence.  Nor  were  these  marvellous  cures  confined  to  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Jerusalem  only,  but  the  people  of  several  neighboring  towns  and  villages 
brought  thither  their  sick,  their  lame,  and  possessed,  all  of  whom  were,  by  the 
apostles,  relieved  from  their  respective  infirmities. 

The  fame  of  these  cures,  and  the  great  success  which  Christianity  gained  by  the 
miracles  and  preaching  nf  the  apostles,  reaching  the  ears  of  the  high-priest,  and  some 
others  of  the  Sanhedrim  (who  were  of  the  sect  of  the  Sadducees),  they  were  highly 
incensed  against  the  apostles,  and  therefore  caused  them  to  be  apprehended,  and 
thrown  into  the  common  prison.  But  that  very  night  they  were  released  from  their 
confinement.  The  prison-doors,  though  fastened  with  the  utmost  caution,  opened  of 
themselves  at  the  approach  of  a  messenger  from  the  courts  of  heaven,  who  com- 
manded the  apostles  to  leave  the  dungeon,  repair  to  the  temple,  and  preach  the  glad 
tidings  of  the  gospel  to  the  people. 

Early  the  next  morning  tiie  council  again  assembled,  and,  thinking  the  apostles 
were  in  safe  custody,  despatched  their  officers  to  the  prison,  witb  orders  to  bring  them 
immediately  before  them.  The  officers  accordingly  went  to  obey  their  orders,  but, 
behold,  when  they  came  to  the  prison,  they  could  not  find  the  apostles.  In  conse- 
quence of  this  they  returned  to  the  council,  telling  them,  that  the  doors  of  the  prison 
were  shut,  indeed,  and  the  keepers  all  upon  their  guard,  but  as  for  the  persons  whom 
they  were  sent  for,  there  was  not  one  of  them  to  be  found.  This  intelligence  greatly 
surprised  the  council,  who  wondered  how  it  could  be,  that,  the  prison  being  shut, 
and  the  guard  at  the  doors,  the  prisoners  should  escape.  But,  while  they  were  in 
this  state  of  perplexity,  a  messenger  arrived  with  news,  that  the  men,  whom  they 
had  the  night  before  committed  to  prison,  were  then  in  the  temple,  preaching  and  in- 
structing the  people.  In  consequence  of  this,  the  captain  of  the  guard,  with  some 
other  officers,  immediately  went  to  the  temple,  and  entreated  the  apostles  to  go  be- 
fore the  council,  not  daring  to  offer  any  violence  to  them,  for  fear  of  being  stoned  by 
the  people. 

As  soon  as  the  apostles  appeared  before  their  judges,  the  high-priest  demanded 
how  they  durst  presume  to  preach  a  doctrine,  which  so  lately  had  been  interdicted 
them.  To  which  Peter,  in  the  name  of  the  rest,  returned  them  an  answer  to  this 
efi'ect :  "  We  certainly  ought  to  obey  God  rather  than  man.  And  though  you  have 
so  barbarously  and  contumeliously  treated  the  blessed  Jesus,  yet  God  hath  raised  him 
up  to  be  a  prince  and  Saviour,  to  give  both  repentance  and  remission  of  sins.  And 
of  these  things  both  we,  and  the  miraculous  power  which  the  Holy  Ghost  hath  con- 
ferred on  all  Christians,  are  witnesses." 

This  answer  greatly  exasperated  the  council,  and  they  began  to  consult  among 
themselves  in  what  manner  they  should  punish  them.  Their  first  resolution  was,  to 
put  them  to  death,  but  this  was  over-ruled  by  the  wise  advice  of  a  certain  Pharisee, 
named  Gamaliel,  a  man  of  the  most  distinguished  reputation,  and  universally  respect- 
ed. After  ordering  the  apostles  to  withdraw,  he  advised  the  council  to  proceed  in 
the  affair  with  great  caution,  lest  bad  consequences  might  attend  their  resolutions.  He 
told  them  that  several  persons  had  formerly  raised  parties,  and  drawn  great  numbers 
of  people  after  them;  but  that  all  their  schemes  had  miscarried,  and  their  designs 
rendered  abortive,  without  the  interposition  of  that  court.  That  they  would,  there- 
fore, do  well  to  let  the  apostles  alone ;  for,  if  their  doctrines  and  designs  were  of 
human  invention,  they  would  come  to  nothing ;  but  if  they  were  of  God,  all  their 
powers  and  policies  would  be  of  none  effect,  and  sad  experience  would  too  soon  con- 
vince them  that  they  had  themselves  opposed  the  counsels  of  the  Most  High. 

This  speech  so  far  diverted  the  indignation  of  the  council,  that  they  changed  the 


522  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

sentence  (at  first  designed  against  the  apostles'  lives)  mto  a  corporal  punishment. 
They  therefore,  after  remanding  them  into  court,  ordered  them  to  be  mimediately 
scourged,  which  being  done,  they  strictly  charged  them  not  to  preach  any  more  in 
the  name  of  Jesus,  and,  with  this  charge,  gave  them  their  liberty. 

But  this  punishment  and  injunction  had  little  effect  on  the  disciples  of  the  blessed 
Jesus.  They  returned  home  in  triumph,  rejoicing  that  they  were  thought  worthy  to 
suffer  in.  St)  righteous  a  cause,  and  to  undergo  shame  and  reproach  fol-  so  kind  and 
powerful  a  Master.  Nor  could  all  the  opposition  of  man,  blended  with  the  malice 
oi'  the  power  of  darkness,  discourage  them  from  performing  their  duty  to  God,  or 
lessen  their  zeal  for  preaching,  both  in  public  and  private,  the  doctrine  of  the  gospel. 
The  great  increase  of  believers,  and  the  ready  access  to  the  common  fund  for  the 
relief  of  the  poor,  made  the  institution  of  another  order  of  men  in  the  Christian  church 
highly  necessary.  Among  the  great  number  of  converts  were  some  Jews,  who,  by 
having  been  long  in  foreign  countries,  had  disused  the  Hebrew,  and  spoke  only 
the  Grecian  tongue,  so  that  they  were  considered  by  the  common  Jews  as  if  they 
had  been  foreigners.  These  people  complained  to  the  apostles,  that,  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  charity-money,  an  undue  preference  was  given  to  the  Hebrew  widows, 
while  theirs  were  too  frequently  neglected.  In  consequence  of  this  complaint  the 
apostles  assembled  together  the  whole  multitude  of  their  disciples,  when  Peter,  in 
the  name  of  the  rest,  addressed  them  in  words  to  this  effect :  "  It  is  not  reasonable 
that  we  should  neglect  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  by  undertaking  the  care  of  look- 
ing after  the  poor.  Therefore,  brethren,  do  you  nominate  to  us  seven  men,  who 
have  shown  themselves  to  be  faithful,  trusty  persons,  eminent  among  you  for  wis- 
dom, and  other  good  gifts,  that  we  may  appoint  (that  is,  consecrate,  or  ordain)  to  the 
office  of  deacons  in  the  church,  and  intrust  them  with  the  care  of  distributing  to  those 
who  want  out  of  the  public  stock.  In  the  choice  of  these,  let  it  be  observed,  that 
they  be  person  well  versed  in  the  knowledge  of  divine  matters,  that  they  may  give 
assistance  to  us  occasionally  in  preaching  the  word,  and  receiving  proselytes  to  the 
faith,  by  baptism.  And  by  these  means  we  shall  be  less  interrupted  in  our  daily  em- 
ployment of  praying,  and  preaching  the  gospel." 

This  proposal  was  highly  satisfactory  to  the  whole  assembly,  who  immediately 
nominated  seven  persons,  namely,  Stephen,  Philip,  Prochorus,  Nicanor,  Timon,  Phar- 
menas,  and  Nicolas.  These  seven  they  presented  to  the  twelve  apostles,  who,  by 
prayer,  and  laying  their  hands  on  them,  ordained  them  to  the  office  of  deacons.*  Of 
these  seven,  the  most  eminent  for  the  gifts  and  graces  of  the  Holy  Spirit  was  Stephen. 
He  preached  the  gospel  with  a  noble  courage  and  resolution,  and  confirmed  it  with 
many  public  and  unquestionable  miracles  among  the  people,  insomuch,  that  by  his 
means  the  Christian  religion  gained  ground  abundantly.  Converts  came  in  apace ; 
and  great  numbers  of  the  priests  themselves  laid  aside  their  prejudices  and  embraced 
the  gospel. 

The  great  zeal  of  Stephen  for  propagating  the  gospel,  and  the  success  that  attended 
his  endeavors,  soon  awakened  the  malice  of  his  adversaries,  who  procured  some 
meraberst  of  the  most  learned  synagogues,  then  in  Jerusalem,  to  dispute  with  him. 

*  The  names  of  these  seven  deacons  are  all  of  Greek  extract,  whence  we  may  infer,  that,  very  prohably, 
they  were  all  natives  of  Greece,  and  that,  consequently,  by  their  designation,  the  cliurch  was  desirous  to 
give  full  satisfaction  to  the  complaint  of  those,  whose  widows  had  been  before  neglected.  Of  the  first  two 
of  tliese,  viz.,  Stepiien  and  Pliilip,  the  sacred  history  has  given  us  a  sufficient  account,  but  of  the  rest  we 
liave  notliing  certain,  except  we  will  admit  of  what  the  Latins  tell  us  of  Prochorus,  viz.,  that  on  the  9th  of 
August  he  suffered  martyrdom  at  Antioch,  after  having  made  himself  famous  for  his  miracles  :  of  Nicanor, 
that  on  the  10th  of  January  he  suffered  in  the  Isle  of  Cyprus,  after  having  given  great  demonstrations  of 
liis  faith  and  virtue:  of  Timon,  that  on  tlie  I'Jth  of  April,  he  was  first  tiirown  into  the  fire,  and,  when  he 
had  miraculously  escaped  thence,  he  was  fixed  upon  a  cross  at  Corinth :  of  Parmenas,  that  on  the  23d 
of  . January  he  suflfered  at  Piiilippi,  in  Macedonia:  and  of  Nicolas,  that,  either  by  design  or  indiscretion, 
he  gave  rise  to  the  infamous  sect  of  Nicolaitans,  and  therefore  no  Cliristian  church  has  ever  yet  paid  any 
honor  to  liis  memory. 

t  As  there  were  people  of  all  nations,  proselytes  to  the  Jewish  religion,  dwelling  at  Jerusalem,  it  is 
reasonable  to  imagine,  that  they  had  synagogues,  or  places  appointed  for  prayer,  for  hearing  the  law"  and 
pious  exiiortations  in  their  own  languages.  The  Jews  tell  us,  that  there  were  no  less  than  four  hundred 
and  eighty  of  these  in  Jerusalem,  wliich  were  so  many  inferior  churches,  and  subordinate  to  the  temple, 
as  their  cathedral.  These  synagogues  very  probably  were  built,  and  maintained  by  the  several  nations,  or 
degrees  of  people  that  resorted  to  them,  and  from  these  they  had  their  names,  as  the  syna^oo-ue  of  Liber- 
tines, tliat  is,  of  such  as  were  denizens  of  Rome,  of  the  Cyrenians,  the  Alexandrians  <fec.  Butlt  is  to  be  ob- 
served of  these  synagogues,  that  they  were  not  only  places  of  religious  worship,  but  a  sort  of  colleges  or 
schools  Hkewise,  where  persons  were  instructed  in  tlie  law  and  traditions  of  the  Jews.  The  Jews  at  tliis 
time  were  dispersed  in  several  foreign  parts,  and  from  these  they  sent  tlieir  youth  to  Jerusalem  to  be  edu- 
cated in  tlie  synagogue,  or  college,  peculiar  to  their  respective  countries,  St,  Paul  was  of  the  province  of 
Cilicia,  and,  as  it  is  reasonable  to  tliink  that  he  studied  in  a  college,  either  belonging  to  the  country  whero 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  523 

But  when  they  found  their  disputants  baffled,  and  unable  to  withstand  the  force  of  those 
arguments  with  which  the  divine  wisdom  had  inspired  Stephen,  they  betook  them- 
sefves  to  vile  practices.  Having  procured  some  profligate  men  to  accuse  him  of  blas- 
phemy, they  caused  him  to  be  apprehended,  and,  in  a  tumultuous  manner,  took  him 
before  the  Sanhedrim,  in  order  to  obtain  a  formal  sentence  against  him. 

While  Stephen  stood  before  the  council,  the  judges,  and  all  the  people  then  present, 
beheld  a  lustre  and  radiancy  in  his  countenance,  not  unlike  the  appearance  of  an 
angel.  This,  however,  did  not  so  far  intimidate  the  Sanhedrim  as  to  prevent  them 
from  listening  to  the  accusation  of  the  false-witnesses,  who  charged  him  with  blas- 
phemy, in  foretelling  the  destruction  of  the  temple,  and  the  change  of  the  Mosaic 
rites  and  ceremonies.  "This  man,"  said  they,  " ceaseth  not  to  speak  blasphemous 
words  against  this  holy  place  and  the  law.  For  we  have  heard  him  say,  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  shall  destroy  this  place,  and  shall  change  the  customs  which  Moses  deliver- 
ed us. 

The  high-priest,  having  heard  the  accusation  against  Stephen,  asked  him,  whether 
or  not  he  was  guilty  of  thus  prophesying  the  destruction  of  the  temple,  and  change 
of  the  Jewish  religion  ?  In  answer  to  this  question,  Stephen  made  a  very  grave  and 
severe  oration,  the  substance  of  which  was  to  the  following  effect: 

"  Hearken  unto  me,  ye  descendants  of  Jacob;  the  Almighty,  whose  glory  is  from 
everlasting,  appeared  to  our  father  Abraham,  before  he  sojourned  in  Charran,  even 
vyhile  he  dwelt  in  Mesopotamia,  commanding  him  to  leave  his  country  and  relations, 
and  retire  into  a  land  which  he  would  show  him. 

"Abraham  obeyed  the  divine  mandate;  he  left  the  land  of  the  Chaldeans  and 
pitched  his  tent  in  Charran;  whence,  after  his  father  was  dead,  he  removed  into 
Canaan,  even  the  land  you  now  inhabit ;  but  he  gave  him  no  inheritance  in  this 
country,  not  even  so  much  as  to  set  his  foot  upon.  He  promised,  indeed,  he  would 
give  it  him  for  a  possession,  which  should  descend  to  his  posterity,  though  at  this 
time  he  had  no  child. 

"  God  also  indicated  to  him  that  his  seed  should  sojourn  in  a  strange  land ;  the 
people  of  which  should  make  them  bondmen,  and  treat  them  cruelly  four  hundred 
years.  After  which,  he  would  judge  that  nation,  bring  out  his  people,  who  should 
serve  him  in  this  place,  as  an  earnest  of  which  he  gave  him  the  covenant  of  circum- 
cision ;  and  afterward  a  son,  whom  Abraham  circumcised  the  eighth  day,  calling  his 
name  Isaac,  who  begat  Jacob,  and  Jacob  begat  the  twelve  patriarchs. 

"  But  these,  moved  with  envy,  sold  their  brother  Joseph  into  Egypt,  where  the 
Almighty  protected  him,  delivered  him  from  all  his  afflictions,  endued  him  with  wis- 
dom, and  gave  him  favor  in  the  sight  of  Pharaoh,  the  monarch  of  Egypt,  who  made 
him  governor  both  of  his  house  and  kingdom. 

"  Soon  after  this  exaltation  of  Joseph,  the  countries  of  Egypt  and  Canaan  were 
afflicted  with  a  terrible  famine,  and  our  fathers  found  no  sustenance,  either  for  them- 
selves or  flocks.  But  as  soon  as  Jacob  heard  the  welcome  tidings  that  there  was 
corn  in  Egypi,  he  sent  our  fathers  thither  to  purchase  bread  for  the  people  of  his 
household.  And  in  their  second  journey  thither,  Joseph  made  himself  known  to  his 
brethren,  and  also  informed  Pharaoh  of  his  country  and  relations.  After  which 
Joseph's  father,  with  his  whole  house,  consisting  of  threescore  and  fifteen  souls, 
went  down  into  Egypt,  where  both  Jacob  and  our  fathers  died,  and  were  carried 
to  Sychem,  and  deposited  in  the  sepulchre  purchased  of  the  sons  of  Emmor,  the 
father  of  Sychem. 

"  But  as  the  time  for  fulfilling  the  promise  made  to  Abraham  approached,  the  peo- 
ple multijilied  ni  Egypt,  till  another  king  arose,  who  was  not  acquainted  with  the 
merits  of  Joseph,  and  the  great  things  he  had  done  for  that  country.  This  prince 
used  our  fathers  with  cruelty,  and  artfully  attempted  to  destroy  all  the  male  children. 
At  this  time  Moles  was  born,  and  bemg  exceeding  fair,  was  nourished  three  months 
in  his  father's  house;  but  as  it  was  dangerous  to  conceal  him  there  any  longer,  he 
was  hid  among  the  flags  on  the  bank  of  the  river  ;  when  the  daughter  of  Pharaoh 
found  him/  and  educated  him  as  her  own  son. 

"  Thus  Moses  became  acquainted  with  all  the  learning  of  Egypt,  and  was  mighty 
both  in  word  and  deed ;  but  when  he  was  forty  years  old  he  thought  proper  to  visit 

he  was  born,  or  proper  to  his  quality,  as  a  freeman  of  Rome  ;  there  seems  to  be  no  incongruity  in  suppos- 
ing, tliat  he  might  possibly  be  one,  either  of  those  Libertine  or  CiUcian  disputants,  who  entered  the  lists 
with  St.  Stephen. 


524  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

his  brethren,  the  children  of  Israel ;  and  seeing  an  Egyptian  smite  a  Hebrew,  he  as- 
sisted the  suffering  person,  and  sIcav  the  Egyptian ;  supposing  that  his  brethren 
would  have  been  persuaded  that  from  his  hand,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Almighty, 
they  might  expect  deliverance;  but  they  conceived  no  hopes  of  this  kind. 

"  The  next  day  he  again  visited  them,  and  seeing  two  of  them  striving  together, 
he  endeavored  to  make  them  friends  :  '  Ye  are  brethren,'  said  he  to  them,  '  why  do 
ye  injure  one  another  ?'  But  he  who  did  his  neighbor  wrong,  instead  of  listening  to 
his  advice,  thrust  him  away,  saying,  '  By  what  authority  art  thou  a  judge  of  our 
actioQs  ?     Wilt  thou  kill  me  as  thou  didst  the  Egyptian  yesterday  V 

"  Moses,  at  this  answer,  fled  from  Egypt,  and  sojourned  in  the  land  of  Media, 
where  he  begat  two  sons.  And  at  the  end  of  forty  years,  the  angel  of  the  Lord  ap- 
peared unto  him  in  the  wilderness  of  Mount  Sinai,  out  of  the  middle  of  a  bush  burning 
with  fire:  this  was  a  sight  which  surprised  Moses;  and  as  he  drew  near  to  view 
more  attentively  so  uncommon  a  thing,  God  called  unto  him,  saying,  '  1  am  the  God 
of  thy  fathers,  the  God  of  Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob.'  At 
which  Moses  trembled,  and  turned  aside  his  face.  But  the  Lord  said  to  him,  'Put 
off  thy  shoes  from  thy  feet,  for  the  place  where  thou  standest  is  holy  ground.  I 
have  long  seen  the  afflictions  of  my  people,  which  are  in  Egypt;  I  have  heard 
their  cries,  and  am  now  descended  from  heaven  to  deliver  them.  Come,  there- 
fore, I  will  send  thee  inio  Eijypt.' 

"  Thus  was  that  Moses  whom  they  refused  sent  by  God  to  be  ruler  and  deliverer, 
by  the  hand  of  the  angel  who  appeared  to  him  in  the  bush.  Accordingly  he  brought 
them  out  after  he  had  showed  signs  and  wonders  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  in  the  Red 
sea,  and  in  the  wilderness,  forty  years.  It  is  this  Moses  that  told  our  fathers,  '  A 
prophet  shall  the  Lord  your  God  raise  up  mito  you,  and  your  brethren,  like  unto  me. 
Him  shall  ye  hear.' 

"  And  this  prophet  is  the  same  who  was  in  the  church  in  the  wilderness,  wiih  the 
angel  which  spake  unto  Moses  in  Mount  Sinai,  and  with  our  fathers  ;  the  same  who 
received  the  lively  oracles  to  give  unto  us,  he  whom  our  fathers  would  not  obey,  but 
thrust  him  from  them,  and  were  desirous  of  returning  to  their  state  of  bondage 
commanding  Aaron  to  make  them  gods  to  go  before  them,  and  pretending  that  they 
knew  not  what  was  become  of  Moses,  who  delivered  them  from  the  slavery  of  Egypt. 
They  now  made  a  calf,  offered  sacrifices  to  it,  and  rejoiced  in  the  work  of  their  own 
hands.  From  these  idolatrous  proceedings  ihey  lost  that  divine  protection  which  had 
hitherto  attended  them  as  the  prophets  have  recorded.  'O  ye  houses  of  Israel !  have 
you  offered  unto  me  slain  beasts  and  sacrifices,  by  the  space  of  forty  years  in  the  wil- 
derness? Yea,  ye  took  up  the  tabernacle  of  Moloch,  and  the  star  of  your  god  Rem- 
phan :  figures  which  ye  made  to  worship  them;  I  will  carry  you  away  beyond 
Babylon.' 

"  Our  fathers  were  possessed  of  the  tabernacle  of  witness  in  the  wilderness,  being 
made  according  to  the  pattern  Moses  had  seen  in  the  mount.  This  tabernacle  our 
fathers  brought  in  with  Jesus  into  the  possession  of  the  Gentiles,  who  were  driven 
out  by  the  Almighty,  till  the  days  of  David,  a  favorite  of  the  Most  High,  and  who  was 
desirous  of  finding  a  tabernacle  for  the  God  of  Jacob;  but  Siiomon  built  him  a  house. 

"  We  must  not,  however,  think  that  the  Almighty  will  reside  in  temples  made 
with  hands,  as  the  prophet  beautifully  observed :  '  Heaven  is  my  throne  and  earth  is 
my  lootstool :  what  hou;se  will  ye  build  me,  saith  the  Lord,  or  where  is  the  place  of 
my  rest  ?     Hath  not  my  hand  made  all  these  things  ?' 

"Ye  stiff-necked,  ye  uucircutncised  in  heart  and  ears,  will  ye  for  ever  resist  the 
Holy  Ghost?  Ye  tread  in  the  paths  of  your  fathers;  as  they  did,  so  do  you  still  con- 
tinue to  do.  Did  not  your  fathers  persecute  every  one  of  the  prophets?  did  not  they 
slay  them  who  showed  the  coming  of  the  Holy  One,  whom  ye  yourselves  have  be- 
trayed and  murdered?  Ye  have  leceived  the  law  by  the  disposition  of  angels,  but 
never  kept  it." 

This  speech,  but  particularly  the  conclusive  part  of  it,  incensed  the  council  to  such 
Ji  degree  against  Stephen,  that  they  made  use  of  the  most  hitter  invectives,  and 
resolved  to  chastise  him  by  no  less  a  punishment  than  death.  But  Stephen  was  to- 
tally regardless  of  what  they  said  or  did,  having  his  mind  employed  in  the  delightful 
prospect  of  heaven,  and  the  appearance  of  the  blessed  Jesus  standing  at  the  right 
hand  of  God.  The  visionary  prospect  of  this  heavenly  scene  so  enraptured  his  soul, 
that  he  could  not  help  communicating  it  to  the  council.     "  Behold,"  said  he,  '  I  see 


fflSTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  .         525 

the  heavens  opened,  and  the  Son  of  Man  standing  at  the  right  hand  of  God."  On  saying 
these  words,  the  resentment  of  the  council  against  him  was  so  ungovernably  increased, 
that  raising  a  loud  clamor,  and  stopping  their  ears  against  all  cries  for  mercy,  they 
immediately  dragged  him  away  without  the  city,  and  stoned  him  to  death.  While 
Stephen  was  undergoing  this  punishment,  he  first  devoutly  recommended  his  soul  to 
God,  and  then  earnestly  prayed  for  his  murderers,  that  the  sin  they  were  committing 
"  might  not  be  laid  to  their  charge ;"  having  done  which,  he  quietly  resio-ned  his 
soul  into  the  hands  of  Him  who  gave  it.  His  remains  were  decently  interred  by 
devout  men  (proselytes  to  the  Christian  faith)  who  made  great  lamentation  over  him. 

Among  the  many  that  were  enraged  against  Stephen,  one  particular  person  who 
had  but  too  great  a  hand  in  his  death,  was  a  young  man  of  Cilicia,  named  Saul. 
This  person,  out  of  his  great  officiousness  to  have  Stephen  executed,  undertook  to 
look  to  the  clothes  of  the  witnesses,  who  usually  stripped  themselves  to  throw  the 
first  stones  (as  the  law  directed)  at  the  person  who  was  to  suffer  by  their  evidence. 
X^ot  satisfied  with  this,  Saul,  out  of  his  passionate  concern  for  the  traditions  of  the 
ancients,  and  his  natural  inveteracy  on  that  account,  against  the  advocates  of  the 
gospel,  resolved  to  persecute  all  he  could  who  professed  the  new  religion.  He  accord- 
ingly applied  to  the  sanhedrim  for  a  commission  for  this  purpose,  which  was  no  sooner 
granted  than  he  immediately  proceeded  to  carry  it  into  execution.  Having  proper 
assistance,  he  broke  open  houses,  seized  upon  all  who  looked  like  the  disciples  of 
Jesus,  and  unmercifully  dragged  them  to  prison,  where  he  caused  them  to  be 
scourged  and  otherwise  ignominiously  punished.  These  acts  of  cruelty  he  exercised 
wherever  he  Avent ;  so  that  most  of  the  believers,  except  the  apostles,  were  forced 
lO  leave  Jerusalem,  and  disperse  themselves  in  the  regions  of  Judea  and  Samaria, 
Syria  and  Phoenicia,  Cyrus  and  Antioch,  &c. 

In  consequence  of  this,  the  glad  tidings  of  the  gospel  (which  had  till  now  been 
confined  to  Judea,  and  many  profess<jrs  of  it  obliged  to  hide  themselves  in  secret 
places)  was  preached  to  the  Gentile  world,  and  an  ancient  prophecy  Avas  fulfilled 
which  says,  "  Out  of  Sion  shall  go  forth  the  law,  and  the  word  of  the  Lord  from 
Jerusalem."  Thus  did  the  Almighty  bring  good  out  of  evil,  and  cause  the  malicious 
intentions  of  the  wicked  to  redound  to  his  honor  and  praise. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

Among  those  who  fled  from  Jerusalem  in  consequence  of  the  violent  persecution  by 
Saul,  was  Philip  the  deacon,  the  next  in  order  after  Stephen.  He  directed  his  course 
toward  Samaria,  preaching  the  gospel  at  various  places  in  his  way,  and  at  length 
took  up  his  residence  in  that  city.  His  labors  here  were  crowned  with  success ;  he 
confirmed  the  doctrine  he  preached  by  the  performance  of  many  distinguished 
miracles,  and  in  a  short  time  was  attended  by  a  prodigious  number  of  converts.  In 
the  city  lived  a  person  named  Simon,  who,  by  his  sorcery  and  magical  arts,  had  so 
strangely  gained  the  veneration  of  the  people,  that  they  considered  his  diabolical 
illusions  as  real  operations  of  the  power  of  God.  Simon,  seeing  great  numbers  of 
his  admirers  fall  off  from  him,  and  embrace  the  doctrine  preached  by  Philip,  pre- 
tended to  be  a  convert  likewise,  and  (in  hopes  of  obtaining  some  share  of  the  miracu- 
lous gifts,  which  he  could  not  but  admire  in  Philip)  was  baptized  by  him  with  some 
others  who  had  embraced  the  doctrine  of  Christ. 

The  great  success  which  attended  Philip  at  Samaria  being  made  known  to  the  apos- 
tles at  Jerusalem,  they  sent  Peter  and  John  to  confer  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost  on 
the  new  converts.  Simon,  the  magician,  perceiving  that  a  power  of  working  miracles 
was  consequent  to  all  those  on  whom  the  apostles  laid  their  hands,  offered  to  give 
them  money  if  they  would  invest  him  with  a  like  power.  But  Peter,  knowing  the 
insincerity  of  his  heart,  rejected  his  offer  with  scorn  and  detestation  ;  and  severely  re- 
buked him  in  words  to  this  effect:  "  Thy  money  (said  the  great  apostle)  perisli  with 
thee.  As  thy  heart  is  full  of  hypocrisy  and  deceit,  thou  shall  never  be  invested  with 
any  part  of  this  divine  privilege,  for  thy  design  in  desiring  these  gifts  is  to  advance 
thy  own  credit  and  esteem  among  men,  and  not  to  enlarge  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 
Repent,  therefore,  and  humble  thyself  before  God  for  this  wielded  and  impious  pro- 
posal, that  the  thoughts  of  thy  heart  may  be  forgiven  thee  ;  foi  I  perceive  that  thy 


V2G  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

temper  and  disposition  of  mind  is  still  vicious  and  corrupt ;  that  thou  art  yet  bouud 
by  the  chains  of  iniquity,  and  in  a  state  displeasing  to  God,  and  dangerous  to  thyself." 

This  severe  rebuke  from  Peter  greatly  affected  the  mind  of  Simon;  his  conscience 
flew  in  his  face,  and  he  earnestly  entreated  the  apostles  to  make  intercession  for  hira 
to  the  throne  of  grace,  that  the  Almighty  might  pardon  his  sins,  and  not  inflict  on  hira 
those  heavy  judgments  which  Peter  had  intimated  were  likely  to  fall  on  him  for  his 
enormous  transgressions. 

The  two  apostles,  having  confirmed  the  doctrine  preached  by  Philip  in  Samaria, 
left  that  city  and  returned  to  Jerusalem,  in  their  way  to  which  they  expounded  the 
doctrine  of  Christ  in  several  considerable  villages,  and  were  so  successful,  as  to  bring 
over  a  prodigious  number  of  sincere  proselytes. 

Soon  after  Peter  and  John  left  Samaria,  Philip  received  orders  from  a  heavenly 
messenger  to  quit  that  city,  and  go  southward  into  the  road  which  led  from  Jerusalem 
to  Gaza.  Philip  immediately  obeyed  the  divine  mandate  ;  but  he  had  not  travelled 
far  before  he  espied  a  chariot  with  a  splendid  retinue,  which,  on  inquiry,  he  found  be- 
longed to  a  eunuch,  the  treasurer  of  Candace,  queen  of  Ethiopia,  who  being  a  pros- 
elyte to  the  Jewish  religion  had  been  to  pay  his  devotions  at  Jerusalem,  and  was  then 
upon  his  journey  home.  When  Philip  approached  the  chariot  he  was  directed  by  the 
spirit  of  God  to  stop  and  speak  to  the  person  within  it.  This  he  accordingly  did,  and 
found  the  treasurer  commendably  employed  in  reading  a  passage  of  the  prophet  Isaiah. 
Philip,  after  apologizing  for  interrupting  him,  asked  if  he  clearly  understood  what  he 
was  reading;  upon  which  the  treasurer  candidly  acknowledged  he  did  not,  and  be- 
sought him  to  get  into  the  chariot  and  instruct  him.  Philip  readily  obeyed,  and  when 
he  came  to  examine  the  passage  which  had  so  much  perplexed,  and  engaged  the  at- 
tention of  the  treasurer,  he  found  it  to  be  the  following  :  "  He  was  led  as  a  lamb  to 
the  slaughter,  and  like  a  sheep  dumb  before  the  shearer  he  opened  not  his  mouth  ;  in 
his  humiliation  his  judgment  was  taken  away,  and  who  shall  declare  his  generation  ? 
For  his  life  was  taken  from  the  earth."  This  text  the  treasurer  desired  Philip  to  ex- 
plain, asking  him  whether  the  prophet  spoke  this  of  himself,  or  of  some  other  person  ? 
Philip  took  this  opportunity  of  preaching  to  him  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  clear- 
ly pointed  out  to  him  that  not  only  the  sense  of  the  passage  in  question,  but  likewise 
several  others  in  the  ancient  prophets,  was  fully  accomplished  in  his  person,  and  the 
transactions  that  had  taken  place  during  his  stay  on  earth. 

While  Philip  ♦was  expounding  the  doctrine  of  Christ  to  the  Ethiopian,  they  hap- 
pened to  come  unto  a  certain  water  ;  and  the  eunuch  said,  "  See,  here  is  water;  what 
doth  hinder  me  to  be  baptized  1"  And  Philip  said,  '•  If  thou  believest  with  all  thy 
heart,  thou  mayest."  And  he  answered  and  said,  "  I  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the 
Son  of  God."  And  he  commanded  the  chariot  to  stand  still,  and  they  went  down 
into  the  water,  both  Philip  and  the  eunuch,  and  he  baptized  him.  "And  when 
they  were  come  up  out  of  the  water,  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  caught  away  Philip,  that 
the  eunuch  saw  him  no  more,  and  he  went  on  his  way  rejoicing.  But  Philip  was 
found  at  Azotus ;  and  passing  through  he  preached  in  all  the  cities,  till  he  came  to 
Cesarea."*     (Acts  viii.  36-40.) 

In  the  meantime  Saul  was  very  active  in  persecuting  the  believers  of  Christ  in  Je- 
rusalem and  its  neighborhood;  but  such  was  his  fiery  zeal  against  the  faithful,  that 
he  resolved  to  carry  his  cnielty  and  resentment  still  fartlier.  He  therefore  applied  to 
the  sanhedrim,  and  obtained  a  commission  from  that  court  to  extend  his  persecution 
to  Damascus,  and  to  bring  such  believers  as  he  might  find  in  that  city  bound  to  Jeru- 
salem. 

Saul,  pleased  with  the  horrid  power  with  which  he  was  invested  by  the  sanhedrim, 
left  Jerusalem,  and  prosecuted  his  journey  toward  Damascus,!  being  fully  resolved  to 

»  A  city  and  port  of  Palestine,  on  the  Mediterranean  sea,  seventy-five  miles  northwest  from  Jerusalem. 
The  tower  of  Strato  was  erected  here  for  tlie  defence  of  the  harhor ;  hut  Herod  the  Great  improved  the 
port  by  a  breakwater,  and  built  the  city,  wliich  he  called  Cesarea,  in  honor  of  his  patron  Augustus,  to  whom 
also  he  erected  a  superb  temple,  adorned  with  the  statue  of  that  emperor.  It  soon  rose  to  an  extraordina- 
ry height  of  magnificence,  and  became  the  residence  of  the  Roman  proconsul  ;  hence  the  fact  of  Paul  be- 
ing kept  a  prisoner  for  two  years  at  Cesarea,  and  that  so  many  things  are  mentioned  as  having  occurred  m 
relation  to  Christians  in  this  great  city.  (Acts  viii.  40  ;  x.  I  ;  xii.  19  ;  xxiii.  ;  .vxiv.  ;  xxv.  4-14.)  Our  engraving 
represents  the  present  condition,  merely  ruins  of  Cesarea. 

t  The  ancient  capital  of  Syria,  supposed  to  be  the  oldest  city  existing  in  the  world  :  it  is  situated  on  the 
rivor  Barrady,  and  lies  about  IfiO  miles  northeast  of  Jerusalem.  (Gen,  xv.  2  ;  1  Kings  xi.  24  ;  xv.  18.)  Tra- 
dition says  tiiat  Abel  was  murdered  here  ;  and  that  Abraham  was  king  of  Damascus ;  it  is,  however,  cele- 
brat«4  in  the  apostohc  history  for  the  conversion  of  the  apostle  Paul.  (Acts  ix.  1-22.)    Tliis  city  is  now  call- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


527 


Ruins  of  Cesarea 


View  of  the  present  City  of  Damascus. 


52S  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

execute  his  commission  with  the  strictest  severity.  But  it  was  the  divine  will,  in 
mercy  to  him  as  well  as  those  he  went  to  persecute,  to  frustrate  his  intentions. 
When  he  came  near  Damascus,  a  refulgent  light,  far  exceeding  the  brightness  of  the 
sun,  darted  upon  him,  at  which  he  was  greatly  amaze*  and  confounded,  falling,  to- 
gether with  his  horse,  prostrate  on  the  ground.  This  light  was  accompanied  with  a 
voice,  in  the  Hebrew  language,  saying,  "Saul,  Saul,  why  persecutest  thou  me  1" 
To  which  Saul  replied,  "  Who  art  thou.  Lord?"  He  was  immediately  answered, 
"  I  am  Jesus  whom  thou  persecutest.  It  is  hard  for  thee  to  kick  against  the  pricks.'' 
As  if  he  had  said,  "All  thy  attempts  to  extirpate  the  faith  in  me  will  prove  abortive, 
and,  like  kicking  against  the  spikes,  wound  and  torment  thyself." 

Saul  was  now  sufficiently  convinced  of  his  folly  in  acting  against  Jesus,  whom  he 
was  now  assured  to  be  the  true  Messiah.  He  therefore,  trembling  with  fear,  said, 
"Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do?"  On  which  a  voice  replied,  "  Arise,  and  go 
into  the  city,  and  it  shall  be  told  thee  what  thou  must  do."  Those  who  accompanied 
Saul  were  struck  with  fear  and  amazement,  wonderuig  that  they  should  hear  a  voice, 
and  yet  see  no  man  speak,  while  Saul  himself  was  so  dazzled  and  overpowered  by 
the  light,  that  he  quite  lost  his  eyesight.  His  companions,  therefore,  led  him  by  the 
hand  into  the  city  of  Damascus,  where  he  continued  three  days  totally  blind,  nor  did 
he,  in  the  whole  time,  take  the  least  refreshment. 

At  this  time  there  dwelt  in  the  city  a  certain  disciple,  named  Ananias,  whom  the 
Lord,  in  a  vision,  commanded  to  go  and  find  out  one  Saul  of  Tarsus  (then  lodging  at 
the  house  of  one  Judas,  a  Jew),  and,  by  laying  his  hands  on  him,  to  remove  his  blind- 
ness. Ananias  was  startled  at  the  name  of  the  man,  and,  to  excuse  himself,  alleged 
his  violent  persecutions  of  the  church,  and  with  what  a  wicked  intent  he  was  then 
come  to  Damascus.  But  to  this  the  vision  told  him,  that  he  was  appointed,  by  the 
Divine  Being,  to  be  a  powerful  instrument  in  the  propagation  of  the  gospel,  both 
among  the  Jews  and  Gentiles,  and  that,  how  much  soever  he  had  persecuted  Christi- 
anity heretofore,  he  was  now  to  become  a  zealous  defender  of  it,  and  even  to  die  in 
testimony  of  its  truth. 

Encouraged  with  this  assurance,  Ananias  repaired  to  the  house  where  Saul  was, 
and,  laying  his  hands  on  him,  delivered  a  message  to  this  effect :  "  That  the  Lord 
Jesus,  who  had  appeared  to  him  in  his  journey,  had  sent  him  not  only  to  restore  his 
eyesight,  but  likewise  to  bestow  upon  him  the  gifts  and  graces  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
such  as  might  qualify  him  for  the  ministry  to  which  he  was  then  appointed."  No 
sooner  had  Ananias  finished  his  speech,  than  thick  films,  like  scales,  fell  from  Saul's 
eyes,  and  he  received  his  sight ;  immediately  after  which  he  was  baptized,  and  con- 
tmued  some  days  with  the  disciples  at  Damascus,  preaching  in  the  synagogues,  and 
proving  that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah.         , 

After  staying  some  time  at  Damascus,  Saul  retired  into  the  neighboring  parts  of 
Arabia  Petrea,  where  he  first  planted  the  gospel ;  and,  in  the  beginning  of  the  next 
year,  returned  to  Damascus.  Here  he  applied,  with  the  utmost  assiduity,  to  the  great 
work  of  the  ministry,  preaching  Christ  daily  in  the  synagogues,  and  confuting  all 
those  who  argued  against  his  doctrine.  He  was,  indeed,  remarkably  zealous  in  his 
preaching,  and  blessed  with  a  very  extraordinary  method  of  reasoning,  whereby  he 
undeniably  proved  the  fundamental  points  of  Christianity.  This  irritated  the  Jews 
to  the  highest  degree;  and  at  length,  after  about  three  years' continuance  in  the  city, 
they  found  means  to  prevail  on  the  governor  of  Damascus  to  have  him  apprehended, 
and  confined.  But  they  knew  it  would  be  difficult  to  take  him,  as  he  had  so  many 
friends  in  the  city;  they  therefore  kept  themselves  in  continual  watch,  searching  all 
the  houses  where  they  thought  he  might  conceal  himself,  and  likewise  obtained  a 
guard  from  the  governor,  to  attend  the  different  gates  of  the  city,  in  order  to  prevent 
his  escape.  In  this  distress  his  Christian  friends  were  far  from  deserting  him  ;  they 
tried  every  method  that  offered  to  procure  his  escape  ;  but  finding  it  impossible  for  him 
to  pass  through  either  of  the  gates  of  the  city,  they  let  him  down  from  one  of  their 
houses  in  a  basket  over  the  wall,  by  which  means  the  cruel  designs  of  his  enemies 
were  rendered  abortive. 

ed  Demesek,  and  contains  a  population  of  about  80,000,  or,  as  some  reckon,  150,000,  mostly  Mohammedans  , 
but  about  3,000  are  Jews,  and  about  10,000  are  of  several  denominations  of  prol"essing  Christians.  Damas- 
cus is  a  city  of  great  trade,  and  therefore  important  as  a  missionary  station,  especially  for  the  circulation 
of  tlie  Scriptures  tluough  a  vast  district  of  Asia.  Seventy  or  eighty  mmarets,  rising  above  the  houses  g-ive 
ft  pleasing  appearance  to  the  city  of  Damascus,  as  represented  in  our  second  engraving  on  page  527. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  529 

Saul  having  thus  escaped  from  his  malicious  persecutors  in  Damascus,  repaired 
to  Jerusalem,  where,  at  first,  he  was  but  coolly  received  among  many  of  the  dis- 
ciples. They  were  not  insensible  of  his  former  conduct,  and  were  therefore  d(>ubl- 
ful  of  the  sincerity  of  his  heart,  till  at  length  Barnabas,  who  was  privy  to  tlie  cir- 
cumstances that  had  attended  him  both  before  and  after  his  conversion,  introduced 
him  to  the  apostles,  and,  having  clearly  related  to  them  every  particular  that  had 
passed,  they  admitted  him  into  their  communion.  He  continued  some  time  at  Je- 
rusalem, during  which  he  preached  with  great  boldness  to  the  people;  and  his 
sermons  were  so  powerful,  and  disputations  with  his  opponents  so  unanswerable, 
that  they,  like  the  Jews  at  Damascus,  formed  designs  against  his  life.  But  as  soon 
as  this  was  known  to  the  brethren,  they  conducted  him  to  Cesarea,  whence  he 
set  sail  to  his  own  city.  Tarsus,  and  continued,  for  some  years,  preaching  the  gos- 
pel with  great  success  in  various  parts  of  Cilicia  and  Syria. 

The  church,  at  this  time,  was  free  from  persecution,  and  flourished  exceedingly; 
upon  which  Peter  took  the  opportunity  of  making  a  general  visitation  to  all  the 
reformed  places  in  Judea,  Galilee,  and  Samaria.  In  his  progress  he  arrived  at  a 
town  called  Lydda,  where  he  cured  one  jEneas  of  a  paralytic  disorder,  which  had 
confined  him  to  his  bed  for  eight  years;  and  from  this  miracle  all  the  inhabitants 
of  Lydda,  as  well  as  a  neighboring  town  called  Saron,  were  prevailed  on  to  em- 
brace the  doctrine  of  Christ.  From  Lydda  he  was  entreated  by  two  messengers 
to  go  over  to  Joppa,*  on  account  of  one  Tabitha,  a  Christian  woman,  venerable 

«  This  place  occurs,  under  the  name  of  Japho,  in  Josh.  xix.  46  ;  and  which  is  still  preserved  in  the  pres- 
ent name  of  Jaffa,  or  Yaffa.  It  is  situated  about  forty  miles  west  of  Jerusalem,  on  the  shore  of  the  Medi- 
terranean. Its  fame,  as  a  seaport,  ascends  to  the  remotest  times  in  history,  sacred  and  profane.  In  the 
former  we  find  it  the  principal  port  of  Palestine,  and  the  peculiar  port  of  Jerusalem  ;  being,  in  fact,  the  only 
port  in  Judea.  Hence  we  find  that  the  materials  obtained  from  Tyre,  for  the  building  of  Solomon's  temple, 
were  brought  to  this  port,  to  be  conveyed  thence  by  land  to  Jerusalem,  But  although  Joppa  was  long  the 
port  of  Judea — as  its  distance  afforded  an  easy  communication  with  the  capital,  while  its  geographical  posi- 
tion opened  an  extensive  trade  to  all  the  coasts  and  islands  of  the  Mediterranean — it  was  never  a  safe  or 
commodious  harbor ;  and  those  travellers  are  mistaken  who  attribute  its  present  condition  to  tlie  neglect 
of  ages.  .losephus  repeatedly  explains  its  natural  unfitness  for  a  good  haven,  in  nearly  the  same  terms 
which  are  employed  by  modern  travellers  in  describmg  its  present  condition  ("  Antiq."  xv.  9,  6  ;  "  De  Bello 
Jud."  iii.  9,  3),  This  similarity  is  noticed  by  Mr.  Buckingham,  who  himself  says  :  "  Tlie  port  is  formed  by  a 
ledge  of  rocks,  running  north  and  south  before  the  promontory,  leaving  a  confined  and  narrow  space  be- 
tween the  rocks  and  tlie  town.  Here  the  small  trading-vessels  of  the  country  find  shelter  from  the  south 
and  west  winds,  and  land  their  cargoes  on  narrow  wharfs,  running  along  before  the  magazines.  When  the 
wind  blows  strong  from  tlie  northward,  they  are  obliged  to  warp  out,  and  seek  shelter  in  the  small  bav  to 
the  northeast  of  the  town,  as  the  sea  breaks  in  here  with  great  violence  ;  and  there  is  not  more  than  tliree 
fathoms  of  water  in  the  deepest  part  of  the  harbor :  so  accurately  do  the  local  features  of  the  place  cor- 
respond with  those  given  of  it  by  Josephus."  Clarke  also  describes  tlie  harbor  as  one  of  the  worst  in  the 
Mediterranean  ;  so  tliat  ships  generally  anchor  about  a  mile  from  the  town,  to  avoid  the  rocks  and  shoals 
of  the  place.  From  this  account  it  will  appear  that  Joppa  afforded  the  on/y  port,  though  a  bad  one,  for  the 
important  district  behind  it,  inland.  The  bad  state  of  the  ancient  roads,  or  rather  perhaps  the  absence  of 
any  roads,  made  a  near  harbor,  however  incommodious,  of  more  immediate  consecjuence  than  a  good  one 
at  any  greater  distance. 

The  coast  of  Joppa  is  low  ;  but  the  town  itself  is  seated  on  a  conical  promontory,  jutting  out  into  the  sea, 
and  rising  to  the  height  of  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  its  level;  having  a  desert  coast  to  the 
north  and  south,  the  Mediterranean  on  the  west,  and  fertile  plains  and  gardens  beliind  it,  on  the  east.  The 
base  of  the  hill  is  surrounded  by  a  wall,  which  begins  and  ends  at  the  sea,  and  is  fourteen  or  fifteen  feet 
tiigli,  and  two  or  three  feet  thick  ;  with  towers  at  certain  distances,  alternately  round  and  square  :  being 
3f  stone,  it  was  of  sufficient  strength  to  oblige  the  French  army  under  Bonaparte,  to  break  ground  and  erect 
oatteries  against  it,  before  a  breacli  could  be  made.  At  present  it  is  in  a  bad  condition,  many  parts  having 
given  way  Iroin  the  violent  rains  of  about  seven  years  since  ;  so  that,  if  Ibrahim  Pacha  had  been  obliged  to 
besiege  it,  he  would  have  found  the  walls  ready  breached  to  his  hands. 

On  the  land  side  the  town  is  approached  through  extensive  and  richly  productive  gardens,  by  which  it  is 
surrounded  ;  the  light,  sandy  soil  being  very  favorable  to  the  production  of  various  kinds  of  fruits.  These 
gardens  are  fenced  with  hedges  of  the  prickly-pear,  and  are  abundantly  stocked  witii  orange,  lemon,  pome- 
granate, and  fig-trees,  and  with  water-melons.  The  oranges  and  lemons  grow  to  a  prodigious  size  ;  the 
pomegranate  have  also  a  great  reputation  ;  and  the  water-melons  are  celebrated  over  all  the  Levant  for 
their  delicious  flavor.     The  town  itself  is  thus  noticed  by  Buckingham  : — 

"  The  town,  seated  on  a  promontory,  and  facing  chiefly  to  the  northward,  looks  like  a  heap  of  buildings, 
crowded  as  closely  as  possible  into  a  given  space  ;  and,  from  the  steepness  of  its  site,  these  buildings  ap- 
pear in  some  places  to  stand  one  on  the  other.  The  most  prominent  features  of  the  arcliitecture  from  with- 
out, are  the  flattened  domes,  by  which  most  of  the  buildings  were  crowned,  and  tlie  appearance  of  arclied 
vaults.  There  are  no  light  and  elegant  edifices,  no  towering  minarets,  no  imposing  tortifications,  but  all 
is  mean  and  gloomy  aspect.  .  .  .  The  walls  and  fortifications  have  a  weak  and  contemptible  ap- 
pearance, compared  even  with  those  of  Acclio  (Acre)  ;  and,  as  at  that  place,  the  entrance  is  preposses- 
sing, but  its  interior  disappoints  the  expectations  raised.  After  passing  a  gate  crowned  with  three  small 
cupolas  there  is  seen,  on  the  right,  a  gaudy  fountain,  faced  with  marble  slabs,  and  decorated  with  painted 
devices,  and  Arabic  sentences  in  characters  of  gold.  Passing  within,  however,  the  town  has  all  the  appear- 
ance of  a  poor  village,  and  every  part  of  it  that  we  saw  was  of  corresponding  meanness."  Many  ut  the 
streets  are  connected  by  flights  of  steps.  The  Mussulman  part  of  the  town  is  very  much  dilapidated,  but 
the  street  by  the  sea-wall  is  clean  ami  regular. 

Beside  the  citadel  on  the  top  of  tlie  liill,  tliere  is  a  small  fort,  near  the  sea,  on  the  west,  another  on  the 
nortii,  and  a  third  near  tlie  eastern  gale  of  entrance  ;  mounting,  in  all,  from  fifty  to  si.ity  pieces  of  cannon 
The  religious  structures  are,  three  mosques,  and  the  Latin,  Greek,  and  Armeniam  convents.    The  popula- 


530  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

for  her  piety  and  diffusive  charity,  who  was  lately  dead.  Peter  complied  with  the 
request  of  the  messengers,  and  immediately  accompanied  them  to  J«oppa.  On  his 
arrival  at  the  house  lie  found  the  body  in  an  upper  chamber  ready  prepared  for 
interment,  and  surrounded  by  a  number  of  mournful  widows,  who  showed  him 
the  coats  and  garments  wherewith  she  had  clothed  them,  the  monuments  of  her 
liberality.  They  durst  not,  however,  request  him  to  raise  her  from  the  dead,  but  by 
their  tears,  and  great  commendations  of  her  charity,  sufficiently  testified  their  wishes 
that  he  would  do  it.  Peter  was  not  insensible  of  their  meaning,  and  was  willing 
to  grant  what  he  knew  would  give  them  general  satisfaction.  Having,  therefore, 
ordered  them  to  withdraw,  he  first  knelt  down,  and  prayed  for  some  time,  with 
great  fervency;  after  which,  turning  himself  to  the  body,  he  said,  "  Tabitha,  arise." 
Upon  this,  the  good  woman  instantly  opened  her  eyes,  and  Peter,  taking  her  by  the 
hand,  raised  her  up,  and  presented  her  alive  to  her  friends  and  relations.  This 
miracle  gained  Peter  a  prodigious  number  of  converts,  and  encouraged  him,  for  a 
considerable  time,  to  continue  his  abode  at  Joppa,  during  which  he  resided  in  the 
house  of  one  Simon,  a  tanner. 

During  his  stay  at  Joppa,  he  one  day  retired  to  the  top  of  the  house,  about 
noon,  to  pray.  After  he  had  finished  his  devotions  he  found  himself  hungry,  and 
called  for  meat;  but,  while  the  people  were  preparing  his  dinner,  he  fell  asleep, 
and  beheld,  in  a  vision,  a  large  sheet,  or  table-cloth,  let  down,  as  it  were,  by  the 
four  corners  from  heaven,  wherein  were  creatures  of  all  kinds,  clean  and  unclean ; 
and,  at  the  same  time  a  voice  said  to  him,  "Arise,  Peter,  kill  and  eat."  But  the 
apostle,  being  tenacious  of  the  rites  and  institutions  of  the  Mosaic  law,  declared  his 
aversion  to  such  a  proceeding;  upon  which  the  voice  rejoined,  that  what  God  had 
pronounced  clean,  he  ought  by  no  means  to  account  common  or  unclean.  This 
representation  was  made  to  him  three  several  times,  after  which  the  sheet  was  taken 
up,  and  the  vision  disappeared. 

When  Peter  awoke  he  could  not  help  seriously  reflecting  on  the  vision  he  had  be- 
held ;  and  while  he  was  wondering  within  himself  what  might  be  the  event,  he  was 
interrupted  by  three  messengers,  who,  knocking  at  the  gate,  desired  to  speak  with 
him.  They  were  accordingly  admitted,  and  as  soon  as  they  saw  Peter  they  ac- 
quainted him  with  their  business,  which  was  to  the  following  purport:  that  "  Cor- 
nelius, a  Pvoman,  captain  of  a  company  in  the  Italian  legion,*  then  at  Cesarea,  a 
person  of  eminent  virtue,  piety,  and  charity,  had,  by  an  immediate  command  from 
God,  sent  to  him,  begging  that  he  would  return  with  them  to  give  him  some  instruc- 
tions on  so  important  and  singular  an  occasion."  Peter  detained  the  messengers  that 
night ;  but  the  next  day  he  set  out  with  them  accompanied  by  some  of  his  brethren, 
and  the  day  following  arrived  at  Cesarea. 

Cornelius,  being  in  expectation  of  his  coming,  had  invited  his  friends  and  relations 
to  his  house,  and  as  soon  as  Peter  entered,  he  fell  down  at  his  feet  to  worship  him : 
but  the  apostle,  rejecting  that  honor  as  being  due  to  God  alone,  raised  him  up,  and 
then  told  the  company  that,  "  though  they  must  know  it  was  not  lawful  for  a  Jew  to 
•.;onverse  (more  especi;illy  on  the  duties  of  religion)  with  those  of  another  nation;  yet 
since  God  had  taught  him  to  make  no  distinction,  he  very  readily  attended  their 
pleasure,  and  desired  to  know  the  occasion  of  their  sending  for  him." 

The  reply  Cornelius  made  in  answer  to  this  was  to  the  following  effect :  "Four 
days  ago,  being  fervently  employed  in  the  duties  of  fasting  and  prayer,  an  angel  from 

tinu  may  be  from  four  to  fivo  tlmusaiid,  ir>ostly  Turks  and  Arabs  ;  tlie  Christians  not  being  estimated  at 
more  than  six  hundred.  .loppa  ,lill  enjoys  a  traffic,  whicti,  considering  the  state  of  the  country,  may  be 
called  considerable,  with  tlie  i.(.  gliboring  coasts.  In  tlie  way  of  manufacture  it  is  chiefly  noted  for  its 
soiip,  which  is  an  r.rticle  of  export  to  Damascus  and  Cairo,  and  is  used  in  all  the  batlis  of  the  principal 
cities.  The  delicious  fruits  of  the  vicinity  are  also  largely  exported,  particularly  the  melons.  There  are 
no  antiquities  at  Joppa,  nor  can  ..ny  be  expected  in  a  town  which  has  been  so  often  sacked  and  destroyed — 
five  times  by  the  Assyrians  and  Kgyptians,  in  their  wars  with  the  Jews  ;  three  times  by  the  Romans  ;  and 
twice  by  the  Saracens,  in  the  wars  of  the  Crusades. 

'  The  cohort  of  the  Romans,  which  we  call  band,  was  a  body  of  infantry,  consisting  of  five  hundred  men. 
leu  of  which  bands  made  a  legion ;  and  the  manner  in  which  the  Romans  distinguished  and  denominated 
their  bands  and  legions  was  very  various.  Sometimes  it  was  from  the  order  of  places,  and  so  they  were 
called  the  first  or  second  band,  according  to  their  rank  and  precedency  ;  Sometimes  from  the  commanders 
'.hey  were  under,  as  the  Augustan  and  Claudian  band,  <tc.,  because  persons  of  that  name  did  lead  them ; 
Sometimes  from  their  own  behavior,  as  the  Victrix,  the  Ferrea,  the  conquering,  the  iron  band,  ifcc,  by  rea- 
son of  the  great  valor,  which,  in  some  sharp  engagements,  these  had  shown  ;  Sometimes  from  the  countries 
Uiey  were  chiefly  quartered  in,  as  the  German  and  Pannonian  band,  &c.,  and  sometimes  from  the  parts 
whence  they  were  gatliered,  as  this  of  (Cornelius,  is  called  the  Italian  band,  because  it  was  raised  out  of 
that  country,  and  was  a  body  of  forces  well  known  for  their  gallantry  and  great  exploits,  among  the  writers 
«f  the  Roman  history. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


531 


4'-' 


532        ^  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

,he  courts  of  heaven  appeared  to  me,  declaring  that  my  prayers  and  alms  were  come 
up  as  a  memorial  before  the  throne  of  the  Most  High ;  and  at  the  same  time  ordered 
me  to  send  to  Joppa  for  one  Simon  Peter,  who  lodged  in  the  house  of  a  tanner  near 
the  seaside,  and  would  give  me  further  information  in  the  mysteries  of  salvation. 
Accordingly  I  made  no  hesitation  to  obey  the  heavenly  messenger;  I  sent  immediate- 
ly for  thee,  and  now  thou  art  come,  and  we  are  met  together,  I  desire  to  hear  what 
instructions  thou  hast  to  communicate." 

From  this  relation  of  the  Roman  officer  Peter  delivered  a  discourse  to  the  assembly, 
which  he  began  by  declaring  that  he  perceived  plainly  God  had  made  no  distinction 
of  persons  and  people,  but  that  the  pious  and  godly  of  all  nations  were  to  meet  with 
acceptance.  He  told  them,  that  peace  and  reconciliation  between  God  and  man  was 
a  doctrine  published  by  the  prophets  of  old,  and  of  late,  since  the  time  of  John  the 
B:iptist,  preached  through  Galilee  and  Judea;  that  of  this  peace  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
was  the  only  Mediator  between  God  and  man,  as  appeared  by  the  divine  powers  and 
graces  wherewith  he  Avas  invested,  and  which  he  constantly  exercised  in  doing  good 
to  mankind ;  that  of  his  life  and  actions,  more  especially  of  his  crucifixion  by  the 
Jews,  and  resurrection  from  the  dead,  of  his  appearing  to  his  disciples,  and  even 
eating  and  drinking  with  them  after  his  resurrection,  he  and  the  rest  of  the  apostles 
were  chosen  witnesses;  that  from  him  they  had  received,  before  his  ascension,  a 
command  and  commission  to  publish  to  all  nations,  that  he  was  the  person,  whom 
God  had  ordained  to  be  the  great  Judge  of  the  world ;  that  all  the  prophets,  with  one 
consent,  bore  witness  of  him ;  and  that  whoever  believed  in  his  name  would  certain- 
ly receive  the  remission  of  sins. 

While  Pfeter  was  thus  speaking,  the  Holy  Ghost  came  down  upon  the  whole 
audience,  and  inspired  them  with  gifts  and  graces,  fitting  them  for  several  conditions 
in  the  church.  The  Jews  who  accompanied  Peter,  were  greatly  astonished  to  see 
that  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost  were  poured  upon  the  Gentiles ;  which  being  ob- 
served by  Peter,  he  told  them  he  knew  no  reason  why  those  persons  should  not  be 
baptized  (having  received  the  Holy  Ghost)  as  well  as  they.  He  accordingly  gave 
orders  that  they  should  be  baptized,  which  being  done,  he  stayed  with  them  several 
days,  in  order  to  confirm  them  in  the  holy  faith  they  had  so  happily  and  earnestly 
embraced. 

The  conduct  of  Peter  on  this  occasion  was  considered  in  various  lights  by  the 
brethren  at  Jerusalem,  tvho  being  but  lately  converted  to  the  Christian  faith,  were 
zealously  attached  to  the  religious  ceremonies  of  the  Mosaic  institution,  and  therefore 
most  of  them  severely  charged  Peter,  on  his  return  to  Jerusalem,  as  being  too  familiar 
with  the  Gentiles.  How  powerful  is  the  prejudice  of  education  !  The  Jews  had, 
for  many  ages,  conceived  an  inveterate  hatred  to  the  Gentiles,  considering  them  as 
persons  not  approved  of  by  the  Almighty,  who  had  chosen  the  Jews  for  his  peculiar 
people.  The  law  of  Moses,  indeed,  enjoined  them  to  be  kind  to  their  own  nation,  in 
preference  to  all  others;  and  the  rites  and  institutions  of  their  religion,  and  the  pe- 
culiar form  of  their  commonwealth  rendered  them  very  different  from  the  inhabitants 
of  other  countries;  a  separation  which  in  after  ages  they  contracted  into  a  much  nar- 
rower compass.  They  were  also  tenaciously  proud  of  their  external  privileges  in 
being  the  descendants  of  Abraham  ;  and  therefore  looked  upon  the  rest  of  the  world 
as  reprobates,  refusing  to  hold  any  conversation  with  them,  or  even  to  treat  them 
with  common  civility. 

It  is  therefore  no  wonder  that  they  were  highly  displeased  with  Peter;  nor  would 
he,  in  all  probability,  have  been  able  to  defend  his  conduct  in  a  satisfactory  manner, 
had  he  not  been  charged  with  a  peculiar  commission  from  God  for  extending  the 
privileges  of  the  gospel  to  the  Gentile  world.  To  satisfy  them,  however,  of  the 
propriety  of  Iiis  conduct,  he  first  gave  them  a  plain  and  minute  narrative  of  the  whole 
afiair,  together  with  the  occasion  of  it ;  and  then  took  occasion  from  the  whole,  to 
draw  this  inference :  that,  "  since  God  had  been  pleased  to  bestow  on  these  Gen- 
tiles the  same  privileges,  and  marks  of  conversion,  that  he  had  done  on  his  select 
disciples,  it  Avould  have  been  direct  disobedience  in  him  to  the  divine  will,  had  he 
denied  them  admission  into  the  church,  or  refused  them  his  instructions  and  conver- 
sation." 

From  this  representation  the  whole  audience  were  perfectly  satisfied ;  and  their 
displeasure  against  Peter  was  turned  into  praise  and  thanksgiving  to  God,  for  having 
connnunicated  the  same  mercy  to  the  Gentiles  as  he  had  done  to  the  Jews;  nnraelj, 
"  repentance  unio  liU;  eternal  " 


HISTOKY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  533 


CHAPTER   VII. 

After  the  general  dispersion  which  took  place  in  consequence  of  the  martydom  ol 
Stephen,  and  the  persecutions  that  followed,  some  disciples,  who  were  born  in  Cyprus 
and  Cyrene,*  having  travelled  through  several  countries,  and  hitherto  preached  to 
the  Jews  only,  at  length  came  to  Antioch,t  where,  hearing  of  the  conversion  of  Cor- 
nelius and  others,  they  applied  themselves  to  the  Greeks  who  lived  in  that  city,  ami, 
by  the  blessing  of  God,  daily  made  great  numbers  of  converts.  Intimation  of  this 
being  given  to  the  apostles  at  Jerusalem,  they  despatched  one  Barnabas,  a  pious 
man,  and  endued  with  many  excellent  gifts,  to  assist  the  disciples,  and  confirm  the 
believers  in  that  city. 

The  success  of  the  gospel  in  so  large  a  place  as  Antioch,  gave  great  satisfaction  to 
Barnabas,  who,  after  continuing  there  some  time,  and  exhorting  the  people  to  hold 
fast  the  possession  of  that  faith  they  had  newly  embraced,  departed  thence  to  Tarsus, 
in  order  to  find  out  Saul,  whom  he  considered,  from  the  fame  he  had  heard  of  him 
as  a  necessary  person  to  assist  him  in  facilitating  the  further  promulgation  of  the 
gospel.  Having  found  out  Saul,  he  returned  with  him,  in  a  short  time,  to  Antioch, 
where,  for  the  space  of  a  whole  year,  they  daily  resorted  to  the  most  public  places, 
preaching  and  expounding  the  doctrine  of  their  great  Master ;  by  means  of  which 
they  soon  gained  over  such  a  prodigious  number  of  converts,  that  in  this  city  the  dis- 
ciples of  Jesus  were  first  distinguished  by  the  honorable  name  of  Christians.:]: 

The  extensive  circulation  of  the  gospel  at  Antioch  opened  an  intercourse  between 
the  Christians  of  that  city  and  those  of  Jerusalem.  Many  people  resorted  from  the 
latter  place  to  the  foriBer,  and  among  them  was  one  person  named  Agabus,  who 
foretold,  that  there  would  shortly  be  a  great  famine  in  many  parts  of  the  Roman 
empire,  which  accordingly  happened  in  the  fourth  year  of  the  reign  of  the  emperor 
Claudius.  In  consequence  of  this  prophecy,  the  Christians  of  Antioch  determined  to 
make  a  collection  for  their  brethren  in  Judea,  which,  on  the  approach  of  the  dearth, 
they  accordingly  did,  and  sent  it  to  the  elders  at  Jerusalem  by  the  hands  of  Barnabas 
and  Saul. 

About  this  time  Herod  Agrippa,  the  grandson  of  Herod  the  Great,  in  order  to  in- 
gratiate himself  with  the  heads  of  the  obstinate  Jews,  raised  a  most  violent  persecu- 
tion against  the  Christians,  in  the  commencement  of  which  he  ordered  James,  the  son 
of  Zebedee,  and  brother  of  John,  commonly  called  "  the  Great, "||  to  be  put  to  death. 
Finding  this  cruel  act  was  acceptable  to  the  chief-priests  and  rulers,  he  resolved  to 
extend  his  cruelty  to  Peter.  He  accordingly  caused  him  to  be  apprehended  and  put 
into  prison,  designing,  immediately  after  the  feast  of  the  passover,  to  bring  him  forth 
to  the  Jews,  and,  if  they  desired  it,  to  have  him  executed.  But  the  Christians  were 
incessant  in  their  prayers  to  God  for  his  safety  ;  nor  were  their  prayers  and  solicita- 
tions in  vain.     Herod  was  persuaded  in  his  own  mind,  that  he  should  soon  accom- 

*  This  was  a  city  of  great  note,  and  once  of  such  power,  as  to  contend  with  Carthage  for  some  pre-emi 
nences.  It  stood  on  the  western  parts  of  Lybia  (properly  so  called),  and,  as  it  was  tlie  principal  city,  it 
sometimes  gave  the  name  of  Cyrenaica  to  the  whole  country,  which  by  the  sacred  writer  is  paraphrastical- 
ly  called  Lybia  about  CjTene  (Acts  ii.  10).  The  city  itself  is  famous  in  Holy  Writ  for  being  the  birthplace 
of  thatSirnon,  whom  the  Jews  compelled  to  bear  our  Saviour's  Cross. 

t  This  Antioch  (to  distinguish  it  from  sixteen  other  cities,  which,  in  Syria,  and  other  countries,  bore  that 
name)  was  frequently  called  Antiochia  Epidaphne,  from  its  neighborhood  to  Daphne,  a  village  where  llie 
temple  of  Daphne  stood.  It  was  built,  as  some  say,  by  Antiochus  Epiphanes  ;  as  others,  by  Seleucus  Ni- 
canor,  the  first  king  of  Syria  after  Alexander  the  Great,  in  memory  of  his  father  Antiochus,  and  was,  after 
that,  the  royal  seat  of  the  kings  of  Syna.  In  the  flourishing  times  of  the  Roman  empire  it  was  the  ordina- 
ry residence  of  the  prefect,  or  governor  of  the  eastern  provinces,  and  was  also  honored  with  the  residence 
of  many  of  the  Roman  emperors,  especially  of  Verus  and  Valens,  who  spent  here  the  greatest  part  of  their 
time.  As  to  its  situation,  it  lay  on  both  sides  the  river  Orontes,  about  twelve  miles  distant  from  the  .Medi- 
terranean sea ;  was,  in  former  times,  adorned  with  many  sumptuous  palaces  and  stately  temples,  and  both 
by  Nature  and  Art  fortified  even  to  admiration  ;  but,  being  taken  by  the  Saracens,  and  afterward  by  the 
Turks,  it  began  to  grow  into  decay,  and  has  ever  since  been  in  a  desolate  and  ruinous  condition  (see  en- 
graving, page  407). 

t  Before  this  they  were  called  among  themselves  brethren,  saints,  disciples,  believers,  and  those  that  ■  tiled 
01  Ike  name  of  Christ :  and  among  their  enemies,  Galileans,  Nazarenes,  and  men  of  the  sect :  but  n^"^  l/  the 
conversion  of  so  many  heathens,  both  in  Cesarea  and  Antioch,  the  believing  Jews  and  Gent.jcs  being  all 
made  one  church,  tliis  new  name  was  given  them,  as  being  more  expressive  of  theii  common  relation  to 
Christ,  their  great  Lord  and  Master. 

II  He  is  commonly  called  the  Great  to  distinguish  him  from  another  of  the  same  name,  who  was  bishop  o( 
Jerusalem,  and  called  the  Less.  He  had  his  first  instrnctien,  together  with  Jolin,  from  the  Baptist ;  but  how 
lie  disposed  of  himself  after  our  Lord's  ascension  does  not  appear.  That  he  was  ver>'  zealous  and  indus- 
trious in  propagating  the  gospel,  appears  evident  from  Herod's  making  choice  of  him  for  the  first  sacrifice 
(after  the  death  of  Stephen)  to  the  furv  of  the  people. 

34 


534  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

plish  his  design,  and  sacrifice  Peter  to  the  insatiable  cruelty  of  the  Jews.  But  the 
night  before  this  intended  execution,  a  messenger  from  the  courts  of  Heaven  visited 
the  gloomy  horrors  of  the  dungeon,  where  he  found  Peter  asleep  between  two  of  his 
keepers.  The  angel  raised  him  up,  and  taking  off  his  chains,  ordered  him  to  sird  on 
his  garments,  and  follow  him.  Peter  obeyed,  and  having  passeu  through  the  first  and 
«ecoud  watch,  they  came  to  the  iron  gate  leading  to  the  city,  which  opened  to  them  of 
Its  own  accord.  The  angel  also  accompanied  him  through  one  of  the  streets,  and  then 
departed.  On  this  Peter,  who  had  hitherto  been  confused,  thinking  all  that  had 
passed  was  no  more  than  a  dream,  came  to  himself,  and  perceived  that  it  was  no 
vision,  but  that  his  great  and  beloved  Master  had  really  sent  a  messenger  from  above, 
,ind  released  him  from  prison.  He  therefore  repaired  to  the  house  of  Mary,  the 
mother  of  John,  surnamed  Mark,  where  several  disciples  were  met  together,  and 
sending  up  their  prayers  to  Heaven  for  his  deliverance.  As  he  stood  knocking  with- 
out, a  maid-servant  of  the  house,  named  Rhoda,  knowing  his  voice,  ran  in,  and  ac- 
quainted the  company  that  Peter  was  at  the  door.  At  first  they  would  not  pay  any 
attention  to  what  she  said;  but  on  her  persisting  in  the  truth  of  what  she  asserted, 
they  concluded  that  it  must  have  been  his  angel.  Their  doubts,  however,  Avere  soon 
removed  by  the  entrance  of  Peter,  at  the  sight  of  whom  they  were  all  greatly 
astonished.  Peter  beckoning  them  to  hold  their  peace,  related  the  whole  particulars 
of  his  miraculous  escape  from  prison,  and,  after  ordering  them  to  acquaint  James, 
and  the  other  brethren,  with  this  good  news,  withdrew  himself  to  a  place  of  more 
retirement  and  security. 

Early  the  next  morning  the  officers  went  from  Herod  to  the  prison,  with  orders  to 
bring  Peter  out  to  the  people,  who  were  gathered  together  to  behold  his  execution. 
But  when  they  came  to  the  prison,  they  were  informed  by  the  keepers  that  Peter 
had  made  his  escape.  The  officers  immediately  returned  with  this  intelligence  to 
Herod,  who  was  so  irritated  at  his  being  disappointed  in  his  wicked  design,  that  he 
commanded  the  keepers  to  be  put  to  death,  as  supposing  them  accessary  to  his  es- 
cape ;  after  which  he  left  Jerusalem,  and  retired  to  Cesarea. 

While  Herod  was  in  Cesarea,  a  misunderstanding  took  place  between  him  and  the 
inhabitants  of  Tyre  and  Sidon,  against  whom  he  was  about  to  declare  war.  But 
they,  dreading  his  power  (and  knowing  that  in  this  time  of  scarcity  their  country 
was  in  a  great  measure  dependant  on  Herod's  dominions  for  its  support),  sent  ambas- 
sadors to  Blastus,  Herod's  chamberlain,  requesting  him  to  intercede  in  their  behalf, 
and,  if  possible,  to  bring  about  an  accommodation.  Though  Herod  was  highly  dis- 
pleased with  them,  yet  he  so  far  listened  to  his  chamberlain  as  to  appoint  a  day  for 
holding  a  public  conference  with  the  ambassadors;  at  which  iin)e,  being  dressed 
in  his  royal  robes,  and  seated  on  a  throne,  he  made  a  long  harangue  on  the  occasion. 
The  fawning  multitude,  thinking  to  ingratiate  themselves  in  his  favor,  and  please  the 
tyrant's  pride  with  flattering  applause,  shouted  out,  "  It  is  the  voice  of  a  god,  and  not 
of  a  man."  This  gratified  the  pride  of  Herod,  who,  assuming  to  himself  that  praise 
which  belonged  only  to  God,  was  instantly  struck  by  an  angel  with  a  mortification  in 
his  bowels,  which,  in  a  short  time,  put  a  period  to  his  existence. 

The  tyrant  Herod  being  thus  removed,  the  gospel  greatly  flourished  and  increased, 
new  converts  daily  thronging  to  be  admitted  to  the  faith. 

About  this  time  Barnabas  and  Saul,  having  discharged  their  trust  in  disposing  of 
the  contributions  raised  in  Antioch  for  the  benefit  of  the  Christians  in  Jerusalem  and 
Judea,  returned  to  that  city,  taking  with  them  John,  surnamed  Mark,*  a  person  well 
calculated  to  assist  them  in  the  propagation  of  the  gospel. 

Barnabas  and  Saul  had  not  been  long  returned  to  Antioch,  when  God,  by  some  par- 
ticular inspiration,  gave  them  to  understand,  that  he  had  appointed  them  to  carry  his 
word  into  other  places.  This  was  likewise  revealed  to  the  members,  of  the  church 
then  at  Antioch,  who,  in  conseciuence  thereof,  betook  themselves  to  fasting  and 
prayer ,  and  Simeon,  Lucius,  and  Manaen  (all  of  whom  were  endued  with  the  spirit 
of  prophecy),  having  laid  their  hands  on  them,  sent  them  away  to  preach  the  gospel 
wherever  they  might  be  directed  by  divine  inspiration. 

On  their  departure  from  Antioch  they  went  first  to  Seleucia,t  whence  they  took 

*  This  person,  who  is  sometimes  called  .lolin-Mark,  and  at  other  times  simply  Mark,  or  .lohn,  is  very  lie 
quontly  confounded  with  the  Evangelist  St.  Mark.  lie  was  a  cousin  and  disciple  of  Barnabas,  and  the  so:i 
oC  a  Christian  woman  called  Mary,  at  whose  house  in  Jerusalem  the  apostles  and  disciples  often  assembled. 

t  This  city  lay  on  the  west,  or  rather  a  little  northwest  of  the  city  of  Antioch,  upon  the  Medilerranean 
9e»,  and  was  so  called  from  Scleucus  its  founder. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  535 

shippiiig  for  Cyprus,  and  began  their  ministerial  office  in  the  city  of  Salamis,*  where 
they  preached  in  the  synagogues,  and  employed  Mark,  who  was  of  their  company, 
in  several  offices  of  the  church  which  they  could  not  conveniently  attend  themselves. 

From  Salamis  they  proceeded  to  Paphos,t  the  residence  of  Sergius  Paulus,  the  pro- 
consul, or  governor  of  the  island,  a  man  of  great  wisdom  and  prudence,  but  unhappily 
seduced  by  the  wicked  artifices  of  Bar-Jesus,  an  impostor,  who  styled  himself  Elymas, 
or  the  magician.  The  governor  being  informed  of  the  doctrine  preached  by  Saul  and 
Barnabas,  was  desirous  of  hearing  it,  and  therefore  sent  to  them  for  thai  purpose. 
They  accordingly  attended,  but  while  Saul  was  delivering  a  discourse  to  him  and 
the  company  present,  the  sorcerer  (who  stood  by  the  pro-consul)  used  all  the  argu- 
ments he  could  to  prevent  his  being  converted  to  the  faith.  This  being  observed 
by  Saul,  he  turned  himself  to  the  sorcerer,  and  severely  chastised  him  in  words 
to  this  effect :  '  O  thou  vile  sorcerer  !  Like  the  devil,  by  whom  thou  workest,  thou 
art  an  enemy  to  all  goodness.  Wilt  thou  persist  in  sorcery,  in  defiance  of  the 
faith  of  Christ,  which  comes  armed  with  a  much  greater  power  of  miracles  than 
those  to  which  thou  falsely  pretendest  ?  Thou  shalt  soon  feel  the  vengeance  of 
Heaven ;  for  thou  that  perversely  boldest  out  against  the  light  of  the  gospel,  shalt 
lose  thy  sight,  which,  by  the  power  of  God,  shall,  for  a  time  be  taken  from  thee." 
No  sooner  had  Saul  uttered  these  words  than  the  sorcerer  was  struck  blind,  and  im- 
plored some  of  the  company  to  conduct  him  to  his  habitation.  This  miracle  con- 
vinced the  pro-consul  of  the  truth  of  the  doctrine  he  had  heard,  and  he  immediately 
became  a  convert  to  the  faith.  And  from  this  event  it  is  supposed,  by  some,  that 
Saul  changed  his  name  to  that  of  Paul,|  which  he  ever  after  retained. 

After  staying  some  time  in  the  island  of  Cyprus,  Paul  and  his  companions  went  to 
Perga  in  Pamphylia,||  where  Mark  (not  choosing  any  longer  to  prosecute  so  wandering 
a  course  of  life)  took  his  leave,  and  returned  to  Jerusalem. 

From  Perga  they  went  to  Antioch  in  Pisidia,"?!  where,  going  into  the  synagogue  on 
the  sabbath-day,  they  sat  themselves  down  to  hear  the  performance  of  divine  wor- 
ship. After  the  lessons,  one  out  of  the  law,  and  the  other  out  of  the  prophets  (it 
being  the  -custom  for  the  Jewish  doctors  to  expound  some  part  of  the  scripture  for  the 
instruction  of  the  people)  the  chief  persons  of  the  assembly  sent  to  Paul  and  his  com- 
panions, to  know  whether  either  of  them  would  preach  a  sermon  of  exhortation  to 
the  audience.  This  was  an  offer  highly  satisfactory  to  Paul,  who,  after  intimating 
his  acceptance  of  it,  arose,  and  delivered  a  discourse  to  the  people  in  words  to  this 
effect : — 

"  Hearken,  all  ye  descendants  of  Jacob,  and  ye  that  fear  the  Almighty,  to  the 
words  of  my  mouth.  The  God  of  Israel  made  choice  of  our  fathers,  and  loved  them, 
when  they  had  no  city  of  their  own  to  dwell  in,  but  were  strangers  and  slaves  in 
Egypt,  bringing  them  thence  with  a  mighty  hand,  and  a  stretched-out  arm ;  fed 
them  in  the  wilderness  forty  years,  and  would  not  suffer  his  anger  to  rise  against 
them,  though  they  often  provoked  him  in  the  desert.  On  their  arrival  in  the  land  he 
promised  their  fathers,  he  destroyed  the  nations  that  nihabited  it,  and  placed  them  in 
that  fruitful  country,  dividing  it  to  them  by  lot. 

"  When  they  were  settled  in  the  land,  he  gave  them  judges  during  four  hundred 

'  This  was  once  a  famous  city  in  tlie  isle  of  Cyprus,  opposite  to  Seleucia,  on  tlie  Syrian  coast ;  and,  as  it 
was  tlie  first  place  in  these  parts  where  the  gospel  was  preached,  it  was,  in  the  primitive  times,  made  the 
see  of  the  primate,  or  metropolitan  of  the  whole  island.  In  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Trajan,  it  was  destroy- 
ed by  the  Jews,  and  rebuilt,  but,  after  that,  being  in  the  time  of  Herodius,  sacked,  and  razed  to  the  grovmd 
by  the  Saracens,  it  never  recovered  its  former  splendor,  though  out  of  its  ruins  is  said  to  have  arisen  Fama- 
g'usta,  wliich  was  the  chief  place  of  the  isle,  when  the  Turks  took  it  from  the  Venetians,  in  the  year  1570. 

t  Paphos  was  another  city  of  Cyprus,  lying  on  the  western  (as  Salamis  did  on  the  eastern)  track  of  the 
island.  It  was  once  famous  for  having  in  it  a  celebrated  temple  dedicated  to  Venus,  who,  thence,  is  called, 
by  ancient  writers,  the  Paphian  Queen 

t  It  is  very  observable,  that  all  along,  before  this  circumstance  of  the  apostle's  life,  St.  Luke  calls  him 
by  the  name  of  Saul,  but  ever  after  by  that  of  Paul.  Hence  some  imagine,  that  he  assumed  that  name  to 
himself,  in  memory  of  his  converting  Sergms  Paulus  ;  just  as  the  ancient  Roman  generals  were  accus- 
tomed to  adopt  the  names  of  the  provinces  which  they  conquered.  St.  Austin  more  than  once  asserts, 
tlial  he  took  it  from  a  principle  of  humility,  by  a  small  variation  changing  his  former  name  (whereby  a  proud 
haughty  kmg  of  Israel  was  called)  into  that  of  Paulus,  wliich  signilies  litlh  ;  and  that,  in  conformity  to 
this,  he  calls  himself  "  less  than  the  least  of  the  apostles."  But  the  most  rational  account  of  the  matter 
seems  to  be  that  of  Origen,  namely,  that  he,  being  of  Jewish  parentage,  and  born  in  Tarsus,  a  Roman 
city,  had,  at  his  circumcision,  two  names  given  him,  Saul,  a  Jewish,  and  Paul,  a  Roman  name,  and  that 
when  he  preached  to  the  Jews,  he  was  called  by  his  Jewish,  and  when  to  the  Gentiles  (as  he  did  chiefly 
after  this  time)  by  his  Roman  name. 

II  Pamphylia  was  a  province  of  the  lesser  Asia,  not  far  from  Cyprus. 

6  This  lay  a  little  to  the  north  of  Pamphylia. 


536       '  A  NEW   AND  COMPLETE 

and  fifty  years,  till  Samuel  the  propLet.  But  on  their  desiring  a  king,  he  placed  over 
them  Saul  the  son  of  Cis,  a  Benjamite,  who  reigned  about  forty  years.  After  his 
death  he  placed  David  on  the  throne  of  Israel,  giving  him  this  testimony  :  I  have 
found  David  the  son  of  Jesse,  a  man  after  mine  own  heart,  which  shall  fulfil  all  my 
will.  And  according  to  his  promise  the  Almighty  hath  raised  up  to  the  sons  of  David 
a  Saviour  Jesus,  which  is  Christ  the  Lord ;  the  baptism  of  repentance  having  been 
preached  before  his  coming  by  John.  And  as  his  forerunner  executed  his  office,  he 
asked  his  followers.  Whom  think  ye  that  I  am  ?  You  must  not  mistake  me  for  the 
Messiah  ;  he  will  soon  follow  me  ;  but  I  am  not  worthy  to  perform  the  meanest  office 
for  him. 

"  To  you,  therefore,  ye  descendants  of  Abraham,  and  all  others  who  fear  the  Al- 
mighty, is  this  word  of  salvation  sent.  For  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  and  rulers 
of  Israel,  being  ignorant  of  him,  and  the  voices  of  the  prophets,  though  read  every 
sabbath  in  their  synagogues,  fulfilled  their  predictions  by  condemning  the  immaculate 
Son  of  the  Most  High.  °  They  found,  indeed,  no  fault  in  him,  though  they  earnestly 
desired  Pilate  that  he  might  be  slain. 

"  When  everything  that  had  been  written  by  the  prophets  concerning  him  was  ful- 
filled, they  took  him"  from  the  tree,  and  deposited  his  body  in  the  chambers  of  the 
grave.  But  death  had  no  power  to  detain  him  ;  his  almighty  Father  raised  him  from 
the  habitations  of  the  dead.  After  which  he  was  seen  during  many  days  by  his  dis- 
ciples who  attended  him  from  Galilee,  and  were  the  witnesses  chosen  by  Omnipo- 
tence, of  these  great  and  miraculous  works.  And  we  now  declare  unto  you  glad 
tidings,  namely,  that  the  promise  made  by  the  Almighty  to  our  forefathers,  he  hath 
performed  to  us  their  children,  by  raising  Jesus  from  the  dead.  The  prophet  David 
also  said,  Thou  art  my  son,  this  day  have  I  begotten  thee.  He  also  foretold  that  he 
should  return  from  the  chambers  of  the  dust,  and  no  more  be  subject  to  corruption: 
I  will  give  you  (said  he)  the  sure  mercies  of  David.  And  again,  Thou  shah  not  suff'er 
thine  holy  one  to  see  corruption.  Now  this  prophecy  must  relate  to  the  Messiah,  for 
David  himself,  after  he  had  swayed  the  sceptre  of  Israel  a  certain  time,  died,  was 
deposited  in  the  chamber  of  the  grave,  and  his  flesh  saw  corruption  ;  but  the  great 
Son  of  David,  whom  the  Almighty  raised  from  the  dead,  never  saw  corruption. 

"  Be  it  therefore  known  unto  you,  men  and  brethren,  that  through  this  Saviour  is 
preached  unto  you  the  forgiveness  of  sins.  It  is  by  his  merits  we  are  justified  from 
all  things,  which  was  impossible  by  the  law  of  Moses.  Be  careful,  therefore,  lest 
what  was  foretold  by  the  prophets  come  upon  you :  '  Behold,  ye  despisers,  and  won- 
der and  perish ;  for  I  work  a  work  in  your  days,  a  work  which  you  shall  in  no  wise 
believe,  though  a  man  declare  it  unto  you.'  " 

This  discourse  was  so  well  received  by  great  numbers  of  the  people,  that  when 
they  got  out  of  the  synagogue,  they  besought  Paul  that  he  would  deliver  it  again  on 
the  next  Sabbath.  Paul  promised  to  comply  with  their  request,  which  he  accordingly 
did,  and  on  that  day  almost  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  flocked  to  hear  him.  This 
irritated  such  of  the  Jews  as  were  strong  enemies  to  thi  gospel;  nor  could  they 
refrain  from  showing  their  malice  on  the  occasion.  They  sei'eral  times  not  only  in- 
terrupted, but  peremptorily  contradicted  Paul  while  he  was  preaching,  and  at  length 
uttered  many  blasphemous  expressions  against  the  name  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  But 
their  opposition  could  not  daunt  the  apostles,  who  boldly  answered  them  as  follows: 
"  It  was  necessary  that  the  word  of  God  should  first  have  been  spoken  to  you  ;  but 
seeing  ye  put  it  from  you,  and  judge  yourselves  unworthy  of  everlasting  life,  lo,  we 
turn  to  the  Gentiles.  For  so  hath  the  Lord  commanded  us,  saying,  I  have  set  thee 
to  be  a  light  of  the  Gentiles,  that  thou  shouldst  be  for  salvation  unto  the  ends  of  the 
earth." 

Whv^n  the  Gentiles  heard  this,  they  were  greatly  rejoiced,  and  glorified  the  name 
of  God  for  his  beneficent  mercy  revealed  in  the  gospel ;  and  all  who  had  any  care  or 
thouo'ht  of  the  life  to  come  immediately  embraced  the  doctrine  of  Christ.  This 
increased  the  malice  and  fury  of  the  Jews,  who,  by  false  and  artful  insinuations,  pre- 
vailed on  some  of  the  more  bigoted  and  honorable  women  to  bring  over  their  hus- 
bands to  their  party:  the  consequence  of  this  was,  that  Paul  and  Barnabas  were 
driven  out  of  the  city,  on  leaving  which  they  shook  the  dust  off  their  feet,  in  testi- 
mony of  the  sense  they  had  of  the  ingratitude  and  infidelity  of  their  oppressors. 

From  Antioch  Paul  and  Barnabas  went  to  Iconium,  where  they  entered  into  the 
synagogue  of  the  Jews,  and,  according   to  their   usual  custom,  preached   to   the 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  537 

people;  the  consequence  of  Avhich  was  that  many,  both  Jews  and  Greeks,  became 
proselytes  to  the  Christian  religion.  From  this  success  the  two  apostles  continued 
some  time  at  Iconium,  during  which  the  number  of  converts  daily  increased,  and, 
lo  confirm  them  in  the  faith,  God  added  his  testimony  to  their  preaching,  by  enabling 
them  to  work  miracles.  Bat  though  they  had  gained  a  considerable  number  of 
inhabitants  to  the  faith,  yet  there  were  many  who  continued  in  their  infidelity: 
the  wliole  leaven  of  Jewish  malice  began  again  to  show  itself,  and  the  unbelieving 
Jews,  having  stirred  up  the  Gentiles  against  the  apostles,  at  length  prevailed  on  the 
multitude  to  stone  them.  But  the  apostles,  having  timely  notice  of  their  designs, 
fled  from  the  city  to  Lystra  and  Derbe  (two  other  cities  in  the  province  of  Lycaonia), 
where  they  preached  the  gospel  to  the  inhabitants,  as  also  to  those  who  dwelt  in 
the  countries  adjoining. 

While  they  were  at  Lystra,  a  happy  circumstance  occurred  both  for  the  promulga- 
tion of  the  gospel,  and  the  conversion  of  a  people  who  had  greatly  been  devoted  to 
paganism.  As  Paul  was  one  day  preaching  to  the  multitude,  he  saw  among  them  a 
man  who  had  been  lame  from  his  mother's  womb,  and  had  never  walked.  From  the 
earnest  attention  which  the  cripple  gave  to  the  discourse,  Paul  (who  had  for  some 
time  taken  particular  notice  of  him)  perceived  that  he  had  faith,  and  therefore  thought 
proper  to  add  the  cure  of  his  body  to  that  of  his  soul,  knowing  that  it  would  not  only 
be  beneficial  to  him,  but  would  likewise  confirm  the  faith  of  all  who  should  believe  in 
his  doctrine.  And  that  the  miracle  might  be  wrought  in  the  most  conspicuous  man- 
ner, Paul,  in  the  midst  of  the  congregation,  said  in  an  audible  voice  to  the  man, 
"  Stand  upright  on  thy  feet ;"  which  words  were  no  sooner  pronounced  than  he  arose, 
"  and  leaped  and  Avalked." 

The  people  who  beheld  this  miracle  well  knew  that  it  could  not  be  wrought  by 
any  human  power;  but  having  been  initiated  in  the  superstitious  customs  of  the 
heathens,  they  cried  out,  "  The  gods  are  come  down  to  us  in  the  likeness  of  men." 
Accordingly  they  called  Barnabas  Jupiter,  on  account  of  his  venerable  gravity,  and 
Paul  they  named  Mercurius,  "  because  he  was  the  chief  speaker." 

It  was  not  long  before  the  fame  of  this  miracle  w^as  spread  throughout  the  city;  in 
consequence  of  which  almost  all  the  inhabitants  gathered  themselves  together,  and 
preceded  by  the  priest  of  Jupiter,  and  oxen  dressed  in  garlands,  went  to  the  house 
where  the  apostles  resided,  intending  to  offer  sacrifice  before  them.  But  as  soon  as 
Paul  and  Barnabas  understood  their  intentions,  they  were  greatly  affected  at  their 
superstitious  design;  and  rending  their  clothes  to  express  their  grief  and  abhorrence 
of  the  action,  ran  out  to  the  multitude,  whom  Paul  addressed  in  words  to  this  effect: 
"  Ye  men  of  Lystra,  ye  are  mistaken  in  the  object  of  your  worship;  for  though  we 
have  done  many  miracles  in  the  name  and  by  the  power  of  Christ,  yet  we  are  no 
more  than  men,  and  subject  to  the  same  passions  with  yourselves,  and  preach  unto 
you  the  £;lad  tidings  of  salvation,  that  ye  may  forsake  the  vanities  of  this  world,  and 
return  to  the  living  God,  who  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth,  the  sea,  and  all  the 
creatures  they  contain.  This  Omnipotent  Being  suffered  all  nations  formerly  to  walk 
in  their  own  ways,  though  he  never  left  himself  without  witness,  doing  the  greatest 
good  to  the  children  of  men;  it  is  he' that  sendeth  rain  from  heaven,  and  crowneth 
the  year  with  fruitful  seasons,  filling  our  hearts  with  joy  and  gladness." 

This  argument  had  the  desired  effect,  the  people,  though  with  some  difficulty, 
being  persuaded  to  lay  aside  their  idolatrous  intentions.  And  surely  no  argument 
could  be  more  properly  adapted  to  answer  the  wishes  of  the  inspired  preacher.  Is 
it  possible  that  any  human  being  can  survey  the  several  parts  of  the  creation,  and 
not  discover  in  every  place  evident  traces  of  an  Infinite  wisdom,  power,  and  good- 
ness ?  Who  can  survey  universal  nature,  and  not  at  once  see  and  admire  its  great 
Author,  who  has  disposed  of  all  created  things  with  such  order  and  regularity  as  to 
display  in  the  clearest  manner  his  own  power  and  glory  ?  Behold  the  sun  i  how 
justly  "is  that  source  of  light  and  heat  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  planetary  choir, 
that  each  may  enjoy  its  destined  share  of  its  prolific  beams  ;  so  that^  the  earth  is  not 
burnt  by  a  too  near  approach,  nor  chilled  by  the  northern  blasts  from  too  great  a 
recess,  but  impregnated  with  fruits  and  flowers  by  the  happy  influence  of  a  vital 
heat,  and  crowned  with  luxuriant  plenty  by  the  benign  influences  of  the  season. 
Who  can  contemplate  the  wonderful  properties  of  the  air,  and  not  reflect  on  the 
Divine  wisdom  that  formed  it  ?  If  we  survey  the  earth,  we  there  discover  the  foot- 
steps of  an  Almighty  Being,  who  hath  filled  it  with  a  great  variety  of  admirable  and 


538  A  NEW  AND   COMPLETE 

useful  creatures,  all  of  which  are  maintained  by  the  bounty  of  his  hand.  It  is  he 
that  clothes  the  grass  with  a  delightful  verdure,  that  crowns  the  year  with  his  loving 
kindness,  and  causes  the  valleys  to  stand  thick  with  corn.  It  is  he  that  maketh  the 
grass  to  grow  upon  the  mountains,  and  herbs  for  the  service  of  man.  He  adorns  the 
lilies  of  the  field,  that  neither  toil  nor  spin,  with  a  glory  that  excels  the  pomp  and 
grandeur  of  Solomon's  court.  He  "  shut  up  the  sea  with  doors,"  and  said,  "  Hitherto 
shalt  thou  come  and  no  farther,  and  here  shall  thy  proud  waves  be  stayed."  It  is 
the  Almighty  Being  that  arrests  the  storm,  and  smooths  the  tempestuous  billows  of 
the  deep  ;  that  delivereth  the  mariner  from  all  his  troubles,  and  bringeth  his  ship 
into  the  desired  haven  of  safely.  How  reasonable,  therefore,  is  it  that  we  should 
worship  and  adore  this  Omnipotent,  this  kind  Creator,  and  not  transfer  the  honors 
due  to  him  alone  to  frail  mortals,  much  less  to  dumb  idols,  the  work  of  men's  hands ! 

After  Paul  had  performed  the  miracle  on  the  lame  man,  he  and  Barnabas  continued 
to  persevere  in  the  execution  of  their  important  commission,  declaring,  wherever  they 
went,  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation  to  all  who  believed  in  the  doctrine  of  Christ.  But 
the  malice  of  their  enemies  still  pursued  them:  some  inveterate  Jews,  who  had 
come  from  Antioch  and  Iconium,  so  exasperated  and  stirred  up  the  multitude  against 
them,  that  they  took  Paul,  whom,  just  before,  they  would  have  adored,  and  stoned 
him  ;  after  which  they  dragged  him  out  of  the  city,  supposing  him  to  be  dead.  But 
when  the  disciples  went  to  the  place  where  he  was  (probably  to  inter  his  body)  he 
rose  up,  and  went  into  the  city  for  that  night,  and  the  next  day  departed,  with  Bar- 
nabas, to  Derbe,  where  they  preached  the  gospel,  and  converted  many  to  the  faith. 

They  did  not,  however,  continue  long  at  Derbe,  but  returned  to  Lystra,  Iconium, 
and  Antioch,  confirming  the  Christians  of  those  places  in  the  faith,  earnestly  per- 
suading them  to  persevere,  and  not  to  be  discouraged  at  those  troubles  and  persecu- 
tions which  they  must  expect  would  attend  the  profession  of  the  gospel.  And  that 
the  affairs  of  the  church  might  be  conducted  with  more  regularity,  they  ordained 
elders  and  pastors,  to  teach,  instruct,  and  watch  over  them ;  having  done  which, 
they  left  them  to  the  protection  of  the  Almighty,  to  whose  care  they  recommended 
them  by  prayer  and  fasting. 

From  Antioch  they  passed  through  Pisidia,  and  thence  went  to  Pamphylia ;  and, 
having  preached  to  the  people  at  Perga,  they  went  down  to  Attalia,  and  returned,  by 
sea,  to  Antioch  in  Syria,  whence  they  had  set  out  on  this  holy  expedition.  On  their 
arrival  here,  they  immediately  assembled  the  church  together,  and,  having  given  an 
account  of  their  success,  what  miracles  G-od  had  wrought  by  their  hands,  and  a  large 
"  door  of  faith,"  he,  by  their  ministry,  had  opened  to  the  Gentiles,  they  suspended 
their  farther  travels  for  the  present,  and  for  a  considerable  time,  took  up  their  abode 
with  the  disciples  in  that  city. 

During  their  stay  here,  the  church  was  greatly  disturbed  by  means  of  some  persons 
coming  from  Judea,  who  taught  the  people  that  there  was  no  salvation  without  cir- 
cumcision, and  the  observance  of  other  legal  ceremonies.  This  doctrine  was  strongly 
opposed  by  Paul  and  Barnabas ;  in  consequence  of  which,  after  many  conferences  and 
disputations,  it  was  at  length  proposed,  that  the  decision  of  the  matter  should  be  re- 
ferred to  the  general  assembly  of  the  apostles  at  Jerusalem.  This  the  whole  church 
readily  agreed  to ;  and  having  deputed  Barnabas  and  Paul,  together  with  some 
others,  to  go  with  the  message,  they  conducted  them  part  of  the  way,  and  the  two 
apostles,  in  passing  through  Phcenicia  and  Samaria,  took  care  to  relate  what  success 
they  had  met  with  in  the  conversion  of  the  Gentiles,  to  the  great  joy  and  comfort  of 
all  the  brethren  in  those  parts. 

On  their  arrival  at  Jerusalem  they  were  kindly  received  by  the  apostles  and  elders 
of  the  church,  to  whom,  after  reciting  the  great  success  they  had  met  with  in  the 
propagation  of  the  gospel,  they  delivered  the  message  on  which  they  were  sent. 
They  told  them,  that  when  the  Gentile  proselytes,  or  others  uncircumcised,  came  in 
to  the  faith,  some  Jewish  converts,  of  the  sect  of  the  Pharisees,  said  that  such  could 
not  be  admitted  into  the  church  of  Christ  without  circumcision  ;  that  great  disputes 
had  arisen  on  this  head,  and  that  the  matter  was  referred  to  the  church  at  Jerusa- 
salem. 

In  consequence  of  this  intelligence  a  council  was  immediately  summoned  to  de- 
Jberate  on  the  matter,  and  great  disputes  took  place  on  the  occasion.  At  length 
Peter,  rising  from  his  seat,  addressed  the  audience  in  words  to  this  effect:  "It  is 
well  known  to  you  all,  that  some  time  since  God  made  choice  of  me  first  to  preach 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  539 

the  gospel  to  the  Gentiles ;  and  God,  who  knew  the  sincerity  of  their  hearts,  testified 
that  they  were  acceptable  to  him  and  fit  to  bt  baptized,  bestowing  on  them  the  o"ift 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  he  had  before  upon  us,  making  no  difference  between  us  and 
them.  By  this  one  act  the  matter  is  already  sufficiently  determined.  Why  then  do 
ye  press  this  thing  so  contrary  to  the  will  of  God?  And  why  would  ye  wish  to 
impose  on  the  Gentile  converts  the  performance  of  the  Mosaic  law,  which  belonged 
not  to  them,  and  which  we  Jews  were  so  far  from  being  able  to  perform,  ihat  our 
conduct  could  not  be  justified  ?  It  is  from  the  gospel  that  we  expect  salvation  and 
justification,  through  iaiih  and  obedience  to  Christ,  and  not  by  an  observation  of  the 
Mosaic  law :  whence  it  is  plain,  that  if  the  Gentiles  believe,  they  have  the  same 
way  to  salvation  as  ourselves." 

When  Peter  had  concluded  his  observations,  Paul  and  Barnabas,  in  confirmation  of 
what  he  had  said,  declared  what  miracles  God  had  done  by  them  in  the  conversion 
of  the  Geniiles,  which  tiiey  said  was  another  argument  and  testimony  from  heaven, 
that  no  difference  ought  to  be  made  between  them  and  the  Jews. 

Upon  this  James  stood  up,  and  spoke  to  this  effect :  "  Men  and  brethren,  Peter 
hath  sufficiently  demonstrated  that  it  was  the  will  uf  God  the  Gentiles  should,  with- 
out scruple,  have  the  gospel  preached  to  them,  and  be  baptized.  And  this  is  agree- 
able to  what  hath  been  foieiold  by  the  old  prophets,  particularly  Amos:  'In  the 
later  days  I  will  return,  and  will  build  again  the  tabernacle  of  David  which  is  fallen 
down;  and  I  will  build  again  the  ruins  thereof,  and  I  will  set  it  up:  that  the  residue 
of  men  might  seek  after  the  Lord,  and  all  the  Gentiles  upon  whom  my  name  is 
called,  saith  the  Lord,  who  doeth  all  these  things.'  Wherefore  it  is  my  conclusion 
and  determination,  that  we  should  not  compel  those  to  be  circumcised,  who  from 
Gentiles  turn  Christians,  but  content  ourselves  if  they  believe.  We  who  are  Jews 
need  not  fear  that  this  will  bring  a  contempt  upon  Moses  or  the  laws  of  the  Jews, 
since  the  contrary  appears  by  the  Christian  practice;  for  even  where  those  proselytes 
of  the  Gentiles  are,  the  books  of  Moses  are  continued  among  them,  being  read  in 
the  synagogues  every  sabbath-day,  to  signify  their  respect  to  the  law." 

This  determination  being  unanimously  agreed  to,  it  was  next  resolved  to  send 
some  proper  persons  with  Paul  and  Barnabas  to  Antioch,  in  order  that  they,  having 
been  present,  might  give  a  satisfactory  account  of  the  result  of  the  apostles'  embassy. 
They  accordingly  made  choice  of  two,  namely,  Judas,  surnamed  Barsabas,  and  Silas, 
men  of  distinguished  reputation,  and  well  respected  by  all  Christians.  These,  ac- 
companied by  Paul  and  Barnabas,  proceeded  to  Antioch,  taking  with  them  a  decree 
drawn  up  by  the  council,  which  was  to  this  effect :  "  Forasmuch  as  we  have  heard, 
that  certain  which  went  out  from  us,  have  troubled  you  with  words,  subverting  your 
souls,  saying  ye  must  be  circumcised  and  keep  the  law;  to  whom  we  gave  no  such 
commandment:  it  seemed  good  unto  us,  being  assembled  with  one  accord,  to  send 
chosen  men  unto  you,  with  our  beloved  Barnabas  and  Paul :  men  that  have  hazarded 
their  lives  for  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  We  have  sent  therefore  Judas 
and  Silas,  who  shall  also  tell  you  the  same  things  by  mouth.  For  it  seemed  good 
to  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  to  us,  to  lay  upon  you  no  greater  burden  than  these  neces- 
sary things ;  that  ye  abstain  from  meats  offered  to  idols,  and  from  blood,  and  from 
things  strangled,  and  from  fornication:  from  which  if  ye  keep  yourselves,  ye  shall  do 
well.     Fare  ye  well."  (Acts  xv.  24-29.) 

With  tills  decree  they  immediately  repaired  to  Antioch,  whither  they  they  had  no 
sooner  arrived,  than  the  Christian  converts,  both  Jews  and  Gentiles,  assembled  to- 
gether in  uidtr  to  know  the  issue  of  their  embassy.  As  soon  as  they  were  met,  P.aul 
and  Barnabas  presented  to  them  the  decretal  epistle,  Avhich  they  caused  to  be  read  in 
the  hearing  of  the  whole  congregation.  The  contents  of  the  decree,  which  were 
ultimate,  gave  the  highest  satisfaction  to  the  Gentile  converts,  who  greatly  rejoiced 
at  finding  themselves  discharged  from  the  burden  of  the  law,  and  confirmed  in  their 
Christian  liberty. 

While  Judas  and  Silas  were  at  Antioch  (being  both  men  of  excellent  gifts  in  the 
interpretation  of  the  Scriptures),  they  employed  their  time  in  confirming  believers  in 
the  truth  of  Christianity,  and,  after  a  short  stay,  were,  with  all  kindness  and  civility, 
dismissed  by  the  church,  in  order  to  return'  to  Jerusalem.  But  Silas,  for  some 
reasons,  was  unwilling  to  depart  so  soon,  cnoosing  rather  to  tarry  with  Paul  and 
Barnabas.     This  he  accordingly  did,  and  those  three,  together  wuh'several  others  of 


540  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

the  brethren,  employed  tnemselves  m  instructing  such  as  had  already  received  the 
Christian  faith,  and  in  preaching  to  others  who  had  not  yet  embraced  it. 

Soon  after  the  determination  of  the  council  at  Jerusalem,  Peter  went  thence  to 
Antioch,  where,  using  the  liberty  which  the  gospel  had  given  him,  he  for  some  time 
conversed  familiarly  with  the  Gentile  converts,  eating  with  them,  and  living  with 
them  in  the  same  manner  they  did.  This  he  had  been  taught  to  do  by  the  vision  of 
the  sheet  let  down  from  heaven ;  this  had  been  lately  decreed  at  Jerusalem  ;  this  he 
had  before  practised  with  regard  to  Cornelius  and  his  family,  and  justified  the  action 
to  the  satisfaction  of  his  brethren ;  this  he  had  likewise  done  after  his  arrival  at 
Antioch,  till  some  Jewish  Christians  (still  tenacious  of  the  ceremonial  law)  coming 
thither  from  Jerusalem,  Peter,  fearful  of  offending  or  displeasing  them,  withdrew 
himself  from  the  Gentiles,  as  if  it  had  been  unlawful  for  him  to  hold  conversation 
with  uncircumcised  persons;  notwithstanding  he  knew,  and  was  fully  satisfied  that 
our  blessed  Saviour  had  broken  down  the  wall  of  partition  between  the  Jew  and 
Gentile. 

Peter,  by  thus  acting  against  the  light  of  his  own  mind  and  judgment,  condemned 
what  he  had  approved,  and  destroyed  the  superstructure  he  had  before  erected:  at 
the  same  time  he  confirmed  the  Jewish  zealots  in  their  gross  errors,  filled  the  mmds 
of  the  Gentiles  with  scruples,  and  their  consciences  with  fears. 

Paul,  who  was  not  ignorant  of  wliat  pernicious  influence  the  example  of  so  great 
an  apostle  might  be,  especially  when  he  saw  Barnabas  carried  away  with  the  stream 
of  his  indiscretion,  was  greatly  irritated  at  his  conduct,  and,  in  the  presence  of  the 
whole  church,  severely  rebuked  him,  for  endeavoring  to  impose  that  yoke  on  the 
Gentiles,  which  he,  though  a  Jew,  thought  himself  at  liberty  to  shake  off. 

A  few  days  after  this  Paul  and  Barnabas  resolved  to  leave  Antioch,  and  visit  those 
places  in  which  they  had  some  lime  before  planted  Christianity  among  the  Gentiles. 
In  this  intended  excursion  Barnabas  proposed  taking  with  them  John  Mark ;  but  the 
proposition  was  highly  disapproved  by  Paul,  on  account  of  Mark's  having  deserted 
them  at  Pamphylia.  In  consequence  of  this,  a  warm  dispute  took  place  between 
them,  the  issue  of  which  was,  that  they  determined  to  separate.*  Accordingly  Bar- 
nabas, accompanied  by  Mark,  went  to  Cyprus,  which  was  his  native  country  ;  and 
soon  after  Paul,  having  chosen  Silas  for  his  companion,  set  out  on  his  intended  visita- 
tion of  the  several  places  in  which  he  had  before  propagated  Christianity. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

When  Paul  left  Antioch,  after  his  separation  from  Barnabas,  he  and  his  companion 
Silas  travelled  over  the  provinces  of  Syria  and  Cilicia,  confirming  the  churches,  and 
leaving  with  eacb  a  copy  of  t!  '  decree,  which  a  short  time  before  had  been  passed 
by  the  council  at  Jerusalem.  P  rom  these  parts  they  sailed  to  Crete,!  where  Paul 
propagated  the  gospel,  and  constituted  Titus  pastor  of  the  island,  leaving  him  to 
settle  those  affairs  of  the  church,  which  time  would  not  permit  the  apostle  to  do. 

From  Crete  Paul  and  Silas  returned  to  Cilicia,  and  thence  went  to  Lystra.  Here 
they  met  with  a  young  man  named  Timothy,  whose  father  was  a  Greek,  but  his 
mother  a  Jewish  convert,  by  wiiom  he  had  been  brought  up  under  all  the  advan- 
tages of  a  pious  and  religious  education,  especially  with  regard  to  the  holy  Scriptures, 
which  he  had  studied  with  the  greatest  assiduity  and  success.  This  person  Paul  de- 
signed as  a  companion  of  his  travels,  and  a  special  instrument  in  the  ministry  of  the 

*  Hence  we  may  learn  not  only  that  these  great  lights  in  the  Christian  church  were  men  of  the  like 
passions  with  us,  but  that  God,  upon  this  occasion,  did  most  eminently  illustrate  the  wisdom  of  his  provi- 
dence, by  rendering  the  frailties  of  two  such  eminent  servants  instrumental  to  the  benefit  of  his  church, 
since  both  of  them  thenceforward  employed  their  extraordinary  industry  and  zeal,  singly  and  apart,  which 
till  then  had  been  united,  and  confined  to  the  same  places. 

t  This  was  one  of  the  richest  and  best  islands  in  the  whole  Mediterranean  sea.  It  is  said  at  one  time  to 
have  contained  no  less  than  a  hundred  considerable  towns  or  cities,  whence  it  had  the  name  of  llecatom- 
polis.  From  the  goodness  of  the  soil,  and  temperature  of  the  air,  it  was  likewise  styled  Macorios,  or  the 
Happy  island.  At  present  it  is  commonly  called  Candia,  from  its  principal  town,  which  hears  that  name 
It  IS  situated  opposite  tlie  mouth  of  the  iEgean  sea,  or  Archipelago  ;  and  while  it  continued  in  the  hands  ol 
the  Venetians  was  an  archbishop's  see  ;  great,  rich,  and  populous  :  but  since  it  came  into  the  possession 
of  the  Turks  (which  was  in  the  year  1009)  it  has  lost  all  marks  of  its  former  grandeur. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


541 


642  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

gospel.  But  knowing  that  his  being-  uncircumcised  would  prove  a  stumbling-block 
to  the  Jews,  he  caused  him  to  be  circumcised  ;  being  willing,  in  lawful  and  indifferent 
matters,  to  conform  himself  to  the  tempers  and  dispositions  of  all,  that  he  might 
thereby  further  succeed  in  his  ministry,  and  the  sooner  establish  that  doctrine  he  was 
sent  to  propagate. 

After  staying  a  short  time  at  Lystra,  they  passed  through  Phrygia*  and  Galatia,t 
where  the  apostle  Paul  was  entertained  with  the  greatest  kindness  and  veneration  by 
the  people,  who  looked  upon  him  as  anangel  sent  immediately  from  heaven.  Hence 
he  intended  to  have  continued  his  progress  through  the  proconsular  Asia,  but  was 
prohibited  from  so  doing  by  a  particular  revelation.  In  consequence  of  this  he  went 
to  Mysia.t  and  after  attempting  in  vain  to  go  into  Bithynia,||  proceeded  to  Troas,^ 
where,  soon  after  his  arrival,  he  had  a  vision,  commanding  him  to  direct  his  course 
for  Macedonia. H  Paul  made  immediate  preparations  for  obeying  these  orders,  being 
fully  assured  it  was  the  Lord  who  had  called  him  to  preach  the  gospel  in  that 
country. 

Paul  and  his  companions,  having  embarked  at  Troas,  sailed  to  the  island  of  Samo- 
thracia,**  and,  the  next  day,  landed  at  Neapolis,tt  a  port  in  Macedonia,  whence  they 
travelled  to  Philippi,tt  a  Roman  colony,  where  they  continued  some  days. 

At  a  small  distance  from  Philippi  the  Jews  had  a  proseuche,  or  place  of  devotion, 
which  was  much  frequented  by  the  devout  women  of  their  religion,  who  met  there 
to  pray  and  hear  the  law.  In  this  place  Paul  and  his  companions  preached  the  glad 
tidings  of  the  gospel,  and,  by  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  made  many  converts. 
Among  these  was  a  certain  woman  named  Lydia,  a  seller  of  purple  in  Philippi,  but  a 
native  of  Thyatira,||||  whom  they  baptized,  with  her  household;  in  return  for  which 
she  invited  them  to  lodge  in  her  house  during  their  abode  in  that  city. 

As  Paul  and  his  companions  were  one  day  going,  as  usual,  to  the  before-mentioned 
place  of  devotion,  they  were  met  by  a  certain  damsel,  who  was  possessed  with  a 
spirit  of  divination,  by  means  of  which  her  masters  acquired  considerable  advantage. 

*  Phrygia  is  a  province  of  Asia  Minor,  liaving  Bitliynia  to  the  north,  Galatia  to  the  east,  Lycia  to  the 
south,  and  Mysia  to  the  west.  The  inhabitants  of  this  country,  who  are  said  to  have  been  the  inventors  of 
augury,  and  other  kinds  of  divination,  were  anciently  more  superstitious  than  the  other  Asiatics,  as  appears 
from  the  rites  which  they  used  in  the  sacrifice  of  Cybele,  and  other  heathen  goddesses. 

t  Galatia  is  a  provmce  of  Asia  Minor,  bounded  on  the  west  by  Phrygia,  on  the  east  by  the  river  Halys,  on 
the  north  by  Paphlagonia,  and  on  the  south  by  Lyaconia. 

t  Mysia  is  another  small  province  of  Asia  Minor,  bounded  on  the  east  by  Phrygia,  on  the  west  by  Troas, 
on  the  north  by  Bithynia,  and  on  the  south  by  the  river  Ilermus-. 

II  Bithynia  is  likewise  a  rogion  of  Asia  Minor,  and  received  its  name  from  one  of  its  kings,  named  Bythi- 
nus  :  but  in  what  age  he  reigned  we  are  not  informed. 

tl  Troas  was  a  small  country  belonging  to  Phrygia  Minor,  and  situated  to  the  west  of  Mysia,  upon  the 
Hellespont.  It  took  its  name  from  its  principal  city,  wliich  was  a  seaport,  and  situated  about  four  miles 
from  old  Troy. 

IT  This  is  a  large  province  in  Greece,  and  was  anciently  called  Emmathia,  but,  from  the  kings  of  Mace- 
don,  it  was  afterward  called  Macedonia,  which  name  it  has  ever  since  retained. 

**  Samothracia  is  a  small  island  in  the  ^Egean  sea,  lying  to  the  west  of  Troas,  opposite  the  coast  of 
Thrace,  whence  it  received  its  name. 

tt  Neapolis  was  a  seaport,  and  stood  very  near  to  Tlu-ace.  At  first  it  belonged  to  that  province,  but  was 
afterward  taken  into  Macedonia. 

it  Philippi  was  ime  of  the  chief  cities  of  Macedonia,  lying  to  the  west  of  Neapolis.  It  was  originally 
called  Dathos,  but  afterward  took  its  name  from  Pliihp,  tlie  famous  king  of  Macedon,  who  repaired  and 
beautified  it.  In  process  of  time  it  became  a  Roman  colony,  and  the  inhabitants  enjoyed  the  privileges  of 
Roman  citizens,  and  were  governed  by  the  Roman  laws.  These  indulgences  were  conferred  on  them  both 
by  Julius  and  Augustus  Caesar,  very  probably,  in  memory  of  the  two  great  battles  that  were  fought  in  the 
plains  adjacent,  the  first  between  Julius  and  Poinpey  tlie  Great,  and  the  second  between  Augustus  and 
Mark  Antony  on  the  one  side,  and  Cassius  and  Brutus  on  the  other. 

III!  This  ancient  city  still  survives  as  an  inhabited  site,  under  the  Turkish  name  of  Ark-hissar,  or  the 
White  castle.  It  ran  not  however  compare  with  the  two  other  inhabited  sites,  being  greatly  inferior  to  Per- 
gamos,  and  immeasurably  so  to  Smyrna.  In  ancient  remains  it  is  poorer  than  any  of  the  seven.  It  is  situ- 
ated about  twenty-seven  miles  to  the  north  of  Sardis,  and  is  thus  noticed  by  Phny  Fisk,  the  American 
missionary  :  "  Thyatira  is  situated  near  a  small  river,  a  branch  of  the  Caicus,  in  the  centre  of  an  extensive 
plain.  At  the  distance  of  three  or  four  miles  it  is  almost  completely  surrounded  by  mountains.  The  houses 
are  low  ;  many  of  them  of  mud  or  earth.  Excepting  the  motsellim's  palace,  there  is  scarcely  a  decent 
house  in  the  place.  The  streets  are  narrow  and  dirty,  and  everything  indicates  poverty  and  degradation. 
We  had  a  letter  of  introduction  to  Economo,  the  bisliop's  procurator,  and  a  principal  man  among  the  Greeks 
of  this  town.  .  .  .  He  says  the  Turks  h-vi-e  destroyed  all  remnants  of  t)ie  ancient  church  ;  and  even  the 
place  where  it  stood  is  now  unknown.  At  present  there  are  in  the  town  one  thousand  houses  for  which 
taxes  are  paid  to  the  government."  (Memoir  of  the  Rev.  P.  Fisk.  Boston,  Mass.  1828.)  It  appears,  from 
Hartley,  that  the  Greeks  occupy  three  hundred  houses,  the  Armenians  thirty.  Eacli  of  them  has  a  [:hurch. 
The  town  is  embosomed  in  poplars  and  cypresses.  The  traveller  last  named  observes  ;  "  The  sacred 
writer  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  informs  us  that  Lydia  was  a  seller  of  purple  in  the  city  of  Thyatira  ;  and 
the  discovery  of  an  inscription  here,  wliich  makes  mention  of'  the  dyers,'  has  been  considered  important  in 
conne.tion  with  this  passage.  I  know  not  if  other  travellers  liave  remarked,  that  even  at  the  present  time, 
Thyatira  is  famous  for  dying.  In  answer  to  inquiries  on  the  subject,  I  was  informed  that  the  cloths 
which  are  dyed  scarlet  here,  are  considered  superior  to  any  others  furnished  by  Asia  Minor ;  and  that  large 
quantities  are  sent  weekly  to  Smyrna,  for  the  purposes  of  commerce." 


HISTORY  OF  TIffi  BIBLE.  543 

This  woman  followed  Paul  and  his  companion,  crying  out,  "  These  men  are  the 
servants  of  the  Most  High  God,  which  show  us  the  Avay  of  salvation."  Paul,  at  first 
took  no  notice  of  her,  not  being  willing  to  multiply  miracles  without  necessity.  But 
when  he  saw  her  following  them  several  days  together,  he  began  to  be  troubled ; 
and  therefore,  in  imitation  of  his  great  Master  (who  would  not  suffer  the  devil  to  ac- 
knowledge him,  lest  his  false  and  lying  tongue  should  prejudice  the  truth  in  the 
minds  of  men),  commanded  the  spirit,  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  to  come  out  of  her.  Ac- 
cordine^ly  the  evil  spirit  obeyed,  and  at  that  instant  left  the  damsel. 

This  miraculous  cure  proving  a  great  loss  to  her  masters,  who  had  acquired  large 
sums  from  her  soothsaying,  they  were  vehemently  incensed  against  the  apostles. 
They  therefore  caused  Paul  and  Silas  to  be  apprehended  and  carried  before  the 
magistrates  of  the  city,  to  whom  they  accused  them  of  introducing  many  innovations, 
which  were  prejudicial  to  the  state,  and  unlawful  for  them  to  comply  with,  as  being 
Romans. 

The  magistrates,  being  concerned  for  the  tranquillity  of  the  state,  and  fearful  of  all 
disturbances,  were  very  forward  to  punish  the  offenders,  against  whom  the  multitude 
testified  ;  and  therefore  they  commanded  the  officers  to  strip  them,  and  scourge  them 
severely  as  seditious  persons.  This  was  accordingly  done,  after  which  they  were 
committed  to  close  custody,  and  the  jailer,  having  received  a  strict  charge  to  keep 
them  in  the  utmost  security,  not  only  thrust  them  into  the  inner  prison,  but  likewise 
made  their  feet  fast  to  the  stocks. 

But  neither  the  obscure  dungeon,  nor  the  pitchy  mantle  of  the  night,  can  intercept 
the  beams  of  divine  joy  and  comfort  from  the  souls  of  pious  men.  Their  minds  were 
all  serenity ;  and  at  midnight  they  prayed,  and  sung  praises  to  God  so  loud,  that  they 
were  heard  in  every  part  of  the  prison.  Nor  were  their  prayers  offered  to  the  throne 
of  grace  in  vain :  an  earthquake  shook  the  foundations  of  the  prison,  opened  the  doors, 
loosed  the  chains,  and  set  the  prisoners  at  liberty. 

This  convulsion  of  nature  roused  the  jailer  from  his  sleep ;  and  concluding,  from 
what  he  saw,  that  all  his  prisoners  were  escaped,  he  was  going  to  put  a  period  to  his 
life,  which  being  observed  by  Paul,  he  hastily  called  out,  "  Do  thyself  no  harm,  for 
we  are  all  liere."  The  keeper  was  as  much  surprised  at  this  as  he  had  been  before 
terrified  at  the  thoughts  of  their  escape  ;  and  calling  for  a  light,  he  went  immediately 
info  the  presence  of  Paul  and  Silas,  fell  down  at  their  feet,  took  them  from  the  dun- 
geon, brought  them  to  his  own  house,  washed  their  stripes,  and  then  besought  them 
to  instruct  him  in  the  knowledge  of  that  God  who  was  so  mighty  to  save.  Paul 
readily  granted  his  request,  telling  him,  that  if  he  believed  in  Jesus  Christ,  he  and 
his  whole  house  might  be  saved.  Accordingly  the  jailer,  with  all  his  family,  were, 
after  a  competent  instruction,  baptized,  and  received  as  members  of  the  Christian, 
church. — How  happy  a  change  does  the  doctrine  of  the  gospel  make  in  the  minds  of 
men  !  How  does  it  smooth  the  roughest  tempers,  and  instil  in  their  minds  the  sweet- 
est principles  of  civility  and  good-nature  !  He,  who  put  a  few  moments  before  tyran- 
nized over  J'aul  and  Silas  with  the  most  cruel  usage,  now  treated  them  with  the 
greatest  respect,  and  showed  them  the  highest  marks  of  kindness. 

Early  the  next  morning  the  magistrates  (either  having  heard  what  had  happened, 
or  reflecting  on  what  they  had  done  as  loo  harsh  and  unjustifiable)  sent  their  sergeant 
to  the  jailer,  with  orders  immediately  to  discharge  Paul  and  Silas.  The  jailer  joy- 
fully delivered  the  message,  and  bade  them  depart  in  peace;  but  Paul,  in  order  to 
make  the  magistrates  sensible  what  injury  they  had  done  them,  and  how  unjustly 
they  had  punished  them  without  examination  or  trial,  refused  to  accept  of  their  dis- 
charire,  alleging,  "  that  they  were  not  only  innocent  persons,  but  denizens  of  Rome; 
that,  as  they  had  been  illegally  scourged  and  committed  to  prison,  their  delivery 
should  be  as  public  as  was  the  injury,  and  attended  with  a  solemn  retraction  of  what 
they  had  done." 

The  magistrates  were  greatly  terrified  at  this  message,  well  knowing  how  danger- 
ous it  was  to  provoke  the  formidable  power  of  the  Romans,  who  never  suffered  any 
freeman  to  be  beaten  uncondemned.  They  therefore  went  to  the  prison,  and  very 
submissively  entreated  them  to  depart  without  any  further  disturbance.  This  small 
recompense  for  the  cruel  usage  they  had  received  was  accepted  by  the  meek  followers 
of  the  blessed  Jesus :  they  accordingly  left  the  prison,  and  retired  to  the  house  of 
Lydia,  in  which  were  a  great  number  of  converts.  To  those  they  related  all  that  had 
passed,  and  after  some  conference  with  them,  they  took  their  leave  and  departed. 


544  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

From  Philippi  Paul  and  his  companions  travelled  toward  the  west,  till  they  arrived 
at  Thessalonica,*  the  metropolis  of  Macedonia.  Here  Paul  preached  in  the  syna- 
gogues of  the  Jews  three  sabbath-days  successively,  proving,  from  the  predictions  ot 
the  Old  Testament,  that  the  Messiah  was  to  suffer,  and  to  rise  again ;  and  that  the 
blessed  Jesus  was  the  Messiah  spoken  of  by  the  prophets.  Some  of  his  hearers, 
among  whom  were  several  women  of  rank  and  quality,  believed,  and  were  converted 
to  the  faith,  but  the  greater  part  of  the  Jews  disapproved  of  his  doctrine. 

During  their  stay  at  Thessalonica,  they  lodged  in  the  house  of  a  certain  Christian 
named  Jason,  who  entertained  them  very  courteously.  But  the  Jews,  in  general, 
were  so  incensed  against  them,  that  they  would  not  suffer  them  to  continue  at  rest. 
They  refused  to  embrace  the  gospel  themselves,  and  therefore  envied  its  success,  and 
determined  to  oppose  its  progress.  Accordingly  they  gathered  together  a  great  num- 
ber of  lewd  and  wicked  people,  who  beset  the  house  of  Jason,  intending  to  take  Paul, 
and  deliver  him  up  to  an  incensed  multitude.  But  in  this  they  were  disappointed,  he 
with  his  companions  being  removed  thence  by  the  Christians,  and  concealed  in  some 
Other  part  of  the  city.  This  disappointment  increased  their  rage,  and  they  determined 
to  be  revenged  on  Jason,  who  had  concealed  them.  Accordingly  they  seized  him, 
with  some  others  of  the  brethren,  and  carried  them  before  the  magistrates  of  the  city, 
accused  them  with  disturbing  the  peace  of  the  empire,  and  setting  up  Jesus  as  a  king, 
in  derogation  of  the  emperor's  dignity  and  authority.  In  consequence  of  this  accusa- 
tion, both  the  people  and  magistrates  became  their  enemies;  and  though  Jason  was 
only  accused  of  harboring  Paul  and  his  companions,  yet  the  magistrates  could  not  be 
prevailed  on  to  dismiss  Jason  and  his  brethren  till  they  had  given  security  for  their 
future  appearance. 

As  soon  as  the  tumult  was  over,  those  Thessalonians  who  had  been  converted  sent 
av/ay  Paul  and  his  companions,  by  night,  to  Bersea,  a  city  about  fifty  miles  to  the 
south  of  Thessalonica.  Here  also  Paul's  great  love  for  his  countrymen  the  Jews,  and 
his  earnest  wishes  for  their  salvation,  excited  him  to  preach  to  them  in  particular. 
Accordingly,  he  entered  into  their  synagogue,  and  explained  the  gospel  to  them,  prov- 
ing, from  the  scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  truth  of  the  doctrine  he  advanced. 
The  Jews  here  were  of  a  more  ingenuous  and  candid  temper  than  those  of  Thessa- 
lonica; and  as  they  heard  him,  with  great  reverence  and  attention,  expound  the 
Scriptures,  so  they  searched  diligently,  whether  his  proofs  were  proper  and  pertinent, 
and  consonant  to  the  sense  of  the  text  to  which  he  referred.  Having  dune  this,  and 
found  everything  agreeable  to  what  Paul  had  advanced,  many  of  them  believed  ;  and 
some  Gentiles  (among  whom  were  several  women  of  quality)  following  their  example, 
became  obedient  to  the  faith.  The  news  of  this  remarkable  success  being  carried 
to  Thessalonica,  the  Jews  of  that  place  were  so  incensed,  that  great  numbers  of 
!hem  went  to  Bersea,  and  raised  tumults  in  that  city ;  in  consequence  of  which  Paul, 
to  avoid  their  fury,  was  obliged  to  leave  the  place,  but  Silas  and  Timothy,  who,  per- 
haps, were  either  less  known,  or  less  envied,  remained  behind. 

Paul,  leaving  Bersea  under  the  conduct  of  certain  guides,  it  was  imagined  that  he 
designed  to  retire  by  sea  out  of  Greece,  that  his  restless  enemies  might  cease  their 
persecution ;  but  the  guides,  in  conformity  to  Paul's  direction,  conducted  them  to 
Athens,t  where  they  left  bim,  after  receiving  orders  to  tell  Silas  and  Timothy  to  repair 
to  him  as  soon  as  possible. 

While  Paul  continued  at  Athens,  expecting  the  arrival  of  his  companions,  he 
walked  up  and  down  to  take  an  accurate  survey  of  the  city,  which  he  found  wretch- 
edly overrun  with  superstition  and  idolatry.  The  inhabitants  were  remarkably  re- 
ligious and  devout,  they  had  a  great  number  of  gods  whom  they  adored ;  false, 
indeed,  they  were,  but  such  as  they,  being  destitute  of  revelation,  accounted  tiue , 
and  so  very  careful  were  they  that  no  deity  should  want  due  honor  from  them,  that 
they  had  an  altar  inscribed,  "  to  the  unknown  God."^ 

*  Thessalonica  was  anciently  called  Thesrna,  from  the  sea  to  which  it  adjoins.  It  is  the  opinion  of  some 
that  it  received  the  latter  name  in  memory  of  the  victory  which  Philip  king  of  Macedon  obtained  over  the 
Thessalonians  ;  but  others  think  it  took  its  name  from  Thessalonica,  the  wife  of  Cassander,  and  daughter 
of  Philip.  It  is  at  present  called  Salonichi,  has  a  safe  harbor  for  the  benefit  of  commerce,  and  is  an  arch- 
bishop's see  of  the  Grecian  church. 

t  Athens  was  once  the  most  celebrated  city  for  learning  of  any  in  the  world.  It  was  situated  on  a  gulf 
of  the  ^gean  sea,  which  comes  up  to  the  isthmus  of  the  Peloponnese,  or  Morea,  in  that  district  of  Greece 
called  Attica,  and  was  tlie  parent  of  that  dialect  which  was  esteemed  the  purest  and  finest  Greek.  Cicero 
calls  it  the  fountain  whence  civility,  learning,  and  laws,  were  derived  to  other  nations. 

t  That  the  Athenians  had  altars  in  their  public  places,  without  names  on  them,  and  others  to  unknown 
gods,  is  evident  from  the  testimony  of  Lacrtius,  who  informs  us,  that  when  a  great  plague  raged  at  Athens, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


545 


546  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

These  superstitious  practices  greatly  afflicted  Paul,  m  consequence  of  which  he 
exerted  all  his  endeavors  to  convert  the  people.  He  disputed  on  the  sabbath-day  in 
the  synagogues  of  the  Jews  ;  and,  at  other  times,  took  all  opportunities  of  preaching 
to  tlie  Athenians  the  coming  of  the  Messiah  to  save  the  world. 

This  doctrine  was  equally  new  and  strange  to  the  Athenians ;  and  though  they  did 
not  persecute  Paul  as  the  Jews  had  done,  yet  his  preaching  Jesus  was  considered,  by 
the  Epicurean*  and  Stoic  philosophers,  as  a  fabulous  legend.  The  geaerality  of  the 
people,  however,  considered  it  as  a  discovery  of  some  new  gods,  which  they  had  not 
yet  placed  in  their  temples;  and  though  they  were  not  unwilling  to  receive  any  new 
deities,  yet,  as  the  Areopagust  was  to  judge  of  all  gods,  to  whom  public  worship 
might  be  allowed,  they  took  him  before  the  members  of  that  court  to  give  an  account 
of  his  doctrine. 

Paul,  being  placed  before  the  judges  of  this  high  assembly,  explained  the  nature 
of  the  doctrine  he  taught  in  a  very  grave  and  elegant  speech,  the  substance  of  which 
was  to  this  effect :  "  Ye  men  of  Athens,  I  am  here  brought  as  a  prisoner  into  your 
supreme  tribunal,  as  one  who  sets  forth  strange  doctrines;  and  yet,  from  the  observa- 
tions 1  have  made  since  I  arrived  in  your  city,  I  find  you  so  much  attached  to  super- 
stition, that  you  know  not  what  you  worship,  nay,  that  you  even  have  such  a  number 
of  idols,  that  you  can  not  find  names  for  them  ;  for  one  of  your  altars  has  upon  it  an 
inscription  to  the  unknown  God.  That  the  true  God  of  heaven  and  earth  is,  in  a 
great  measure  unknown  to  you  is  very  evident,  and  that  is  the  Being  whose  works  I 
now  publish  to  you.  By  him  was  all  nature  created  ;  and  as  he  (ills  immensity 
with  his  presence,  so  he  can  not  be  circumscribed  by  temples  made  with  hands.  Our 
worship,  as  men,  can  add  nothing  to  his  perfections ;  for  all  we  have,  and  all  we  en- 
joy, is  the  unmerited  gift  of  his  inexhaustible  bounty.  When  he  created  us  out  of 
nothing,  he  appointed  that  we  should  consider  ourselves  as  children  of  the  same  com- 
mon parent;  and  in  the  course  of  his  providence  he  has  so  ordered  it,  that  either  by 
nature  or  revelation  we  should  use  such  means  as  may,  in  the  end,  lead  us  to  the 
knowledge  of  himself,  and  promote  our  eternal  happiness,  for  he  is  everywhere  pres- 
ent, and  none  of  our  thoughts  can  be  nidden  from  him.  Nay,  be  not  surprised,  for 
one  of  your  own  poets  has  expressly  declared,  that  we  are  the  offspring  of  the  Su- 
preme Being,  and  therefore,  we  are  not  to  form  carnal  notions  of  his  perfections,  as  if 
he  could  be  represented  in  a  human  shape.  It  is  true,  God,  in  his  infinite  mercy, 
drew  a  veil  over  those  ages  of  ignorance ;  but  now  he  hath  made  nis  will  known 
and,  therefore,  those  who  have  been  long  slaves  to  their  lusts  and  passions,  are  com- 
manded  to  turn  from  the  evil  of  their  ways,  in  order  to  obtain  the  divine  favor.  And 
this  is  the  more  necessary,  because  he  hath  fixed,  by  an  unalterable  decree,  tiiat  when 
the  universal  frame  of  nature  shall  be  dissolved,  he  will  raise  mankind  from  the 
grave,  and  reward  or  punish  them  according  to  their  works  here  below.  As  a  proof 
of  this  he  has  already  raised  up  Christ  from  the  dead,  and,  as  he  has  become  tbe  first 
fruits  of  those  who  still  sleep,  so  he  has  ordered  that  by  him  all  mankind  shall  be 
judged.  Sucb  is  the  doctrhie  I  deliver  unto  you,  and  I  leave  you  to  judge  whether 
or  not  I  have  acted  as  an  impostor." 

That  part  of  Paul's  discourse  in  which  he  mentioned  the  resurrection,  gave  great 
offence  to  some  of  the  philosophers,  who  mocked  and  derided  him ;  while  others, 
more  modest,  but  not  satislied  with  the  proofs  he  had  given,  gravely  said,  "  We 
would  hear  thee  again  of  this  matter."  After  this  Paul  left  the  court,  but  not  without 
some  success,  for  a  few  of  his  auditors  (among  whom  were  Dionysius,  one  of  the 
senators,  and  Damaris,  a  l;Hly  of  considerable  rank)  believed  his  doctrine,  and  attended 
his  instructions.  Thus  boldly  did  this  intrepid  servant  and  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ 
assert  the  cause  of  his  divine  Master  among  the  great,  the  wise,  and  the  learned; 
and  thus  did  he  reason,  with  the  most  distinguished  strength  and  eloquence,  on  the 

and  several  means  had  been  attempted  for  the  removal  of  it,  they  were  advised  by  Epimedies,  the  philoso 
pher,  to  build  an  altar,  and  dedicate  it  to  the  proper  and  peculiar  god  to  whom  sacrifices  were  due  ;  and  the 
Athenians,  not  knowing:  by  what  name  to  call  him,  erected  an  altar  witli  this  inscription  :  "  To  the  gods  of 
Asia,  Europe,  and  Africa,  to  the  strange  and  unknown  god  ;"  by  which,  as  some  imagine,  they  intended  the 
God  of  the  Jews,  who  had  given  such  wonderful  deliverances  to  his  own  people. 

*  The  Epicureans  among  the  CJreeks  and  Romans  were  much  the  same  as  the  Sadducees  among  the 
Jews  ;  for  both  denied  a  divine  providence  and  a  future  state. 

t  The  Areopagus  was  a  celebrated  court  or  senate,  where  justice  was  administered  to  all  ranks  of  people 
by  judges  loanicd  in  the  law.  It  was  situated  on  Mars'  hill,  an  eminence  without  the  city,  and  many  of  the 
inhabitants  of  .Alliens  spent  much  of  their  time  in  it,  disputing  with  each  other  on  speculative  points,  and 
asking  news  concerning  the  progress  of  the  Roman  arms  in  different  parts  of  tlie  world. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


547 


Corinth.— View  of  the  Acropolis. 


548  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

nature  of  God,  and  the  manner  in  which  he  has  commanded  his  creatures  to  worship 
him  even  in  spirit  and  in  truth. 

During  Paul's  stay  at  Athens,  Timothy  and  Silas  (according  to  the  orders  they  had 
received)  came  to  him  from  Thessalonica,  with  an  accouat  that  the  Christians  there 
had  been  under  persecution  from  their  fellow-ciiizens  ever  since  his  departure.  This 
gave  great  uneasiness  to  Paul,  and  at  lirst  inclined  him  to  visit  them  in  person,  in 
order  to  confirm  them  in  the  faith  they  had  embraced.  But  reflecting  on  the  conse- 
quences that  might  ensue  if  he  went  himself,  he  sent  Timothy  and  Silas  to  comfort 
them,  and  put  them  in  mind  of  what  he  had  before  told  them,  namely,  that  persecu- 
tion would  be  the  constant  attendant  on  their  profession. 

After  the  departure  of  Timothy  and  Silas,  Paul,  left  Athens,  and  went  to  Corinth,* 
where  he  met  with  a  certain  Jew,  named  Aquila,  lately  come  from  Italy,  with  Pris- 
cilla  his  wife,  because  Claudius  had  made  an  edict  for  banishing  all  the  Jews  from 
Rome.  Paul  having  instructed  these  two  in  the  Christian  faith,  took  up  his  lodgings 
with  them  (and  made  their  house  his  principal  place  of  residence)  during  his  stay  at 
Corinth.  Every  sabbath-day  he  preached  in  the  synagogues,  laboring  to  convince 
both  Jews  and  Greeks,  that  Jesus  was  the  true  Messiah. 

A  short  time  after  Paul  had  been  at  Corinth,  Timothy  and  Silas  arrived  thither 
from  Thessalonica,  with  the  joyful  news  of  the  steadfast  adherence  of  the  Christians 
in  that  city  to  the  truth  of  the  gospel.  This  was  a  matter  of  great  consolation  to 
Paul,  who  thereupon  wrote  his  first  epistle  to  the  Thessalonians.  In  this  epistle  "  he 
highly  applauds  their  courage  and  zeal  in  the  belief  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  ex- 
horts them  to  a  noble  constancy  and  perseverance  amidst  their  afflictions :  he  com- 
mends them  for  their  charity  to  the  believers  in  Macedonia,  and  gives  them  many 
instructions  concerning  conversation,  and  leading  a  good  life :  he  exhorts  them  to  the 
practice  of  all  purity  and  holiness  ;  to  avoid  idleness ;  to  be  diligent  in  their  callings, 
and  not  immoderate  in  their  grief  for  the  dead;  and  concludes  with  instructions  to 
them  concerning  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection,  the  manner  of  Christ's  coming  to 
judge  the  world,  and  the  obligation  all  were  under  to  make  a  timely  preparation  for 
so  solemn  an  event." 

After  the  arrival  of  Timothy  and  Silas  at  Corinth,  Paul  preached  the  doctrine  of 
Christ  with  fresh  ardor  to  the  Jews;  but  they,  instead  of  attending  to  what  he  said, 
opposed  him,  and  what  they  could  not  conquer  by  fair  argument,  and  force  of  reason, 
they  endeavored  to  carry  by  noise  and  clamor,  blended  with  blasphemous  and  oppro- 
brious language.     In  consequence  of  this,  Paul,  to  testify  his  abhorrence  of  their  be- 

*  Tlie  large  and  wealthy  city  of  Corinth  was  the  metropolis  of  Achaia,  and  situated  upon  the  isthmus  of  the 
same  name,  which  joins  tlie  Peloponnesus  to  the  continent.  Its  situation  was  highly  favorable  for  that 
commerce  wliich  ultimately  rendered  it  one  of  the  most  wealthy  and  luxurious  cities  of  the  world.  For, 
being  between  two  ports,  the  one  of  which  was  open  to  the  eastern  and  the  other  to  the  western  navigator, 
wliile  its  geographical  situation  placed  it,  as  it  were,  in  the  centre  of  the  civilized  world,  it  became  the 
point  where  the  merchants  from  the  three  quarters  of  the  globe  met  and  exchanged  their  treasures.  It  was 
also  celebrated  for  the  Isthmian  games,  to  which  the  apostle  makes  some  strikuig  and  remarkably  appropri- 
ate allusions,  in  his  Epistles  to  tlie  Corinthians.  Nor  should  it  be  unnoticed  that  in  the  centre  of  the  city 
there  stood  a  famous  temple  of  Venus  in  which  a  thousand  priestesses  of  the  goddess  ministered  to  licen- 
tiousness, under  the  patronage  of  religion.  From  such  various  causes  Corinth  had  an  influx  of  foreigners 
of  all  descriptions,  who  carried  the  riches  and  the  vices  of  all  nations  into  a  city,  in  which  the  merchant, 
the  warrior,  and  the  seaman,  coujd  enjoy  them  for  his  money.  Devoted  to  traffic,  and  to  the  enjojTment  of 
the  wealth  which  that  traffic  secured,  tlie  Corinthians  were  exempt  from  the  influence  of  that  tliirst  for 
conquest  and  military  glory  by  which  their  neighbors  were  actuated  ;  hence  they  were  seldom  engaged  in 
any  war,  except  lor  the  defence  of  their  country,  or  in  behalf  of  the  liberties  of  Greece  :  yet  Corinth  furnished 
many  brave  am!  experienced  commanders  to  other  Grecian  states,  among  whom  it  was  common  to  prefer  a 
Corinthian  general  to  one  of  their  own  or  any  other  state.  As  might  be  expected,  Corinth  was  not  remark- 
ably distin'^uislicd  for  phiUisophy  or  science  ;  but  its  wealth  attracted  to  it  the  arts,  which  assisted  to  enrich 
and  aggrandize  it,  till  it  became  one  of  the  V"ry  finest  cities  in  all  Greece.  The  Corinthian  order  of  archi- 
tecture look  its  name  from  that  rich  and  flowery  style  which  prevailed  in  its  sumptuous  edifices — its  temples, 
palaces,  theatres,  and  porticoes. 

The  Corinthian?  having  ill-treated  the  Roman  ambassadors,  their  city  fell  a  prey  to  the  Romans,  with  all 
its  treasures  and  works  of  art.  and  was  totally  destroyed  by  Mummius.  It  lay  a  long  while  desolate,  till  it 
was  rebuilt  by  Julius  Ca!sar,  by  wliom  it  was  peopled  with  a  colony  of  Romans  ;  and,  favored  by  its  admir- 
able situation,  it  was  soon  restored  to  a  most  flourishing  condition.  "  The  ancient  manners,"  says  Hug, 
"  abundantly  returned :  Acro-Co'rinth  was  again  the  Isthmian  Dione,  and  an  intemperate  life  was  commonly 
called  the  Coriniliian  mode  of  life.  Among  all  the  cities  that  ever  existed  this  was  accounted  the  most 
voluptuous;  and  the  satirist  could  only  jocularly  seem  to  be  at  a  loss  whether,  in  this  respect,  he  should 
give  the  preference  to  Corinth  or  to  Athens." 

Corintli  still  exists  as  aij  inhabited  town,  under  the  name  of  Corantho.  It  is  a  long  straggling  place, 
which  is  well  paved,  and  can  boast  of  some  tolerably  good  buildings,  with  a  castle  of  some  strength,  which 
is  kept  in  a  good  state  of  defence.  There  are  still  some  considerable  ruins,  to  attest  the  ancient  consequence 
of  Coriiilh,  and  the  taste  and  elegance  of  its  public  buildings.  The  extensive  view  from  the  summit  of  the 
high  mountain  which  commands  the  town,  and  which  was  the  Acropohs  (Acre?  Corinth)  of  the  ancient  city, 
s  pronounced  by  travellers  to  be  one  of  the  fi  est  in  the  world. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


549 


Ruins  of  the  Temple  oi  Diana,  at  Ephesus. 


•«-!!$ 


The  modern  City  of  Corinth,  viewed  from  the  Bay. 


35 


650  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

havior,  shook  his  garments,  and  told  them,  that  since  they  were  determined  to  draw 
down  the  vengeance  of  Heaven  upon  their  own  heads,  he  was  absolutely  guiltless 
and  innocent,  and  would  thenceforth  address  himself  to  the  Gentiles.  Accordingly  he 
left  them,  and  repaired  to  the  house  of  one  Justus,  a  religious  proselyte,  where,  by 
his  preaching  and  miracles,  he  converted  great  numbers  to  the  faith,  among  whom 
were  some  few  Jews,  particularly  Crispus,  the  chief  ruler  of  the  synagogue,  and  two 
others  of  considerable  distinction,  who,  with  their  families,  were  baptized,  and  ad- 
mitted members  of  the  Christian  church. 

Paul  was  greatly  perplexed  in  his  mind  on  account  of  the  perverseness  and  ob- 
stinacy of  the  Jews,  and  began  to  despair  of  being  able  to  convince  them  of  the  impro- 
priety of  their  behavior,  or  to  bring  them  to  an  effectual  discernment  of  the  truth  of 
his  doctrine.  But  he  was  encouraged  to  persevere  in  the  attempt  by  a  heavenly 
vision,  in  which  he  was  told,  that  notwithstanding  the  bad  success  he  had  hitherto 
met  with,  there  was  a  large  harvest  to  be  gathered  in  that  place :  that  therefore  he 
should  not  be  afraid  of  his  enemies,  but  preach  the  gospel  boldly,  for  that  he  might 
be  assured  of  the  divine  protection  in  all  his  undertakings.  In  consequence  of  this, 
and  in  certain  hopes  of  success,  Paul  continued  at  Corinth  for  the  space  of  one  year 
and  six  months,  teaching  the  word  of  God  with  various  success  to  the  people. 

Some  time  after  Paul  had  received  encouragement  from  the  heavenly  vision,  the 
Jews  made  a  general  insurrection  against  him,  and  having  taken  him  into  custody, 
carried  him  before  Gallio,  who  at  that  time  was  pro-consul  of  Achaia.  The  accusa- 
tion they  laid  against  him  was,  that  he  had  attempted  to  introduce  a  new  religion, 
contrary  to  what  was  established  by  the  Jewish  law,  and  permitted  by  the  Roman 
powers.  But,  as  Gallio  apprehended  that  this  was  a  controversy  which  did  not  fall 
under  the  cognizance  of  the  civil  judicature,  he  would  not  have  any  concern  in  it, 
and  therefore  ordered  his  officers  to  drive  them  out  of  the  court.  Upon  this  the  Gen- 
tiles took  Sosthenes,  a  ruler  of  the  synagogue,  and  one  of  Paul's  chief  accusers,  and 
oeat  him  publicly  before  the  tribunal ;  but  this  did  not  give  the  pro-consul  the  least 
disturbance. 

Paul  continued  at  Corinth  some  time  after  this  incident,  and  before  his  departure 
thence,  wrote  his  second  epistle  to  the  Thessalonians.  In  this  epistle  "  he  endeavors 
to  confirm  their  minds  in  the  faith,  and  to  animate  them  courageously  to  endure  per- 
secution from  the  unbelieving  Jews,  a  lost  and  undone  race  of  men,  whom  the  divine 
vengeance  was  ready  to  overtake :  he  rectifies  the  misinterpretation  which  false 
teachers  had  made  of  some  passages  in  his  former  epistle,  relative  to  the  day  of  judg- 
ment, as  if  it  was  just  at  hand,  and  shows  what  events  (especially  that  of  the  coming 
and  destruction  of  the  man  of  sin)  must  precede  the  approach  of  that  day.  Having 
craved  their  prayers  in  his  behalf,  and  made  his  request  to  God  in  theirs,  he  concludes 
with  divers  precepts,  especially  to  shun  idleness  and  ill  company,  and  not  to  be  weary 
in  well  doing." 

After  Paul  had  planted  the  church  of  Corinth,  he  left  that  city,  and  taking  with 
him  Aquila  and  Priscilla,  embarked  at  Cenchrea,  whence  they  sailed  to  Ephesus. 
Here  he  preached  some  lime  in  the  synagogue  of  the  Jews;  but  being  resolved  to 
attend  the  celebration  of  the  passover  at  Jerusalem,  he  set  sail  for  Cesarea,  leaving 
behind  him  Aquila  and  Priscilla,  to  whom  he  promised  to  return  (if  God  would  per- 
mit) as  soon  as  possible.  From  Cesarea  Paul  proceeded  to  Jerusalem,  and  after 
having  visited  the  church  there,  and  kept  the  feast  of  the  passover,  went  to  Antioch. 
Here  he  stayed  some  time,  and  then  traversed  the  countries  of  Galatia  and  Phrygia, 
taking  his  course  toward  Ephesus.  and  confirming  the  new-converted  Christians  in 
every  place  through  which  he  passed. 

During  the  time  Paul  spent  in  this  large  circuit.  Providence  took  care  of  the  churches 
of  Ephesus  and  Corinth  by  means  of  one  ApoUos,  an  eloquent  Jew  of  Alexandria,  and 
well  acquainted  with  the  law  and  writings  of  the  prophets.  This  man,  going  to 
Ephesus,  though  he  was  only  instructed  in  the  rudiments  of  Christianity,  and  John's 
baptism,  yet  taught  with  great  courage,  and  a  most  powerful  zeal.  After  being  fully 
instructed  in  the  faith  by  Aquila  and  Priscilla,  he  passed  over  into  Achaia,  being  fur- 
nished with  recommendatory  letters  by  the  churches  of  Ephesus  and  Corinth.  He 
was  of  great  service  in  Achaia,  by  watering  what  Paul  had  planted,  confirming  the 
disciples,  and  powerfully  convincing  many  others  of  the  Jews.that  Jesus  was  the  true 
and  only  Messiaii  promised  in  the  sacred  writings. 

"  While  Apollos  was  thus  employed,  Paul  returned  to  Ephesus,  where  he  took  up 


fflSTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  551 

nis  abode  for  a  considerable  time.  The  first  thini^  he  did  after  his  return  was,  to  ex- 
amine certain  disciples  (in  number  about  twelve)  whether  they  had  received  the 
Holy  Ghost  since  they  believed  1  And  they  said  unto  him,  We  have  not  so  much  aa 
heard  whether  there  be  any  Holy  Ghost.  And  he  said  unto  them,  Unto  what  then 
were  ye  baptized  ?  And  they  said,  Unto  John's  baptism.  Then  said  Paul,  John 
verily  baptized  with  the  baptism  of  repentance,  saying  unto  the  people,  that  they 
stiouid  believe  on  him  which  should  come  after  him,  that  is,  on  Christ  Jesus.  When 
they  heard  this,  they  were  baptized  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  JesuS."  (Acts  xix.  3-6. 
After  the  apostle  had  prayed  and  laid  his  hands  on  them,  they  received  the  gift  oi 
tongues  and  other  miraculous  powers. 

After  this  Paul  entered  into  the  Jewish  synagogues,  in  which  (for  the  first  three 
months)  he  daily  contended  and  disputed  with  the  Jews,  endeavoring,  with  great 
earnestness  and  resolution,  to  convince  them  of  the  truth  of  the  Christian  religion. 
But  when,  instead  of  meeting  with  success,  he  found  they  were  inflexible  in  their 
obstinacy  and  infidelity,  he  left  the  synagogue,  and  taking  tho:se  with  him  whom  he 
had  converted,  instructed  them,  and  others  who  resorted  to  him,  in  the  school  of  one 
Tyrannus.  Here  he  continued  to  preach  the  gospel  two  years,  by  which  means  the 
Jews  and  proselytes  had  an  opportunity  of  hearing  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation  ;  and 
as  miracles  were  the  clearest  evidence  of  a  divine  commission,  God  was  pleased  to 
testify  the  truth  of  the  doctrine  Paul  preached,  by  a  variety  of  miraculous  operations, 
many  of  which  were  of  the  most  peculiar  and  extraordinary  nature  ;  for  he  not  only 
healed  those  diseased  persons  that  came  to  him,  but  if  handkerchiefs  or  aprons  were 
only  touched  by  him,  and  applied  to  the  sick,  ur  those  possessed  with  evil  spirits, 
they  were  instantly  cured. 

In  the  city  of  Ephesus  and  its  neighborhood  were  many  vagabond  Jews,  who  went 
about  from  one  place  to  the  other,  pretending  to  cure  diseases,  and  cast  out  devils  by 
their  exorcisms.  Among  these  were  seven  brothers  (the  sons  of  one  Sceva,  a  Jewish 
priest)  who  observing  with  what  facility  Paul  effected  his  miraculous  cures  and  dis- 
possessions of  evil  spirits,  attempted  themselves  to  do  the  like ;  and,  to  add  greater 
force  to  their  proceedings,  instead  of  the  usual  form  of  incantation  (Avhich  was  in  the 
name  of  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob),  they  invoked  the  name  of  Jesus  over 
a  demoniac.  But  here  it  pleased  God  to  make  a  most  distinguished  and  visible  dif- 
ference between  those  who  applied  this  powerful  name  regularly  and  with  commis- 
sion, and  others,  who,  of  their  own  heads,  and  for  ill  designs,  dared  to  usurp  it;  for 
the  demoniac,  falling  upon  the  exorcists,  tore  off  their  clothes,  wounded  their  bodies, 
and  scarce  suffered  them  to  escape  with  their  lives. 

When  this  singular  event  came  to  be  known  among  the  Jews  and  Gentiles  in 
Ephesus,  they  were  filled  with  such  a  reverential  fear,  that  none  dared  to  mention 
the  name  of  Jesus,  but  Avith  the  most  profound  respect ;  and  many,  who  had  addicted 
themselves  to  the  study  of  magic,  acknowledged  their  sins,  and  publicly  burnt  their 
books,  the  value  of  which  was  estimated  at  no  less  than  fifty  thousand  pieces  of  sil- 
ver.    So  eflScacious  was  the  gospel  of  Christ  in  these  parts! 

While  Paul  was  diligently  pursuing  his  ministry  at  Epiiesus,  Peter  was  preaching 
the  gospel  to  the  Jews  in  several  provinces  of  the  lesser  Asia ;  whence,  travelling 
eastward  he  at  length  came  to  the  ancient  city  of  Babylon  in  Chaldea.  Here  he 
stayed  some  time,  and  hence  wrote  his  first  epistle  (which  is  called  a  catholic  or 
general  epistle)  to  the  converted  Jews  who  were  dispersed  in  various  parts  of  Chal- 
dea. Peter  introduces  tbis  admirable  epistle  with  a  solemn  thanksgiving  to  God  for 
their  call  to  Christianity,  whereby  they  had  obtained  a  lively  hope  of  an  eternal 
inheritance  in  heaven  ;  after  which  he  recommends  them  to  the  practice  of  sev- 
eral virtues,  as  a  means  to  make  their  calling  and  election  sure,  namely,  "  that  they 
should  live  in  a  constant  worship  and  fear  of  God,  and  imitate  their  master  Jesus 
Christ,  in  holiness  and  purity  ;  that  they  should  be  diligent  hearers  of  the  gospel,  and 
grow  up  to  perfection  by  it ;  that  they  should  lead  exemplary  lives  among  the  Gen- 
tiles, abstaining  from  carnal  lusts,  and  behaving  themselves  with  modesty,  thereby  to 
convince  their  enemies  that  calumnies  would  be  unreasonable;  that  they  should  be- 
have themselves  well  under  their  respective  relations,  submitting  themselves  to  their 
governors,  whether  superior  or  inferior  to  themselves  in  point  of  circumstances ;  that 
servants  should  obey  their  masters,  wives  be  subject  to  their  husbands,  and  husbands 
honor  their  wives  ;  that  they  should  all  love  one  another  fervently  and  unfeignedly,  bear 
afflictions  patiently,  live  in  union,  and  sympathize  with  each  other  in  rheir  afflictions. 


562  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE  ^ 

And  lastly,  that  the  ministers  and  pastors  of  the  several  churches  should  take  special 
care  of  the  flocks  committed  to  their  charge;  teach  ihem  diligently^  and  govern  them 
gently,  not  seeking  their  own  gain  and  profit,  but  the  salvation  of  the  souls  of  the 
people." — This  is  the  purport  of  Peter's  epistle  to  the  converted  Jews  ;  and  the  whole 
is  written  with  a  fervor  and  zeal  truly  consistent  wiih  the  sentiments  and  abilities  of 
so  great  an  apostle.  The  language  is  simple,  and  every  expression  so  formed,  as  to 
convey  a  thorough  idea  of  his  meaning  to  the  weakest  capacity.  All  the  arguments 
he  makes  use  of  to  teach  them  patience  are  drawn  from  the  sacred  writings,  and  are 
consistent  with  the  doctrines  of  true  religion. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

Paul,  having  been  at  Ephesus*  about  two  years,  resolved  to  return  into  Mace- 
donia, and  after  going  thence  to  Jerusalem,  in  order  to  celebrate  the  feast  of  pente- 
cost,  to  proceed  in  his  journey,  which  he  had  lung  intended,  to  Rome.  In  consequence 
of  these  resolutions,  and  as  a  necessary  preparation  to  carry  them  into  execution,  he 
Bent  Timoihy  and  Erastus  before  him  into  Macedonia,  while  himself  slaved  behind  at 
Ephesus,  in  order  to  settle  some  matters  that  were  necessary  to  be  adjusted  previous 
to  his  departure. 

Soon  after  Timothy  and  Erastus  had  left  Ephesus,  Paul  received  information  of 
some  disturbances  at  Corinth,  hatched  and  fomented  by  a  number  of  false  teachers 
crept  in  among  the  converts  of  that  city,  who  endeavored  to  draw  them  into  parties 
and  factions,  by  persuading  some  to  be  'for  Paul,  and  others  for  ApoUos,  the  different 
persons  from  whom  they  had  received  instructions  relative  to  the  Christian  faith.  In 
consequence  of  these  disturbances  they  committed  great  disorders,  and  celebrated  the 
holy  sacrament  very  irreverently.  Thiey  were  addicted  to  fornication,  and  one  in  par- 
ticular, had  run  into  incest,  by  marrying  his  father's  wife.  They  were  unjust  and 
fraudulent  in  their  dealings ;  they  went  to  law  at  heathen  tribunals,  and  among  them 
were  found  some,  who  were  bold  and  profligate  enough  to  deny  the  resurrection. 

*  Ephesvs.— Ruins  OF  THE  TEMPLE  OF  Diana  (sec  fin^roum^).— Ephesus  was  a  celebrated  city  on  the 
coast  of  Asia  Minor,  situated  between  Smyrna  and  Miletus,  on  the  sides  and  at  the  foot  of  a  range  of  mount- 
ains which  overlooked  a  fine  plain  watered  and  fertilized  by  the  river  Cayster.  Among  other  splendid  edi- 
fices which  adorned  tliis  metropolis  of  Ionia,  was  the  magnificent  temple  of  Diana,  which  was  two  liundred 
and  twenty  years  m  building  ;  and  was  reckoned  one  of  the  seven  wonders  of  the  world.  This  edifice  having 
been  burnt  by  the  incendiary  Herostratus,  B.  C.  356,  in  the  foolish  hope  of  immortalizing  liis  name,  it  was 
afterward  rebuilt  with  increased  splendor  at  the  common  expense  of  the  Grecian  states  of  Asia  Minor.  The 
remains  ot  ancient  Ephesus  have  been  discovered  by  learned  modern  travellers,  at  the  Turkish  village  of 
Ayasaluk.  The  rums  delineated  in  our  engraving  comprise  all  that  is  supposed  now  to  e.xi.st  of  this  far- 
famed  structure,  vvhich  in  the  time  of  St.  Paul  had  lost  nolliing  of  its  magnificence.  Here  was  preserved  a 
wooden  statue  of  Diana  which  the  credulous  Ephesians  were  taught  to  beheve  had  fallen  from  heaven 
(Acts  xlx.  J5),  and  of  this  temple  small  silver  models  were  made,  and  sold  to  devotees.  (Acts  xi.v.  24.) 
rjero  IS  saiu  to  have  plundered  this  temple  of  many  volive  images,  aid  great  sums  of  gold  and  silver. 
1  ms  Pflihce  appears  to  have  remained  entire  in  the  second  century  ;  though  the  worship  of  Diana  diminished 
ana  sunk  into  insignificance,  in  proportion  to  the  extension  of  Christianity.  At  a  later  period  "  the  temple 
of  the  great  goddcs.s  Diana,  whom  Asia  and  all  the  world"  worshipped  (Acts  xix.  27),  was  again  destroyed 
by  the  Ooths  and  other  barbarians  ;  and  time  has  so  completed  the  havoc  made  by  the  hand  of  man,  that  this 
mighty  fabric  lias  almost  entirely  disappeared. 

During  three  years'  residence  in  this  city  (Acts  xx.  31),  the  great  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  was  enabled, 
with  divine  assistance,  to  establish  the  faith  of  Christ,  and  to  found  a  nourishing  Chri-stian  church.  Of  his 
great  caro  of  t  he  Ephcsian  coimnunity  strong  proof  is  extant  in  the  alTecling  charge  which  he  gave  to  the 
elders,  whom  he  had  convened  at  Miletus  on  his  return  from  Macedonia  (Acts  xx.  IL-3?.)  ;  and  still  more  in 
the  epistle  which  he  addressed  to  them  from  Rome.  Ecclesiastical  history  represents  Tiiiu.thy  to  have 
been  the  first  bishop  of  Ephesus,  but  there  is  greater  evidence  that  the  apostle  John  resi.Ied  heie  toward 
the  close  of  his  life  ;  liere  also  he  is  supposed  to  have  written  his  Gospel,  and  to  have  finally  ended  hishte. 

The  Ephesian  church  i.s  the  first  of  the  "  apocalyptic  churches"  addressed  by  tlie  apostle  .lohn  in  the  name 
of  Jesus  Chri.st.  '  Ills  charge  against  her  is  declension  in  religious  fervor  (Rev.  ii.  4)  ;  and  his  threat  in 
consequence  (ii.  5),  is  a  total  extinction  of  her  ecclesiastical  brightness.  After  a  protracted  struggle  with 
tlie  sword  of  Rome,  and  the  sophisms  of  the  Gnostics,  Ephesus  at  last  gave  way.  The  incipient  inditrer- 
ence  censured  by  the  warning  voice  of  the  prophet,  increased  to  a  total  forgetfulness  ;  till  at  length  the 
threatemngs  of  the  Apocalypse  were  fulfilled  ;  and  Ephesus  sunk  with  the  general  overthrow  of  the  Greek 
empire,  in  the  fourteenth  cen  ury^'  The  plough  has  passed  over  this  once  celebrated  city  :  and,  in  March, 
182b,  when  it  was  visited  by  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Arundell  and  Hartley,  green  corn  was  growing  in  all  direct 
tions  amid  the  forsaken  ruins ;  and  one  solitary  individual  only  was  found,  who  bore  the  name  of  Christ, 
nstead  of  its  once  flourishing  church.  W  here  assembled  thousands  once  exclaimed  "  Great  is  Diana  o 
the  Ephesians  '  Jie  eagle  now  yells,  and  the  jackal  moans.  The  sea  having  retired  from  the  scene  of  des- 
olation, a  pestilential  morass  covered  with  mud  and  rushes,  has  succeeded  to  the  waters,  which  brought 
up  the  ships  laden  wih  merchandise  from  every  country.  The  surrounding  country,  however,  is  both  fer- 
tile and  healthy:  and  the  adjacent  hills  would  furnish  many  delightful  situations  for  villages,  if  the  dilfi- 
cultics  were  lemoved  which  are  thrown  in  the  way  of  the  industrious  cultivator  by  a  despotic  government, 
oppressive  agas.  and  wandering  banditti  r        o  »-"•< 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


653 


554  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

To  quell  these  schisms  and  factions  which  had  taiien  place,  aad  to  chastise  them 
m  a  proper  manner  for  their  misconduct,  Paul  wrote  his  first  Epistle  to  the  Corin- 
thians, in  which  he  "  shows  the  inequality  of  Christ's  ministers,  and  their  insuf- 
ficiency for  the  work  to  which  they  are  ordained,  without  the  Divine  assistance; 
orders  the  mcestuous  person  to  be  excommunicated,  lest  his  example  should  infect 
others;  blames  their  litigious  law-suits,  as  thinking  it  much  better  to  refer  their  dif- 
ferences to  some  of  their  own  body ;  propounds  the  first  institution  of  the  sacrament, 
and  a  previous  examination  of  their  lives  to  bring  them  to  a  right  use  of  it ;  and 
having  added  several  things  concerning  a  decent  behavior  both  of  men  and  women  in 
their  churches — concerning  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  excellence  of  charity,  the 
gift  of  tongues,  and  prayer  in  an  unknown  language,  he  proves  the  truth  of  the  gos- 
pel, and  the  certainty  of  a  future  resurrection,  almost  to  a  demonstration. 

It  was  about  this  time  also  that  Paul  wrote  his  Epistle  to  the  Galatians.  He  had 
received  information  that,  since  his  departure  thence,  several  impostors  had  crept 
in  among  them,  who  strongly  insisted  on  the  necessity  of  circumcision  and  other 
Mosaic  rites,  and  greatly  disparaged  his  authority.  Paul  therefore,  in  this  epistle, 
reproves  them  with  some  necessary  warmth  and  severity  for  suffering  themselves 
so  easily  to  be  imposed  upon  by  the  crafty  artifices  of  seducers.  He  largely  refutes 
these  judaical  opinions  wherewith  they  were  infected,  and,  by  several  arguments, 
proves  that  the  slavery  of  the  law  brought  a  curse  with  it ;  was  destructive  of  their 
Christian  liberty,  and  incapable  of  procuring  their  justification  in  the  sight  of  God. 
Among  these  reproofs  and  arguments,  however,  he  intermixes  several  exhortations 
full  of  paternal  and  apostolic  charity  ;  and,  toward  the  conclusion,  gives  them  many 
excellent  rules  and  directions  for  the  conduct  of  their  lives  and  conversations. 

A  short  time  before  Paul  left  Epbesus,  a  circumstance  occurred  which  occasioned 
a  general  disturbance  thoughout  the  city,  and  had  nearly  proved  fatal  to  him  and  his 
adherents.  In  the  celebrated  temple  of  Diana  was  an  image  of  that  goddess,  which 
the  idolatrous  priests  persuaded  the  people  was  made  by  Jupiter  himself,  and  droppec 
down  from  heaven ;  for  which  reason  it  Avas  held  in  great  veneration,  not  only  at 
Ephesus,  but  throughout  all  Asia.  In  consequence  of  this,  the  people  procured  silver 
shrines,  or  figures  of  the  temple  and  Diana,  of  such  a  size  as  to  carry  in  their  pockets, 
either  for  curiosity  or  to  stir  them  up  to  devotion.  This  proved  the  source  of  a  great 
deal  of  business  to  the  silversmiths  of  Ephesus,  of  whom  one  Demetrius  was  the 
chief  This  man  plainly  perceiving  that  Christianity  tended  to  the  subversion  of 
idolatry,  and  consequently  to  the  ruin  of  their  gainful  employment,  called  all  the 
artists  together,  and  pathetically  represented  to  them  how  inevitably  they  must  be 
reduced  to  a  state  of  poverty,  if  they  suffered  Paul  to  bring  their  temple  and  goddess 
into  contempt,  by  persuading  people,  as  he  did,  that  they  were  no  gods  which  were 
made  with  hands. 

This  speech  of  Demetrius  fired  them  with  a  zeal  which  they  could  no  longer  con- 
tain ;  so  that  they  cried  out  with  one  voice,  "  Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians." 
They  should,  indeed,  have  considered  that  if  their  goddess  was  able  to  defend  herself 
against  the  doctrines  preached  by  Paul,  neither  she  nor  the  temple  was  in  any 
danger;  whereas  if  Paul  was  able  to  destroy  their  gods,  it  was  in  vain  for  them  to 
resist  him.  But  interest  and  superstition,  meeting  in  the  minds  of  a  bigoted  multi- 
tude, admitted  of  no  reason.  They  were  all  fired  with  a  zeal  for  their  goddess,  and 
determined,  if  they  could  find  Paul,  to  expose  him  to  the  beasts  in  the  theatre,  it 
being  customary  in  those  days,  at  the  celebration  of  their  public  games  and  festivals, 
to  expose  such  as  they  deemed  criminals  to  the  ravage  of  wild  beasts  for  the  diver- 
sion of  the  spectators.  The  whole  city  was  filled  with  the  tumult ;  and  the  crowd, 
missing  Paul,  laid  hold  on  Gains  and  Aristarchus,  two  Macedonians  of  Paul's  com- 
pany, and  hurried  them  into  the  theatre,  with  a  design  to  throw  them  to  the  wild 
beasts.  Paul,  who  was  at  this  time  in  a  place  of  security,  hearing  of  the  danger  to 
which  his  brethren  were  exposed,  was  very  desirous  of  venturing  after  them,  in  order 
to  speak  in  their  behalf;  but  he  was  at  last  dissuaded  from  it  not  only  by  the  Chris- 
tians, but  also  by  the  Gentile  governors  of  the  theatrical  games,  who  were  his  friends, 
and  who  assured  him  that  he  would  only  endanger  himself  without  rescuing  his 
friends. 

The  noise  and  confusion  of  the  multitude  was  now  prodigious,  most  of  them  not 
knowing  the  reason  for  which  they  were  come  together ;  and  therefore  some  said  one 
tiling,  and   some  another.     In  this  distraction,  Alexander,  a  Jewish  convert,  was 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  555 

singled  out  by  the  multitude,  and  by  the  instigation  of  the  Jews  was  going  to  make 
his  defence,  in  which  doubtless  he  would  have  laid  the  whole  blame  upon  Paul ;  but 
the  multitude  perceiving  him  to  be  a  Jew,  and  therefore  suspecting  he  waS  one  of 
Paul's  associates,  raised  another  outcry  for  near  two  hours  together,  wherein  nothing 
could  be  h/ard  but  "  Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians."  This  confusion  brought  the 
town-clerk,  or  recorder  of  the  city,  who  kept  the  register  of  the  games,  into  the  the- 
atre, to  suppress,  if  possible,  so  uncommon  a  tumult.  Having  with  great  difficulty 
obtained  silence,  he  calmly  and  discreetly  told  them,  "  that  it  was  sufficiently  known 
to  all  the  world  what  a  mighty  veneration  the  inhabitants  of  Ephesus  had  for  their 
great  goddess  Diana,  and  the  famous  image  which  fell  down  from  Jupiter,  so  tha*^ 
there  needed  not  any  disturbance  to  vindicate  and  assert  it ;  that  they  had  seized  on 
persons  who  were  not  guilty  either  of  sacrilege  or  blasphemy  against  their  goddess; 
that  if  Demetrius  and  his  company  had  any  just  charge  against  them,  the  courts  were 
sitting,  and  they  might  enter  their  accusation  ;  or  if  the  controversy  was  about  any 
other  matter,  there  were  proper  judicatures  to  determine  it  in ;  that  therefore  they 
would  do  well  to  be  pacified,  having  done  more  already  than  they  could  answer,  and 
being  in  danger  of  incurring  a  severe  punishment,  if  they  should  be  called  to  an  ac- 
count (as  very  likely  they  might  be)  for  that  day's  riotous  assembly." 

This  speech  had  the  desired  effect:  the  multitude  were  convinced  that  they  had 
acted  very  improperly,  and  therefore  repaired  to  their  respective  habitations ;  and 
Gains,  Aristarchus,  and  Alexander,  were  released  without  any  hurt.  But  the  escape 
of  Paul  was  so  remarkable  that  he  mentions  it  as  a  remarkable  deliverance.  "  We 
had,"  says  he,  "  the  sentence  of  death  in  ourselves,  that  we  should  not  trust  in  our- 
selves, but  in  God,  who  raised  the  dead,  who  delivered  us  from  so  great  a  death." 
And  in  another  place  he  tells  us,  "he  foughi  with  beasts  at  Ephesus;"  alluding 
either  to  the  design  of  the  enraged  multitude  of  throwing  him  to  the  wild  beasts  in 
the  theatre,  though  their  intention  was  not  executed,  or  to  the  manners  of  the  people, 
who  justly  deserved  the  character  of  being  savage  and  brutal  to  the  highest  degree. 

Soon  after  the  tumult  was  suppressed  at  Ephesus,  Paul,  having  called  the  church 
together,  and  constituted  Timothy  bishop  of  the  place,  took  his  leave,  and  departed 
by  Troas  to  Macedonia,  where,  having  instructed  some  and  confirmed  others  in  the 
principles  of  a  sound  faith  and  holy  life,  he  continued  his  preaching  all  over  the 
country,  even  as  far  as  Illyricum.*  During  this  journey  Paul  met  with  many 
troubles  and  dangers;  "without  were  fightings,  and  within  fears:"  but  God,  who 
comfortelh  those  that  are  cast  down,  revived  his  spirits  by  the  arrival  of  Titus, 
who  gave  him  a  pleasing  account  of  the  good  effects  his  epistle  had  produced  at 
Corinth,  and  what  great  reformation  it  had  wrought  among  the  converts  of  that  city. 
But,  as  several  vain-glorious  teachers  still  persisted  in  their  contumacy,  vilifying  his 
authority,  and  misrepresenting  his  words  and  actions;  charging  him  particularly  with 
levity,  in  not  going  there  according  to  his  promise ;  with  severity  in  his  dealings  with 
the  incestuous  person ;  with  iraperiousness  in  his  writings,  abjectness  in  his  person, 
and  some  small  tincture  of  irreligion  in  overthrowing  the  Mosaic  law  (all  which  he 
understood  from  Titus),  he  thought  it  necessary  to  write  a  second  epistle  to  the 
Corinthians.  In  this  epistle  "he  excuses  his  not  going  directly  to  Corinth,  for  fear 
of  occasioning  them  sorrow,  and  giving  himself  uneasiness,  in  being  obliged  to  treat 
with  severity  those  who  had  not  yet  amended  their  faults.  He  commends  their  zeal 
against  the  incestuous  person,  but  now  that  he  had  suffered  enough  for  his  transgres- 
sion, allowed  them  to  be  reconciled  to  him.  He  justifies  his  own  conduct,  vindicates 
the  dignity  and  ministry  of  the  gospel,  and  proves  its  great  excellence  above  the  law. 
He  declaims  against  those  false  teachers  who  made  it  their  business  to  traduce  and 
vilify  him,  and  threatens  them  with  his  apostolic  authority  whenever  he  shall  arrive 
among  them.  He  then  speaks  of  himself  with  some  advantage,  and  though  he  men- 
tions his  supernatural  gifts  and  revelations,  yet  seems  to  glory  most  in  his  extraordinary 
laborings  and  sufferings  for  the  gospel.     And  lastly,  he  exhorts  them  all  to  the  works 

*  This  is  a  province  of  Europe,  lying  to  the  north  or  northwest  of  Macedonia,  along  the  Adriatic  sea,  now 
called  the  gulf  of  Venice.  It  was  commonly  distinguished  into  two  parts  ;  Lyburnia  to  the  north,  where 
.low  lies  Croatia  :  and  Dalmatia  to  the  south,  which  still  retains  its  name.  St.  Paul  tells  us,  that  "  from 
Jerusalem,  and  round  about  unto  lUyricum,  he  had  fully  preached  the  gospel  of  Christ.  (Rom.  xv.  19.)  So 
that  he  must  have  travelled  into  Syria,  Phanicia,  Arabia,  Cilicia,  Pamphylia,  Pisidia,  Lyaconia,  Galatia, 
Pontus,  Paphlagonia,  Phrygia,  Troas,  Asia,  Caiia,  Lysia,  Ionia,  Lydia,  the  isles  of  Cyprus  and  Crete,  Thracia 
Macedonia,  Tliessalia,  and  Achaia,  So,  justly  and  without  ostentation  might  he  say,  tfiat  in  relation  to  the 
other  apostles,  "  he  labored  more  abundantly  than  them  all."  (1  Cor.  xv.  10.) 


556  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

of  penance  and  mortification,  lest  when  he  arrived  thither  he  should  be  obliged  tc 

exert  his  authority  against  offenders ;  and  panicularly  cautions  them  to  have  their 
alms  in  readiness,  that  they  may  not  be  a  hinderance  to  him  when  he  shall  arrive  at 
Corinth." 

After  Paul  had  travelled  through  the  principal  places  in  Macedonia  and  Achjia, 
confirming  those  who  had  been  converted,  and  bringing  over  others  to  the  faith,  he 
proceeded  to  Corinth,  where  he  took  up  his  residence  for  the  space  of  three  months. 
During  his  abode  here  he  wrote  his  famous  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  which  lie  sent  by 
Phebe,  a  deaconess  of  the  church  of  Cenchrea,  near  Corinth.  In  this  epistle  "  he 
states  and  determines  the  great  controversy  between  the  Jews  and  the  Gentiles,  rela- 
tive to  the  obligation  of  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  Mosaic  law,  and  those  main 
and  material  doctrines  of  Christianity  which  depend  on  it,  such  as  that  of  Christian 
liberty,  the  use  of  different  things,  &c.  He  also  points  out  the  effects  of  original  sin, 
and  the  power  it  has  even  among  the  regenerate  ;  and,  through  the  whole  of  the 
epistle,  intermixes  many  admirable  instructions  and  exhortations  to  the  duties  of  a 
holy  and  religious  life  such  as  the  Christian  doctrine  doth  naturally  tend  to  produce." 

Paul,  having  gathered  considerable  alms  both  in  Macedonia  and  Achaia,  resolved 
to  leave  Corinth,  in  order  to  carry  them  into  Judea  for  the  relief  of  the  Christians  in 
those  parts.  His  first  intention  was  to  go  through  Syria,  as  being  by  far  the  nearest 
way ;  but  having  received  information  that  the  Jews  of  that  country  had  formed  a 
conspiracy  against  his  life,  he  altered  his  course,  and  determined  to  go  through 
Macedonia.  Accordingly,  leaving  Corinth,  he  proceeded  to  Philippi,  where  he  stayed 
some  time,  in  order  to  celebrate  the  feast  of  the  passover.  Hence  he  took  ship- 
ping, and  in  five  days  landed  at  Troas,  where  he  continued  a  week.  On  the  sabbath, 
which  was  the  last  day  of  his  staying  there,  he  preached  to  the  Christians  of  the 
place,  who  had  assembled  together  in  order  to  receive  the  sacrament ;  and,  as  he 
intended  leaving  them  the  next  morning,  he  continued  his  harangue  till  midnight. 
The  length  of  his  discourse,  and  the  time  of  night,  caused  some  of  his  hearers  to  be 
so  fatigued  as  to  fall  asleep.  Among  these  was  a  young  man  named  Eutychus,  who, 
sitting  in  a  higher  window,  so  forgot  himself  that  he  fell  thence  to  the  ground, 
and  was  taken  up  dead.  This  circumstance  being  made  known  to  the  apostle,  he 
stopped  his  discourse,  and  going  to  the  young  man,  by  prayers  to  the  throne  of  grace, 
restored  him  to  life  and  health.  How  indefatigable  was  this  great  apostle  in  doing 
good !  how  closely  did  he  tread  in  the  steps  of  his  great  Master,  who  "  went  about 
doing  good  !"  He  preached  and  wrought  miracles  wherever  he  went.  Like  a  mas- 
ter-builder, he  either  laid  a  foundation  or  raised  the  superstructure.  He  was  "instant, 
m  season  and  out  of  season,"  and  spared  no  pains  in  endeavoring  to  secure  the  eter- 
nal welfare  of  his  fellow-creatures. 

After  performing  this  miracle,  Paul  resumed  his  discourse,  and,  having  spent  the 
whole  night  in  these  holy  exercises,  early  the  next  morning  he  took  his  leave,  and 
travelled  on  foot  to  Assos,*  whither  he  had  before  sent  his  companions  (among  whom 
was  Luke)  by  sea.  From  Assos  they  sailed  to  Mitylene;t  then,  passing  by  Chios,!; 
arrived  at  Samos,'ii  and  proceeded  to  Trogyllium,||  whence,  after  staying  one  day, 

*  Assos  is  a  seaport-town,  situate  on  tlie  southwest  part  of  tlie  province  of  Troas,  and  over  against  tlie 
Island  Lesbos.  By  land  it  is  a  great  deal  nearer  Troas  than  it  is  by  sea,  because  of  a  promontory  that  runs 
a  great  way  into  tlie  ocean,  and  must  be  doubled  before  we  can  come  to  Assos,  wliich  was  the  reason  that 
the  apostle  chose  rather  to  walk  it. 

t  Mitylene  was  one  of  the  principal  cities  of  the  isle  of  Lesbos,  seated  in  a  peninsula,  with  a  commodious 
haven  on  each  side,  and  soon  became  so  considerable,  as  to  give  name  to  the  w  hole  island  (at  present  called 
Metelin)  many  years  ago.  The  island  (which  is  one  of  the  largest  in  the  Archipelago)  was,  in  former  times, 
renowned  for  the  many  eminent  persons  it  had  produced  ;  such  as  Sappho,  the  inventress  of  Sapphic  verses  ; 
A.lca!us,  a  famous  lyric  poet  ;  Pittacus,  one  of  the  seven  wise  men  of  Greece  ;  Tlieophrastus,  the  noble 
physician  and  philosopher  ;  and  Arion,  the  celebrated  musician  ;  and  the  Turks,  who  have  it  now  in  posses- 
sion, think  it  still  a  place  of  consecjuence  enough  to  deserve  a  fortress  and  garrison  to  defend  it. 

t  Chios  is  an  island  in  the  archipelago,  next  to  Lesbos,  or  Metelin,  both  in  its  situation  and  bigness.  It 
lies  over  against  Smyrna,  and  is  not  above  four  leagues  distant  from  the  Asiatic  continent.  It  is  cele- 
brated by  Ilorace  and  Martial,  for  the  wine  and  ligs  that  came  thence  ;  but  at  present  its  renown  is  that  it 
produces  the  most  e.xcellent  mastic  in  the  world,  wherein  the  people  pay  their  tribute  to  the  grand  seignior 
Nor  is  it  less  remarkable  for  what  Sir  Paul  Ricaut,  in  his  Present  State  of  the  d'reek  Church,  tells  us  of  it, 
viz.  ;  that  there  is  no  place  in  the  Turkish  dominions,  where  Christians  enjoy  more  freedom  in  their  religion 
and  estates  than  in  this  isle,  to  which  they  are  entitled  by  an  ancient  capitulation,  made  with  Sultan  Ma- 
homet II.,  which  to  this  day  is  maintained  so  faithfully,  that  no  Turk  can  strike  or  abuse  a  Christian  with- 
out severe  correction. 

II  Trogyllium  is  a  cape,  or  promontory,  on  the  Asiatic  coast,  opposite  to  Samos,  and  much  below  Ephesus, 
having  a  town  of  tjiesame  name. 

I)  Samos  is  another  isle  in  the  Archipelago,  lying  southeast  of  Chios,  and  about  five  miles  from  the 
Afliatic  continent.    It  is  famous  amon^  the  heathen  writers  for  the  worslup  of  Juno  ;  for  one  of  the  sybils, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  5S7 

they  went  to  Miletus,*  not  putting  in  at  Ephesus,  because  the  apostle  was  resolved, 
if  possible,  to  be  at  Jerusalem  at  the  feast  of  Pentecost. 

Soon  after  Paul  arrived  at  Miletus  he  sent  to  Ephesus,  to  assemble  together  the 
pastors  and  elders  of  the  churches  in  that  city.     On  their  arrival,  he  delivered  to 
them  a  very  long  and  pathetic  discourse,  wherein  he  reminded  them  with  what  up- 
rightness and  integrity,  with  what  affection  and  humility,  and  with  what  great  dan- 
ger and  trouble,  he°  had  been  conversant  among  them,  and  preached  the  gospel  to 
them,  ever  since  his  coming  into  those  parts:  that  he  had  not  failed  to  acquaint  them 
both  publicly  and  privately,  with  whatsoever  might  be  profitable  to  their  souls,  urging 
both  Jews  and  Gentiles  to  repentance  and  reformation,  and  a  hearty  reception  of  the 
faith  of  Christ :  that  now  he  was  determined  to  go  to  Jerusalem,  where  he  did  not 
know  what  particular  sufferings  would  befall  him,  only  that  he  had  been  foretold  by 
those  who  were  endued  with  prophetic  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  m  every  city 
bonds  and  afflictions  would  attend  him ;  but  that  he  was  not  concerned  at  this,  being 
willing  to  lay  down  his  life  whenever  the  gospel  required  it,  and  fully  determined  to 
serve,  with  the  strictest  fidelitv,  his  great  Lord  and  Master.     Here  he  made  a  short 
pause,  and  then  resumed  his  discourse  in  words  to  this  effect :  "  I  well  know  that  you 
will  see  my  face  no  more;  but  for  my  encouragement  and  satisfaction,  ye  yourselves 
can  bear  me  witness,  that  I  have  not,  by  concealing  any  part  of  the  Christian  doctrine, 
betrayed  your  souls.     And  as  for  yourselves,  whom  God  hath  made  bishops  ana 
pastors  of  his  church,  you  should  be  careful  to  feed,  guide,  and  direct  those  Christians 
under  your  inspection,  and  be  infinitely  tender  of  the  welfare  of  souls,  for  whose  re- 
demption the  blessed  Jesus  laid  down  his  own  life.     All  the  care,  tiierefore,  possible 
for  you  to  use  is  no  more  than  necessary  ;  for  after  my  departure  heretical  teachers 
will  appear  in  the  church,  to  the  great  danger  of  the  souls  of  men,  seeking,  by  every 
crafty  method  and  pernicious  doctrine,  to  gain  proselytes  to  their  party,  and,  by  those 
means,  fill  the  church  of  Christ  with  schisms  and  factions.     Watch  ye,  therefore, 
and  remember  with  what  tears  and  sorrow  I  have,  during  three  years,  warned  you 
of  these  things.     And  now  I  recommend  you  to  the  Divine  favor  and  protection,  and 
to  the  rules  and  instructions  of  the  gospel,  which,  if  properly  adhered  to,  will   un- 
doubtedly dispose  and  perfect  you  for  that  state  of  happiness  which  the  Almighty 
hath  prepared  for  good  men  in  the  mansions  of  eternity.     Ye  well  know  that  1  have 
from  the  beginning  dealt  faithfuUv  and  uprightly  with  you  ;  that  I  have  not  had  any 
covetous  designs,  or  ever  desired  'the  riches  of  other  men  ;  nay,  I  have  labored  with 
mine  own  hands,  to  support  myself  and  my  companions :  you  ought,  therefore,  to 
support  the  weak  and  relieve  the  poor,  rather  than  be  yourselves  chargeable  to  others, 
according  to  that  incomparable  saying  of  the  great  Redeemer  of  mankind,   'It  is 
more  ble'sed  to  give  than  to  receive.'  "     If  we  minutely  attend  to  the  whole  of  this 
apostle's  preaching  and  writing,  we  shall  find  that  he  strenuously  inculcates  not  only 
points  of  faith,  but  also  practical  duties,  without  which  our  faith  would  be  in  vain. 

After  Paid  had  finished  his  farewell  discourse  to  the  bishops  and  pastors  of  Ephe- 
sus, he  knelt  down,  and,  by  way  of  a  final  conclusion,  joined  with  them  fervently  in 
prayer ;  which  being  over  thev  all  melted  into  tears,  and  with  the  greatest  expression 
of  sorrow  attended  him  to  the  ship,  grieving  in  the  most  passionate  manner  on  ac- 
count of  his  having  told  them  that  they  should  see  his  face  no  more. 

After  Paul  had  taken  this  affecting  farewell  of  the  pastors  and  elders  of  Ephesus, 
he  with  his  attendants  left  Miletus,  and  going  on  board  a  ship  sailed  with  a  fair  wind 
to  Coos.t     The  day  after  their  arrival  here,  they  proceeded  to  Rhodes,  and  from 

called  Svbilla  Samia;  for  Pherecydes,  wlio  foretold  an  earthquake  thai  liappened  there,  by  drinking  of  the 
waters  ;  and,  more  especially,  for  the  birth  of  Pythagoras,  who  excelled  all  the  seven  wise  men,  so  le'iowned 
amonK  the  Greeks.  It  was  formerly  a  free  commonwealth,  and  the  mhabitants  were  so  poweiful,  that  they 
d  many  prosperous  wars  against  their  neighbors  ;  but  at  present  the  Turks  have  reduced  it  to  such 


an  and  depopulated  condition,  that  a  few  pirates  dare  land  and  plunder  as  they  please  ;  so  that  ever 
:  the  year  1676,  no  Turk  has  ventured  to  live  upon  it,  for  fear  of  being  carried  into  captivity  by  those 


manage 
a  me 
since 

'°*^Milefus  was  a  port-town  on  the  continent  of  Asia  Minor,  and  in  the  province  of  Caria,  memorable  foi 
being  the  birthplace  of  Thales.  one  of  the  seven  wise  men  in  Greece,  and  father  of  lie  Ionic  philosopher  ; 
of  Anaximenes,  the  scholar  ;  Timothcus  the  musician,  and  Anaximenius  the  p  i.losopher.  At  present  it  is 
railed  bv  the  Turks,  Melas  ;  and  not  far  distant  from  it  is  the  true  Meander,  which,  though  it  encirc  es.  aL 
«'he  plain  it  runs  through  with  many  pleasing  mazes  and  innumerable  windings,  yet,  in  some  places,  it  goes 
with  such  a  current  as  stirs  up  the  earth  and  gravel  from  the  bottom,  which  makes  its  water  not  so  clear 

■^"t'  Th'if  w"'rin%Ta,?d  in  the'Kpelago,  lying  near  the  southwest  point  of  Asia  Minor,  and  having  a  city 
of  the  same  name.  It  was  formerly  celebrated  for  the  l)irth  of  Hippocrates  the  lamous  phvsician,  and 
Apelles  the  famous  painter  ;  for  a  stately  temple  dedicated  to  Apollo,  and  another  to  Juno  ;  lor  the  ric.mess 
of  its  wines,  and  lor  the  fineness  of  a  stuff  made  here,  which  was  perfectly  transparent,  and  called  vesti- 
menta  coa. 


558  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

Rhodes*  to  Palara,t  where  meeting  with  a  ship  bound  for  PhoBnicia  they  went  on 
board,  and,  passing  Cyprus,  sailed  to  Syria,  and  landed  at  Tyre,  the  place  where  the 
ship  was  to  unlade  her  burden. 

Paul  stayed  at  Tyre  seven  days,  in  the  course  of  which  he  was  advised  by  some 
Christians  of  the  place  not  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem.  But  this  advice  Paul  would  by  no 
means  take ;  upon  which  the  disciples,  accompanied  by  their  wives  and  children, 
attended  him  out  of  the  city,  and  when  they  came  to  the  seashore  Paul  knelt  down 
and  prayed  for  them  in  the  same  manner  he  had  done  before  at  Miletus, 

From  Tyre  Paul  and  his  companions  sailed  to  Ptolemais,t  where  they  stayed  one 
day,  spending  their  time  in  conversation  with  the  disciples  of  that  place.  The  next 
day  they  went  to  Cesarea,  and  visited  Philip,  one  of  the  seven  deacons,  who  had 
been  sent  by  the  apostles  to  preach  the  gospel  in  Samaria  and  other  places.  This 
Philip  had  four  virgin  daughters,  all  of  whom  were  endued  with  the  gift  of  prophecy; 
and  on  this  account,  together  with  Paul's  great  regard  for  Philip,  he  resided  at  his 
house  during  his  stay  at  Cesarea. 

While  Paul  was  at  Philip's  house,  there  came  thither  a  prophet,  named  Agabus, 
from  Judea.  This  person,  after  the  manner  of  the  old  prophets  (who  often  prophe- 
sied by  symbols  or  significant  expressions),  took  Paul's  girdle,  and  binding  it  about 
his  own  hands  and  feet,  said,  in  the  presence  and  hearing  of  the  whole  company, 
"  Thus  saith  the  Holy  Ghost,  so  shall  the  Jews  at  Jerusalem  bind  the  man  who 
ownelh  tiiis  girdle,  and  shall  deliver  him  into  the  hands  of  the  Gentiles."  On  the 
prophet's  saying  these  words,  not  only  the  companions  of  Paul,  but  likewise  all  the 
Christians  present,  were  greatly  troubled,  and  earnestly  besought  him  that  he  would 
not  go  up  to  Jerusalem.  To  which  Paul  replied,  "What  mean  ye  to  weep,  and  to 
break  mine  heart  1  for  1  am  ready  not  to  be  bound  only,  but  also  to  die  at  Jerusalem 
for  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus." 

When  the  disciples  found  that  Paul's  resolution  was  not  to  be  shaken,  they  did  not 
importune  him  any  farther;  in  consequence  of  which  he  and  his  companions  left 
Cesarea,  and  prosecuting  their  journey  arrived  safe  at  Jerusalem,  where  they  were 
kindly  and  joyfully  received  by  the  Christians  of  that  city. 

The  day  after  Paul  and  his  companions  arrived  at  Jerusalem,  they  went  to  the 
house  of  James  the  apostle,  where  the  rest  of  the  bishops  and  governors  of  the  church 
were  assembled  together.  After  mutual  salutations,  Paul  gave  them  a  particular  ac- 
count of  tlie  success  with  which  God  had  blessed  his  endeavors  in  propagating  Chris- 
tianity among  the  Gentiles,  for  which  they  all  joined  in  glorifying  God.  Having 
done  this,  they  told  Paul  that  he  was  now  come  to  a  place  in  which  there  were  many 
thousands  of  Jewish  converts,  who  were  all  zealous  for  the  law  of  Moses,  and  who 
had  been  informed  that  he  taught  the  Jews  whom  he  converted  to  renounce  circum- 
cision and  the  ceremonies  of  the  law :  that  as  soon  as  the  multitude  heard  of  his 
arrival,  they  would  all  assemble  tdgether  to  see  how  he  behaved  himself  in  this  mat- 
ter; and  tiierefore,  to  prevent  any  disturbance,  they  thought  it  advisable  for  him  to 
join  himself  with  four  men  who  were  then  going  to  discharge  a  vow  ;  to  perform  the 
usual  rites  and  ceremonies  v/ith  them;  to  be  at  the  charge  of  having  their  heads 
shaved  ;  and  to  provide  such  sacrifices  as  the  law  directed :  whereby  it  would  appear 
that  the  reports  spread  of  him  were  groundless,  and  that  himself  was  an  observer  of 
the  Mosaic  institutions. 

Paul  readily  agreed  to  follow  the  advice  given  him  by  his  brethren;  in  consequence 
of  wliich,  taking  with  him  the  four  persons  who  were  to  discharge  their  vows,  he 
went  into  ihe  temple,  and  told  the  priests,  that,  as  the  time  of  their  vow  was  now 
expired  and  their  purification  regularly  performed,  they  were  come  to  make  their 
oblation  according  to  law. 

The  time  of  offering  these  oblations  was  seven  days,  near  the  close  of  Avhich  certain 
Jews  from  Asia  (who  had  there  been  strong  opposers  to  Paul's  doctrine),  finding  him 

*  Rhodes  lies  south  of  the  province  of  Caria  in  lesser  Asia  ;  and,  among  the  Asiatic  isles,  was  accounted 
fordig-nity  next  to  Cyprus  and  Lesbos.  It  was  remarkalile  among  the  ancients  for  the  expertness  cf  its  in- 
nabitants  in  the  art  of  navigation  ;  for  a  college,  in  which  tlio  students  were  enunent  for  eloquence  and 
maMiennatics  ;  for  the  clearness  of"  its  air;  for  its  pleasant  and  liealthy  climate,  which  induced  tlie  Roman 
nobility  to  make  it  a  place  of  their  recess  ;  and,  mure  especially,  for  its  prodigious  statue  of  l)rass,  conse- 
crated to  Apollo,  or  the  sun,  and  called  his  Colossus.  This  statue  was  seventy  cubits  higii,  and  stood 
astride  over  llie  mouth  of  the  harbor,  so  that  the  sliips  sailed  between  its  legs. 

t  This  is  a  seaport  of  Lycia,  formerly  beautified  with  a  good  harbor,  and  many  temples,  whereof  one  was 
dedicated  to  Apollo. 

t  A  seaport  of  Syria,  between  Tyre  and  Cesarea. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  559 

in  the  temple,  began  to  raise  a  tumult,  and,  seizing  on  him,  called  to  their  brethren 
the  Jews  to  assist  them,  declaring  that  he  was  the  person  who  had  preached  doctrines 
derogatory  to  the  Jewish  nation,  and  destructive  to  the  institutions  of  the  law  of 
Moses.  This  accusation,  though  absolutely  false,  occasioned  such  a  universal  disgust 
among  the  people  to  Paul,  that  they  immediately  fell  on  him  and  dragged  him  out 
of  tne  temple,  shutting  the  doors  to  prevent  his  returning  into  that  holy  place.  After 
they  had  got  him  out  of  the  temple  they  treated  him  with  great  indignity,  and  would 
certainly  liave  killed  him,  had  not  Claudius  Lysias,  the  commander  of  the  Roman 
garrison  in  the  castle  of  Antonia,  come  with  a  considerable  force  to  his  assistance. 
Lysias  conducted  him  to  the  castle,  in  the  way  to  which  Paul  begged  permission  to 
speak  to  him  ;  but  the  governor  (supposing  him  to  be  an  Egyptian,  who  not  many 
years  before  had  raised  a  sedition  in  Judea,  and  headed  a  party  of  four  thousand 

1)rotiigate  wretches)  seemed  to  refuse  him  that  favor,  until  Paul  informed  him  that 
le  was  a  Jew  of  Tarsus,  and  a  freeman  of  a  rich  and  honorable  city,  and  therefore 
humbly  hoped  that  he  would  not  deny  him  the  privilege  of  vindicating  himself  The 
governor  consenting  to  this  request,  Paul,  standing  upon  the  stairs  that  led  into  the 
castle,  after  making  signs  for  the  multitude  to  be  silent,  made  a  speech  to  them  in 
the  Hebrew  language,  the  substance  of  which  was  to  the  following  effect: 

"Listen,  ye  descendants  of  Jacob,  to  a  person  of  your  own  religion,  and  like  your- 
selves a  child  of  Abraham ;  born  in  Tarsus,  and  brought  up  in  this  city,  at  the  feet  of 
Gamaliel,  and  fully  instructed  in  the  law  delivered  by  Moses  to  our  forefathers,  and 
formerly  as  zealous  for  the  temple  worship  as  ye  are  at  present. 

"  Nay,  I  persecuted  unto  death  all  Avho  believed  in  Jesus,  seizing  on  all  I  could 
find,  both  men  and  women,  and  casting  them  into  prison. 

"But  as  I  was  pursuing  my  journey  to  execute  this  commission,  and  was  arrived 
near  Damascus,  there  appeared,  about  midday,  a  light  from  heaven  shining  round 
about  me. 

"  Terrified  at  so  awful  an  appearance,  I  fell  to  the  ground,  and  heard  a  voice  saying 
unto  me,  'Saul,  Saul,  why  persecutest  thou  mel'  To  which  I  answered,  '  Who  art 
thou,  Lord  ■?'  And  the  voice  replied,  'lam  Jesus  of  Nazareth  whom  thou  perse- 
cutest.' 

"  After  recovering  from  the  terror  with  which  my  mind  was  filled,  I  answered, 
'What  shall  I  do,  Lord  ?'  And  the  Lord  said  unto  me,  '  Arise,  and  go  into  Damas- 
cus, and  there  it  shall  be  told  thee  of  all  things  which  are  appointed  for  thee  to  do.' 

"  The  brilliancy  of  the  glory  deprived  me  of  sight;  so  that  my  companions  led  me 
by  the  hand  to  Damascus,  where  one  Ananias,  a  person  well  respected  by  all  the 
Jews  of  that  city,  visited  me,  and  said,  '  Brother  Saul,  receive  thy  sight.'  And  in  a 
moment  mv  eyes  Avere  opened,  and  I  saw  him  standing  before  me.  When  he  saw 
that  my  sight  was  restored,  he  said  to  me,  '  The  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob, 
hath  appointed  thee  to  know  his  will,  to  see  the  great  Messiah,  the  Holy  One  of  God, 
and  hear  the  voice  of  his  mouth;  for  thou  art  chosen  to  be  a  witness  to  all  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth  for  those  surprising  things  thou  hast  seen  and  heard.  Why, 
therefore,  tarriest  thou  here  any  longer?  'Arise,  and  be  baptized,  and  wash  away 
thy  sins,  calling  on  the  name  of  the  Lord.' 

"  After  this  glorious  vision  and  miraculous  power  of  the  Most  High,  when  I  was 
returned  from  Damascus  to  Jerusalem  and  offering  up  my  prayers  in  the  temple,  1 
fell  into  a  trance,  and  again  saw  the  Great  Son  of  David,  who  said  unto  me,  'Depart 
quickly  from  Jerusalem,  for  the  descendants  of  Jacob  will  refuse  to  believe  thy  testi- 
mony concerning  me.'  And  I  answered,  '  Lord,  they  know  how  cruelly  I  used  thy 
saints  and  followers ;  that  I  imprisoned  and  beat  them  in  every  synagogue  whither  I 
went.  Nay,  when  they  shed  the  blood  of  thy  holy  martyr  Stephen,  I  was  also  one 
of  the  spectators ;  I  consented  to  his  death  ;  I  even  kept  the  raiment  of  those  that 
slew  him.'  But  the  Lord  replied,  'Depart,  for  I  will  send  thee  far  hence  unto  the 
Gentiles.'  " 

The  Jews  had  been  very  quiet,  and  paid  great  attentioD  to  Paul's  speech  till  he 
came  to  this  part  of  it:  his  mentioning  the  commission  he  had  received  to  preach  the 
gospel  to  the  Gentiles,  threw  them  into  the  most  violent  outraofe,  ^nd  they  cried  eut 
with  one  voice,  "  Away  with  such  a  fellow  from  the  earth ;  for  it  is  not  ftt  fha^  he 
should  live."  And,  the  more  to  express  their  indignation,  they  threw  off  their  clothes 
and  cast  dust  into  the  air,  as  thoueh  they  intended  tnat  moment  to  stone  him. 

When  Lysias,  the  captain  of  the  jjuaid,  found  to  what  a  violent  degiee  the  people 


560  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

were  incensed  against  Paul,  he  ordered  hitn  to  be  taken  within  the  castle,  and  that 
he  should  be  examined  by  scourging  till  he  confessed  the  reason  of  the  uncornruon 
rage  shown  against  him  by  the  people.*  Accordingly  the  lictor  bound  him,  and  was 
goi^g  to  put  the  orders  he  had  received  into  execution,  when  Paul  asked  the  centu- 
rion who  stood  by  whether  or  not  it  was  lawful  to  scourge  a  citizen  of  Rome  before 
any  sentence  had  been  passed  upon  him.  But  the  centurion,  instead  of  answering 
his  question,  immediately  repaired  to  Lysias,  beseeching  him  to  be  careful  how  he 
proceeded  against  the  prisoner,  because  he  was  a  Roman.  On  this  information  Ly- 
sias went  immediately  into  the  prison,  and  asked  Paul  whether  he  was  really  a  free 
citizen  of  Rome.  Being  answered  iu  the  affirmative,  Lysias  said  he  had  himself 
procured  that  great  privilege  by  a  large  sum  of  money;  upon  which  Paul  answered, 
"  But  I  was  freeborn."t  On  receiving  this  account,  Lysias  commanded  the  centu- 
rion not  to  scourge  him,  being  terrifie  it  what  he  had  already  done,  namely,  his 
causing  to  be  bound  with  chains  a  free  denizen  of  the  Roman  empire.  The  next  day 
he  ordered  his  chains  to  be  taken  off;  and  that  he  might  thoroughly  satisfy  himself 
of  the  cause  of  so  unusual  a  tumult,  convened  the  members  of  the  sanhedrim,  before 
whom  he  conducted  Paul  in  order  to  undergo  an  examination  by  that  tribunal. 

Paul  was  not  in  the  least  terrified  at  the  sight  of  so  considerable  and  powerful  an 
assembly.  Without  waiting  for  any  questions  being  asked  him,  looking  earnestly  at 
the  council,  he  coolly  said,  "Men  and  brethren,  I  have  lived  in  all  good  conscience 
before  God  until  this  day."|  But,  however  this  expression  might  tend  to  show  the 
true  state  of  his  rnind,  Ananias  the  high-priest  was  so  offended  at  it  that  he  com- 
manded those  who  stood  next  him  to  strike  him  on  the  face;  at  which  Paul  replied, 
"  God  shall  smite  thee,  thou  whited  wali."il  On  this,  some  of  the  spectators,  look- 
ing sternly  at  Paul,  cried  out,  "  Revilest  thou  God's  high-priest  ?"  In  answer  to  this, 
Paul  told  ihem  he  did  not  know  that  Ananias  was  high-priest,  not  supposing  it  pos- 
sible that  a  person  who  can  give  such  unjust  orders  could  be  invested  with  so  sacred 
a  character.  But,  since  it  was  so,  he  confessed  it  was  very  wrong  to  revile  him,  God 
himself  having  commanded  that  "  no  man  should  speak  evil  of  the  rulers  of  the 
people." 

Paul,  perceiving  that  the  council  consisted  partly  of  Sadducees  and  partly  of  Phari- 
sees (in  order  to  elude  the  malice  of  his  enemies),  made  open  declaration  that  he 
was  a  Pharisee,  even  as  his  father  was  before  hiin,  and  that  the  great  offence  taken 
against  him  was  his  belief  of  a  future  resurrection.  This  declaration  threw  the 
whole  court  in  confusion,  by  exciting  the  regard  of  the  Pharisees,  who  favored  the 
doctrine  of  the  resurrection,  and  incurring  the  resentment  of  the  Sadducees,  who 
strongly  opposed  it. 

The  dissensions  between  these  two  sects  on  this  occasion  arose  to  such  a  violent 
degree,  that  Lysias,  fearing  lest  Paul  should  be  lorn  in  pieces  between  them,  com- 

t  As  Lysias  did  not  understand  Hebrew,  he  could  not  tell  what  the  purport  of  St.  Paul's  speech  to  the 
people  was  ;  but,  by  their  rnad  and  outrageous  behavior,  he  giaessed  Itiat  he  must  have  said  sotiiething  very 
provoking,  either  against  the  law  or  the  dignity  of  their  nation,  and  therefore  was  willing  to  kiiovir  the  truth 
of  it  from  iiimself  Scourging  was  a  method  of  examination  used  by  the  Romans,  and  other  nations,  to 
force  such  as  were  supposed  guilty  to  confess  what  they  had  done,  what  were  their  motives,  and  who  were 
accessaries  to  the  fact. 

t  It  is  probable  that  Paul's  father  might  have  been  rewarded  with  the  freedom  of  the  city  for  his  fidelity 
and  bravery  in  some  military  service,  emoluments  being  then  conferred,  not  on  those  who  had  most  interest 
with  men  in  power,  but  on  those  who  had  most  merit  from  their  actions. 

t  The  apostie,  by  here  using  the  words  "  a  good  conscience,"  does  not  mean  a  conscience  void  of  all 
error  and  offence,  because  he  owns  himself  to  have  been  guilty  of  a  great  sin  in  persecuting  the  church  of 
Christ.  (1  Tim.  i.  13.)  His  meaning,  therefore,  is  such  a  conscience  as  was  consistent  with  the  ideas  he 
entertained  at  different  periods  of  his  life,  namely,  before  and  after  his  conversion.  The  sense,  therefore, 
of  this  passage  may  be  thus  explained ;  "  While  I  was  persuaded  that  the  Christiati  religion  was  false,  I 
persecuted  it  with  the  utmost  vigor ;  but,  as  soon  as  1  came  to  perceive  its  divine  institution,  I  declared  for 
it,  and  have  ever  since  mainiained  it,  even  to  the  hazard  of  my  life.  The  religion  of  the  .lews  I  did  not 
forsake  out  of  any  hardships  that  it  required,  or  any  prejudice  I  had  conceived  against  its  precepts  ;  nor  did 
I  embrace  that  of  the  Christians  upon  any  other  account,  than  a  full  conviction  of  its  truth  and  veracity.  I 
was  a  good  Jew,  in  short,  as  long  as  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  be  so  ;  and  when  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  be 
otherwise,  I  became  a  zealous  Christian ;  in  all  which  God  knows  the  sincerity  of  my  lieart,  and  is  witness 
of  my  uprig:htness." 

II  "  A  whiled  wall"  was  a  proverbial  expression  denoting  a  hypocrite  of  any  kind,  and  the  propriety  of  it 
appears  in  this :  that  as  the  wall  had  a  fair  outside,  but  nothing  but  dirt,  or  sticks  and  stones,  within,  so  the 
high-priest  had  the  outward  appearance  of  a  righteous  judge,  sitting  as  one  that  would  pass  sentence  ac- 
cording to  law,  and  yet  commanding  him  to  be  punished  for  speaking  the  truth,  and  so  condemning  the 
innocent,  contrary  to  the  law  of  nature,  ag  well  as  that  of  Moses.  Our  blessed  Saviour  makes  use  of  a 
comparison  of  the  same  nature,  when  he  calls  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  "whiled  sepulchres."  It  should 
be  observed,  in  vindication  of  St.  Paul,  that  liis  words,  "  God  shall  smile  thee,"  are  a  prediction,  not  an  im- 
precation ;  and  a  prediction  which  Josephus  tells  us  was  fulfilled  in  a  short  time  ;  for  he  was  murdered  in 
1  mutiny 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  561 

manded  the  soldiers  to  take  him  from  the  bar,  and  re-coiuluct  him  to  the  castle. 
This  was  accordingly  done,  and  to  comfort  him  afier  all  his  frights  and  fears,  God  was 
pleased  to  appear  to  him  that  night  in  a  vision,  encouraging  him  to  constancy  and 
resoliuioH,  and  assuring  him  that,  as  he  had  borne  testimony  to  his  cause  at  Jerusa- 
lem, so,  in  despite  of  all  his  enemies,  he  should  live  to  do  the  like  at  Rome.  "  Be  of 
good  cheer,  Paul :  for  as  thou  hast  testified  of  me  in  Jerusalem,  so  must  thou  bear 
witness  also  at  Rome." 

The  next  morning  the  Jews,  whose  envy  and  malice  were  increased  against  Paul 
by  the  dilatory  proceedings  of  the  sanhedrim,  determined  to  use  a  quicker  method  of 
patting  a  period  to  his  life.  In  order  to  this,  about  forty  of  the  most  turbulent 
among  them  entered  into  a  wicked  conspiracy,  which  they  ratified  with  an  impreca- 
tion never  to  eat  or  drink  until  they  had  killed  Paul.  Having  formed  this  inhuman 
resolution,  they  went  to  the  sanl)edrim  and  acquainted  them  with  their  design,  to 
elTect  which  they  advised,  that  some  of  the  members  should  solicit  Lysias  to  bring 
Paul  again  belbre  them,  under  pretence  of  inquiring  more  accurately  into  his  case, 
and  that,  before  he  reached  the  court,  they  would  not  fail  to  waylay  and  despatch 
him. 

This  wicked  plot  was  readily  appreved  of  by  the  sanhedrim,  but  its  execution  was 
happily  frustrated  by  Paul's  nephew,  who,  having  discovered  their  intentions,  went 
immediately  to  his  uncle,  to  whom  he  related  the  whole  aff"air.  Paul  communicated 
the  intellio'ence  to  Lysias,  who  immediately  commanded  two  parties  of  foot  and  one 
of  horse,  to  be  ready  by  nine  o'clock,  in  order  to  conduct  him  tu  Cesarea,  where  Felix, 
the  Roman  governor,  then  resided.  At  the  same  time  Lysias  des|)atched  a  letter  to 
Felix,  the  substance  of  which  was,  "that  the  person  whom  he  had  sent  to  him  was 
a  freeman  of  Rome;  that  the  Jews  had  ill  treated  him,  and  conspired  against  his 
life ;  that  the  measure.^  he  had  taken  were  designed  to  secure  him  from  the  violence 
of  the  multitude;  and  that  he  had  ordered  his  enemies  to  appear  before  him  at 
Cesarea,  that  he  might  judge  what  was  the  cause  of  their  being  so  incensed  against 
the  porsoti  whom  he  had  sent  to  him  under  military  protection." 

The  guards,  having  received  these  orders  from  Lysias,  conducted  Paul  the  same 
night  to  Antipatris,*  and  the  next  morning  to  Cesarea.  On  their  arrival  there,  they 
immediately  gave  Lysias's  letter  to  Felix,  who,  after  having  read  the  contents,  asked 
Paul  some  questions  relative  to  the  place  of  his  birth,  and  the  manner  of  his  life. 
Finding,  by  his  answers,  that  Paul  was  a  native  of  Cilicia,  Felix  told  him  that  as 
soon  as  his  accusers  came  thither  Irom  Jerusalem,  he  would  give  him  a  fair  and  can- 
did hearing;  and  in  the  meantime  gave  orders  that  he  should  be  secured  in  that  part 
of  his  palace  called  Herod's  hall,t  where  he  should  be  supplied  with  every  article 
that  was  necessary  during  his  confinement. 


CHAPTER   X. 

After  Paul  had  been  confined  five  days  at  Cesarea,  by  order  of  Felix,  there  came 
thither  Ananias  the  high-priest,  and  several  other  members  of  the  sanhedrim,  to- 
gether with  Tertnllus,  a  man  of  great  elocution,  and  an  inveterate  enemy  to  Paul. 
Being  all  assembled  before  Felix,  TertuUus  made  a  long  speech,  in  which  he  made 
use  of  all  the  insinuating  arts  that  could  arise  from  hShian  invention  to  prepossess  the 
governor  in  his  own  tavor  ;  having  done  which  he  accused  Paul  "  of  being  a  seditious 
person,  and  a  disturber  of  the  public  peace,  who  had  set  himself  at  the  head  of  the 
sect  of  Nazarenes,  and  made  no  manner  of  scruple  to  profane  even  the  temple  itself" 
This  accusation  was  al'ogether  false,  notwithstanding  which  it  was  confirmed  by  all 
the  members  of  the  sanhedrim,  who  had  come  from  Jerusalem  on  this  occasion. 

TertuUus  having  finished  his  accusation  against  Paul,  Felix  told  him  that  he  was 
now  at  liberty  to  make  his  defence;  upon  which  Paul  addressed  himself  to  the  court 
in  words  to  this  effect : — 

"  I  answer  this  charge  of  the  Jews  with  the  greater  satisfaction  before  thee,  because 

*  Antipitris  was  a  city  on  tlio  borders  of  Samaria,  near  the  Mediterranean  sea  ;  and  situated  about  tliirty- 
eigllt  miles  Ironi  Jerusalem. 

t  Ttns  was  a  rnafjuiticeiit  palace  built  by  Herod  tlie  Great  for  his  own  habitation,  whenever  he  went  to 
Cesarea :  and  was  allerward  used  by  the  Roman  governors  for  the  place  of  tlieir  residence,  and  lor  the  con- 
'inemeni  of  some  pani(.<jiai  persons. 


562  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

thou  hast  for  many  years  been  a  judge  of  this  nation.  About  twelve  days  since,  I 
repaired  to  Jerusalem  to  worship  the  God  of  Jacob.  But  I  neither  disputed  with  any 
man,  or  endeavored  to  stir  the  people  in  the  synagogues  or  the  city.  Nor  can  they 
prove  the  charge  they  have  brought  against  me. 

"  This,  however,  I  readily  confess,  that  after  the  way  which  they  call  heresy,  so 
worship  I  the  God  of  my  fathers ;  and  according  to  this  faith,  I  am  careful  to  main- 
tain a  clear  and  quiet  conscience,  both  toward  God  and  man. 

"  After  I  had  spent  some  years  in  distant  countries,  I  repaired  to  Jerusalem,  with 
the  alms  I  had  collected  in  other  provinces,  for  the  poor  of  mine  own  nation,  and 
offerings  to  the  God  of  Jacob.  And  while  1  was  performing  the  duties  of  religion, 
certain  Asiatic  Jews  found  me  in  the  temple,  purified  according  to  law  ;  but  neither 
attended  with  a  multitude  of  followers,  or  the  least  tumultuous  assembly.  It  was 
therefore  necessary  that  these  Jews  should  have  been  here,  if  they  had  anything  to 
allege  against  me.  Nay,  I  appeal  to  those  of  the  sanhedrim  here  present,  if  anything 
has  been  laid  to  my  charge,  except  the  objections  of  the  Sadducees,  who  violently  op- 
posed me  for  asserting  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection." 

Felix,  having  thus  heard  both  parties,  refused  to  make  any  final  determination  till 
he  had  more  fully  advised  about  it,  and  consulted  Lysias,  the  governor  of  the  castle, 
who  was  the  most  proper  person  to  give  an  account  of  the  cause  of  the  controversy. 
In  the  meantime  Felix  gave  orders  that,  though  Paul  should  be  kept  under  a  guari, 
yet  his  confinement  should  be  so  free  and  epsy,  that  none  of  his  friends  should  be 
hindered  from  visiting,  or  doing  him  any  oflSces  of  kindness. 

A  few  days  after  tliis,  Felix,  being  desirous  that  his  wife  Drusilla  (who  had  been 
a  Jewess)  should  hear  Paul,  he  ordered  him  to  be  brought  before  them,  and  gave 
him  permission  to  speak  freely  concerning  the  doctrines  of  Christianity.  In  his  dis- 
course he  particularly  pointed  out  the  great  obligation  which  the  laws  of  Christ  laid 
on  mankind  to  preserve  justice  and  righteousness,  sobriety  and  chastity,  both  toward 
themselves  and  others,  more  especially  from  this  consideration,  namely,  the  strict 
and  impartial  account  that  must  be  given,  in  the  day  of  judgment,  of  all  the  actions 
of  their  past  lives,  and  the  consequences  that  would  inevitably  follow,  either  to  be 
rewarded  or  eternally  punished. 

This  discourse  had  such  an  effect  on  Felix,  that  he  could  not  help  trembling  as  he 
sat  on  his  throne ;  and  as  soon  as  he  had  a  little  recovered  his  spirits,  he  abruptly 
interrupted  Paul,  by  saying,  "Go  thy  way  for  this  time;  when  I  have  a  convenient 
season,  I  will  call  lor  thee." 

Felix,  no  doubt,  had  sufficient  reason  to  tremble,  and  his  conscience  to  be  sensibly 
alarmed  at  Paul's  discourse  ;  for  he  was  a  man  notoriously  infamous  for  rapine  and 
violence.  He  made  his  own  will  the  law  of  his  government,  practising  all  manner 
of  cruelty  and  injustice.  To  these  bad  qualities  he  added  bribery  and  covetousness ; 
and  therefore  often  seiit  for  Paul  to  discourse  with  him,  expecting  he  would  have 
given  him  a  considerable  sum  for  his  release,  having,  in  all  probability,  heard  that 
Paul  had  taken  with  him  a  large  quantity  of  money  to  Jerusalem.  But  finding  that 
rio  offers  were  made  him,  either  by  the  apostle  or  his  friends,  he  kept  him  prisoner 
two  years ;  when  himself  being  discharged  from  his  office  by  Nero,  he  left  Paul  in 
prison,  in  order  to  gratify  the  malice  of  the  Jews,*  and  engage  them  to  speak  the 
better  of  him,  after  his  departure  from  Judea. 

On  the  deposition  of  Ff>lix  the  government  of  Judea  was  invested  in  Fortius  Festus, 
who,  after  staying  three  days  a^Cesarea,  went  to  Jerusalem.  On  his  arrival  thither, 
the  high-priest,  and  other  members  of  the  sanhedrim,  exhibited  fresh  accusations 
against  Paul,  and,  in  order  to  his  trial,  desired  that  he  might  be  sent  for  up  to  Jeru- 
salem, intending  to  have  him  assassinated  in  the  way.  But  Festus,  being  unwilling 
to  grant  their  request,  told  them,  that  he  was  shortly  going  himself  to  Cesarea,  and 
that  if  they  had  any  complaint  against  Paul,  they  must  come  thither  and  accuse  him, 
when  he  would  not  fail  to  do  them  justice. 

In  consequence  of  tliis  the  Jews  followed  Festus  to  Cesarea,  and  when  he  was 

»  Felix  had  greatly  exasperated  the  Jews  by  his  unjust  and  violent  proceedingfs  while  he  continued  in 
the  government ;  and  therefore,  upon  his  dismission,  he  thouglit  to  have  pacified  them  in  some  measure,  hv 
leaving  Paul  (whom  he  might  have  discharged  long  before)  still  in  custody,  and  consequently  still  liable  to 
oeconie  a  piey  to  their  greedy  mahce.  But  lierein  he  found  himself  greatly  mistaken  ;  for  no  sooner  was  he 
lemoved  from  his  office,  than  several  of  the  principal  Jews  of  Cesarea  took  a  journey  to  Rome  on  purpose 
to  accuse  him,  and  wcmld  certainly  nave  wrouglit  his  ruin,  had  not  his  brother  Pallas  (who  was  in  very  dls- 
tingruished  favor  with  Nero)  interceded  for  his  pardon. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  563 

seated  on  his  throne,  they  renewed  their  charge,  and  produced  their  articles  against 
Paul,  which  were  much  the  same  as  what  they  had  accused  him  of  before  Felix. 
But  Paul  defended  himself  so  well,  by  making  it  appear  that  he  had  neither  offended 
against  the  Jewish  laws,  nor  against  the  temple,  nor  against  the  emperor,  that  their 
charge,  for  want  of  sufficient  proof,  fell  to  the  ground.  Festus,  however,  being  will- 
ing to  piocure  the  favor  of  the  Jews  at  his  entrance  on  the  government,  asked  Paul 
if  he  would  go  and  be  tried  before  him  at  Jerusalem  ?  But  the  apostle,  well  knowing 
the  malice  of  his  enemies,  and  heing  unwiUing  to  trust  himself  in  their  power,  boldly 
declared,  "  as  he  then  stood  at  the  emperor's  judgment-seat,  when  he  ought  to  have 
a  final  trial,  if  he  had  done  anything  worthy  of  death,  he  did  not  wish  to  avoid  pun- 
ishment; but  that,  as  he  had  not  injured  any  of  the  Jews,  and  they  could  not  prove 
anything  against  him,  he  ought  not  to  be  made  a  victim  to  their  fury  ;  and  therefore, 
as  he  was  a  Roman,  he  appealed  to  the  emperor  himself"*  Festus,  finding  Paul 
resolute  in  maintaining  his  privilege,  conferred  for  some  time  with  his  council,  and 
then,  with  some  seeming  emotion,  told  him  that  since  he  "  had  appealed  unto  Csesar, 
unto  Caesar  he  should  go.''^ 

A  few  days  after  this,  King  Agrippa  (who  succeeded  Herod  in  the  tetrarchate  of 
Galilee),  with  his  sister  Bernice,  went  to  Cesarea,  in  order  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  new 
governor.  Festus  took  this  opportunity  of  mentioning  Paul's  case  to  Agrippa,  with 
the  remarkable  tumult  that  had  been  occasioned  by  him  among  the  Jews,  and  the 
appeal  he  had  made  to  Cassar,  the  whole  of  which  he  related  in  Avords  to  this  effect: 
"  That  Felix,  upon  liis  parting  with  the  government  of  Judea,  had  left  a  certain. pris- 
oner, against  whom  some  of  the  chief  of  the  Jews  had  brought  an  information,  and 
immediately  demanded  judgment,  which,  according  to  the  Roman  law,  could  not  be 
done  without  first  hearing  the  case  and  bringing  the  parties  together.  That  to  this 
purpose  he  had  ordered  his  accusers  to  come  to  Cesarea,  but,  upon  the  result,  found 
that  the  dispute  between  them  was  about  matters  of  religion,  and  whether  a  person 
called  Jesus  was  really  dead  or  alive.  That  being  himself  unacquainted  with  such 
kind  of  controversies,  he  had  referred  the  prisoner  to  the  Jewish  sanhedrim,  but  that 
he,  declining  their  judgment,  had  appealed  to  Caesar:  and  that  therefore  he  kept 
him  still  in  prison,  until  he  could  meet  with  a  convenient  opportunity  to  send  him  to 
Rome." 

This  account  given  of  Paul  by  Festus  greatly  excited  the  curiosity  of  King  Agrippa, 
who  intimated  his  desire  of  hearing  himself  what  Paul  had  to  say  in  his  own  defence. 
Accordingly  the  next  day  the  king  and  his  sister,  accompanied  by  Festus  the  gov- 
ernor, and  several  other  persons  of  distinction,  went  into  the  court  with  a  pompous 
and  splendid  reiinue,  where  the  prisoner  was  brought  before  them.  As  soon  as  Paul 
appeared,  Fesius  infotmed  the  court  "how  greatly  he  had  been  importuned  by  the 
Jews,  both  at  'L'esarea  and  Jerusalem,  to  put  the  prisoner  to  death  as  a  malefactor; 
but  having,  on  examination,  found  him  guilty  of  no  capital  crime,  and  the  prisoner 
himself  having  appealed  unto  Caesar,  he  was. determined  to  send  him  to  Rome.  That 
he  was  willing,  however,  to  have  his  cause  again  discussed  before  so  judicious  a  per- 
son as  Agrippa,  that  he  might,  be  furnished  with  some  material  particulars  to  send 
with  him,  as  it  would  be  highly  absurd  to  send  a  prisoner  without  signifying  the 
crimes  alleged  against  him." 

Festus  havinfj  finished  his  speech.  King  Agrippa  told  Paul  he  was  at  full  liberty  to 
make  his  own  defence;  upon  which,  afier  silence  being  called,  Paul,  chiefly  address- 
ing himself  to  Agrippa,  spoke  to  this  effect:— 

"  I  consider  it  as  a  peculiar  happiness.  King  Agrippa,  that  I  am  to  make  my  de- 
fence against  the  accusations  of  the  Jews,  before  thee,  because  thou  art  well  ac- 
quainted with  their  customs,  and  the  questions  commonly  debated  among  them :  I 
therefore  beseech  thee  to  hear  me  patiently.  All  the  Jews  are  well  acquainter"  with 
my  manner  of  life,  from  my  youth,  the  greatest  part  of  it  having  been  spent  witn 
mine  own  countrymen  at  Jerusalem.  They  also  know  that  I  was  educated  under  the 
institutions  of  the  Pharisees,  the  strictest  sect  of  our  religion,  and  am  now  arraigned 
fur  a  tenet  believed  by  all  their  fathers ;  a  tenet  sufficiently  credible  in  itself,  and 
plainly  revealed  in  the  Scriptures,  I  mean  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.     Why  should 

*  This  manner  of  appealing  was  very  common  among  the  Romans,  and  introduced  to  secure  the  hves  and 
fortunes  of  the  people  from  tlie  unjust  encroachments  and  over-rigorous  severities  of  the  magistrates.  Paul 
well  knew  he  shoxUd  not  have  fair  and  equitable  dealings  from  the  governor,  when  swayed  by  the  Jews,  his 
sworn  and  inveterate  enemies,  and  therefore  appealed  from  him  to  the  emperor ;  nor  could  Festus  deuv  his 
demand 


564  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

any  mortal  think  it  either  incredible  or  impossible,   that   God  should  raise  the 
dead  ? 

"  I  indeed  thought  myself  indispensably  obliged  to  oppose  the  religion  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth.  Nor  was  I  satisfied  with  imprisoning  and  punishing  with  death  itself,  the 
saints  I  found  at  Jerusalem;  I  even  persecuted  them  in  strange  cities,  whither  my 
implacable  zeal  pursued  them,  having  procured  authority  for  that  purpose  from  the 
chief  priests  and  elders. 

"  Accordingly,  I  departed  for  Damascus  with  a  commission  from  the  sanhedrim  ; 
but  as  I  was  travelling  toward  that  city,  I  saw  at  midday,  0  king,  a  light  from 
heaven,  far  exceeding  the  brightness  of  the  sun,  encompassing  me  and  my  com- 
panions. On  seeing  this  awful  appearance,  we  all  fell  to  the  earth ;  and  I  heard  a 
voice,  which  said  to  me,  in  the  Hebrew  language,  Saul,  Saul,  why  persecutest  thou 
me  ?  It  is  hard  for  thee  to  kick  against  the  pricks.  To  which  I  answered,  Who  art 
thou,  Lord  ?  And  Jie  replied,  I  am  Jesus  whom  thou  persecutest.  But  be  not  terri- 
fied, arise  from  the  earth  ;  fori  have  appeared  unto  thee,  that  thou  mightest  be  both 
a  witness  of  the  things  thou  hast  seen,  and  also  of  others  which  I  will  hereafter  re- 
veal unto  thee;  my  power,  delivering  thee  from  the  Jews  and  Gentiles,  to  whom 
now  I  send  thee  to  preach  the  gospel ;  to  withdraw  the  veil  of  darkness  and  ignor- 
ance ;  to  turn  them  from  falsehood  unto  truth,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto 
God. 

"  Accordingly,  King  Agrippa,  I  readily  obeyed  the  heavenly  vision;  I  preached  the 
gospel  first  to  the  inhabitants  of  Damascus,  then  to  those  of  Jerusalem  and  Judea,  and 
afterward  to  the  Gentiles;  persuading  them  to  forsake  their  iniquities,  and,  by  sin- 
cere repentance,  turn  to  the  living  God. 

"  These  endeavors  to  save  the  souls  of  sinful  mortals  exasperated  the  Jews,  who 
caught  me  in  the  temple,  and  entered  into  a  conspiracy  to  destroy  me.  Bui  by  the 
help  of  Omnipotence,  I  still  remain  a  witness  to  all  the  human  race,  preaching  noth- 
ing but  what  Moses  and  all  the  prophets  foretold,  namely,  that  the  Messiah  should 
suffer,  be  the  first  that  should  rise  from  the  chambers  of  the  grave,  and  publish  the 
glad  tidings  of  salvation,  both  to  the  Jews  and  Gentiles." 

This  discourse  Avas  conceived  in  such  a  light  by  Festus,  that  he  thought  Paul  was 
delirious,  and  thei-efore  abruptly  told  him,  that  his  too  much  learning  had  made  him 
mad.  The  reply  Paul  made  to  this  was  to  the  following  purport :  "  I  am  far,  most 
noble  Festus,  from  being  transported  with  idle  and  distracted  ideas ;  the  words  I 
speak  are  dictated  by  Truth  and  sobriety ;  and  I  am  persuaded  that  King  Agrippa 
himself  is  not  ignorant  of  those  things ;  for  they  were  transacted  openly  before  the 
world.  I  am  confident.  King  Agrippa,  that  thou  believest  the  prophets;  and  there- 
fore must  know  that  all  their  predictions  were  fulfilled  in  Christ."  To  this  Agrippa 
answered,  "  Thou  hast  almost  persuaded  me  to  become  a  Christian."  Paul  replied, 
•'I  sincerely  wish,  that  not  only  thou,  but  also  all  that  hear  me,  were  not  almost,  but 
altogether,  the  same  as  myself,  except  being  prisoners."  Upon  this  the  assembly 
broke  up ;  and  when  Agrippa  and  Festus  had  conferred  together  about  Paul's  case, 
they  freely  owned  that  the  accusation  laid  against  him  amounted  neither  to  a  capital 
offence,  nor  anything  deserving  imprisonment;  and  that,  had  he  not  appealed  unto 
Caesar,  he  might  have  been  legally  discharged.* 

It  being  now  finally  determined  thai  Paul  should  be  sent  to  Rome,  he,  and  some 
other  prisoners  of  note,  were  committed  to  the  charge  of  one  Julius,  a  centurion,  or  cap- 
tain of  a  legion  called  Augustus's  band.  Accordingly  they  went  on  board  a  ship  of 
Adramyttiurn,t  and  coasting  along  Asia,  arrived  at  Sidon,  where  Julius  (who  all 
along  treated  Paul  with  great  civility)  gave  him  leave  to  go  ashore  and  refresh  him- 
self From  Sidon  they  set  sail,  and  came  within  sight  of  Cyprus,  and  having  passed 
over  the  seas  of  Cilicia  and  Pamphylia,  landed  at  Myra,  a  port  in  Lycia,  where  the 
ship  finished  its  voyage.  Hence  they  embarked  on  board  a  ship  of  Alexandria  bound 
for  Italy;  and  having  passed  by  Cnidus,|:  with  some  difl[iculty  made  for  Salome, 
a  promontory  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Crete,  whence,  after  many  days  slow  sailing, 

»  It  was  the  custom  of  tlie  Romans  that,  after  a  prisoner  had  appealed  unto  the  emperor,  no  inferior 
\\xAa,r  could  eitlier  condemn  or  acquit  him. 

t  Adraniyttium  was  a  seaport  in  Mysia,  a  province  of  Asia  Minor,  lying  opposite  to  the  isle  of  Lesbos 
amd  not  far  from  Troas. 

X  Cuidus  was  a  city  which  stood  on  a  promontory,  or  foreland  of  the  same  name,  in  that  part  of  the 
province  of  Carta  which  was  more  particularly  called  Doris.  Tliis  city  was  remarkable  ''or  the  worsliip  of 
Venus,  and  for  the  celebrated  statue  of  that  goddess  made  by  the  famous  artificer  Praxiteles. 


fflSTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  565 

As 


thev  arrived  at  a  place  called  the  Fair  Havens,  on  the  const  of  the  same  island.  A 
the  season  of  the  year  was  far  advanced,  and  sailing  in  those  seas  exceedingly  danger 
ous,  Paul  advised  the  centurion  to  put  in  here,  and  winter.  But  Julius,  preferring 
the  judgment  of  .he  master  of  the  ship,  and  the  wind  at  that  time  blowing  genily  a^ 
south,  they  put  again  to  sea,  in  hopes  of  reaching  Phenice,  another  harbor  of  Crete, 
where  there  was  safe  riding,  and  there  to  winter.  It  was  not  long  however,  betor*^ 
thev  found  themselves  disappointed  ;  for  the  calm  southerly  gale  winch  blew  before 
suddenly  cliano-ed  to  a  stormy  and  tempestuous  northeast  wind,  which  bore  down  a  , 
before  it,  so  that  they  were  forced  to  let  the  ship  drive ;  but,  to  secure  it  from  split- 
ting, they  undergirt  it,  and  to  prevent  its  running  aground  on  the  shallows,  threw  out 
a  g^reat  part  of  its  lading  and  tackle.  .         r      .i,  f  <v,„. 

In  this  wretched  and  dangerous  situation  did  they  contmue  for  the  space  ot  iour- 
teen  days,  during  which  thev  saw  neither  sun  nor  stars  so  that  the  whole  company 
(except  Paul)  began  to  give  themselves  up  as  lost  fl^s  bein-  observed  by  the 
apostle,  he  addrelsed  hi.nself  to  them  in  words  to  this  effect:  "Had  you  taken  my 
advice,  and  stayed  at  Crete,  you  would  not  have  been  in  this  danger;  but  take  com- 
fort, for  we  shall  suffer  no  loss  but  that  of  the  ship.  This  I  can  assure  you  has  been 
made  known  to  me  by  a  divine  messenger,  who,  appearing  to  me  in  ihe  mght,  said, 
Fear  not,  Paul,  for  thou  must  be  brought  before  Caesar,  and  God  ha  h  for  thy  sake 
granted  life  and  safety  to  all  them  that  are  with  thee  m  the  ship.  Wheretore  be  ot 
good  cheer,  for  I  am  confident  this  vision  will  be  made  good,  coming  from  bod,  as  it 
certainly  doth.  But  one  passage  more  I  received  in  this  vision,  namely,  that  alter 
shipwreck  we  shall  be  cast  on  a  certain  island."  j  j        j 

On  the  fourteenth  night,  the  sailors,  thinking  they  were  near  land,  sounded,  and 
found  themselves  in  twenty  fathoms  water,  soon  after  which  they  were  convmced 
bv  a  second  sounding,  that  they  were  near  some  coast.  But  apprehending  that 
thev  mi^ht  strike  upon  some  shelves  in  the  dark,  they  thought  proper  to  come  to 
an  anchor,  till  the  morning  might  give  them  better  information.  In  the  meantime 
the  weather  continuing  exceedingly  boisterous,  they  altered  their  intentions,  and  not 
stavino-  for  daylight,  attempted  to  save  themselves  by  getting  into  the  boat.  Un  this 
Paul  told  Julius,  "  that  thouffh  he  had  said  no  person  in  the  ship  should  perish  U 
was  upon  condition  that  they  believed  and  trusted  in  God  for  their  preservation :  that 
therefore  the  seamen  should  continue  in  the  ship  and  do  their  duty,  and  not  endeavor 
to  effect  their  escape  by  the  boat ;  which  if  they  did,  they  would  be  all  in  danger  ot 
their  lives."  Upon  this  the  soldiers,  to  prevent  the  seamen's  design,  cut  the  ropes 
that  fastened  the  boat,  which  was  soon  driven  away  by  the  impetuosity  ot  the  waves. 
A  little  befjre  daybreak  Paul  advised  all  the  people  on  board  the  ship  to  take 
so  refreshment,  because,  during  the  time  of  their  danger,  which  had  been  tourleen 
da  ■  ihey  had  taken  but  very  little  sustenance  ;  and  to  encourage  them  to  do  this, 
he' assured  them  again,  that  "not  a  hair  of  their  heads  should  perish."  Having  said 
this  Paul  "  took  bread,  and  gave  thanks  to  God  in  the  presence  of  them  all ;  and 
when  he  had  broken  it,  he  began  to  eat.  Then  were  they  all  of  good  cheer,  and 
they  also  took  some  meat."  •  .  ,      ,  .  ,  j  *         i 

In  the  morning  they  discovered  land,  and  discerning  a  creek  which  seemed  to  make 
a  kind  of  haven,  they  resolved,  if  possible,  to  put  in  there ;  but  in  their  passage  un- 
expectedlv  fell  into  a  place  where  two  seas  met,  and  where  the  forepart  ot  the  ship 
strikin<r  upon  a  neck  of  land  that  ran  out  into  the  sea,  the  hinder  part  was  soon  beaten 
in  piec'es  by  the  violence  of  the  waves.  When  the  soldiers  saw  what  was  likely  to 
be  their  flite,  they  proposed  putting  all  the  prisoners  to  the  sword,  lest  any  o  them 
should  swim  to  land,  and  make  their  escape;  but  the  centurion,  who  was  wilhug  to 
save  Paul,  not  approvin^r  of  this  design,  gave  orders  that  every  one  should  shilt  tor 
himself;  the  issue  of  which  was,  that  some  by  swimming,  others  fastening  to  planks, 
and  others  on  pieces  of  the  broken  ship  (to  the  number  of  276  persons)  all  got  sate 

°"The  country  on  which  thev  were  cast  was  (as  Paul  had  foretold)  an  island  called 
Melita,*  now  called  Malta,  situated  on  the  Lybian  sea,  between  Syracuse  and  Africa. 

.  It  is  well  known  that  the  ancient  name  of  Malta  wasMelita.  This  island  being;  ^itu'^ted  rnidway  as  it 
weie  between  tlie  continents  of  Europe  and  Africa,  has  been  reckoned  sometimes  as  belonging  o  he  one 
rnd  sometimes  to  the  other.  It  is,  however,  rather  nearer  to  Europe  than  to  Africa,  being  one  hundred  and 
^netv  m'  e^^rom  Cape  Spartivento,  in  Calabria,  the  nearest  point  on  the  continent  of  Euro-pe  ;  and  two 
hundfeS^m  les  from  Cal.pia,  the  nearest  pa.t  of  Africa;  it  is,  l>°^vever  only  sixty  miles  from  Cape  Passaro, 
ul^Sicily.    The  island  is  sixty  miles  in  circu  •nference,  twenty  long,  and  twelve  broad.    Near  it,  on  the  we^t, 

36 


566  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

The  natives  of  the  place  received  them  with  great  civility  and  kindness,  made  fires  to 
dry  their  wet  clothes,  and  entertained  them  with  every  necessary  that  was  requisite 
for  their  distressed  situation. 

As  Paul  was  laying  a  few  sticks  upon  the  fire,  a  viper,  enlivened  by  the  heat,  came 
out  of  the  bundle  of  wood  from  which  he  had  taken  them,  and  fastened  upon  his 
hand.  When  the  natives  saw  this,  they  concluded  that  he  must  certainly  be  some 
notorious  murderer,  who,  though  Providence  had  suffered  to  escape  the  dangers  of  the 
sea,  had  been  reserved  for  a  more  public  and  solemn  execution.  But  when  they  saw 
him  shake  off  the  venomous  creature  into  the  fire,  and  no  harm  ensue,  they  changed 
their  sentiments,  and  cried  out  that  "  he  was  a  god."* 

At  a  small  distance  from  that  part  of  the  island  on  which  Paul  and  his  company 
were  shipwrecked,  lived  Publius  the  governor,  who  received  and  entertained  them 
with  great  civility  and  hospitality  for  three  days.  During  this  time,  Paul,  being  in- 
formed that  the  governor's  father  lay  dangerously  ill  of  a  fever  and  bloody  flux,  in 
acknowledgment  for  the  favors  received  from  Publius,  went  to  his  apartment,  and, 
after  praying  some  time,  laid  his  hands  upon  him  and  healed  him.  The  news  of 
his  miraculous  cure  was  soon  spread  throughout  the  island,  in  consequence  of  which 
such  as  were  afflicced  with  any  disease  were  brought  to  Paul,  who  restored  them  to 
their  former  health  and  strength.  This  increased  Paul's  fame,  and  was  of  consider- 
able advantage  to  his  companions  and  fellow-sufferers,  who  on  his  account  were 
highly  caressed  and  entertained;  and  when  they  left  the  island  they  received  many 
marks  of  esteem  from  the  mhabitants,  who  furnished  them  with  all  necessaries  proper 
for  their  voyage. 

After  staying  three  months  at  Miletus,  they  embarked  on  board  the  Castor  and  Pol- 
is  another  and  smaller  island,  called  Goza,  about  thirty  miles  in  circumference.  Malta  has  no  mountains, 
nor  any  very  high  hills  ;  and  it  therefore  makes  no  very  conspicuous  figure  from  the  sea.  There  are  no 
ports  or  bays  on  the  African  side  of  the  island  :  but  several  very  deep  ones  on  the  coast  facing  Sicily.  The 
most  important  of  these  are  the  (!;alle  della  Melleha,  the  Porto  di  S.  Paolo,  and  the  two  which  are  sepa- 
rated by  the  tongue  of  land  on  which  stands  the  modern  capital,  Citta  Valetta.  The  more  ancient  capital, 
in  which,  as  appears  from  his  intercourse  with  the  governor,  St.  Paul  remained  during  his  stay,  is  situated 
about  the  centre  of  the  island,  upon  a  hill  of  moderate  elevation,  between  which  and  the  bay  of  St.  Paul 
tlie  ground  is  more  low  and  level  than  in  most  other  parts  of  the  island.  The  cathedra]  church  of  St,  Paul, 
upon  the  top  of  the  hill,  is  supposed  by  the  inhabitants,  from  old  traditions,  to  occupy  the  site  on  which  the 
palace  of  Publius,  the  governor,  stood  at  the  time  of  St.  Paul's  visit.  There  are  in  this  city  numerous 
alleged  memorials  of  the  apostle's  sojourn  ;  the  process  of  identifying  the  spots  where  St.  Paul  lodged,  and 
where  he  did  this  and  this,  being  pushed  to  an  extreme,  is  calculated  to  annoy  even  those  who  are  disposed 
to  acquiesce  in  the  conclusion  that  the  town  was  really  visited  by  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles. 

Malta  is  naturally  a  barren  rock  ;  but  where  some  soil  has  been  found,  or  has  been  artificially  laid,  the  pro 
ductive  power  is  very  great,  and  the  produce  of  a  very  superior  description.  The  island  does  not,  however, 
produce  nearly  sufficient  corn  for  the  sustenance  of  its  inhabitants,  who  are  obliged  to  import  from  abroad 
the  greater  part  of  that  which  they  consume.  But  this  is  partly  owing  to  the  extreme  populousness  of  the 
island,  which,  in  proportion  to  its  e.xtent,  contains  more  inhabitants  than  any  other  country  of  Europe. 

The  island  was  originally  colonized  by  the  Phcenicians,  from  whom  it  was  taken,  about  730  years  B.  C, 
by  the  Greek  colonists  in  Sicily,  to  whom  the  island  owed  the  name  of  Melita,  perhaps  on  account  of  the 
excellent  honey  for  which  it  has  been  at  all  times  noted.  An  island  of  so  much  importance  as  a  maritime  and 
commercial  station,  was  not  overlooked  by  the  Carthaginians,  who,  about  528  B.  C,  began  to  dispute  its 
possession  with  the  Greeks,  and  after  for  a  time  dividing  it  with  them,  made  themselves  entire  masters  of 
it.  The  inhabitants  of  Greek  descent,  however,  remained,  and  the  Punic,  or  Plupnician,  aiicl  the  Greek 
languages  were  equally  spoken.  Malta  flourished  greatly  under  the  dominion  of  Carthage  ;  but  ultimately 
partook  of  the  disasters  which  befell  that  power.  In  the  first  Punic  war  it  was  ravaged  and  seized  by  the 
Romans,  who  however  lost  it  again,  and  only  became  masters  of  it  under  the  treaty  which  placed  in  their 
hands  (B.  C.  242)  all  the  islands  between  Italy  and  Africa.  The  Romans  treated  the  inliabitants  well. 
They  made  Melita  a  municipium,  allowing  the  people  to  be  governed  by  their  own  laws.  The  government 
was  adn.inistered  by  a  pro-pra;tor,  who  depended  on  the  pra3tor  of  Sicily,  and  this  office  appears  to  have 
been  held  by  Publius  at  the  time  of  the  shipwreck.  When  the  Roman  empire  was  divided,  Malta  fell  to  the 
lot  of  Constantine.  Aljout  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  it  was  seized  by  the  Vandals,  and  ten  years  after 
by  the  Gotlis,  who  had  obtamed  possession  of  Sicily.  But  about  a  century  later  (A.  D.  553)  the  island  was 
united  to  the  lowei  empire  by  Belisarius.  when  sent  to  wrest  Africa  from  the  Vandals.  The  inhabitants 
were  not  allowed  to  enjoy  the  same  privileges  they  had  possessed  under  the  Roman  emperor,  nor  was  the 
Greek  government  popular  ;  hence  the  inhabitants  wiUingly  received  the  Arabs,  who  about  the  end  of  the 
ninth  century,  took  the  island  from  the  Greeks,  and  established  in  it  a  government  dependant  on  the  emir 
of  Sicily  The  Arabs  must  have  become  largely  mixed  with  the  popxilation  to  impress  upon  it,  to  the  ex- 
tent they  did,  their  own  language  and  customs.  The  present  inhabitants  have  an  Arabian  aspect,  and  their 
language  is  an  Arabian  dialect,  easily  understood  by  the  native  Arabians,  and  by  the  Moors  of  Africa.  Malta 
was  taken  from  the  Arabs  by  the  Normans,  in  the  year  1090.  Its  subsequent  changes  of  masters  need  not 
here  be  stated,  till  1530,  when  the  emperor  Charles  V.,  who  had  annexed  it  to  his  empire,  transferred  it  to  the 
knights  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  whom  the  Turks  had  recently  dispossessed  of  Rliodes.  The  glory  which 
Malta  acquired  in  I5ti3,  by  the  defeat  of  thirty  thousand  invading  Turks— the  continued  distinction  whicli  it 
enjoyed,  as  a  sovereign  state,  under  the  knights — the  attention  which  it  engaged,  at  the  commencement  of 
this  century,  from  its  surrender  to  Bonaparte  on  his  way  to  Egypt — from  its  recovery  by  the  English— and 
from  its  being  the  alleged  ground  of  the  memorable  war  which  terminated  at  Waterloo  :  all  these  are  cir. 
curnstances,  in  the  history  of  this  celebrated  island,  too  notorious  to  require  more  than  this  brief  indication- 

'  Hercules  was  one  of  the  gods  whom  the  people  of  this  island  worshipped  ;  and  to  him  they  escribed 
me  power  of  cuimg  the  bite  of  serpents. 


# 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


567 


..«,iJS!:ilsi;;; 


568  A  NEW  AND   COMPLETE 

lux,  a  ship  of  Alexandria  bound  for  Ital}'.  On  tlieir  arrival  ai  Syracuse,*  they  casi 
anchor,  and  went  on  shore  to  refrcsli  themselves.  Here  they  stopped  three  days, 
when  they  again  embarked  and  sailed  for  Rhegiura,!  and  thence  to  Puteoli,|  where 
they  landed.  Finding  in  liiis  jjlace  some  Chrisiians,  at  theii  earnest  soliciiation  they 
continued  with  them  a  week,  and  then  set  forward  on  their  journey  to  Rome. 

When  the  Christians  of  Rome||  heard  that  Paul  was  on  his  jcmrney  to  that  city, 
great  numbers  of  them  wont  to  meet  him,  some  as  far  as  Apiiforum,  and  others  as 
far  as  a  place  called  the  Three  Taverns.  As  soon  as  Paul  saw  them  he  was  greatly 
rejoiced,  and  thanked  God  and  took  courage.  They  all  conducted  him  in  a  kind  of 
triumph  to  the  city,  on  their  arrival  at  Avhich  Julius  delivered  the  rest  of  his  prison- 
ers over  to  tlie  captain  of  the  guard ;  but  Paul  was  permitted  to  take  up  his  residence 
in  a  private  house,  with  only  one  soldier  to  guard  him. 

After  Paul  had  been  at  Rome  three  days,  he  sent  for  the  heads  or  rulers  of  the 
Jews  in  that  city,  vvho  being  assembled,  he  addressed  himself  to  them  in  wnHs  to 
this  effect:  "Men  and  brethren,  though  I  have  done  nothing  contrary  to  the  avvs 
and  customs  of  the  Jews,  yet  was  1  by  them  appreiiended  and  accused  before  ihe 
Roman  governor,  who,  when  he  had  examined  me  and  found  no  capital  accusation 
laid  by  my  enemies,  would  have  discharged  me.  But  the  Jews  opposing  it,  [  was 
forced  to  appeal  to  Cajsar  to  get  out  of  their  hands,  not  that  I  bad  any  complaint  to 
make  to  him  against  my  countrymen.  And  this  is  the  cause  of  my  desiring  to  speak 
with  you;  for  I  am  imprisoned,  as  you  see,  for  teaching  tiie  belief  and  expectation 
of  a  future  resurrection,  which  is  the  result  of  all  the  promises  of  God  to  the  Jews, 
and  that  on  which  every  true  Israelite  depends."  The  answer  the  rulers  made  to 
this  was  to  the  following  purport :  "  We  have  no  letters  from  Judea  that  mention 

*  This  was  a  city  of  Sicily,  seated  on  ttie  east  side  of  tlie  island,  witli  a  fine  prospect  from  every  entrance, 
both  by  sea  and  land.  Its  port,  which  had  the  sea  on  both  sides  of  it,  was  almost  all  of  it  environed  with 
beautiful  building's,  and  all  that  part  of  it  which  was  without  the  city,  was  on  both  sides  banked  up,  and 
sustained  with  very  fair  walls  of  marble.  The  city  itself,  while  in  its  splendor,  was  the  largest  and  richest 
Diat  the  Greeks  possessed  in  any  part  of  the  world ;  for,  according  to  Strabo,  it  was  twenty-two  miles  in 
circumference  ;  and  both  Livy  and  Plutarch  inform  us,  that  the  spoil  of  it  was  ecjual  to  that  of  ("arthage.  It 
vvas  called  quadruplex,  as  being  divided  into  four  parts,  Acradino,  Tyclie,  Neapolis,  and  the  island  of  Ortygia. 
The  lirst  of  these  contained  in  it  the  famous  temple  of  Jupiter ;  the  second,  the  temple  of  Fortune  ;  tlie 
third,  a  large  amphitheatre,  and  a  wonderful  statue  of  Apollo,  in  the  midst  of  a  spacious  square  ;  and  the 
fourth,  the  two  temples  of  Diana  and  Minerva,  and  the  renowned  fountain  of  Arethusa.  About  two  hundred 
and  ten  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ,  this  city  was  taken  and  sacked  by  Marcellus,  the  Roman  general, 
and,  in  storming  the  place,  Archimedes,  the  great  mathematician,  who  is  esteemed  the  first  inventor  of  the 
sphere,  and  who,  durinu'  the  siege,  had  sorely  galled  the  Romans  with  his  military  engines,  was  slain  by  a 
common  soldier,  while  he  was  intent  upon  his  studies.  After  it  was  thus  destroyed  by  Marcellus,  Augustus 
rebuilt  that  part  of  it  which  stood  upon  the  island,  and,  in  time,  it  so  far  recovered  itself,  as  to  have  three 
walls,  tliree  castles,  and  a  marble  gate,  atid  to  be  able  to  send  out  twelve  thousand  horse,  and  four  hundred 
ships.  But  It  vvas  totally  destroyed  by  the  Saracens,  in  b84,  and  scarcely  any  vestiges  of  it  are  now  to  be 
seen. 

t  Rhegium,  now  called  Reggio,  was  a  port-town  in  Italy,  opposite  to  Messina  in  the  island  of  Sicily  ;  it  is 
thouirht  to  have  this  name  given  it  by  the  Greeks,  who  suppose  that  about  this  place  Sicily  was  broken  off 
from  I  he  continent  of  Italy  by  the  sea. 

i  luteoli  wa.s  a  noted  town  for  trade,  which  lay  not  far  from  Naples  ;  it  was  famous  for  its  hot  baths  ; 
and  frorri  these  baths,  or  pits  of  water,  called  in  Latin  putei,  the  town  is  said  to  have  taken  its  name. 

II  A  city  of  Italy,  the  most  celebrated  upon  eartli,  and  for  several  centuries  the  mistress  of  the  world :  it 
had  been  a  station  of  the  Etrurians,  but  it  was  founded  by  Rornulus,  at  the  head  of  a  banditti,  in  the  reign  of 
King  Ilezekiah,  about  A.  M.  3251,  and  13.  C.  1i:>3.  It  gradually  increased  until  it  e.xlended  over  seven  hills, 
and  uUimately  to  cover  thirteen  ;  and  at  the  advent  of  Christ,  its  inhabitants  were  supposed  to  amount  to 
aijout  two  millions.  Christianity  triumphed  at  Rome  in  the  apostolic  age,  wlien  a  flourishing  church  was 
formed  in  that  city,  whose  pastor  was  regarded  with  great  respect  by  other  churches,  on  account  of  the  im- 
portance of  his  station,  the  metropolis  of  the  world,  and  so  near  to  the  palace  of  the  Cicsars.  And  such  was 
the  enmity  of  the  idolatrous  priests  against  the  gospel,  that  many  of  the  early  pastors  of  the  Christian 
church  at  Rome  suffered  martyrdom  for  the  faith  of  Christ.  Constaiiline,  the  emperor,  about  A.  D.  313,  pro- 
fessed his  belief  in  Christianity,  and  afterward  showed  his  zeal  by  building  many  churches,  granting  large 
honors  to  their  ministers,  especially  dignifying  llie  senior  pastor  at  Rome.  Multitudes  now  embraced  the 
religion  of  the  emperor ;  and  ungodly  men,  for  the  sake  of  emolument,  aspired  to  be  its  ministers :  cere- 
monies were  multiplied,  to  be  performed  by  prayerless  ministers,  who  thus  daily  corrupted  Us  doctrines. 
Constantine  removing  the  seat  of  his  government  to  his  new  city  Constantinople,  a  path  was  opened  fo) 
the  ambition  of  the  Roman  bishop,  who,  by  progressive  steps,  advanced  to  the  predicted  elevation,  on  which 
ho  claimed  to  be  the  head  of  a  hierarchy,  as  pope,  or  father  of  the  church  on  earth,  and  vicar  of  Christ— but 
in  the  expressive  language  of  apostolic  prophecy,  the  "  man  of  sin,"  the  "  mystery  of  iniquity,"  and  "  a 
beast."  (i  Thess.  ii.  3-8 ;  Rev.  xiii.  1-18.)  Rome  has  greatly  declined  from  its  former  glory,  having  now 
only  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  inliabitants  ;  but  it  abounds  with  vast  monuments  of  its  former 
grandeur.  St.  I'eter's  cathedral,  far  larger  than  St.  Paul's  cathedral,  London,  is  believed  to  be  the  niost 
magnificent  place  of  worship  in  the  world  ;  and  the  Vatican,  or  winter-palace  of  the  pope,  is  reckoned  to 
contain  twelve  thousanil  live  hundred  chambers,  halls,  and  closets.  Roman  catholics  regard  the  pope,  or 
bishop  of  Rome,  as  the  visible  head  of  the  whole  Christian  church,  and  his  decisions  in  religion  as  infallible  : 
hut  every  succeeding  pope  has  been  un  enemy  to  the  ciiculaUon  of  the  Hible.  Scarcely  anything  of  pure 
scriptural  Christianity  can  bo  discovered  among  the  mass  of  superstitions  observed  in  public  worship  at 
Rome  ;  and,  as  the  consequence,  the  morals  of  tlie  people  are  the  grossest  opprobrium  to  the  name  of 
Christ 


HISTOEY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


569 


570  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

thee,  neither  have  the  converted  Jews  made  any  complaint  agamst  thee.  But  we 
desire  to  hear  thy  opinion  more  at  large;  for  as  concerning  this  profession  and  doc- 
trine of  Christianity,  we  know  it  is  generally  opposed  by  our  brethren  the  Jews." 

Paul  readily  complied  with  this  request,  and  a  day  being  appointed,  not  only  the 
ruler?i,  but  many  others  of  the  Jews  assembled  at  his  house,  to  whom  he  preached 
from  morning  till  night,  explaining  the  doctrine  of  the  gospel,  and  proving,  from  the 
promises  and  predictions  of  the  Old  Testament,  that  Jesus  was  the  true  Messiah. 
But  his  discourse  was  attended  with  different  success,  some  of  his  hearers  being  con- 
vinced of  the  truth  of  what  he  asserted,  while  others  persisted  in  their  infixielily.  In 
consequence  of  this,  warm  disputes  took  place  between  them;  upon  which,  as  they 
were  about  to  depart,  Paul,  addressing  himself  to  those  who  opposed  his  doctrine, 
told  them  that  their  unbelief  was  a  strict  fulfilment  of  what  had  been  predicted  by 
the  prophet  Isaiah:  "  Well,"  said  he,  "spake  the  Holy  Ghost  by  Isaiah  the  prophet 
unto  our  fathers,  saying,  Go  unto  this  people,  and  say.  Hearing  ye  shall  hear,  and 
shall  not  understand  ;  and  seeing  ye  shall  see,  and  not  perceive.  For  the  heart  of  this 
people  is  waxed  gross,  and  their  ears  are  dull  of  hearing,  and  their  eyes  have  they 
closed;  lest  they  should  see  with  their  eyes,  and  hear  with  their  ears,  and  understand 
with  their  hearts,  and  should  be  converted,  and  I  should  heal  them.  Be  it  known, 
therefore,  unto  you,  that  the  salvation  of  God  is  sent  unto  the  Gentiles,  and  that  they 
will  hear  it."  After  Paul  had  said  this,  the  whole  company  departed,  disagreeing 
among  themselves  on  the  subject  which  had  been  propounded  to  them. 

Paul  continued  to  reside  in  the  house  he  had  hired  for  the  space  of  two  years, 
during  which  he  employed  himself  in  expounding  the  doctrine  of  the  gospel  to  all 
who  came  to  him.  He  preached  daily  without  the  least  molestation,  and  with  such 
success  that  many  people  of  distinction,  some  of  whom  were  of  the  emperor's  court, 
were  converted,  and  became  his  constant  disciples. 

Among  others  of  the  apostle's  converts  at  Rome  was  one  Onesimus,  who  some 
time  before  had  been  servant  to  Philemon,  a  person  of  distinction  at  Colossse.*  Onesi- 
mus, having  committed  some  indiscretion,  left  his  master,  and  rambled  as  far  as 
Rome,  where,  hearing  Paul  preach,  he  conceived  such  an  idea  of  the  truth  of  his 
doctrine  that  he  became  a  most  serious  convert.  Paul,  however,  understanding  that 
he  was  another  man's  servant,  advised  him  to  return  to  his  master,  which  he  readily 
agreeing  to,  Paul  sent  an  epistle  by  him  to  Philemon,  in  which  he  "  earnestly  requests 
that  he  will  pardon  him,  and,  notwithstanding  his  former  faults,  treat  him  as  a  brother; 
promising  withal,  that  if  he  had  wronged  or  owed  him  anything,  he  himself  would 
not  fail  to  repay  it."  This  epistle  may  be  considered  as  a  masterpiece  of  eloquence 
in  the  persuasive  way;  for  the  apostle  has  therein  had  recourse  to  all  the  considera- 
tions which  friendship,  religion,  piety,  and  tenderness,  can  inspire,  to  reconcile  an 
incensed  master  to  an  indiscreet  servant. 

The  Christians  of  Philippi  having  heard  of  Paul's  imprisonment  at  Rome,  and  not 
knowing  to  what  distress  he  might  be  reduced,  raised  a  contribution  for  him,  and  sent 
it  by  Epaphroditus  their  bishop.  This  gave  great  satisfaction  to  Paul,  not  so  much  on 
account  of  the  money  they  had  sent,  but  from  its  being  a  proof  that  they  still  retained 
Christian  principles.  To  encourage  theuj,  therefore,  to  persevere  in  the  faith  of 
Christ,  and  to  withstand  all  opposition  that  might  be  made  against  them  by  the  ene- 
mies of  the  gospel,  he  returned  them  an  epistle,  "  wherein  he  gives  some  account  of 
the  state  of  his  affairs  at  Rome;  gratefully  acknoAvledges  their  kindness  to  him  ;  and 
warns  them  against  the  dangerous  opinions  which  the  Judaising  teachers  might  vent 
against  them.     He  likewise  advises  them  to  live  in  continual  obedience  to  Christ ;  to 

♦  Coloss<-Dwas  situated  in  the  southern  part  of  Phrygia.  Though  a  town  of  considerable  note,  it  was  by 
no  means  the  principal  one  of  Plirygia  ;  for  when  that  great  province  was  ultimately  divided  into  Phrygia 
Pacaliana  and  Phrygia  Salutaris,  it  ranked  hut  as  the  sixth  city  of  the  former  division.  The  town  was 
seated  on  an  eminence  to  the  south  of  the  Meander,  at  a  place  where  tlie  river  Lycus  began  to  run  undej 
ground,  as  it  did  for  five  furlongs,  after  wliich  it  again  rose  and  flowed  into  the  Meander.  This  valuable  in- 
dication of  the  site  of  Colossae,  furnished  by  Herodotus  (lib.  vii.  cap.  30)  establishes  the  truth  of  the  received 
conclusion,  that  the  ancient  city  is  represented  by  the  modern  village  of  Khonas.  This  village  is  described 
by  Mr.  Arundell  as  being  situated  most  picturesciuely  under  tlie  immense  range  of  Mount  Cadmus,  which 
rises  to  a  very  lofty  and  perpendicular  height  behind  the  village,  in  some  parts  clothed  with  pines,  in  others 
oare  of  soil,  with  vast  chasms  and  caverns.  The  immense  perpendicular  chasm,  seen  in  the  view,  affords 
antoullet  to  a  wide  mountain-torrent,  the  bed  of  wliich  is  dry  in  summer.  Tlie  approach  to  Khonas,  as  well 
as  the  village  itself,  is  beautiful,  abounding  in  tall  trees,  from  whicli  vines  of  most  luxuriant  growth  are 
suspended.  In  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  village  are  several  vestiges  of  an  ancient  city,  consisting  • 
of  arches,  vaults,  squiired  stones,  while  tlie  ground  is  strewed  with  broken  pottery,  which  so  generally  and 
so  remarkably  indicates  the  sites  of  ancient  towns  in  the  east.  That  these  ruins  are  all  that  now  remain  o( 
ColossK,  there  seems  no  just  reeison  to  doubt 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  571 

avoid  disputations  delight  in  prayer,  be  courageous  under  affliction,  united  in  lOve 
and  clothed  in  humility,  in  imitation  of  the  blessed  Jesus,  who  so  far  humbled  him- 
self as  to  '  become  obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the  toss.'  " 

Paul  had  lived  three  years  at  Ephesus,  preachmg  the  gospel  to  the  numerous  m 
habitants  of  that  city,  and  was  therefore  well  acquainted  with  the  state  and  condition 
of  the  place;  so  that  taking  the  opportunity  of  Tychicus's  going  thither  from  Rome, 
he  wrote  his  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  wherein  "  he  endeavors  to  countermine  the 
principles  and  practices  both  of  the  Jews  and  Gentiles ;  to  confirm  them  in  the  be- 
lief and  practices  of  the  Christian  doctrine;  and  to  instruct  them  fully  in  the  great 
mysteries  of  the  gospel ;  their  redemption  and  justification  by  the  death  of  Christ 
their  gratuitous  elecfion  ;  their  union  with  the  Jews  in  one  body,  of  which  Christ  is 
the  head,  and  the  glorious  exaltation  of  that  head  above  all  with  creatures  both 
spiritual  and  temporal ;  together  with  many  excellent  precepts,  both  as  to  the  general 
duties  of  relis^ion  and  the  duties  of  their  particular  relations." 

Paul  himself  had  never  been  at  Colossse  ;  but  one  Epaphras,  who  was  at  that  time  a 
prisoner  with  him  at  Rome,  had  preached  the  gospel  there  with  good  success;  and 
from  him  he  learned  that  certain  false  teachers  had  endeavored  to  corrupt  the  minds 
of  the  Christians  in  that  city.  In  opposition  to  this,  and  to  secure  the  converts  in 
their  faith,  he  wrote  his  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  wherein  he  beautifully  sets  forth 
the  Messiah,  and  all  the  benefits  that  will  be  bestowed  on  such  as  believe  in  him,  as 
being  the  image  of  his  Father,  the  Redeemer  of  all  mankind,  the  reconciler  of  all 
things  to  God,  and  the  Head  of  the  Church,  which  gives  life  and  vigor  to  all  its  mem- 
bers. He  commends  the  doctrine  preached  to  them  by  Epaphras,  and  exhorts  them 
not  to  be  led  away  by  the  reasonings  of  human  philosophy;  and  concludes  with 
giving  them  a  list  of  many  chief  and  principal  duties  of  a  Christian  life,  especially 
such  as  respect  the  relations  of  husbands  and  wives,  parents  and  children,  masters  and 
servants. 

During  the  time  Paul  was  thus  laudably  employed  at  Rome,  James  the  apostle, 
and  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  was  dedicating  his  time,  as  much  as  in  him  lay,  to  the 
propagation  of  the  gospel  within  his  provinces.  Considering  within  himself  that  it 
belonged  to  him  to  take  care  of  all  the  converted  among  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel, 
wherever  dispersed,  he  wrote  an  epistle  to  them,  the  design  of  which  was,  "  to  con- 
fute and  suppress  a  dangerous  error  then  growing  up  in  the  church,  viz.,  that  a  bare 
'  naked  failh'  was  sufficient  to  secure  men's  salvation,  without  any  attention  to  good 
works ;  to  comfort  Christians  under  the  persecutions  which  were  going  to  be  raised 
against  them  by  worldly  powers;  and  to  awaken  them  out  of  their  stupidity  when 
judgments  were  ready  to  overtake  them."  To  this  purpose  he  inserts  in  his  epistle 
many  excellent  exhortations,  such  as,  to  bear  afllictions,  to  hear  the  word  of  God,  to 
mortify  their  passions,  to  bridle  their  tongues,  to  avoid  cursing  and  swearing,  and  to 
adorn  their  Christian  profession  with  a  good  conversation,  with  meekness,  peaceable- 
ness,  and  charity." 

It  was  not  long  after  James  had  written  this  epistle,  before  a  period  was  put  to 
all  his  labors.  The  governing  part  of  the  Jews,  being  highly  enraged  at  the  disap- 
pointment they  had  met  with  in  Paul's  appealing  to  Caesar,  were  now  resolved  to  re- 
venge it  upon  James;  accordingly,  taking  the  opportunity  of  the  death  of  Festus 
(before  the  arrival  of  Albinus  his  successor)  Ananias  the  high-priest  summoned  James, 
and  some  others,  before  the  sanhedrim,  who  required  them  to  renounce  their  Chris- 
tian failh.  Their  desire  more  especially  was,  that  James  should  make  his  renuncia- 
tion in  the  most  public  manner,  and  therefore  they  carried  him  up  to  the  battlements 
of  the  temple,  and  threatened  to  throw  him  down  thence  in  case  he  refused  comply- 
ing with  their  request.  But  James,  instead  of  gratifying  their  desires,  began  himself 
to  confess,  and  to  exhort  others  to  confess,  the  faith  of  Christ,  in  the  presence  of  those 
who  came  to  hear  his  recantation;  upon  which  the  members  of  the  sanhedrim  were 
so  incensed  thai  they  ordered  him  to  be  thrown  down  headlong  from  the  place  where 
he  stood.  By  this  fall  he  was  greatly  bruised,  but  not  quite  killed;  and  therefore 
having  recovered  himself  so  far  as  to  be  able  to  rise  on  his  knees,  he  prayed  fervently 
to  Heaven  for  his  persecutors,  in  the  manner  of  the  protomartyr  Stephen.  But  malice 
is  too  diabolical  to  be  pacified  with  kindness,  or  satisfied  with  cruelty.  Accordingly, 
his  enemies,  vexed  that  they  had  not  fully  accomplished  their  work,  poured  a  shower 
of  stones  upon  him  while  he  was  imploring  their  forgiveness  at  the  throne  of  grace. 


?72  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

and  one  of  them,  more  cruel  and  inveterate  than  the  rest,  put  an  end  to  his  misery, 
by  dashing  out  his  brains  with  a  fuller's  club.* 

Thus  did  this  great  and  good  man  finish  his  course  in  the  96th  year  of  his  age, 
and  about  twenty-four  years  after  our  blessed  Saviour's  ascension  into  heaven.  His 
remains  were  deposited  in  a  tomb  which  he  had  caused  to  be  made  on  the  Mount  of 
Olives;  and  his  brother  Simon  was,  by  the  general  voice  of  the  Christians,  appointed 
his  successor  in  the  bishopric  of  Jerusalem. 

The  apostle  James  was  a  man  of  exemplary  piety  and  devotion.  Prayer  was  his 
daily  business  and  delight :  so  constant  was  he  at  his  devotions  that  his  knees  became 
hard  and  callous;  and  so  prevalent  in  his  petitions  to  Heaven,  that,  in  a  time  of  great 
drought,  he  prayed  for  rain  and  obtained  it.  Nor  was  his  charity  to  his  fellow-crea- 
tures less  than  his  piety  toward  God;  he  did  good  to  all,  watched  over  the  souls  of 
men,  and  made  their  eternal  welfare  his  constant  study.  He  was  of  a  remarkably 
meek  and  humble  temper,  honoring  Avhat  was  excellent  in  others,  but  concealing 
what  was  valuable  in  himself  The  dignity  of  the  place  he  so  worthily  filled,  could 
not  induce  him  to  entertain  lofty  thoughts  of  himself  above  his  brethren :  on  the  con- 
trary, he  strove  to  conceal  whatever  might  place  him  in  a  higher  rank  than  the  other 
disciples  of  the  Lord  of  Glory.  He  was  the  delight  of  all  good  men,  and  so  much  in 
the  favor  and  estimation  of  the  people,  that  they  used  to  flock  after  him,  and  strive 
who  should  touch  even  but  the  hem  of  his  garment.  In  short,  he  was  a  man  of  so 
amiable  a  temper,  as  to  be  the  wonder  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived;  and  from  the 
reputation  of  his  holy  and  religious  life,  was  styled  James  the  Just. 


CHAPTER   XL 

After  Paul  had  continued  at  Rome  upward  of  two  years  in  a  state  of  confinement, 
he  obtained  his  liberty,  but  by  what  means  we  have  not  any  account  in  history.f  It 
may  be  presumed,  that  the  Jews  not  having  sufficient  proof  of  the  accusation  they 
had  laid  against  him,  or  being  informed  that  what  they  alleged  was  no  violation  of 
any  Roman  law,  they  durst  not  implead  him  before  the  emperor;  and  therefore,  of 
course,  he  was  permitted  to  go  at  large. 

Paul,  having  obtained  his  liberty,  left  Rome,  and  travelled  into  various  parts  of 
Italy,  preaching  the  gospel  with  different  success.  In  some  places  he  made  many 
<',onverts,  but  in  others  he  met  with  great  opposition.     Before  he  left  Italy,  he  wrote 

*  The  perpetrators  of  this  barbarous  act  were  considered  in  the  most  detestable  light  by  the  sober  and 
just  persons  among  the  Jews  themselves.  Even  their  own  historian  Josephus  could  not  but  condemn  it, 
arid,;is  himself  testifies,  all  the  honest  and  conscientious  people  of  the  city  remonstrated  against  it,  both  to 
their  king  Agrippa,  and  to  the  Roman  governor  Albiims  ;  insomuch  that  tiie  high-priest  by  whose  authority 
it  was  committed  was,  in  a  few  months  after,  degraded,  and  another  placed  in  Ins  stead. 

t  During  St.  Paul's  first  imprisonment  he  was  allowed  to  remain  "in  his  own  hired  house,  with  a  soldiei 
that  kept  liim."  How  he  was  circumstanced  in  his  second  imprisonment,  during  which  this  epistle  appears 
to  have  been  written,  we  have  no  means  of  knowing  with  certainty  ;  but  the  probability  seems  to  be  that 
his  treatment  was  then  much  less  favorable  than  in  the  first  instance  it  had  been.  The  old  ecclesiastical 
tradi'ions  stale  that,  just  before  the  end  of  their  lives,  the  apostles  Peter  and  Paul  were  together  confined 
in  the  Mamertinc  prison  at  Rome.  Of  this  joint  imprisonment  we  shall  say  nothing,  nor  of  that  of  St.  Peter 
in  particular.  But  since  it  seems  that  St.  Paul  w  as  kept  as  a  prisoner  at  Rome,  and  since  it  is  probable  that 
his  treatment  was  not  very  favorable,  we  are  inclined  to  consider  it  probable  that  he  was  kept  in  a  prison  ; 
and,  if  so,  we  are  induced  to  think  the  Mamertinc  prison  the  more  likely  to  have  been  the  place  of  his  con- 
finement, from  finding  it  frequently  mentioned  in  the  old  martyrologies  as  the  place  in  which  many  of  the 
early  martyrs  were  imprisoned. 

The  Mamertino  prisons  date  from  the  earli.sc  times  of  Rome  ;  being  constructed,  according  to  Livy,  by 
Ancus  Martius,  and  enlarged  by  Servius  Tullius.  The  lower  prison,  however,  assigned  to  the  latter  king, 
is  supposed  by  some  to  have  been  a  quarry,  and  by  others,  one  of  those  subterranean  granaries  which  were 
used  in  very  ancient  times.  Be  this  as  it  may,  these  prisons,  which  still  exist,  offer  a  striking  instance  o. 
^he  durability  of  Roman  works.  They  occur  on  the  descent  of  the  Capitoline  mount  toward  the  Forum  ; 
and  near  the  entrance  were  the  Scal<e  Gemoni.-c,  l)y  which  the  culprits  were  dragged  to  the  prison,  or  out 
of  it  to  execution.  They  consist  of  two  apartments,  one  above  the  other,  built  with  large  uncemented 
dtones.  There  is  no  entrance,  except  by  a  small  aperture  in  the  upper  roof,  and  by  a  similar  liole  in  the 
upper  floor,  leading  to  the  cell  below,  without  any  staircase  to  either.  The  upper  prison  is  twenty-seven 
feet  long  by  twenty  wide  ;  and  the  lower  one,  which  is  elliptical,  measures  twenty  feet  by  ten.  The  heiglit 
of  the  former  is  fourteen  feet,  and  of  the  latter  eleven.  In  the  lower  dungeon  is  a  small  spring,  which  is 
said  at  Rome  to  have  arisen  at  the  command  of  St.  Peter,  to  enable  him  to  baptize  his  keepers,  Processus 
and  Martinianus,  with  forty-seven  companions,  whom  he  had  converted.  They  also  show  the  pillar  to 
which  it  is  alleged  that  this  apostle  was  bound.  The  prison  itself,  with  a  small  chapel  in  front,  is  now 
dedicated  to  him  i  and  over  it  is  the  church  of  S.  Giuseppe  de'  Falegnami,  built  in  1S39.  Dr.  Burton  says 
tHat  a  more  horrible  place  for  the  connnement  of  a  human  being  can  scarcely  be  conceived  ;  and  Sallust,  in 
a  passage  adduced  by  him,  says  that,  from  uncleanncss,  darkness,  and  foul  smells,  its  appearance  wa,s  dis- 
gusting and  terrific.    See  Burton's  Description  of  the  Antiquities  of  Rome,  1821. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


573 


574  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

his  famous  and  most  elaborate  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  that  is,  to  .he  converted  Jews 
who  dwell  in  Jerusalem  and  its  neighborhood.  His  main  design  in  this  epistle  is,  "  to 
magnify  Christ  and  the  religion  of  the  gospel  above  Moses  and  the  Jewish  economy, 
that,  by  this  means,  he  may  the  better  establish  the  converted  Jews  in  the  belief  and 
profession  of  Christianity.  To  this  purpose  he  represents  our  Saviour,  in  his  divine  na- 
ture, far  superior  to  all  angels,  and  all  created  beings  ;  and  m  his  mediatorial  capacity, 
a  greater  lawgiver  than  Moses,  a  greater  priest  than  Aaron,  and  a  greater  king  and 
p  iest  than  Melchizedec.  He  informs  them,  that  the  ceremonies,  the  sacrifices,  and 
the  observances  of  the  law,  could  have  no  virtue  in  themselves,  but  only  as  they 
wtre  types  of  Jesus  Christ;  and  being  now  accomplished  in  his  person,  and  by  his 
ministry,  were  finally  and  totally  abolished.  He  insists  upon  the  necessity  of  faith, 
and,  by  the  examples  of  the  patriarchs  and  prophets,  proves  that  justification  is  to  be 
had  no  other  way,  than  by  the  merits  of  a  dying  Saviour.  And  lastly,  he  lays  before 
them  many  excellent  precepts  for  the  regulation  of  their  lives;  exhortations  to  trust 
and  confidence  in  Christ,  in  all  their  sufferings;  and  strict  cautions  against  apostacy 
from  his  religion,  even  in  the  hottest  persecutions." 

A  short  time  after  Paul  had  written  this  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  he  left  Italy,  and, 
accompanied  by  Timothy,  prosecuted  his  long-intended  journey  into  Spain ;  and,  ac- 
cording to  the  testimony  of  several  writers,  crossed  the  sea,  and  preached  the  gospel 
in  Britain.*  What  success  he  had  in  these  western  parts  is  not  known ;  however, 
after  going  from  one  place  to  another  for  the  space  of  eight  or  nine  months,  he  re- 
turned again  eastward,  visited  Sicily,  Greece,  and  Crete  (at  the  latter  of  which  places 
he  constituted  Titus  bishop  of  the  island),  and  then  went  into  Judea,  where  we  shall 
for  the  present  leave  him,  in  order  to  take  some  notice  of  Peter,  his  fellow-laborer  in 
the  cause  of  Christ. 

In  what  manner  Peter  employed  his  time  after  his  escape  out  of  prison,  we  have 
not  any  certain  account.  It  is,  however,  generally  agreed,  that  about  the  second 
year  of  the  emperor  Claudius,  he  went  to  Rome,  and  there  continued  for  some  time, 
till  at  length  that  emperor,  taking  advantage  of  some  seditions  and  tumults  raised  by 
the  Jews,  published  an  edict  for  banishing  all  the  Jews  from' that  city;  in  consequence 
of  which  Peter  returned  to  Jerusalem.  After  staying  some  time  in  the  capital  of 
Judea,  he  visited  the  several  churches  which  he  had  planted  in  the  east,  and  carried 
the  glad  tidings  of  the  gospel  into  Africa,  Sicily,  Italy,  and  even  as  far  as  Britain,  in 
all  which  places  he  brought  over  great  numbers  to  the  Christain  faith. 

Having  thus  propagated  the  gospel  in  the  western,  as  well  as  the  eastern  parts  of 
the  world,  Peter,  toward  the  latter  end  of  the  reign  of  Nero,  returned  to  Rome,  the 
Jews,  after  the  death  of  Claudius,  being  permitted  to  reside  in  that  city  with  the 
same  freedom  as  before  that  emperor  issued  his  edict  for  their  banishment.  On  Pe- 
ter's arrival  at  Rome,  he  met  with  his  fellow-laborer  Paul,  who  had  just  returned 
thither  from  Judea.  The  two  apostles  found  the  minds  of  the  people  strangely  be- 
witched, and  hardened  against  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  by  the  subtleties  and 
magical  arts  of  Simon  Magus,  whom  Peter  had  severely  chastised  for  his  wickedness 
at  Samaria.  This  monster  of  impiety  not  only  opposed  the  preaching  of  the  apostles, 
but  likewise  did  all  in  his  power  to  render  them  and  their  doctrine  odious  to  the  em- 
peror. Peter,  foreseeing  that  the  calumnies  of  Simon  and  his  adherents  would  be 
injurious  to  the  cause  of  his  great  Master,  thought  himself  obliged  to  oppose  him 
with  all  his  might ;  and  having  discovered  the  vanity  of  his  impostures  in  several  re- 
markable instances,  he  at  length  worked  him  up  to  such  a  pitch  of  madness  and  des- 
peration, that  to  give  the  people  an  evident  demonstration  of  his  having  those  super- 
natural powers  he  had  pretended,  he  promised  that,  on  such  a  dav,  he  would  ascend 
visibly  up  into  heaven.  Accordingly,  at  the  time  appointed,  when  prodigious  num- 
bers of  people  were  assembled  to  behold  so  extraordinary  a  sight,  he  went  up  to  the 
summit  of  a  mount,  whence  he  raised  himself,  and,  by  the  assistance  of  some  magic 
arts,  seemed  as  if  he  was  flying  toward  the  regions  of  heaven.  Peter  and  Paul,  be- 
holding the  delusion,  had  recourse  to  prayers,  and  obtained  their  petitions  of  the  Al- 
mighty, namely,  that  the  impostor  should  be  soon  discovered,  for  the  honor  of  the 

*  Clements,  in  his  famous  epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  expressly  tells  us,  that  being  a  preacher  both  to  the 
east  and  west,  he  taught  righteousness  to  the  whole  world,  and  went  to  the  utmost  bounds  of  the  west ; 
and  Theodoret  and  others  inform  us,  that  he  preached  not  only  in  Spain,  but  went  to  other  nations,  and 
brought  the  gospel  into  the  isles  of  the  sea,  by  which  he  undoubtedly  means  Britain  ;  and  therefore  he  else- 
wiiere  reckons  the  Gauls  and  Britons  among  the  people  whom  the  apostles,  and  particularly  Paul,  per- 
suaded to  embrace  the  doctrine  of  Christ.  i  >  r 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  575 

blessed  Jesus.  Accordingly,  he  fell  headlong  tc  the  ground,  and  was  so  bruised  by 
the  fall,  that  in  a  short  time  he  expired. 

The  emperor  Nero  was  a  professed  patron  of  magicians,  and  therefore,  when  he 
heard  of  this  event,  he  was  greatly  irritated.  He  had  a  particular  dislike  to  the  doc- 
trine of  Christianity,  as  being  totally  repugnant  to  the  lusts  and  passions  which  he 
indulged ;  and  was  highly  offended  at  Peter  for  having  made  so  many  converts, 
among  whom  were  several  persons  of  distinction.  In  consequence  of  this,  he  ordered 
him  and  Paul  to  be  apprehended  and  cast  into  prison,  soon  after  which  an  event*  oc- 
curred, whence  he  took  the  opportunity  of  showing  his  resentment  to  the  Jews,  and 
that  in  the  most  severe  manner.  He  issued  out  an  edict,  ordering  Christian  Jews 
to  be  persecuted  in  every  part  of  his  empire  ;  in  consequence  of  which,  all  orders  and 
degrees  of  that  people  were  treated  with  the  greatest  contempt  and  cruelty  that  could 
be  invented. 

But  before  the  burning  of  the  city,  and  the  persecution  commenced  against  the 
Christians,  in  consequence  of  Nero's  edict,  both  Peter  and  Paul  made  their  escape 
from  confinement.  Peter  continued  at  Rome,  but  Paul  left  it,  and  went  into  Judea, 
where  he  stayed  some  time,  after  which  he  went  into  Asia,  and  met  Timothy  at 
Ephesus.  Hence  he  paid  a  visit  to  the  Colossians,  whom  he  had  never  ^before  seen, 
and  after  staying  with  them  some  time,  returned  to  Ephesus,  and  excommunicated 
Hymeneus  and  Alexander,  for  denying  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  and  other  articles 
of  the  Christian  faith.  From  Ephesus  he  went  into  Macedonia,  but  previous  to  his 
departure,  enjoined  Timothy,  whom  he  had  constituted  bishop  of  Ephesus  (see  I  Tim. 
i.  3),  constantly  to  reside  in  that  city,  and  to  take  the  charge  of  all  the  pro-consular 
Asia. 

After  Paul  had  visited  several  places  in  Macedonia,  he  went  to  Philippi  (see  Philip, 
i.  25,  26),  where  he  stayed  some  time,  during  which  he  daily  preached  to  the  people, 
made  many  new  converts,  and  farther  established  those  who  had  before  embraced 
the  faith  in  the  principles  of  Christianity.  Before  he  left  Macedonia,  he  wrote  his 
first  epistle  to  Timothy,  in  which  "  he  lays  down  the  duties  and  qualifications  of  a 
bishop,  as  well  in  respect  of  his  ministry,  as  of  his  private  conversation,  and  instructs 
him  in  the  office  of  a  true  Christian  pastor." 

Leaving  Macedonia,  Paul  directed  his  course  to  Nicopolis,  a  populous  city?feituated 
on  the  banks  of  the  Danube,  where  he  took  up  his  winter  quarters.  During  his  stay 
here  he  wrote  his  epistle  to  Titus  at  Crete;  wherein  "he  describes  to  him  (as  he 
had  done  to  Timothy)  the  qualifications  which  a  bishop  ought  to  have,  and  more  es- 
pecially a  bishop  of  Crete,  where  some  sharpness  and  severity  were  necessary  amidst 
a  people  of  their  perverse  and  obstinate  tempers.  He  admonishes  him  not  to  suffer 
the  flock,  committed  to  his  charge,  to  be  led  away  by  the  delusions  of  Judaism;  and 
lastly,  lays  down  precepts  for  people  in  all  conditions  of  life,  even  not  forgetting 
servants,  because  our  blessed  Saviour  has  poured  out  his  grace  upon  all  men." 

In  the  beginning  of  the  spring  Paul  left  Nicopolis,  and  went  to  Corinth.  After 
staying  a  short  time  here,  he  crossed  the  sea  into  Asia,  and  went  to  Ephesus,  and 
thence  proceeded  to  Miletum.  From  Miletum  he  travelled  northward  to  Troas,  and 
lodged  with  Carpus,  one  of  his  disciples,  where  he  left  his  cloak  (see  2  Tim.  iv^  13), 
some  books,  and  other  articles.     From  Troas  he  went  to  Antioch,  Iconium,  and  Lys- 

*  The  emperor  Nero,  in  the  former  part  of  his  reign,  governed  with  toierable  credit  to  himself ;  but  in  the 
atter  part  he  gave  way  to  the  greatest  extravagance  of  temper,  and  to  the  most  atrocious  barbarities.  The 
event  above  alluded  to  is  this.  Among  other  diabolical  whiins  he  took  it  into  his  head  to  order  that  the  city 
of  Rome  should  be  set  on  fire,  which  was  done  by  his  officers,  guards,  and  servants,  accordingly.  While 
the  imperial  city  was  in  flames,  he  went  up  to  the  tower  of  Macenas,  played  upon  his  harp,  sung  the  song 
of  the  burning  of  Troy,  and  openly  declared  that  he  wished  the  ruin  of  all  things  before  his  death.  Among 
the  noble  buildings  burnt  was  the  Circus,  or  place  appropriated  to  horse-races  :  it  was  half  a  mile  in  length, 
of  an  oval  form,  with  rows  of  seats  rising  above  each  other,  and  capable  of  receiving,  with  ease,  upward  of 
a  hundred  thousand  spectators.  Beside  this  noble  pile,  many  other  palaces  and  houses  were  consumed  ; 
several  thousands  perished  in  the  flames,  were  smothered  with  the  smoke,  or  buried  beneath  the  ruins. 

This  dreadful  conflagration  continued  nine  days  ;  when  Nero,  findmg  that  his  conduct  was  greatly  blamed, 
and  a  severe  odium  cast  upon  him,  determined  to  lay  the  whole  upon  the  Christians,  at  once  to  excuse 
himself,  and  have  an  opportunity  of  glutting  his  sight  with  new  cruelties.  This  was  the  occasion  of  the 
'first  persecution;  and  the  barbarities  exercised  upon  the  Christians  were  such  as  even  excited  the  com- 
miseration of  the  Romans  themselves.  Nero  even  refined  upon  cruelty,  and  contrived  all  manner  of  pun- 
ishments for  the  Christians  that  the  most  infernal  imagination  could  design.  In  particular,  he  had  some 
sewed  up  in  the  skins  of  wild  beasts,  and  then  worried  by  dogs  till  they  expired  ;  and  others  dressed  in  shirts 
made  stiff  with  wax,  fixed  to  axle-trees,  and  set  on  fire  in  his  gardens  in  order  to  illuminate  them.  This 
persecution  was  general  throughout  the  whole  of  the  Roman  empire  ;  but  it  rather  increased  than  diminish- 
ed the  spirit  of  Christianity. 


V 


576  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

tra,  where  he  suffered  those  persecutions  and  afflictions,  of  which  he  makes  mention 
to  Timothy,  and  thanks  God  for  his  deliverance  from  them  (2  Tim.  iii.  4). 

After  visiting  these  and  many  other  places,  Paul  went  again  to  Rome,  knowing 
that  the  persecution  which  had  taken  place  in  that  city,  ui  consequence  of  the  edict 
issued  by  Nero,  was  somewhat  abated.  Meeting  with  Peter,  they  conjunctively  used 
their  utmost  endeavors  to  instruct  the  Jews  in  their  synagogues,  and  to  convert  the 
Gentiles  iu  all  public  places  and  assemblies.  This,  however,  soon  raised  the  malice 
and  indignation  of  the  magistrates,  who  were  still  inflamed  against  the  Jews.  Nero 
was  at  that  time  in  Greece,  and  had  left  Melius  to  supply  his  place  during  his  ab- 
sence, investing  him  with  exorbitant  powers,  which  he  exercised  with  the  most  un- 
bounded rigor.  It  was  a  crime  sufficient  for  these  two  apostles  (in  the  eyes  of  Melius) 
that  they  were  Christians.  The  particular  prejudice  he  took  against  Peter  was,  his 
having  defeated  Simon  Magus;  and  that  against  Paul,  his  having  converted  one 
of  the  emperor's  concubines.  Me  therefore  ordered  them  both  to  be  apprehended  and 
committed  to  prison,  where  they  spent  tlieir  time  in  the  most  solemn  acts  of  devo- 
tion, and,  as  upportunity  offered,  preached  the  gospel  to  their  guards  and  fellow- 
prisoners,  amo;ig  whom  it  is  said  they  converted  Processus  and  Martinian,  two  prin- 
cipal officers  of  the  army. 

While  ih^'  were  in  prison,  Peter  wrote  his  second  general  epistle  to  the  converted 
Jews,  who  were  dispersed  in  the  several  provinces  of  Asia.  In  this  epistle  "  he  en- 
deavors, by  earnest  exhortations,  to  prevail  with  them  to  persevere  in  the  doctrine 
which  they  had  received,  and  to  testify  the  soundness  and  sincerity  of  their  faith 
by  a  Christian  life.  Me  forewarns  them  of  the  false  teachers  that  would  shortly 
spring  up  among  them,  foretells  their  sad  and  miserable  destruction,  and  describes 
them  by  their  odious  characters,  that  they  may  avoid  them.  Me  vindicates  the  doc- 
trine of  Christ's  coming  to  judgment,  which  the  heretics  of  those  times  denied,  that 
thereby  they  might  encourage  men  the  more  securely  to  pursue  their  lewd  courses. 
And  lastly,  he  describes  the  great  and  terrible  day  of  the  Lord,  when  the  elements 
shall  melt,  and  the  whole  frame  of  nature  be  dissolved,  thereby  to  excite  them  to  be- 
come circumspect  and  diligent,  iu  order  to  be  found  of  him  in  peace,  without  spot, 
and  blameless." 

Much  about  the  same  time  that  Peter  wrote  this  epistle  to  the  converted  Jews  m 
Asia,  Paul  wrote  his  second  epistle  to  Timothy,  wherein  "  he  informs  him  of  the 
near  approach  of  his  death,  and  desires  him  to  come  to  him  before  winter,  b«icause 
most  of  his  companions,  upon  one  affair  or  other,  were  departed  from  him.  Me 
exhorts  him  to  discharge  all  the  duties  of  a  bishop  and  pastor,  suitable  to  those  ex- 
cellent gifts  he  had  received,  and  with  a  generous  contempt  of  the  world,  and  worldly 
things.  He  admonishes  him  not  to  forget  the  doctrine  which  he  had  taught  him,  not 
to  be  surprised  or  disturbed  at  the  apostacy  of  some  from  the  faith,  but  to  preach  the 
more  zealously  against  such  opposers  as  placed  their  confidence  in  those  teachers 
who  left  the  truth  to  turn  unto  fables.  And  lastly,  he  informs  him,  how,  at  his  first 
appearing  before  Melius,  all  his  companions,  for  fear  of  being-  involved  in  his  punish- 
ment, forsook  him,  but  that  the  Lord  stood  by  him  and  strengthened  him,  to  make 
his  preaching  more  conspicuous  and  effectual  to  the  Gentiles." 

When  the  two  apostles  had  been  in  confinement  about  eight  months,  the -cruel 
Nero  returned  from  Greece,  and  entered  his  palace  at  Rome  in  great  triumph.* 
Soon  afiex  his  return  it  was  ultimately  resolved,  that  the  two  apostles  should  be 
put  to  death.  Peter,  as  a  Jew  and  foreigner,  was  sentenced  to  be  crucified  ;  and 
Paul,  as  a  Roman  citizen,  to  be  beheaded.  On  the  29th  of  June  (as  it  is  generally 
supposed)  these  sentences  were  put  in  execution.  Peter,  after  being  first  scourged, 
according  to  the  Roman  custom,  was  taken  from  the  prison,  and  led  to  the  top  of  the 
Vatican  mount,  near  the  Tiber,  where  he  was  sentenced  to  surrender  up  his  life  on 
the  cross.  On  his  arrival  at  the  place  of  execution,  he  begged  the  favor  of  the  officers 
that  he  might  not  be  crucified  in  the  common  manner,  but  with  his  head  downward, 

*  Subsequently  to  the  burning  of  Rome,  Nero  buist  himself  a  glorious  palace  on  Mount  Palatine,  which 
was  named  the  Golden  Palace.  When  the  emperor  saw  it  firiished.he  said,  "  Now  I  am  going  to  be  lodged 
ake  a  man  I"  This  splendid  fabric  was  burnt  and  rebuilt  in  the  reign  of  Commodus  ;  and  of  the  palace  so 
lebuilt,  in  its  present  ruined  condition,  fringing  the  mount  with  its  broken  arches,  a  represeniation  is  given 
in  OLit  present  engraving,  on  page  577.  It  still  bears  the  name  of  Nero's  Palace  ;  and  although  of  some- 
what later  origin  than  the  tune  ot  St.  Paul,  it  will  be  considered  mteresling  from  its  approximation  to  his 
time,  and  from  its  lurnishing  the  only  idea  attainable  from  actual  remains  of  the  palaces  iiiwliichthe  Koinan 
empeiors  abode. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


577 


|L_ 


578  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

thinking  himself  unworthy  to  suffer  in  the  same  posture  in  which  his  Lord  and  Master 
had  suffered  before  him.  This  request  was  accordingly  complied  with  ;  and  in  this 
manner  did  the  great  apostle  Peter  resign  his  soul  into  the  hands  of  Him  who  came 
down  from  heaven  to  ransom  mankind  from  destruction,  and  open  for  them  the  gates 
of  the  heavenly  Canaan. 

While  Peter  was  suffering  on  the  top  of  the  Vatican  mount,  his  fellow-apostle  Paul 
was  conducted  to  a  place  called  Aquae  Salvise,  about  three  miles  from  Rome,  in  order 
to  undergo  the  punishment  denounced  against  him  by  the  cruel  Nero.  In  his  way 
he  converted  three  of  the  soldiers  who  were  sent  to  guard  him  to  his  execution,  and 
who,  within  a  few  days  after,  died  martyrs  themselves.  As  soon  as  Paul  arrived  at  the 
place  of  execution,  he  knelt  down,  and  after  praying  for  some  time  with  the  greatest 
fervency,  cheerfully  gave  up  his  neck  to  the  fatal  stroke ;  quitting  this  vale  of  misery 
in  hopes  of  passing  to  the  blissful  regions  of  immortality,  to  the  kingdom  of  his  be- 
loved Master,  the  great  Redeemer  of  the  human  race. 

Thus  died  these  two  most  eminent  apostles  of  Jesus  Christ,  after  they  had,  with 
indefatigable  labor,  reaped  a  glorious  harvest  of  infinite  numbers  of  souls,  and  tri- 
umphantly propagated  salvation  through  the  then  most  considerable  parts  of  the 
world. 

The  body  of  Peter,  being  taken  from  the  cross,  was  embalmed  after  the  Jewish 
manner  by  Marcellinus  the  presbyter,  and  buried  in  the  Vatican  near  the  Triumphal 
way.  Over  his  grave  a  small  church  was  afterward  erected,  which  being  in  the 
course  of  time  destroyed,  his  body  was  removed  to  the  cemetery  in  the  Appian  way, 
two  miles  distant  from  Rome.  Here  it  continued  till  the  time  of  Pope  Cornelius, 
when  it  was  reconveyed  to  the  Vatican,  where  it  abode  in  some  obscurity  till  Con- 
stantine  the  Great,  from  the  profound  reverence  he  had  for  the  Christian  religion, 
having  rebuilt  and  enlarged  the  Vatican  to  the  honor  of  St.  Peter,  enriched  it  with 
gifts  and  ornaments,  which  in  every  age  increased  in  splendor  and  beauty,  till  it  be- 
came one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world,  and  in  that  light  was  considered  for  many 
years  after. 

The  remains  of  Paul  were  deposited  in  the  Via  Ostiensis,  about  two  miles  from 
Rome.  Constantine  the  Great,  at  the  instance  of  Pope  Sylvester,  built  a  stately 
church  over  his  grave,  which  he  adorned  with  a  hundred  marble  columns,  and  beau- 
tified with  the  most  exquisite  workmanship. 

It  may  not  be  improper,  before  we  part  with  these  two  great  apostles,  to  mention 
some  particulars  relative  to  their  persons  and  characters.     And  first, 

St.  Peter  (according  to  the  description  given  of  him  by  Nicephorus)  was  of  a  middle 
size,  but  somewhat  slender,  and  inclining  to  tallness:  his  complexion  was  very  pale; 
his  hair  thick  and  curled  ;  his  eyes  black ;  his  eyebrows  thin  ;  and  his  nose  large,  but 
not  sharp.  With  respect  to  his  disposition,  if  we  consider  him  as  a  man,  there  seems 
to  have  been  a  natural  eagerness  predominant  in  his  temper,  which  animated  his 
soul  to  the  most  bold  and  sometimes  rash  undertakings.  It  was  this,  in  a  great 
measure,  that  prompted  him  to  be  so  very  forward  to  speak,  and  to  return  answers 
sometimes  before  he  liad  well  considered  them.  It  was  this  that  made  him  expose 
his  person  to  the  most  imminent  dangers,  promise  those  great  things  in  behalf  of  his 
master,  resolutely  draw  his  sword  in  his  quarrel  against  a  whole  band  of  soldiers, 
and  wound  a  servant  of  the  high-priest;  nay,  he  had  in  all  probability  attempted 
greater  things,  had  not  his  Lord  restrained  his  impetuosity,  and  given  a  reasonable 
chock  to  his  fury. 

If  we  consider  him  as  a  disciple  uf  the  blessed  Jesus,  we  shall  find  him  exemplary 
in  the  great  duties  of  religion.  His  humility  and  lowliness  of  mind  were  remarkable. 
With  what  a  passionate  earnestness  on  the  conviction  of  a  miracle,  did  he  beg  of  our 
blessed  Saviour  to  depart  from  him,  thinking  it  unworthy  the  Son  of  God  to  come 
near  so  vile  a  sinner  ! 

When  the  great  Redeemer  of  mankind,  by  that  amazing  condescension,  stooped  so 
low  as  to  wash  the  feet  of  his  disciples,  Peter  could  not  be  persuaded  to  admit  his 
performing  it,  thinking  it  highly  improper  that  so  great  a  person  should  submit  to 
such  a  servile  office  toward  a  person  so  mean  as  himself;  nor  could  he  be  induced  to 
admit  of  it  till  his  great  Master  threatened  to  deprive  him  of  his  favor. 

When  Cornelius  the  Roman  centurion  would  have  treated  him  with  more  than 
ordinary  marks  of  esteem  and  veneration,  he  was  so  far  from  complying  with  it,  that 
he  declared  he  was  nothing  more  than  a  mortal  like  himself. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  579 

His  love  and  zeal  for  his  master  were  remarkable  ;  he  thought  he  could  never  ex- 
press either  at  too  high  a  rate;  venturing  on  the  greatest  perils,  aad  exposing  his  life 
to  the  most  imminent  dangers.  His  forwardness  to  own  his  great  Master  for  the 
Messiah  and  Son  of  the  Most  High,  was  remarkably  great;  and  it  was  this  that  drew 
from  his  Lord  that  honorable  encomium,  "Blessed  art  thou,  Simon  Bar-jona." 

But  his  distinguished  courage  and  constancy  in  confessing  Christ,  even  before  his 
most  inveterate  enemies,  was  still  greater  after  he  had  recovered  himself  from  his 
fall.  How  plainly  does  he  tell  the  Jews  that  they  were  the  murderers  and  crucifiers 
of  the  Lord  of  Glory  ?  Nay,  with  what  an  undaunted  courage,  with  what  a  heroic 
greatness  of  soul,  did  he  tell  the  very  sanhedrim,  who  had  sentenced  and  condemned 
him,  that  they  were  guilty  of  his  death,  and  that  they  had  no  other  way  of  escaping 
the  vengeance  of  the  Almighty,  but  by  the  merits  of  that  very  Jesus  whom  they  had 
crucified  and  put  to  death. 

Lastly,  if  we  consider  him  as  an  apostle,  as  a  pastor,  or  shepherd  of  the  souls  of 
men,  we  shall  find  him  faithful  and  diligent  in  his  office,  zealously  endeavoring  to  in- 
struct the  ignorant,  reduce  the  erroneous,  strengthen  the  weak,  confirm  the  strong, 
reclaim  the  vicious,  and  turn  the  children  of  men  into  the  paths  of  righteousness.  He 
never  omitted  any  opportunity  of  preaching  to  the  people,  and  spreading  the  glad 
tidings  of  the  gospel  among  the  human  race ;  and  so  powerful  were  his  discourses, 
that  he  brought  over  many  thousands  of  converts.  How  many  painful  journeys 
and  dangerous  voyages  did  he  undertake  !  With  what  unconquerable  patience  did 
he  endure  the  greatest  trials,  surmount  every  difficulty,  and  remove  every  disposition, 
that  he  might  circulate  and  establish  the  gospel  of  his  beloved  Master !  never  refu- 
sing even  to  lay  down  his  life  to  promote  it.  Nor  was  he  assiduous  only  to  perform 
these  duties  himself;  but  was  also  careful  to  animate  others  to  do  the  like,  earnestly 
pressing  and  persuading  the  pastors  and  governors  of  the  church  "  to  feed  the  flock  of 
God,"  to  labor  freely  for  the  good  of  the  souls  of  men,  and  not  to  undertake  those  offices 
to  acquire  advantages  to  themselves ;  beseeching  them  to  treat  the  flock  committed  to 
their  care  with  lenity  and  gentleness,  and  to  be  themselves  shining  examples  of  piety 
and  religion,  the  surest  method  of  rendering  their  ministry  successful.  And  because 
it  was  impossible  for  him  to  be  always  present,  to  teach  and  warn  the  children  of  men, 
he  endeavored,  by  letters,  to  imprint  in  their  minds  the  practice  of  what  they  had  been 
taught — a  method  he  tells  us  he  was  resolved  to  pursue  as  long  as  he  continued  an 
inhabitant  of  this  world ;  "  thinking  it  meet,  while  he  was  in  this  tabernacle,  to  stir 
up,  by  putting  them  in  mind  of  these  things;  that  so  they  might  be  able,  after  his 
decease,  to  have  them  always  in  remembrance." 

Thus  lived,  thus  died  Simon  Peter,  called  to  be  an  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  at 
length  to  ofi'er  up  his  life  in  ratification  of  the  doctrine  he  delivered  and  the  faith  he 
maintained  and  propagated. 

St.  Paul  was  in  person  of  a  low  and  small  stature,  somewhat  stooping:  his  com- 
plexion was  fair  ;  his  countenance  grave ;  his  head  small ;  his  eyes  sparkling ;  his  nose 
high  and  bending ;  and  his  hair  thick  and  dark,  but  mixed  with  gray.  His  constitu- 
tion was  weak,  and  he  was  often  subject  to  distempers;  but  his  mind  was  strong, 
and  he  possessed  a  solid  judgment,  quick  discernment,  and  prompt  memory,  all  which 
were  improved  by  the  advantages  of  a  liberal  education.  His  humility  and  self- 
abasement  were  wonderful;  his  sobriety  and  temperance  singularly  strict ;  and  his 
contempt  for  the  world  great  and  generous.  His  kindness  and  charity  were  remark- 
able: he  had  a  quick  sense  of  the  wants  of  others,  and  a  most  compassionate  ten- 
derness for  all  who  were  in  distress.  To  what  place  soever  he  went,  it  was  always 
one  of  his  first  cares  to  make  provision  for  the  poor,  and  to  stir  up  the  bounty  of  the 
rich  and  wealthy  in  their  behalf.  But  his  charity  to  the  souls  of  men  was  infinitely 
greater,  fearing  no  dangers,  refusing  no  labors,  going  through  good  and  evil  report, 
that  he  might  gain  mea  over  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  take  them  out  of  the 
crooked  paths,  and  place  them  in  the  straight  way  that  leadeth  to  life  eternal. 

Nor  was  his  charity  to  men  greater  than  his  zeal  to  God,  laboring,  with  all  his 
might,  to  promote  the  honor  of  his  Master.  When  he  was  at  Athens,  and  saw  the 
people  of  that  city  involved  in  the  grossest  superstition  and  idolatry,  and  giving  that 
honor  which  was  due  to  God  alone,  to  statues  and  images,  his  zeal  was  fired,  and 
he  could  not  help  letting  them  know  the  resentment  of  his  mind,  and  how  greatly 
they  dishonored  God,  the  great  Maker  and  Preserver  of  the  world. 

Through  the  course  of  an  extensive  ministry,  he  never  suff'ered  himself  to  be  jnter 


580 


A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 


rupted  in  his  endeavors  for  propagating  the  gospel  by  the  dangers  and  difficulties  ne 
met  with,  or  the  troubles  and  oppositions  that  were  raised  against  him.  This  will 
evidently  appear  if  we  take  a  survey  of  the  trials  and  sufferings  he  underwent ;  some 
part  whereof  are  thus  briefly  summed  ui)by  himself:  "  In  labors  abundant,  in  stripes 
above  measure,  in  death  oft;  thrice  beaten  with  rods,  once  stoned,  thrice  suffered 
shipwreck,  a  night  and  a  day  in  the  deep.  In  journeying  often,  in  perils  of  water,  in 
perils  by  his  countrymen,  in  perils  by  the  heathens,  in  perils  in  the  city,  in  perils  in 
the  wilderness,  in  perils  in  the  sea,  in  perils  among  false  brethren  ;  in  weariness  and 
painfulness,  in  watchings  often,  in  hunger  and  tliirst;  in  fastings  often;  in  cold  and 
nakedness,  and  besides  those  things  that  were  without,  which  daily  came  upon  him, 
the  care  of  all  the  churches."  (2  Cor.  xi.  23,  &c.)  An  account,  though  very  great,  yet 
far  short  of  what  he  endured.  He  did  not  want  for  solicitations  both  from  Jews  and 
Gentiles ;  and  might,  doubtless,  in  some  measure,  have  made  his  own  terms,  would 
he  have  been  false  to  his  trust,  and  quitted  that  way  which  was  then  everywhere 
spoken  against.  But  alas  !  those  things  weighed  little  with  our  apostle,  who  "  counted 
not  his  life  dear  unto  him,  so  that  he  might  finish  his  course  with  joy,  and  the  min- 
istry which  he  had  received  of  the  Lord  Jesus."  And  therefore,  when  he  found  him- 
self under  the  sentence  of  death,  he  could  triumphantly  say,  "I  have  fought  a  good 
fight,  I  have  finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith." 


THE  EPISTLES  OF  PAUL. 

EPISTLE. 

WHERE    WRITTEN. 

FOR  WHOSE  USE. 

A.D. 

1.  Thessalonians  I.     .     .     . 

2.  Tliessalonians  II.     .     .  . 

3.  Oalatians 

4.  Corinthians  I 

5.  Romans 

6.  Corinthians  II 

7.  Epliesians 

8.  Pliilippians 

9.  Colossians 

10.  Philemon 

Corinth 

Do 

Do 

Epliesus 

Corintli 

Macedonia    .     ■ 

Rome 

Do 

Do 

Do 

Gentile  Chiistians 

Do.               Do 

Do.               Do 

52 
f>2 
53 
57 
58 
(iO 
63 
63 
63 
62 
63 
65 
65 
66 

Do.                Do 

L)o                Do 

Do.               Do 

Do                Do 

Do.               Do 

Do                Do 

Philemon  of  Cotosse 

Hebrew  Christians 

Timothy  the   Evangelist 

Titus  the  Evangelist 

Timothy  the  Evangelist 

11.  Hebrews 

12    Timothy  I 

Italy    

13.  Titus 

14.  Timothy  II 

Do 

CHAPTER    XII. 

In  the  preceding  chapters  we  have  given  a  minute  detail  of  the  transactions  oi 
those  two  great  apostles,  Peter  and  Paul,  as  related  by  the  evangelist  St.  Luke, 
together  with  an  account  of  the  persecutions  and  sufferings  of  St.  Stephen,  and  St. 
James  the  Less,  bishop  of  Jerusalem.  We  siiall  therefore  in  this  chapter  proceed  to 
relate  the  particulars  concerning  their  fellow-laborers  in  the  cause  of  Christ;  in  doing 
which  we  shall  begin  with  the  Ai)ostle 

ST.  ANDREW. 

After  the  ascension  of  our  blessed  Lord  into  heaven,  and  the  descent  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  on  the  apostles,  to  qualify  them  for  tlie  great  business  they  were  about  to  un- 
dertake, Si.  Andrew  was  ai)pointed  to  preach  the  gospel  in  Scythia  and  the  neighbor- 
ing countries.  Accordingly,  he  departed  from  Jerusalem,  and  first  travelled  through 
Cappadocia,  Galalia,  and  Bithynia,  instructing  t!ie  inhabitants  iu  the  faith  of  Christ, 
and  continued  his  journey  along  ihcEuxine  sea,  into  the  deserts  of  Scythia.  On  his  arri- 
val at  a  place  called  Auiynsus,  he  was  received  with  great  civility  by  a  distinguished 
Jew  of  thai  town  ;  upon  Avhich  he  went  into  the  synagogue,  preached  to  them  con- 
cerning Jesus,  and,  from  the  proiihecies  of  the  Old  Testament,  proved  him  to  be  the 
Messiah  and  Saviour  of  I  be  world.  During  his  stay  here  he  converted  many  to  the 
true  fai;!i,  living  done  which,  previous  to  his  departure,  he  ordained  them  priests, 
and  settled  ihe  times  of  their  public  meetings  for  the  performance  of  divine  worship. 

Leaving  Aniynsus,  he  proceeded  to  Trapezium,  a  maritime  city  on  the  Euxine  sea; 
wlience,  after  visiting  many  other  places,  he  went  to  Nice,  where  he  stayed  two 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  58] 

years,  preaching  and  working  miracles  with  great  success.  From  Nice  he  proceeded 
to  Nicomedia,  and  thence  to  Chalcedon,  where  he  took  shipping,  and  sailing  through 
the  Proponris,  passed  the  Euxine  sea  to  Heraclea,  and  afterward  to  Amastris  ;  in  all 
which  places  he  met  with  very  great  difficulties,  but  overcame  them  by  an  invincible 
patience  and  resolution. 

From  Amastris,  Andrew  went  to  Sinope,  a  city  situated  on  the  Euxine  sea,  and 
famous  both  for  the  birth  and  burial  of  King  Mithridates.  The  inhabitants  of  this 
city  were  chiefly  Jews,  who,  partly  from  a  zeal  for  their  religion,  and  partly  from 
their  barbarous  manners,  were  exasperated  against  Andrew,  and  entered  into  a  con- 
federacy to  burn  the  house  in  which  he  lodged.  But  being  disappointed  in  their  de- 
sign, they  treated  him  with  the  most  savage  cruelty,  throwing  him  on  the  ground, 
stamping  upon  him  with  their  feet,  pulling  and  dragging  him  from  place  to  place  : 
some  beating  him  with  clubs,  and  others  pelting  him  with  stones,  till  at  length,  ap- 
prehending they  had  entirely  deprived  him  of  life,  they  cast  him  out  into  the  fields. 
But  he  miraculously  recovered,  and  returned  publicly  into  the  city ;  by  which,  and 
other  miracles  he  wrought  among  them,  he  converted  many  from  the  errors  of  their 
ways,  and  induced  them  to  become  disciples  of  the  blessed  Jesus. 

Departing  from  Sinope,  he  returned  to  Jerusalem,  and  after  staying  a  short  time  in 
his  own  country,  went  again  into  the  province  allotted  for  the  service  of  his  ministry, 
which  greatly  flourished  through  the  power  of  the  Divine  grace  that  attended  it. 
He  travelled  over  Thrace,  Macedonia,  Thessaly,  Achaia,  and  Epirus,*  preaching  the 
gospel,  propagating  Christianity,  and  confirming  the  doctrine  he  taught  with  sigiis 
and  miracles.  JlI  length  he  arrived  at  Patrea,t  a  city  of  Achaia,  where  he  gave  his 
last  and  greatest  testimony  to  the  gospel  of  his  Divine  Master,  by  cheerfully  sealing 
it  with  his  blood. 

It  happened  that  iEgenas,  the  pro-consul  of  Achaia,  came  at  this  time  to  Patrea, 
where,  knowing  that  many  of  the  people  had  abandoned  the  heathen  religion  and 
embraced  the  gospel  of  Christ,  he  had  recourse  to  every  method,  both  of  favor  and 
cruelty,  to  reduce  the  people  to  their  old  idolatry.  The  apostle,  whom  no  difficulties 
or  dangers  could  deter  from  performing  the  duties  of  his  ministry,  addressed  himself 
to  the  pro-consul,  calmly  putting  him  in  mind  that,  being  only  a  judge  of  men,  he 
ought  to  revere  Him  who  was  the  supreme  and  impartial  Judge  of  all,  pay  him  the 
divine  honors  due  to  his  exalted  majesty,  and  abandon  the  impieties  of  his  idolatrous 
worship ;  observing  to  him,  that  if  he  would  renounce  his  idolatries,  and  heartily 
embrace  the  Christian  faith,  he  might,  with  him  and  the  members  who  had  believed 
in  the  Son  of  God,  receive  eternal  happiness  in  the  Messiah's  kingdom. 

The  pro-consul  told  St.  Andrew  he  would  never  embrace  the  religion  he  had  men- 
tioned, and  that  if  he  did  not  sacrifice  to  the  gods  (in  order  that  all  those  whom  he 
had  seduced  might,  by  his  example,  be  brought  back  to  the  ancient  religion  they  had 
forsaken)  he  would  cause  him  to  be  immediately  put  to  death.  The  apostle  replied, 
.hat  he  saw  it  was  in  vain  to  endeavor  to  persuade  a  person  incapable  of  sober  coun- 
sels, and  hardened  in  his  own  blindness  and  folly,  to  forsake  his  evil  ways ;  and  that, 
with  respect  to  himself,  he  might  act  as  he  pleased,  and  if  he  had  any  torment 
greater  than  another,  he  might  inflict  it  upon  him ;  as  the  stricter  constancy  he 
showed  in  his  suff"erings  for  Christ,  the  more  acceptable  he  should  be  to  his  Lord  and 
Master  after  his  departure  from  this  wicked  world. 

This  so  irritated  JSgenas,  that  he  immediately  condemned  him  to  death.  Accord- 
mgly,  after  being  scourged  in  the  most  unmerciful  manner  by  seven  lictors,  he  was 
led  away  to  be  crucified.  As  soon  as  he  approached  the  cross,  he  knelt  down  and 
saluted  it  in  words  to  this  eff'ect:  "  I  have  long  desired  and  expected  this  happy  hour. 
The  cross  has  been  consecrated  by  the  body  of  Christ  hanging  on  it,  and  adorned 
with  his  members  as  with  so  many  inestimable  jewels.  I  therefore  come  joyfully 
and  triumphantly  to  it,  that  it  may  receive  me  as  a  disciple  and  follower  of  him  who 
once  hung  upon  it,  and  be  the  means  of  carrying  me  safe  to  my  Master,  being  the 
instrument  on  which  he  redeemed  me." 

After  off'ering  up  his  prayers  to  the  throne  of  grace,  and  exhorting  the  people  to 

'  Epirus  was  a  province  of  Greece,  lying  along  the  coast  of  the  Ionian  sea,  and  having  for  its  bounds,  Al- 
bania on  the  north,  Thessaly  on  the  south,  Achaia  on  the  southeast,  and  the  ocean  on  the  west. 

t  Patrea  was  situated  on  a  hill  near  the  sea,  about  ten  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  gulf  Lepanto.  The 
goddess  Diana  was  worshipped  here  in  the  most  diabolical  manner,  having  a  most  beautiful  young  man  and 
maid,  every  year,  sacrificed  to  her,  till,  by  the  preaching  of  St.  Andrew,  one  Eurypilus,  a  great  man  ol  the 
place,  being  converted  to  Christianity,  occasioned  that  barbarous  custom  to  be  totally  laid  aside 

37 


682  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

constancy  and  perseverance  in  the  faith  he  had  delivered  to  them,  he  was  fastened  to 
the  cross,  on  which  he  hung  two  whole  days,  teaching  and  instructing  the  people. 
In  the  meantime,  great  interest  was  made  with  the  pro-consul  to  save  his  life  ;  but 
the  apostle  earnestly  begged  of  God  that  he  might  then  depart,  and  seal  the  truth  of 
his  religion  with  his  blood.  His  prayers  were  heard,  and  he  soon  after  expired  on 
the  last  day  of  November,  but  in  what  year  is  not  certain. 

The  cross  on  which  he  was  fixed  was  made  of  two  pieces  of  timber,  crossing  each 
other  in  the  middle,  in  the  shape  of  the  letter  X  (which  has  ever  since  been  known 
by  the  name  of  "St.  Andrew's  Cross"),  and  to  this  he  was  fastened,  not  with  nails, 
but  cords,  to  make  his  death  more  painful  and  lingering. 

His  body  being  taken  down  from  the  cross,  was  decently  and  honorably  interred  by 
Maximilla,  a  lady  of  great  quality  and  estate,  and  whom  Nicephorus  tells  us  was 
wife  to  the  pro-consul.  Constantine  the  Great  afterward  removed  his  body  to  Con- 
stantinople, and  buried  it  in  the  great  church  he  had  built  to  the  honor  of  the  apos- 
tles. This  structure  being  taken  down  some  hundred  years  after  by  the  emperor 
lustinian,  in  order  to  be  rebuilt,  the  body  of  St.  Andrew  was  found  in  a  wooden  coffin, 
and  again  deposited  in  the  same  place  it  had  been  before,  which  was  afterward 
reverenced  by  all  true  professors  of  the  Christian  religion. 

ST:  JAMES,  THE  Great. 

This  apostle  was  surnamed  the  Great,  to  distinguish  him  from  that  James  (another 
jf  the  apostles)  who  was  bishop  of  Jerusalem.  After  the  ascension  of  the  blessed 
Jesus  he  preached  to  the  dispersed  Jews;  that  is,  to  those  converts  who  were  dis- 
persed after  the  death  of  Stephen.  He  first  preached  the  gospel  in  several  parts  of 
Judea  and  Samaria,  after  which  he  visited  Spain,  where  he  planted  Christianity,  and 
appointed  some  select  disciples  to  perfect  what  he  had  begun. 

After  this  he  returned  to  Judea,  where  he  continued  preaching  in  different  parts 
for  some  time,  with  great  success;  till  at  length  Herod  (who  was  a  bigot  to  the  Jew- 
ish religion,  and  desirous  of  acquiring  the  favor  of  the  Jews)  began  a  violent  perse- 
cution against  the  Christians,  and  to  such  a  degree  did  his  zeal  animate  him,  that, 
after  a  short  trial,  he  ordered  James  to  be  put  to  death. 

As  he  was  led  to  the  place  of  execution,  the  oflficer  that  guarded  him  to  the  tri- 
bunal, or  rather  his  accuser,  having  been  converted  by  that  remarkable  courage  and 
constancy  shown  by  the  apostle  at  the  time  of  his  trial,  repented  of  what  he  had  done, 
came  and  fell  down  at  the  apostle's  feet,  and  heartily  begged  pardon  for  what  he  had 
said  against  him.  The  holy  man,  after  recovering  from  his  surprise,  tenderly  em- 
braced him.  "  Peace,"  said  he,  "  my  son,  peace  be  to  thee  and  the  pardon  of  thy 
faults."  Upon  which  the  officer  publicly  declared  himself  a  Christian,  and  both  were 
beheaded  at  the  same  time. 

Thus  fell  the  great  apostle  St.  James,  taking  cheerfully  that  cup  of  which  he  had 
long  before  told  his  Lord  and  Master  he  was  both  ready  and  willing  to  drink. 

ST.  JOHN,  THE  Evangelist. 

Though  this  apostle  was  by  much  the  youngest  of  the  whole,  yet  he  was  admitted 
into  as  great  a  share  of  his  Master's  confidence  as  any.  He  was  one  of  those  to  whom 
our  Lord  communicated  the  most  private  passages  of  his  life;  one  of  those  whom  he 
took  with  him  when  he  raised  the  daughter  of  Jairus  from  the  dead ;  one  of  those  to 
whom  he  gave  a  specimen  of  his  divinity  in  his  transfiguration  on  the  mount ;  one  of 
those  who  were  present  at  his  conference  with  Moses  and  Elijah,  and  heard  that 
voice  which  declared  him  "  the  beloved  Son  of  God ;"  and  one  of  those  who  were 
companions  in  his  solitude,  most  retired  devotions,  and  bitter  agonies  in  the  garden. 

These  instances  of  particular  favor  our  apostle  endeavored  in  some  measure  to 
answer,  by  returns  of  particular  kindness  and  constancy ;  for  though  he  at  first  de- 
serted his  Master  on  his  apprehension,  yet  he  soon  discovered  the  impropriety  of  his 
conduct:  he  therefore  went  back  to  seek  his  Saviour;  confidently  entered  the  high- 
priest's  hall ;  followed  our  Lord  through  the  several  particulars  of  his  trial ;  and  at 
last  waited  on  him  at  his  execution,  owning  him,  as  well  as  being  owned  by  him,  in 
the  midst  of  armed  soldiers,  and  in  the  thickest  crowds  of  his  inveterate  enemies. 
Here  it  was  that  our  Great  Redeemer  committed  to  his  care  his  sorrowful  and  discon- 
solate mother  with  his  dying  breath.     And  certainly  our  blessed  Lord  could  not  have 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


6S3 


Jl 


384  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

given  a  more  honorable  testinaony  of  his  particular  kindness  and  respect  to  John, 
than  by  leaving  his  own  mother  to  his  trust  and  care,  and  substituting  him  to  supply 
that  duty  he  himself  paid  her  while  he  resided  in  this  vale  of  sorrow. 

When  the  apostles  made  a  division  of  the  provinces  among  them  after  our 
Saviour's  ascension  into  heaven,  in  order  to  circulate  the  doctrine  of  their  Lord  and 
Master,  that  of  Asia  fell  to  the  share  of  St.  John,  though  he  did  not  immediately 
enter  upon  his  charge,  but  continued  at  Jerusalem  till  the  death  of  the  blessed  Virgin, 
which  happened  about  fifteen  years  after  our  Lord's  ascension. 

After  being  thus  released  from  the  trust  committed  to  his  care  by  his  dying  Master, 
he  went  into  Asia,  and  industriously  applied  himself  to  the  propagation  of  Chris- 
tianity, preaching  where  the  gospel'  had  not  then  been  known,  and  confirming  it 
where  it  was  already  planted.  Many  churches  of  note  and  eminence  were  founded 
by  him,  particularly  those  of  Smyrna,*  Philadelphia,  Laodicea,  and  others ;  but  his 
chief  place  of  residence  was  at  Ephesus,  where  St.  Paul  had  founded  a  church,  and 
constituted  Timothy  its  pastor. 

After  John  had  spent  several  years  at  Ephesus,  an  accusation  was  laid  against  him 
before  the  emperor  Domitian  (who  had  then  begun  a  persecution  against  the  Chris- 
tians) as  being  an  asserter  of  false  doctrine  and  impiety,  and  a  public  subverter  of  the 
religion  of  the  empire.  Li  consequence  of  this,  and  in  conformity  to  the  orders  of 
Domitian,  the  pro-consul  of  Ephesus  sent  him  bound  to  Rome,  where  he  met  with  that 
treatment  which  might  have  been  expected  from  so  barbarous  a  prince,  being  thrown 
into  a  caldron  of  boiling  oil.  But  the  Almighty,  who  reserved  him  for  farther  ser- 
vice in  the  vineyard  of  his  Son,  restrained  the  heat,  as  he  did  in  the  fiery  furnace  of 
old,  and  delivered  him  from  this  seemingly  unavoidable  destruction.  And  surely  one 
would  have  thought  that  so  miraculous  a  deliverance  might  have  been  suflScient  to 
have  persuaded  any  rational  man  that  the  religion  he  taught  was  from  God,  and  that 
he  was  protected  from  danger  by  the  hand  of  Omnipotence.  But  miracles  them- 
selves were  not  sufficient  to  convince  this  cruel  emperor,  or  abate  his  fury.  He 
ordered  St.  John  to  be  transported  to  a  disconsolate  island  in  the  archipelago,  called 
Patmos,t  where  he  continued  several  years,  instructing  the  poor  inhabitants  in  the 
knowledge  of  ihe  Christian  faith  ;  and  here,  about  the  end  of  Domitian's  reign,  he 
wrote  his  book  of  Revelation,  exhibiting,  by  visions  and  prophetical  representations, 
the  state  and  condition  of  Christianity  that  would  take  place  in  the  future  periods 
and  ages  of  the  church. 

On  the  death  of  Domitian,  and  the  succession  of  Narva  (who  repealed  all  the 
odious  acts  of  his  predecessors,  and  by  public  edicts  recalled  those  whom  the  fury  of 
Domitian  had  banished),  St.  John  returned  to  Asia,  and  again  fixed  his  residence  at 
Ephesus,  on  account  of  Timothy,  their  pastor,  having  some  time  before  been  put  to 
death  by  the  people  of  that  city.  Here,  with  the  assistance  of  seven  other  bishops 
or  pastors,  he  took  upon  himself  the  large  diocess  of  Asia  Minor,  spending  his  time 
in  an  indefatigable  execution  of  his  charge,  travelling  from  one  part  to  another,  and 

*  A  city  of  Asia  Minor,  about  forty  miles  south  of  Ephesus,  famous  for  its  having  been  thought  the  birth- 
place of  Homer,  but  more  so  as  having  contained  one  of  the  seven  churches  of  Asia  specially  addressed 
by  Jesus  Christ.  (Rev.  i.  11  ;  ii.  8.)  Polycarp  is  supposed  by  some  to  have  been  the  angel  or  bishop  of  this 
Christian  congregation  addressed  by  John,  as  he  sustained  that  office  some  years  afterward,  and  was  mar- 
tyred here,  A.  D.  160,  at  the  age  of  ninety-five.  Smyrna  is  now  the  principal  emporium  of  trade  in  the 
Levant ;  it  is  called  by  the  Turks  Ismir,  and  the  population  is  estimated  to  include  70,000  Turks,  30,000 
Greeks,  15,000  Armenians,  10.000  Jews,  5,000  Franks,  <fec. 

t  This  is  a  small  island  in  the  Icarian  sea,  about  thirty  miles  from  the  nearest  point  on  the  western  coast 
of  Asia  Minor,  being  the  Posidium  promontory  in  Caria.  The  island  does  not  exceed  fifteen  miles  in  circum- 
ference, and  is  nothing  but  a  continued  rock,  very  mountainous,  and  very  barrea  The  only  spot  in  it  which 
has  now  any  cultivation,  or  is  indeed  worth  any,  is  a  small  valley  on  the  west,  where  the  richer  inhabitants 
have  a  few  gardens.  Its  coast  is  high,  and  consists  of  a  collection  of  capes,  which  form  so  many  ports, 
s«me  of  which  are  e.xcellent.  The  only  one  in  use,  however,  is  a  deep  gulf  on  the  northeast  of  the  island, 
sheltered  by  high  mountains  on  every  side  but  one,  where  it  is  protected  by  a  projecting  cape.  The  island 
produces  almost  nothing,  being  furnished  from  abroad  with  nearly  every  article  of  subsistence.  The  town 
is  situated  upon  a  high  rocky  mountain,  rising  immediately  from  the  sea.  It  contains  about  four  hundred 
houses,  which,  with  fifty  more  at  the  Scala,  form  all  the  habitations  in  the  island.  In  the  middle  of  the 
town,  near  the  top  of  the  mountain,  is  the  large  and  strong  monastery  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  built  by 
Alexius  Commenes.  About  half-way  down  the  mountain  from  the  town  to  the  Scala,  there  is  a  natural 
grotto  in  the  rock,  in  which  it  is  believed  by  the  natives  that  St.  John  abode  and  wrote  the  Apocalypse. 
They  have  built  a  small  church  over  it,  decked  out  in  the  usual  tawdry  style  of  the  Greek  churches. 

The  island  is  now  called  the  Patino.  On  account  of  its  stem  and  desolate  character,  the  Roman  emper- 
ors thought  it  a  suitable  spot  to  which  criminals  might  be  confined.  To  this  island,  accordingly,  the  apostle 
John  was  l)aiii.«l\ed  by  the  eiripernr  Uoniitian,  toward  the  end  of  his  reign,  or  about  the  year  95  or  96.  It  is 
usuai.y  stated,  after  Tertull,-^n,  that  his  banishment  took  place  after  the  apostle  had  been  miraculouslv  de- 
livered, unhurt,  from  a  vesse.  ^f  flaming  oil,  into  wluch  he  had  been  cast 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


SS5 


586  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

instructins:  the  people  in  the  principles  of  that  holy  religion  he  was  sent  to  propagate 
In  this  manner  did  John  continue  to  spend  his  time,  till  death  put  a  period  to  his 
labors,  which  happened  in  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Trajan.  His 
remains  were  deposited  in  the  city  of  Ephesus,  where  several  of  the  fathers  observe 
that  his  tomb,  in  their  time,  was  remaining  in  a  church,  which  was  built  to  his  honor 
and  called  by  his  name.  He  was  the  only  apostle  who  escaped  a  violent  death ;  not- 
withstanding which  he  is  deemed  a  martyr  on  account  of  his  having  undergone  I'ie 
mode  of  an  execution,  though  it  did  not  take  effect.  He  lived  the  longest  of  any  of 
the  apostles,  being  nearly  a  hundred  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

St.  John,  having  been  brought  up  to  the  business  of  a  fisherman,  never  received  a 
liberal  education ;  but  what  was  wanting  from  human  art  Avas  abundantly  supplied 
by  the  excellent  constitution  of  his  mind,  and  that  fulness  of  Divine  grace  with 
which  he  was  adorned.  His  humility  was  admirable,  always  studiously  concealing 
whatever  tended  to  his  own  honor.  In  his  epistles  he  never  styles  himself  either 
apostle  or  evangelist;  the  title  of  "presbyter,"  or  "  elder,"  is  all  he  assumes,  and 
probably  as  much  in  regard  to  his  age  as  his  office.  In  his  Gospel,  when  he  speaks 
of  "  the  disciple  whom  Jssus  loved,"  he  conceals  his  own  name,  leaving  the  reader  to 
discover  who  he  meant.  He  practised  charity  to  the  utmost  extent,  and  affection- 
ately recommended  it  to  all  mankind.  This,  and  the  love  of  our  neighbor,  is  the 
great  vein  that  runs  through  all  his  writings,  more  especially  his  epistles,  wherein  he 
urges  it  as  the  great  and  peculiar  law  of  Christianity,  and  without  which  all  preten- 
sions to  our  blessed  Saviour  are  vain  and  frivolous,  useless  and  insignificant.  When 
age  and  the  infirmities  of  natuie  had  rendered  him  so  weak  that  he  was  unable  to 
preach  to  the  people  any  longer,  he  was  led,  at  every  public  meeting,  to  the  church 
at  Ephesus,  where  he  generally  addressed  himself  to  the  people  in  these  words  • 
"  Little  children,  love  one  another."  When  his  hearers,  tired  with  the  constant  repe- 
tition of  the  same  thing,  asked  him  the  reason  of  it,  he  told  them  that  to  love  one 
another  was  the  command  of  our  blessed  Saviour. 

The  greatest  instance  of  our  apostle's  care  for  the  souls  of  men  is  displayed  in  the 
inimitable  writings  he  left  to  posterity ;  the  first  of  which  in  point  of  time,  though 
placed  last  in  the  sacred  canon,  is  his  Apocalypse,  or  book  of  Revelation,  which  he 
wrote  during  his  banishment  in  the  island  of  Patmos. 

Next  to  the  Apocalypse,  in  order  of  time,  are  his  three  epistles,  the  first  of  which 
is  catholic,  calculated  for  all  times  and  places,  containing  the  most  excellent  rules  for 
the  conduct  of  a  Christian  life,  pressing  to  holiness  and  pureness  of  manners,  and  not 
to  be  satisfied  with  a  naked  and  empty  profession  of  religion — not  to  be  led  away  with 
the  crafty  insinuation  of  seducers ;  and  cautioning  them  against  the  poisonous  prin- 
ciples and  practices  of  the  Gnostics.  The  apostle  here,  according  to  his  usual  mod- 
esty, conceals  his  name,  it  being  of  more  consequence  to  a  wise  man  what  is  said 
than  who  says  it.  It  appears  from  St.  Augustine  that  this  epistle  was  anciently 
ascribed  to  the  Parthians,  because  in  all  probability  St.  John  preached  the  gospel 
in  Parthia.  The  other  two  epistles  are  but  short,  and  directed  to  particular  per- 
sons ;  the  one  to  a  woman  of  honorable  quality,  encouraging  her  and  her  children  to 
charity,  to  perseverance  in  good  works,  and  to  show  no  countenance  to  false  teachers 
and  deceivers.  The  other  epistle  is  directed  to  the  charitable  and  hospitable  Gains, 
the  kindest  friend  and  the  most  courteous  entertainer  of  all  indigent  Christians. 

Before  he  undertook  the  task  of  writing  his  gospel,  he  caused  a  general  fast  to  be 
kept  in  all  the  churches  throughout  Asia,  to  implore  the  blessing  of  Heaven  on  so 
great  and  momentous  an  undertaking.  When  this  was  done,  he  set  to  work  and  com- 
pleted it  in  so  excellent  and  sublime  a  manner,  that  the  ancients  generally  compared 
him  to  an  eagle  soaring  aloft  among  the  clouds,  whither  the  meek  eye  of  man  was 
not  able  to  follow  him. 

St.  Paul,  in  speaking  of  the  writings  of  this  apostle,  says,  "Among  all  the  evan- 
gelical writers,  none  are  like  St.  John  for  the  sublimity  of  his  speech,  and  the  height 
of  his  discourses,  which  are  beyond  any  man's  capacity  fully  to  reach  and  compre- 
hend." This  is  corroborated  by  Epiphanius,  who  says.  "  St.  John,  by  a  loftiness  and 
speech  peculiar  to  himself,  acquaints  us,  as  it  were  out  of  the  clouds  and  dark  re- 
cesses of  wisdom,  with  the  divine  doctrine  of  the  Son  of  God." 

Such  is  the  character  given  of  the  writings  of  this  great  apostle  and  evangelist, 
who  was  honored  with  the  endearing  title  of  being  the  beloved  disciple  of  the  Son  of 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  587 

God ;  a  writer  so  profound  as  to  deserve,  by  way  of  eminence,  the  character  of  St. 
John  the  Divine. 

ST.  PHILIP. 

In  the  distribution  made  by  the  apostles  of  the  several  regions  of  the  world  in  which 
they  were  to  preach  the  gospel  after  our  Lord's  ascension,  the  upper  Asia  fell  to 
Philip,  where  he  labored  with  the  most  indefatigable  diligence  to  propagate  the  doc- 
trine of  his  Master  in  those  parts.  From  the  constancy  and  power  of  his  preaching, 
and  the  efficacy  of  his  miracles,  he  gained  numerous  converts,  whom  he  baptized  in 
the  Christian  faith,  curing  at  once  their  bodies  of  infirmities  and  distempers,  and  their 
souls  of  errors  and  idolatry.  Here  he  continued  a  considerable  time,  and,  before  he 
eft  the  place,  settled  the  churches  and  appointed  Christian  pastors  over  those  whom 
he  had  converted. 

After  Philip  had  for  several  years  successfully  exercised  his  apostolic  office  in  upper 
Asia,  he  went  to  Hierapolis  in  Phrygia,  a  city  remarkably  rich  and  populous,  but  at 
the  same  time  overrun  with  the  most  enormous  idolatry.  Philip  was  greatly  grieved 
to  see  the  people  so  wretchedly  enslaved  by  error  and  superstition ;  he,  therefore  re- 
peatedly offered  up  his  prayers  to  Heaven  in  their  behalf,  till,  by  his  prayers,  and 
often  calling  on  the  name  of  Christ,  he  procured  the  death,  or  at  least  the  vanishing 
of  a  dragon,  or  enormous  serpent,  to  which  they  paid  adoration. 

Having  thus  demolished  iheir  deity,  Philip  clearly  demonstrated  to  them  how 
ridiculous  and  unjust  it  was  to  pay  divine  honors  to  such  odious  creatures :  he  told 
them  that  God  alone  was  to  be  worshipped  as  the  great  parent  of  all  the  world,  who, 
in  the  beginning  made  men  after  his  glorious  image,  and  when  fallen  from  that  inno- 
cent and  happy  state,  sent  his  own  Son  into  the  world  to  redeem  them.  That,  in 
order  to  perform  this  glorious  work,  he  died  on  the  cross,  and  rose  again  from  the 
dead,  and  at  the  end  of  the  world  would  come  again  to  raise  all  the  sons  of  men  from 
the  chambers  of  the  dust,  and  either  sentence  them  to  everlasting  punishment,  or  re- 
ward them  with  everlasting  felicity. 

This  discourse  roused  them  from  their  lethargy,  insomuch  that  great  numbers, 
being  ashamed  of  their  idolatry,  immediately  forsook  it,  and  embraced  the  doctrine 
of  the  gospel.  But  the  success  attending  Philip's  endeavors  proved  fatal  to  him.  The 
magistrates  were  so  incensed  at  his  having  obtained  such  a  number  of  converts,  that 
they  resolved  to  put  an  effectual  stop  to  his  proceedings.  They  accordingly  ordered 
him  to  be  seized,  and  thrown  into  prison,  whence,  after  being  severely  scourged,  he 
was  led  to  execution,  and  put  to  death,  the  manner  of  which,  according  to  some,  was 
by  being  hanged  against  a  pillar,  and,  according  to  others,  by  crucifixion. 

As  soon  as  he  was  dead,  his  body  was  taken  down  by  Bartholemew,  his  fellow- 
laborer  in  the  gospel,  and  Mariamne  his  sister,  the  constant  companion  of  his  travels, 
and  decently  interred  in  a  private  place  near  the  ciiy,  both  of  whom,  for  performing 
this  friendly  office,  barely  escaped  with  their  lives. 

The  martyrdom  of  St.  Philip  happened  about  eight  years  after  that  of  St.  James 
the  Great 

ST.  BARTHOLEMEW. 

This  apostle  is  mentioned  among  the  immediate  disciples  of  our  Lord,  under  the 
appellation  of  Bartholemew,  though  it  is  evident,  from  divers  passages  in  Scripture, 
that  he  was  also  called  Nathaniel.* 

After  our  Lord's  ascension  into  heaven,  Bartholemew  visited  different  parts  of  the 
world,  in  order  to  propagate  the  gospel  of  his  Master,  and  at  length  penetrated  as  far 

»  That  Nathaniel  and  Bartholomew  were  only  two  names  for  one  and  the  same  person,  the  one  his  proper 
and  the  other  his  relative  name,  is  beyond  all  doubt ;  bnt  then  the  question  is,  upon  what  account  it  was 
that  he  had  his  relative  name  conferred  on  hun,  That  several  sects  in  the  Jewish  church  denominated 
themselves  from  some  famous  person  of  that  nation  (as  the  Essenes  did  from  Enoch,  and  the  Sadducees 
from  badoc),  ccm  not  be  denied  ;  and  therefore,  if  we  may  suppose  that  there  were  others  who  called  them- 
selves Tholmaeans,  from  Tholmai,  scholar  to  Heber,  the  ancient  master  of  the  Hebrews,  who  flourished  in 
Debir  and  Hebron,  it  will  be  no  hard  matter  to  make  Nathaniel  of  this  order  and  institution,  and  thereupon 
to  give  him  the  name  of  Bartholomew,  i.  e.,  a  scholar  of  the  Tholmaeans,  and  so  create  him,- as  he  is  said  to 
have  been,  a  doctor  of  the  .Jewish  law.  But  an  easier  explanation  of  this  matter  will  appear  from  the 
following  observations.  That,  as  the  first  syllable  of  his  name  signifies  a  son,  the  word  Bar-tholomew  wiU 
import  no  more  than  the  son  of  Tholomew,  or  Tholmai,  which  was  no  uncommon  name  among  the  lews 
And.  that  it  was  a  usual  thing  among  them  for  the  son  thus  to  denve  his  name,  is  evident  from  the  instance 
of  Bar-timsus,  which  is  interpreted  the  son  of  Tima;us  (Mark  x,  46),  and  that  of  Bar-iona  (Matt  xvi  17> 
which  St.  John  makes  the  same  with  Simon,  son  of  Jonas.  (John  xxj  ]5.)  j         v         •        .      », 


588  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

as  the  Hither  India.  Here  he  remained  a  considerable  tinoe,  and  then  went  to  Hiera- 
polis  in  Phrygia,  where  he  labored  (in  conjunction  with  Philip)  to  plant  Christianity 
in  those  parts;  aad  to  convince  the  blind  idolaters  of  the  evil  of  their  ways,  and  direct 
them  in  the  paths  which  lead  to  eternal  salvation.  This  enraging  the  bigoted  magis- 
trates, they  sentenced  Bartholemew  to  death,  and  he  was  accordingly  fastened  to  a 
cross ;  but  their  consciences  staring  them  in  their  faces  for  the  iniquity  they  were 
about  to  commit,  they  ordered  him  to  be  taken  down  and  set  at  liberty. 

In  consequence  of  this  our  apostle  left  Hierapolis,  and  went  to  Lycaonia,  where  he 
obtained  a  great  number  of  converts,  whom  he  instructed  and  trained  up  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Christian  religion.  From  Lycaonia  he  went  to  Albania,  a  city  on  the 
Caspian  sea,  a  place  miserably  overrun  with  idolatry,  from  which  he  labored  hard  to 
reclaim  the  people.  But  his  endeavors  to  "  turn  them  from  darkness  unto  light,  and 
from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God,"  instead  of  proving  effectual,  only  procured  his 
destruction.  The  magistrates  were  so  incensed  against  him,  that  they  prevailed  on 
the  governor  to  order  him  to  be  put  to  death,  which  was  accordingly  done  with  the 
most  distinguished  cruelty.  It  is  the  general  opinion  of  most  writers,  that  he  was 
first  severely  beaten  with  sticks,  then  crucified,  afterward  flayed  while  still  alive,  and 
lastly,  that  his  head  was  severed  from  his  body. 

ST.  MATTHEW. 

During  the  first  eight  years  after  our  blessed  Lord's  ascension  into  heaven,  Matthew 
continued  to  preach  the  gospel  with  great  assiduity  in  different  parts  of  Judea  ;  after 
which  he  left  the  country  of  Palestine  in  order  to  convert  the  Gentile  world.  But 
before  his  departure,  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  the  Jewish  converts  in  Judea, 
he  wrote  the  history  of  the  life  and  actions  of  the  blessed  Jesus,  which  he  left  among 
them  as  a  standing  monument  of  what  he  had  so  often  delivered  to  them  in  his 
sermons. 

After  Matthew  left  Judea,  he  travelled  into  various  parts,  but  the  particular  places 
he  visited  are  not  certainly  known.  However,  after  laboring  indefatigably  in  the 
vineyard  of  his  Master,  he  suffered  martyrdom  at  a  city  called  Nadabar  in  Ethiopia; 
but  the  particular  manner  of  his  death  is  not  certainly  known,  though  it  is  the  gen- 
eral conceived  opinion  that  he  was  slain  with  a  halberd.  His  martyrdom  is  com 
memoratedby  the  church  on  the  21st  day  of  September. 

St.  Matthew  was  a  remarkable  instance  of  the  power  of  religi  on,  in  bringing  men 
to  a  proper  temper  of  mind.  If  we  reflect  upon  his  circumstances  while  he  continued 
a  stranger  to  the  great  Redeemer  of  mankind,  we  shall  find  that  the  love  of  the  world 
had  possessed  his  heart.  But  notwithstanding  this,  no  sooner  did  Christ  call  him, 
than  he  abandoned,  without  the  least  scruple  or  hesitation,  all  his  riches ;  nay  he 
not  only  renounced  his  lucrative  trade,  but  ran  the  greatest  hazards  of  displeasing  ^ 
masters  who  employed  him,  for  quitting  their  service  without  cfiviiig  them  the  leas 
notice,  and  leaving  his  accounts  in  confusion.  Had  our  blessed  Saviour  appeared  as 
a  secular  prince,  clothed  with  tetnporal  power  and  authority,  it  would  have  been  no 
wonder  for  him  to  have  gone  over  to  his  service;  but  when  he  appeared  under  all 
the  circumstances  of  poverty,  when  he  seemed  to  promise  his  followers  nothing  but 
misery  and  sufferings  in  this  life,  and  to  propose  no  other  rewards  than  the  invisible 
encouragements  of  another  world,  his  change  appears  truly  wonderful  and  surprising. 
But  divine  grace  can  subdue  all  opposition. 

■  His  contempt  of  the  world  was  fully  manifested  in  his  exemplary  temperance  and 
abstemiousness  from  all  delights  and  pleasures  ;  insomuch  that  he  even  refused  the 
ordinary  conveniences  and  accommodations  of  life.  He  was  remarkably  modest  in 
the  opinion  he  entertained  of  himself  always  giving  the  preference  to  others,  even 
though  their  abilities  were  not  so  conspicuous  as  his  own.  The  rest  of  the  evangel- 
ists are  careful  to  mention  the  honor  of  his  apostleship,  but  speak  of  his  former  sor- 
did, dishonest,  and  disgraceful  course  of  life,  only  under  the  name  of  Levi ;  while 
he  himself  sets  it  down  with  all  its  circumstances,  under  his  own  proper  and  common 
name  ;  a  conduct  which  at  once  commends  the  prudence  and  candor  of  the  apostle, 
and  suggests  to  us  this  useful  reflection,  that  the  greatest  sinners  are  not  excluded 
from  divine  gtace ;  nor  can  any,  if  penitent,  have  just  reason  to  despair,  when  publi- 
cans and  sinners  find  mercy  at  the  throne  of  grace. 

The  Gospel  which  St.  Ma  tthew  wrote  at  the  entreaty  of  the  Jewish  converts. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  589 

,efore  he  left  Judea,  was  penned  in  the  Hebrew  language,  but  soon  after  translated 
,etore  ^^/^"/""*^^^^^  ,  ■  disciples.  After  the  Greek  translation  was  admitted,  the 
SlewcopVra   cM^  by  the  Nazar.i,  a  middle  sect  between 

Hebrew  copy  vvds      _     y  f    j^gj.  they  adhered  to  the  rites  and  ceremonies  ot 

hTMoslic  hw  andVl^;;  the  latTeTthey  b'elieved  in  Christ  and  embraced  his  reli- 
lln;  andhenc^  this  Gospel  has  been  styled  "  The  Gospel  according  to  the  He- 
brews,"  and  "  The  Gospel  of  the  Nazarenes. 

ST.  THOMAS. 
The  apostle  Thc^as.  after  our  Lord's  X:S':Zi:;::^lt;\r^^,tir^'Z 

i;Ta„t\";srBri?;ar?a';n^?.hT„=:^hto':s:/sL'.°S 

Persia  he  is  sa  d  to  have  met  with  the  magi,  or  wise  men,  who  had  taken  that  long 
ioTrneyatourSalbur's  birth  to  worship  him,  whom  he  baptized,  and  took  with 
him   as  his  companions  and  assistants  in  propagating  the  Uospei.  r  .u    „„. 

Leavin"  PerTia  he  travelled  into  Ethiopia,  preaching  the  glad  tidings  of  the  gos- 
pel; heding  the  sick,  and  working  other  miracles,  to  prove  he  had  his  commission 

^'TftStmfeiling  through  these  countries,  he  entered  India,  and  went  first  to  Soco- 
tora  an  Sknd  fn  the  Arabian  sea,  and  then  to  Cranganor,  whence,  having  con- 
verted  maTfrom  the  error  of  their  ways,  he  travelled  farther  into  the  east  Hav- 
Lg  successfully  preached  the  gospel  here,  he  returned  back  ^^  J^e  togdom  of  Cor^ 
mandel,  where,  at  Malipur,  the  metropolis  of  the  kingdom  w ti  Tte  ruptTbv 
of  the  Ganges  he  began  to  erect  a  place  for  divine  worship,  but  was  interrup.ea  oy 
?h'e!^l'oPaS?pHests,'and  Sagamo.Vnce  of  the  country      However,  afteT  he  h  ^ 

^erlra^  trS£tia\^  Tait^^wt:^  SaC^was  ^Tlt^el  b^  grSt 

Tht:;l^L';irstcts  ^itmed  the  Brachmans  who  plainly  perce^^^^^  that  their 
religion  would  be  soon  extirpated  unless  some  method  could  be  ^^^^^  °f  Pmtm^^ 
a  stop  to  the  progress  of  Christianity ;  they  therefore  resolved  to  pm  the  apo^^^^^^ 
death      At  a  small  distance  from  the  city  was  a  tomb,  whither  St.  i  homas  olten  re- 
ared for  privat?  devotion.     Hither  the  Brachmans  and  their  armed  followers  pursued 
h  m  ;  an  J  while  he  was  at  prayer,  they  first  threw  at  him  ^^^ower  of  darts  afte 
which  one  of  the  priests  ran  him  through  the  body  with  a  lance.     His  corpse  was 
Sen  up  by  his  disciples,  and  buried  inihe  church  he  had  caused  to  be  erected,  and 
which  was  afterward  improved  into  a  fabric  of  very  great  magnificence. 

St  Chrvsostori  says,  that  St.  Thomas,  who  at  first  was  the  weakest  and  most  m- 
credulousTf  auTheTpostles,  became,  through  Christ's  condescension  to  saUsfyh^ 
scrunle<=  and  the  power  of  the  divine  grace,  the  most  active  and  invincible  ot  them 
altra;eC<^  over  most  parts  of  the  world,  and  living  without  fear  in  the  midst  of 
barbarous  nations!\hroug'h  the  efficacy  of  that  Almighty  power,  which  can  make 
the  weakest  vessels  to  perform  acts  of  the  greatest  difficulty  and  moment. 

ST.    SIMON,  COMMONLY    CALLED   THE   ZeALOT. 

This  apostle,  in  the  catalogue  of  our  Lord's  chosen  disciples,  is  styled  "  Simoji  the 
Canaanite,"  whence  some  are  of  opinion  that  he  was  born  ^^  Cana,in  Galilee , 
and  it  is  generally  thought  that  he  was  the  bridegroom  mentioned  by  bt.  John,  at 
whose  marriage  our  blessed  Saviour  turned  the  water  into  wine.  .-^jc^e 

The  name  of  this  apostle  is  derived  from  the  Hebrew  word  hnah,  which  signifies 
zeal,  and  denotes  a  warm  and  sprightly  disposition.  He  did  not  however,  acquire 
this  name  from  his  ardent  aff-ection  to  his  Master,  and  the  desire  of  advancing  hs  re. 
licrion  in  the  world,  but  from  his  zealous  attachment  to  a  particular  sect  of  religion 
before  he  became  acquainted  with  his  great  Lord  and  Master.  a        u  i. 

In  order  to  explain  this  matter  more  clearly  to  the  understandmg  of  our  readers,  it  is 
necessary  to  observe,  that  as  there  were  several  sects  and  parties  among  the  Jews  so 
there  was  one,  either  a  distinct  sect,  or  at  least  a  branch  of  the  Pharisees,  called  the 
sect  of  the  Zealots.     This  sect  took  upon  them  to  inflict  punishments  m  extraordmary 


590  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

cases;  and  that  not  only  by  the  connivance,  but  with  the  leave  both  of  the  rulers  and 
people,  till,  in  process  of  time,  their  zeal  degenerated  into  all  kinds  of  licentiousness 
and  wild  extravagance ;  and  they  not  only  became  the  pests  of  the  commonwealth 
in  their  own  territories,  but  were  likewise  hated  by  the  people  of  those  parts  which 
belonged  to  the  Romans.  They  were  continually  urging  the  people  to  shake  off  the 
Roman  yoke  and  assert  their  natural  liberty,  taking  care,  when  they  had  thrown  all 
things  into  confusion,  to  make  their  own  advantage  of  the  consequences  arising  there- 
from. Josephus  gives  a  very  long  and  particular  account  of  them,  throughout  the 
whole  of  which  he  repeatedly  represents  them  as  the  great  plague  of  the  Jewish 
nation.  Various  attempts  were  made,  especially  by  Ananias,  the  high-priest,  to  re- 
duce them  to  order,  and  oblige  them  to  observe  the  rules  of  sobriety ;  but  all  endeav- 
ors proved  ineffectual.  They  continued  their  violent  proceedings,  and,  joining  with 
the  Idumeans,  committed  every  kind  of  outrage.  They  broke  into  the  sanctuary, 
slew  the  priests  themselves  before  the  altar,  and  filled  the  streets  of  Jerusalem  with 
tumults,  rapine,  and  blood.  Nay,  when  Jerusalem  was  closely  besieged  by  the  Ro- 
man army,  they  continued  their  detestable  proceedings,  creating  fresh  tumults  and 
factions,  and  were  indeed  the  principal  cause  of  the  ill  success  of  the  Jews  in  that 
fatal  war. 

This  is  a  true  account  of  the  sect  of  the  Zealots ;  though,  whatever  St.  Simon 
was  before,  we  have  no  reason  to  suspect  but  that  after  his  conversion  he  was  very 
zealous  for  the  honor  of  his  Master,  and  considered  all  those  who  were  enemies  to 
Christ  as  enemies  to  himself,  however  near  they  might  be  to  him  in  any  natural  rela- 
tion. As  he  was  very  exact  in  all  the  practical  duties  of  the  Christian  religion,  so 
he  showed  a  very  serious  and  pious  indignation  toward  those  who  professed  religion, 
and  a  faith  in  Christ,  with  their  mouths,  but  dishonored  their  sacred  profession  by 
their  irregular  and  vicious  lives,  as  many  of  the  first  professing  Christians  really  did. 
St.  Simon  continued  in  communion  with  the  rest  of  the  apostles  and  disciples  at 
Jerusalem,  and  at  the  feast  of  Pentecost  received  the  same  miraculous  gifts  of  the 
Holy  Ghost ;  so  that  he  was  qualified  with  the  rest  of  his  brethren  for  the  apostolic 
office.  In  propagating  the  gospel  of  the  Son  of  God,  we  can  not  doubt  of  his  exer- 
cising his  gifts  with  the  same  zeal  and  fidelity  as  his  fellow-apostles,  though  in 
what  part  of  the  world  is  uncertain.  Some  say  he  went  into  Egypt,  Cyrene,  and 
Africa,  preaching  the  gospel  to  the  inhabitants  of  those  remote  and  barbarous  coun- 
tries ;  and  others  add,  that  after  he  had  passed  through  those  burning  wastes,  he 
preached  the  gospel  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  western  parts,  and  even  in  Britain, 
where,  having  converted  great  multitudes,  and  sustained  the  greatest  hardships  and 
persecutions,  he  was  at  last  crucified,  and  buried  in  some  part  of  that  island,  but  the 
exact  place  where  is  unknown. 

ST.  JUDE. 

It  is  very  observable  of  this  apostle  that  the  evangelists  commonly  call  him,  not 
Jude,  but  either  Thaddaeus  or  Labbaeus;  the  reason  of  which,  in  all  human  proba- 
bility, is  from  the  particular  dislike  they  had  to  the  name,  which  was  so  nearly  simi- 
lar to  that  of  the  base  and  perfidious  Judas  Iscariot,  who  treacherously  sold  and 
betrayed  his  Master. 

Jude  was  brother  to  James  the  Less,  afterward  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  being  the  son 
of  Joseph  by  a  former  wife.  It  is  not  known  when  or  by  what  means  he  became 
a  disciple  of  our  blessed  Saviour,  there  not  being  anything  said  of  him  till  we  find 
him  in  the  catalogue  of  the  twelve  apostles ;  nor  afterward  till  Christ's  Last  Supper, 
when  discoursing  with  them  about  his  departure,  and  comforting  them  with  a  promise 
that  he  would  return  to  them  again,  meaning  after  his  resurrection  from  the  dead. 

The  sacred  records  are  so  very  short  in  their  accounts  of  this  apostle,  that  we  must 
be  beholden  to  other  ecclesiastical  writers  for  information  relative  to  his  conduct  after 
the  ascension  of  our  blessed  Lord  into  heaven.  Paulinus  tells  us  that  the  part  which 
fell  to  his  share  in  the  apostolic  division  of  the  provinces  was  Lybia;  but  he  does  not 
tell  us  whether  it  was  the  Cyrenian  Lybia  which  is  thought  to  have  received  the 
gospel  from  St.  Mark,  or  the  more  southern  parts  of  Africa.  But,  however  that  be, 
in  his  first  setting  out  to  preach  the  gospel,  he  travelled  up  and  down  Judea  and 
Galilee ;  then  through  Samaria  into  Idumea,  and  to  the  cities  of  Arabia  and  the 
neighboring  countries,  and  afterward  to  Syria  and  Mesopotamia:     Nicephorus  adds 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  591 

that  he  came  at  last  to  Edessa,  where  Agabarus  governed,  and  where  Thaddeus,  one 
of  the  seventy,  had  already  sown  the  seeds  of  the  gospel.  Here  he  perfected  what 
the  other  had  begun;  and  having  by  his  sermons  and  miracles  established  the  religion 
of  Jesus,  he  died  in  peace:  but  others  say  that  he  was  slain  at  Berites,  and  honorably 
buried  there.  The  writers  of  the  Latin  church  are  unanimous  in  declaring  that  he 
travelled  into  Persia,  where,  after  great  success  in  his  apostolical  ministry  for  many 
years,  he  was  at  last,  for  his  freely  and  openly  reproving  the  superstitious  rites  and 
customs  of  the  Magi,  cruelly  put  to  death. 

St.  Jude  wrote  only  one  epistle,  which  is  placed  the  last  of  those  seven  styled 
catholic  in  the  sacred  canon.  It  has  no  particular  inscription,  as  the  other  six  have, 
but  is  thought  to  have  been  primarily  intended  for  the  Christian  Jews  in  their  several 
dispersions,  as  were  the  epistles  of  the  apostle  Peter.  In  it  he  informs  them  that  he 
at  first  intended  to  have  wrote  to  them  concerning  the  "  common  salvation,"  in  order 
to  confirm  them  in  their  belief;  but,  finding  the  doctrine  of  Christ  attacked  on  all 
sides  by  heretics,  he  thought  it  more  necessary  to  exhort  them  to  stand  up  manfully 
in  defence  of  the  "  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,"  and  to  oppose  those  false 
teachers  who  so  earnestly  labored  to  corrupt  them ;  and  that  they  might  know  these 
the  better,  he  describes  them  in  their  proper  colors,  and  foretells  their  future  if  not 
impending  danger ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  he  endeavors  to  exhort  them,  by  all  gentle 
methods  to  save  them,  and  to  take  them  "  out  of  the  fire"  into  which  their  own  folly 
had  cast  them. 

It  was  some  time  before  this  epistle  was  generally  received  in  the  church.  The 
author  indeed,  like  St.  James,  St.  John,  and  sometimes  St.  Paul,  does  not  call  him- 
self an  apostle,  but  only  "  the  servant  of  Christ."  But  he  has  added  what  is  equiv- 
alent, Jude  "  the  brother  of  James,"  a  character  which  can  only  belong  to  himself: 
and  surely  the  humility  of  a  follower  of  Christ  should  be  no  objection  to  his  writings. 

4 

ST.  MATTHIAS. 

Matthias  was  one  of  the  seventy  disciples  whom  our  blessed  Lord  made  choice  of 
to  assist  him  in  the  discharge  of  his  public  ministry.  After  his  death,  Matthias  was 
elected  into  the  apostleship,  to  supply  the  place  of  Judas,  who  was  so  struck  with 
remorse  at  having  hetrayed  his  Master,  as  to  put  a  period  to  his  existence. 

After  our  Lord's  ascension  into  heaven,  Matthias  spent  the  first  year  of  his  minis- 
try in  Judea,  where  he  was  so  successful  as  to  bring  over  a  prodigious  number  of 
people  to  the  Christian  faith.  From  Judea  he  travelled  into  other  countries,  and, 
proceeding  eastward,  came  at  length  to  Ethiopia.  Here  he  likewise  made  many 
converts,  but  the  inhabitants  in  general  being  of  a  fierce  and  un tractable  temper, 
resolved  to  take  away  his  life,  which  they  effected  by  first  stoning  him,  and  then 
severing  his  head  from  his  body. 

ST.  MARK. 

In  the  dispersion  of  the  apostles  for  propagating  the  gospel  in  different  parts  of  the 
world,  after  our  Lord's  ascension  into  heaven,  St.  Mark  was  by  Peter  sent  into  Egypt, 
where  he  soon  planted  a  church  in  Alexandria,  the  metropolis ;  and  such  was  his 
success,  that  he  converted  prodigious  multitudes  of  people,  both  men  and  women,  to 
the  Christian  religion. 

St.  Mark  did  not  confine  himself  to  Alexandria  and  the  oriental  parts  of  Egypt,  but 
removed  westward  to  Lybia,  passing  through  the  countries  of  Marmarcia,  Pentapo- 
lis,  and  others  adjacent,  where,  though  the  people  were  both  barbarous  in  their  man- 
ners and  idolatrous  in  their  worship,  yet  by  his  preaching  and  miracles  he  prevailed 
on  them  to  embrace  the  tenets  of  the  gospel ;  nor  did  he  leave  them  till  he  had  con- 
firmed them  in  the  faith. 

After  this  long  tour  he  returned  to  Alexandria,  where  he  preached  with  the  great- 
est freedom,  ordered  and  disposed  of  the  affairs  of  the  church,  and  wisely  provided 
for  a  succession  by  constituting  governors  and  pastors  of  it.  But  the  restless  enemy 
of  the  souls  of  men  would  not  suffer  our  apostle  to  continue  in  peace  and  quietness : 
for  while  he  was  assiduously  laboring  in  the  vineyard  of  his  Master,  the  idolatrous 
inhabitants,  about  the  time  of  Easter,  when  they  were  celebrating  the  solemni- 
ties of  Serapis,  tumultuously  seized  him,  and,  binding  his  feet  with  cords,  dragged 
^im  through  the  streets  and  over  the  most  craggy  places  to  the  Bucelus,  a  precipice 


592  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

near  the  sea,  leaving  him  there  in  a  lonesome  prison  for  that  night ;  but  his  great  and 
beloved  Master  appeared  to  him  in  a  vision,  comforting  and  encouraging  him  under 
the  ruins  of  his  shattered  body. 

Early  the  next  morning  the  tragedy  began  afresh;  and  they  dragged  him  about  in 
the  same  cruel  and  barbarous  manner  till  he  expired.  But  their  malice  did  not  end 
with  his  death,  for  they  burnt  his  mangled  body  after  they  had  so  inhumanly  deprived 
it  of  life ;  but  the  Christians  gathered  up  his  bones  and  ashes,  and  decently  interred 
them  near  the  place  where  he  used  to  preach.  His  remains  were  afterward,  with 
great  pomp,  removed  from  Alexandria  to  Venice,  where  they  were  religiously  honored, 
and  he  was  adopted  the  titular  saint  and  patron  of  that  slate. 

He  suffered  martyrdom  on  the  25th  of  April,  but  the  year  is  not  absolutely  known ; 
the  most  probable  opinion  is  that  it  happened  about  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Nero. 

His  Gospel,  the  only  writing  he  left  behind  him,  was  written  at  the  entreaty  and 
earnest  desire  of  the  converts  at  Rome,  who,  not  content  with  having  heard  St.  Peter 
preach,  pressed  St.  Mark,  his  disciple,  to  commit  to  writing  an  historical  account  of 
what  he  had  delivered  to  them,  which  he  performed  with  equal  faithfulness  and 
brevity,  and  being  perused  and  approved  by  St.  Peter,  it  was  commanded  to  be  pub- 
licly read  in  their  assemblies.  It  was  frequently  styled  St.  Peter's  gospel,  not  be- 
cause he  dictated  it  to  St.  Mark,  but  because  the  latter  composed  it  from  the  accounts 
St.  Peter  usually  delivered  in  his  discourse  to  the  people.  And  this  is  probably  the 
reason  of  what  St.  Chrysostom  observes,  that  in  his  style  and  manner  of  expression 
he  delights  to  imitate  St.  Peter,  representing  a  great  deal  in  a  few  words. 

ST.  LUKE. 

The  Evangelist  St.  Luke  was  a  native  of  Antioch  in  Syria,  and  by  profession  a 
physician ;  and  it  is  the  general  opinion  of  most  ancient  historians,  that  he  was  also 
well  acquainted  with  the  art  of  painting. 

After  our  Lord's  ascension  into  heaven,  he  spent  a  great  part  of  his  time  with  St. 
Paul,  whom  he  accompanied  to  various  places,  and  greatly  assisted  in  bringing  over 
proselytes  to  the  Christian  faith.  This  so  endeared  him  to  that  apostle,  that  he  seems 
delighted  with  owning  him  for  his  fellow-laborer,  and  in  calling  him  "  the  beloved 
physician,"  and  the  "  brother  whose  praise  is  in  the  gospel." 

St.  Luke  preached  the  gospel  with  great  success  in  a  variety  of  places,  independent 
of  his  assisting  St.  Paul.  He  travelled  into  different  parts  of  Egypt  and  Greece,  in 
the  latter  of  which  countries  the  idolatrous  priests  were  so  incensed  against  him 
that  they  put  him  to  death,  which  they  effected  by  hanging  him  on  the  branch 
of  an  olive-tree.     The  anniversary  of  his  martyrdom  is  held  on  the  18th  of  October. 

St.  Luke  wrote  tAvo  books  for  the  use  of  the  church  ;  namely  his  Gospel,  and 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  Both  these  he  dedicated  to  Theophilus,  which  many  of 
the  ancients  suppose  to  be  a  feigned  name,  denoting  a  lover  of  God,  a  title  common 
to  all  sincere  Christians.  But  others  think  it  was  a  real  person,  because  the  title  of 
"most  excellent"  is  attributed  to  him  ;  which  was  the  usual  form  of  address,  in  those 
times,  to  princes,  and  other  distinguished  characters. 

His  Gospel  contains  the  principal  transactions  of  the  life  of  our  blessed  Redeemer ; 
and  in  his  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  which  it  is  probable  he  wrote  at  Rome  about  the 
lime  of  Paul's  imprisonment,  are  recorded  the  most  material  actions  of  the  principal 
apostles,  especially  St.  Paul,  whose  activity  in  the  cause  of  Christ  made  him  bear  a 
very  great  part  in  the  labors  of  his  Master  ;  and  St.  Luke,  being  his  almost  constant 
attendant,  and  privy  to  his  most  intimate  transactions,  was  consequently  capable  of 
giving  a  more  full  and  satisfactory-  account  of  them  than  any  other  of  the  apostles. 

In  both  these  treatises  his  manner  of  writing  is  exact  and  accurate  ;  his  style  noble 
and  elegant,  sublime  and  lofty,  and  yet  clear  and  perspicuous,  flowing  with  an  easy 
and  natural  grace  and  sweetness,  admirably  adapted  to  an  historical  design.  In 
short,  as  an  historian  he  was  faithful  in  his  relations,  and  elegant  in  his  writings; 
as  a  minister,  careful  and  diligent  for  the  good  of  souls ;  as  a  Christian,  devout 
and  pious;  and  to  crown  all  the  rest,  he  laid  down  his  life  in  testimony  of  the 
gospel  he  had  both  preached  and  published  to  the  world. 

ST.  BARNABAS. 

After  our  Lord's  ascension  into  heaven,  Barnabas  continued  for  a  considerable  time 
with  St  Paul,  being  his  constant  attendant  wherever  he  went.     He  travelled  with 


fflSTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  593 

mm  to  a  great  variety  of  places  in  different  parts  of  the  world,  and  was  of  the 
most  infinite  service  in  helping  him  to  propagate  the  gospel  of  his  great  Lord 
and  Master.  At  length,  however,  a  dispute  arose  between  them  while  they  were 
at  Antioch,  the  issue  of  which  was,  that  Barnabas  left  Paul  at  Antioch,  and  retired 
to  Cyprus,  his  native  country. 

After  this  separation  from  St.  Paul,  the  sacred  writings  give  us  no  account  of  St. 
Barnabas ;  nor  are  the  ecclesiastical  writers  agreed  among  themselves  with  regard 
to  the  actions  of  our  apostle,  after  his  sailing  for  Cyprus.  This,  however,  seems 
to  be  certain,  that  he  did  not  spend  the  whole  remainder  of  his  life  in  that  island, 
but  visited  different  parts  of  the  world,  preaching  the  glad  tidings  of  the  gospel, 
healing  the  sick,  and  working  other  miracles  among  the  Gentiles.  After  long 
and  painful  travels,  attended  with  different  degrees  of  success  in  different  places, 
he  returned  to  Cyprus,  his  native  country,  where  he  suffered  martyrdom  in  the 
following  manner :  certain  Jews  coming  from  Syria  and  Salamis,  where  Barnabas 
was  then  preaching  the  gospel,  being  highly  exasperated  at  his  extraordinary  suc- 
cess, fell  upon  him  as  he  was  disputing  in  the  synagogue,  dragged  him  out,  and 
after  the  most  inhuman  tortures,  stoned  him  to  death.  His  kinsman,  John  Mark, 
who  was  a  spectator  of  this  barbarous  action,  privately  interred  his  body  in  a 
cave ;  where  it  remained  till  the  time  of  the  emperor  Zeno,  in  the  year  of  Christ 
485,  when  it  was  discovered,  with  St.  Matthew's  Gospel,  in  Hebrew,  written  with 
his  own  hand,  lying  on  his  breast. 

TIMOTHY. 

This  great  assertor  of  the  cause  of  Christ  was  a  disciple  of  St.  Paul,  and  born  at 
Lystra  in  Lyaconia.  His  father  was  a  Gentile,  but  his  mother  was  a  Jewess.  Her 
name  was  Eurice,  and  that  of  his  grandmother  Lais.  These  particulars  are  taken 
notice  of,  because  St.  Paul  commends  their  piety,  and  the  good  education  which  they 
had  given  Timothy. 

When  St.  Paul  came  to  Derbe  and  Lystra,  about  the  year  of  Christ  51  or  52,  the 
brethren  gave  such  an  advantageous  testimony  of  the  merit  and  good  disposition  of 
Timothy,  that  the  apostle  took  him  with  him,  in  order  to  assist  him  in  propagating 
the  doctrine  of  his  great  Lord  and  Master.  Timothy  applied  himself  to  labor  with 
St.  Paul  in  the  business  of  the  gospel,  and  did  him  very  important  services,  through 
the  whole  course  of  his  preaching.  St.  Paul  calls  him  not  only  his  dearly  beloved 
son,  but  also  his  brother,  the  companion  of  his  labors,  and  a  man  of  God. 

This  holy  disciple  accompanied  St.  Paul  lo  Macedonia,  to  Philippi,  to  Thessalonica, 
to  Berea ;  and  Avhen  the  apostle  went  from  Berea,  he  left  Timothy  and  Silas  there, 
to  confirm  the  converts.  When  he  came  to  Athens,  he  sent  for  Timothy  to  come 
thither  to  him:  and  when  he  was  come,  and  had  given  him  an  account  of  the 
churches  of  Macedonia,  St.  Paul  sent  him  back  to  Thessalomca,  whence  he  after- 
ward returned  with  Silas,  and  came  to  St.  Paul  at  Corinth.  There  he  continued 
with  him  for  some  time,  and  the  apostle  mention;5  him  with  Silas,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  two  Epistles  which  he  then  wrote  to  the  Thessalonians. 

Some  years  after  this,  St.  Paul  sent  Timothy  and  Erastus  into  Macedonia ;  and 
gave  Timothy  orders  to  call  at  Corinth,  to  refresh  the  minds  of  the  Corinthians  with 
regard  to  the  truths  which  he  had  inculcated  in  them.  Some  time  after,  writing  to 
the  same  Corinthians,  he  recommends  them  to  take  care  of  Timothy,  and  send  him 
back  in  peace ;  after  which  Timothy  returned  to  St.  Paul  into  Asia,  who  there  stayed 
for  him.  They  Avent  together  into  Macedonia;  and  the  apostle  puts  Timothy's  name 
with  his  own  before  the  second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  which  he  Avrote  to  them 
from  Macedonia,  about  the  middle  of  the  year  of  Christ  57.  And  he  sends  his  recom- 
mendations to  the  Romans  in  the  letter  which  he  wrote  from  Corinth  the  same  yar. 

When  Si.  Paul  returned  from  Rome,  in  64,  he  left  Timothy  at  PZphesus  to'take 
care  of  that  church,  of  which  he  was  the  first  bishop,  as  he  is  recognised  by  the 
council  of  Chalcedon.  St.  Paul  wrote  to  him  from  Macedonia  the  first  of  the'  two 
letters  which  are  addressed  to  him.  He  recommends  him  to  be  more  moderate  in 
his  austerities,  and  to  drink  a  little  wine,  because  of  the  weakness  of  his  stomach, 
and  his  frequent  infirmities.  After  the  apostle  came  to  Rome  in  the  year  65,  being 
then  very  near  his  death,  he  wrote  to  him  his  second  letter,  which  is  full  of  marks  of 
kindness  and  tenderness  for  this  his  dear  disciple;  and  which  is  justly  looked  upon  as 
the  last  will  of  St.  Paul.     He  desires  him  to  come  to  Rome  to  him  before  winter, 


094  A  NEW  AND   COMPLETE 

and  bring  with  him  several  things  which  he  had  left  at  Troas.  If  Tiniuthy  went  to 
Rome,  as  it  is  probable  he  did,  he  must  have  been  an  eyewitness  of  the  martyrdom 
of  Paul,  which  happened  in  the  year  of  Christ  66. 

After  Timothy  had  visited  Paul  at  Rome,  he  returned  to  Ephesus,  where  he  con- 
tinued to  govern  the  church  as  its  bishop,  without  the  least  interruption,  for  a  con- 
siderable time,  till  at  length  he  fell  a  victim  to  the  malice  of  the  pagans,  who  were 
his  most  inveterate  enemies.  These  heathens  made  a  great  feast,  in  the  celebration 
of  which  they  carried  in  procession  the  images  of  their  idols,  being  all  masked,  and 
armed  with  clubs  and  other  offensive  weapons.  Timothy,  seeing  the  procession,  was 
so  irritated  at  their  idolatry  and  superstition,  that  he  rushed  in  among  them  in  order 
to  stop  their  proceedings ;  upon  which  they  immediately  fell  upon  him,  and,  with 
their  clubs,  beat  him  in  so  unmerciful  a  manner  that  he  soon  expired.  They  left  the 
body  on  the  spot  where  they  had  murdered  him,  which  was  removed  thence  by 
some  of  his  disciples,  and  decently  interred  on  the  top  of  a  mountain  at  a  small 
distance  from  the  city.  The  Greeks  commemorate  his  martyrdom  on  the  22d  of 
January,  the  day  on  which  it  is  supposed  he  gave  up  his  life  in  defence  of  the  doc- 
trine he  had  long  labored  to  propagate ;  and  during  which  time  he  had  brought  over 
great  numbers  of  people  to  embrace  the  truth  of  the  Christian  religion. 

TITUS. 

Titus  was  a  native  of  Greece,  and  a  Gentile  by  birth ;  but  was  converted  to  tfte 
Christian  faith  by  the  apostle  Paul,  who,  in  consequence  of  his  strict  adherence  to 
the  doctrine  of  Christ,  calls  him  his  son.  St.  Jerome  tells  us  that  he  was  St.  Paul's 
interpreter ;  and  that,  probably,  because  he  might  write  what  Paul  dictated,  or  trans- 
late into  Greek  what  he  had  written  in  Latin. 

Soon  after  the  conversion  of  Titus,  the  apostle  Paul  took  him  with  him  to  Jerusa- 
lem; which  was  at  the  time  when  he  went  thither  about  deciding  the  dispute  then 
in  agitation  relative  to  the  converted  Gentiles  being  made  subject  to  the  ceremonies 
of  the  Mosaic  law.  On  their  arrival  there,  some  of  the  people  were  desirous  that 
Thus  should  be  circumcised;  but  this  was  not  only  refused  by  Titus,  but  totally 
objected  to  by  Paul. 

After  this  controversy  was  ended  at  Jerusalem,  Paul  sent  Titus  thence  to  Cor- 
inth, in  order  to  adjust  some  disputes  which  had  taken  place  in  the  church  of  that 
city.  Titus  was  received  by  the  people  with  the  greatest  marks  of  respect;  and, 
from  the  various  discourses  he  preached  on  the  occasion,  was  so  successful  as  effec- 
tually to  discharge  the  business  on  which  he  was  sent. 

After  staying  some  time  at  Corinth,  Titus  went  thence  into  Macedonia,  in  order 
to  inform  Paul  of  the  state  of  the  church  in  that  city.  Paul  was  well  pleased 
with  the  account  he  gave,  and  the  success  of  his  embassy;  and  intending  himself  to 
go  to  Corinth,  desired  Titus  to  return  thither,  to  make  some  necessary  preparations 
previous  to  his  departure  for  that  city.  Titus  readily  undertook  the  journey,  and 
immediately  set  off,  carrying  with  him  St.  Paul's  second  epistle  to  the  Corinthians. 

Titus  was  made  bishop  of  the  island  of  Crete,  about  the  sixty-third  year  after 
Christ,  when  St.  Paul  was  obliged  to  quit  that  island,  in  order  to  take  care  of  the 
other  churches.  The  following  year,  Paul  wrote  him  to  desire,  that  as  soon  as  he 
should  have  sent  Tychifus  to  him  for  supplying  his  place  in  Crete,  he  would  come  to 
hini  to  Nicopolis,  in  Epirus,  where  the  apostle  intended  to  pass  his  winter. 

The  subject  of  this  epistle  is  to  represent  to  Titus  what  are  the  qualities  that  a 
bishop  should  be  endued  with.  As  the  principal  function  which  Titus  was  to  exer- 
cise in  the  isle  of  Crete  was  to  ordain  priests  and  bishops,  it  was  highly  incumbent 
on  him  to  make  a  discreet  choice.  The  apostle  also  gives  him  a  sketch  of  the  ad- 
vice and  instructions  which  he  was  to  propound  to  all  sorts  of  persons:  to  the  aged, 
both  men  and  women  ;  to  young  people  of  each  sex ;  to  slaves  or  servants.  He°ex- 
horts  him  to  keep  a  strict  eye  over  the  Cretans;  and  to  reprove  therxi  with  severity, 
as  being  a  people  addicted  to  lying,  wickedness,  idleness,  and  gluttony.  And,  as 
many  Jews  were  in  the  churches  of  Crete,  he  exhorts  Titus  to  oppose  their  vain  tra- 
ditions and  Jewish  fables  ;  and  at  the  same  time  to  show  them  that  the  observation 
of  the  law  ceremonies  is  no  longer  necessary;  that  the  distinction  of  meat  is  abol- 
ielied  ;  aud  that  everything  is  pure  and  clean  to  those  that  are  so  themselves.  He 
puts  him  in  mind  of  exhorting  the  faithful  to  be  obedient  to  temporal  power ;  to 


fflSTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  595 

avoid  disputes,  quarrels,  and  slander ;   to  apply  themselves  to  honest  callings,  and 
to  shun  the  company  of  a  heretic,  after  the  first  and  second  admonition. 

Titus  was  deputed  to  preach  the  gospel  in  Dalmatia,  where  he  was  situated  when 
the  apostle  wrote  his  second  epistle  to  Timothy.  He  afterward  returned  into  Crete, 
from  which  it  is  said  he  propagated  the  gospel  into  the  neighboring  islands.  He  died 
at  the  age  of  ninety-four,  and  was  buried  in  Crete.  The  Greeks  keep  his  festival  on 
the  25th' of  August,  and  the  Latins  on  the  4th  of  January. 

JOHN  MARK. 

John  Mark,  cousin  to  St.  Barnabas  and  a  disciple  of  his,  was  the  son  of  a  Christian 
woman  named  Mary,  who  had  a  house  in  Jerusalem,  where  the  apostles  and  the 
faithful  generally  used  to  meet.  Here  they  were  at  prayers  in  the  night,  when  St. 
Peter,  who  was  delivered  out  of  prison  by  the  angel,  came  and  knocked  at  the  door ; 
and  in  this  house  the  celebrated  church  of  Sion  was  said  to  have  been  afterward 
established. 

John  Mark,  whom  some  very  improperly  confound  with  the  Evangelist  St.  Mark, 
adhered  to  St.  Paul  and  St.  Barnabas,  and  followed  them  in  their  return  to  Antioch. 
He  continued  in  their  company  and  service  till  they  came  to  Perga,  in  Pamphylia; 
but  then,  seeing  that  they  were  undertaking  a  longer  journey,  he  left  them  and 
returned  to  Jerusalem.     This  happened  in  the  year  45  of  the  common  era. 

Some  years  after,  that  is  to  say  in  the  year  51,  Paul  and  Barnabas  preparing  to 
return  into  Asia,  in  order  to  visit  the  churches  which  they  had  formed  there,  the  lat- 
ter was  of  opinion  that  John  should  accompany  them  in  this  journey  :  but  Paul  would 
not  consent  to  it ;  upon  which  occasion  these  two  apostles  separated.  Paul  went  to 
Asia,  and  Barnabas  with  John  Mark  to  the  isle  of  Cyprus.  What  John  Mark  did 
after  this  journey  we  do  not  know,  till  we  find  him  at  Rome  in  the  year  63,  perform- 
ing signal  services  for  St.  Paul  during  his  imprisonment. 

The  apostle  speaks  advantageously  of  him  in  his  epistle  to  the  Colossians :  "  Mar- 
cus, sister's  son  to  Barnabas,  saluteth  you.  If  he  cometh  unto  you,  receive  him." 
He  makes  mention  of  him  again  in  his  epistle  to  Philemon,  written  in  the  year  63,  at 
which  time  he  was  with  St.  Paul  at  Rome ;  but  in  the  year  65  he  was  with  Timothy 
in  Asia.  And  St.  Paul,  writing  to  Timothy,  desires  him  to  bring  Marcus  to  Rome, 
adding  that  he  was  useful  to  him  for  the  ministry  of  the  gospel. 

In  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches,  the  festival  of  John  Mark  is  kept  on  the  27th  of 
September.  Some  say  that  he  was  bishop  of  Biblis,  in  Phoenicia.  The  Greeks  give 
him  the  title  of  apostle,  and  say  that  the  sick  were  cured  by  his  shadow  only.  It  is 
very  probable  that  he  died  at  Ephesus,  where  his  tomb  was  very  much  celebrated 
and  resorted  to.  He  is  sometimes  called  simply  John,  or  Mark.  The  year  of  his 
death  we  are  strangers  to,  and  shall  not  collect  all  that  is  said  of  him  in  apocryphal 
and  uncertain  authors. 

CLEMENT. 

Clement  is  mentioned  by  St.  Paul  in  his  epistle  to  the  Philippians,  where  the 
apostle  says  that  Clement's  name  is  written  in  the  book  of  life.  The  generality  of 
the  fathers  and  other  interpreters  make  no  question  but  that  this  is  the  same  Clement 
who  succeeded  St.  Paul,  after  Linus  and  Anaclet,  in  the  government  of  the  church 
of  Rome;  and  this  seems  to  be  intimated  when,  in  the  office  for  Si.  Clement's  day, 
that  church  appoints  this  part   of  the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians  to  be  read. 

"We  find  several  things  relating  to  Clement's  life  in  the  recognitions  and  constitu- 
tions called  apostolic;  but  as  those  works  are  not  all  looked  upon  as  authentic,  though 
there  may  be  truths  in  some  of  them  derived  from  the  tradition  of  the  first  ages, 
little  stress  is  to  be  laid  upon  their  testimony.  St.  Chrysostrom  thinks  that  Clement, 
mentioned  by  St.  Paul  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Philippians,  was  one  of  the  apostle's  con- 
stant fellow-travellers.  Irenaeus,  Origin,  Clemens  of  Alexandria,  and  others  of  the 
ancients,  assert  that  Clement  was  a  disciple  of  the  apostles  ;  that  he  had  seen  them 
and  heard  their  instructions.  St.  Epiphanius,  Jerome,  Rufinus,  Bede,  and  some 
others,  were  of  opinion,  that  as  the  apostles  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  could  not  be  con- 
tinually at  Rome,  by  reason  of  the  frequent  journeys  which  they  were  obliged  to 
make  to  other  places,  and  it  was  not  proper  that  the  city  of  Rome  should  be  without 


>96  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

a  bishop  tnere  was  a  necessity  to  supply  the  want  of  them  by  establishing  Linus, 
Anaclet,  and  Clement,  there.  The  constitutions  inform  us  that  Linus  was  ordained  by 
St.  Paul ;  Tertullian  and  Epiphanius  say  that  St.  Peter  ordained  Clement.  Rufinus 
tells  us  that  this  apostle  chose  St.  Clement  for  his  successor.  But  Epiphanius  be- 
lieves, that  after  he  had  been  made  bishop  of  Rome  by  St.  Peter,  he  refused  to  exer- 
cise his  office  till,  after  the  death  of  Linus  and  Anaclet,  he  was  obliged  to  take  upon 
him  the  care  of  the  church ;  and  this  is  the  most  generally-received  opinion.  St. 
Peter's  immediate  successor  was  Linus ;  Linus  was  succeeded  by  Anaclet,  and 
Anaclet  by  Clement,  in  the  year  of  Christ  91,  which  was  the  tenth  of  the  reign  of 
Domitian. 

During  his  government  over  the  church  of  Rome,  that  of  Corinth  was  disturbed 
by  a  spirit  of  division,  upon  which  Clement  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Corinthians,  which 
is  still  extant,  and  was  so  much  esteemed  by  the  ancients  that  they  read  it  publicly 
in  many  churches,  and  some  have  been  inclined  to  range  it  among  the  canonical 
writings. 

In  what  manner  Clement  conducted  himself,  and  how  he  escaped  the  general  per- 
secution under  the  emperor  Domitian,  we  have  not  any  certain  accounts ;  but  we  are 
very  well  assured  that  he  lived  to  the  third  year  of  the  emperor  Trajan,  which  is  the 
hundredth  of  the  Christian  era.  His  festival  is  set  down  by  Bede,  and  all  the  Latin 
martyrologists,  on  the  23d  of  November,  and  the  Greeks  honor  him  on  the  24th  and 
25th  of  the  same  month.  Rufinus  and  Pope  Zozimus  give  him  the  title  of  martyr; 
and  the  Roman  church,  in  its  canon,  places  him  among  the  saints  who  have  sacrificed 
their  lives  in  the  cause  of  Christ. 

Thus  have  we  given  the  most  ample  account  of  the  followers  of  the  blessed  Jesus; 
the  persons  who  spread,  and  caused  to  be  spread,  the  light  of  the  gospel  over  the 
whole  world,  removed  the  veil  of  ignorance  and  superstition  drawn  over  the  king- 
doms of  the  earth,  and  taught  us  the  method  of  attaining  eternal  happiness  in  the 
courts  of  the  New  Jerusalem. 

May  we  all  follow  their  glorious  examples !  May  we  imitate  their  faith,  their 
piety,  their  charity,  and  their  love !  Then  shall  we  "  pass  through  things  temporal 
in  such  a  manner  that  we  shall  finally  gain  the  things  eternal,"  and,  through  the 
merits  of  an  all-perfect  Redeemer,  be  admitted  as  worthy  guests  at  the  marriage 
supper  of  the  Lamb. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 
THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    OF    ASIA. 

The  sure  word  of  prophecy  has  unfolded  many  a  desolation  which  has  come  upon 
the  earth ;  but  while  it  thus  reveals  the  operation,  in  some  of  its  bearings,  of  the 
"  mystery  of  iniquity,"  it  forms  itself  a  part  of  the  "  mystery  of  godliness :"  and  it 
is  no  less  the  testimony  of  Jesus,  because  it  shows,  as  far  as  earthly  ruins  can  reveal, 
the  progress  and  the  issue  of  the  dominion  of  "other  lords"  over  the  hearts  of  the 
children  of  men.  The  sins  of  men  have  caused,  and  the  cruelty  of  men  has  effected, 
the  dire  desolations  which  the  word  of  God  foretold.  Signs  and  tokens  of  his  judg- 
ments there  indeed  have  been,  yet  they  are  never  to  be  found  but  where  iniquity  first 
prevailed.  And  though  all  other  warnings  were  to  fail,  the  sight  of  his  past  judg- 
ments and  the  sounding  of  those  thai  are  to  come,  might  teach  the  unrepenting  and 
unconverted  sinner  to  give  heed  to  the  threatenings  of  his  word,  and  to  the  terrors  of 
the  Lord,  and  to  try  his  ways  and  turn  unto  God  while  space  for  repentance  may  be 
found,  ere,  as  death  leaves  him,  judgment  shall  find  him.  And  may  not  the  desola- 
tions which  God  has  wrought  upon  the  earth,  and  that  accredit  his  word,  wherein 
life  and  immortality  are  brought  to  light,  teach  the  man  whose  God  is  the  world,  to 
cease  to  account  it  Avorthy  of  his  worship  and  of  his  love,  and  to  abjure  that  "  covet- 
ousness  which  is  idolatry,"  till  the  idol  of  mammon  in  the  temple  within  shall  fall,  as 
fell  the  image  of  Dagon  before  the  ark  of  the  Lord  in  which  "  the  testimony"  was 
Kept  ? 

But  naming,  as  millions  do,  the  name  of  Christ  without  departing  from  iniquity, 
there  is  another  warning  voice  that  may  come  more  closely  to  them  all.     And  it  is 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


597 


38 


D'JS  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

not  only  from  the  desolate  regions  where  heathens  dwelt,  which  show  how  holy  men 
of  old  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost;  but  also  from  the  ruins  of  some 
of  the  cities  where  churches  were  formed  by  apostles,  and  where  the  religion  of 
Jesus  once  existed  in  its  purity,  that  all  may  learn  to  know  that  God  is  no  respecter 
of  persons,  and  that  he  will  by  no  means  clear  the  guilty.  "  He  that  hath  an  ear  let 
him  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches." 

What  church  could  rightfully  claim  or  ever  seek  a  higher  title  than  that  which  is 
given  in  Scripture  to  the  sevenchurches  of  Asia,  the  angels  of  which  were  the  seven 
stars  in  the  right  hand  of  Him  who  is  the  first  and  the  last — of  Him  that  liveth  and 
was  dead,  and  is  alive  for  evermore,  and  that  hath  the  keys  of  hell  and  of  death  ;  and 
wliich  themselves  were  the  seven  golden  candlesticks  in  the  midst  of  which  he 
walked  ?  And  who  that  hath  an  ear  to  hear,  may  not  humbly  hear  and  greatly  profit 
by  what  the  Spirit  said  unto  them?  (Rev.  ii.  and  iii.) 

The  Church  of  Ephesus,  after  a  commendation  of  their  first  works,  to  which  they 
were  commanded  lo  return,  were  accused  of  having  left  their  first  love,  and  threat- 
ened with  the  removal  of  their  candlestick  out  of  its  place,  except  they  should 
repent.  (Ch.  ii.  5.)  Ephesus  is  situated  nearly  fifty  miles  south  of  Smyrna.  It  was 
the  metropolis  of  Lydia,  and  a  great  and  opulent  city,  and  (according  to  Strabo)  the 
greatest  emporium  of  Asia  Minor.  It  was  chiefly  famous  for  the  temple  of  Diana, 
"  whom  all  Asia  worshipped,"  which  was  adorned  with  127  columns  of  Parian  mar- 
ble, each  of  a  single  shaft,  and  sixty  feet  high,  and  which  formed  one  of  the  seveji 
wonders  of  the  world.  The  remains  of  its  magnificent  theatre,  in  which  it  is  said 
that  tweniy  thousand  people  could  easily  have  been  seated,  are  yet  to  be  seen.  (Acts 
xix.  29.)  But  "  a  few  heaps  of  stones,  and  some  miserable  mud  cottages,  occasionally 
tenanted  by  Turks,  without  one  Christian  residing  there,*  are  all  the  remains  of 
ancient  Ephesus."  It  is,  as  described  by  different  travellers,  a  solemn  and  most  for- 
icrn  spot.  The  epistle  to  the  Ephesians  is  read  throughout  the  world ;  but  there  is 
none  in  Ephesus  to  read  it  now.  They  left  their  first  love,  they  returned  not  to  their 
first  works.  Their  candlestick  has  been  removed  out  of  its  place,  and  the  great  city 
of  Ephesus  is  no  more. 

The  Church  of  Smyrna  was  approved  of  as  "  rich,"  and  no  judgment  was  de- 
nounced against  it.  They  were  warned  of  a  tribulation  of  ten  days  (the  ten  years' 
persecution  by  Diocletian),  and  were  enjoined  to  be  faithful  unto  death,  and  they 
would  receive  a  crown  of  life.  (Ch.  li.  8-11.)  And,  unlike  to  the  fate  of  the  more 
famous  city  of  Ephesus,  Smyrna  is  still  a  large  city,  containing  nearly  one  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants,  with  several  Greek  churches,  and  an  English  and  other  Chris- 
tian ministers  have  resided  in  it.  The  light  has  indeed  become  dim,  but  the  candle- 
stick has  not  been  wholly  removed  out  of  its  place. 

The  Church  of  Pkiigamos  is  commended  for  holding  fast  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and 
not  denying  his  faith,  during  a  time  of  persecution,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  wicked  city. 
But  there  were  some  in  it  who  held  doctrines  and  did  deeds  which  the  Lord  hated. 
Against  them  he  was  to  fight  with  the  sword  of  his  mouth  ;  and  all  were  called  to 
repent.  But  it  is  not  said,  as  of  Ephesus,  that  their  candlestick  would  be  removed 
out  of  its  place.  (Ch.  ii.  12-16.)  This  city,  the  capital  of  Hellesponiic  Mysia,  was 
situated  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river  Caicus,  nearly  sixty-four  miles  to  the  north  of 
Smyrna.  Its  ancient  consideration  may  be  inferred  from  its  possessing  a  library  of 
two  hundred  thousand  volumes,  which  Anthony  and  Cleopatra  transferred  to  Alex- 
andria. It  is  also  noted  as  the  birthplace  of  the  physician  Galen.  It  still,  in  its  de- 
cline, retains  some  part  of  its  ancient  importance;  and,  under  the  name  of  Bergamo, 
contains  a  population  whicli  Mr.  Macfarlane  estimates  at  fourteen  thousand,  of  which 
there  are  about  three  thousand  Greeks,  three  hundred  Armenians,  and  not  quite  three 
hundred  Jews;  the  rest  are  Turks.  The  town  consists  of  small  and  mean  wooden 
houses,  among  which  appear  the  remains  of  early  Christian  churches,  showing,  "  like 
vast  fortresses  amid  barracks  of  wood." 

In  the  Church  of  Thyatira,  like  that  of  Pergamos,  some  tares  were  soon  mingled 
with  the  wheat.  He  who  hath  eyes  like  unto  a  flame  of  fire  discerneth  both.  Yet, 
happily  for  the  souls  of  the  people,  more  than  for  the  safety  of  the  city,  the  general 
character  of  that  church,  as  it  then  existed,  is  thus  described  :  "  I  know  thy  works, 
and  charity,  and  service,  and  faith,  and  thy  patience,  and  thy  works ;  and  the  last  to 
be  more  than  the  first."  (Ch.  ii.  19.)     But  against  those,  for  such  there  were  among 

•  Arundel's  Visit  to  the  Seven  Cliurches  of  Asia,  p.  27. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


599 


fMl '  I  o/' '  '';|!l||il| 


600  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

them,  who  had  committed  fornication,  and  eaten  things  sacrificed  unto  idols,  to  whom 
the  Lord  gave  space  to  repent  of  their  fornication,  and  they  repented  not,  great  tribu- 
lation was  denounced  ;  and  to  every  one  of  them  was  to  be  given  according  to  their 
works.  These,  thus  warned  while  on  earth  in  vain,  have  long  since  passed,  where 
all  are  daily  hastening,  to  the  place  where  no  repentance  can  be  found  and  no  work 
be  done.  "  But  unto  the  rest  in  Thyatira  (as  many  as  have  not  known  the  depths 
of  Satan)  I  will  put  upon  you,  saith  the  Lord,  none  other  burden."  (Ver.  24.)  There 
were  those  in  Thyatira  who  could  save  a  city.  It  still  exists,  while  greater  cities 
have  fallen.  Mr.  Hartley,  who  visited  it  in  1826,  describes  it  as  "  embosomed  in 
cypresses  and  poplars.  The  Greeks  are  said  to  occupy  three  hundred  houses,  and 
the  Armenians  thirty.     Each  of  them  has  a  church." 

The  Church  of  Sardis  differed  from  those  of  Pergamos  and  Thyatira.  They  had 
not  denied  the  faith,  but  the  Lord  had  a  few  things  against  them,  for  there  were 
some  evil  doers  among  them,  and  on  those,  if  they  repented  not,  judgment  was  to 
rest.  But  in  Sardis,  great  though  the  city  was,  and  founded  though  the  church  had 
been  by  an  apostle,  there  were  only  a  few  names  which  had  not  defiled  their  gar- 
ments. And  to  that  church  the  Spirit  said,  "  I  know  thy  works,  that  thou  hast  a 
name  that  thou  livest,  and  art  dead."  But  the  Lord  is  long-suffering,  not  willing 
that  any  should  perish,  but  that  all  should  come  to  repentance.  And  the  church  of 
Sardis  was  thus  warned :  Be  watchful,  and  strengthen  the  things  which  remain,  that 
are  ready  to  die ;  for  I  have  not  found  thy  works  perfect  before  God.  Remember, 
therefore,  how  thou  hast  received  and  heard,  and  hold  fast  and  repent.  If  therefore 
thou  shalt  not  watch,  I  will  come  on  thee  as  a  thief,  and  thou  shalt  not  know  what 
hour  I  will  come  upon  thee."  (Ch.  iii.  2,  3.) 

Sardis,  whose  ruins  now  bear  the  modified  name  of  Sart,  is  situated  about  sixty 
miles  north-northwest  from  Ephesus,  at  the  foot  of  mount  Tmolus,  and  on  the  river 
Pactolus,  so  renowned  for  its  fabled  golden  sands.  This  great  and  ancient  city  was 
the  capital  of  the  kingdom  of  Lydia,  whose  monarch,  Croesus,  when  defeated  in  the 
plain  before  this  city  of  Cyrus,  was  master  of  all  the  nations  within  the  river  Halys. 
This  dominion  then  passed  to  the  Persians,  and  Sardis  became  the  residence  of  the 
satrap  to  whom  the  government  was  committed  ;  and  being  at  this  time  one  of  the 
most  splendid  and  opulent  cities  of  the  east,  was  the  chosen  resort  oi~  the  Persian 
kings  when  in  this  part  of  their  empire.  It  surrendered  quietly  to  Alexander,  after 
he  had  defeated  the  Persians  in  the  battle  of  the  Granicus.  Sardis  continued  a  great 
city  under  the  Romans,  until  the  terrible  earthquake  which  happened  in  the  time  of 
Tiberius.  It  was,  however,  rebuilt  by  order  of  that  emperor:  but  subsequent  calami- 
ties of  the  same  description,  with  the  ravages  and  spoliations  of  the  Goths,  Saracens, 
and  Turks,  have  made  it  an  utter  desolation,  reducing  it  to  little  better  than  a  heap 
of  ruins,  in  which,  nevertheless,  some  remains  of  its  ancient  splendor  may  be  de- 
tected. 

"'  And  to  the  angel  of  the  Church  in  Philadelphia  Avrite,  These  things  saith  He 
that  is  holy.  He  that  is  true.  He  that  hath  the  key  of  David,  He  that  openeih  and 
no  man  shutteth,  and  shutteth  and  no  man  openeth  : — I  know  thy  works  :  behold,  I 
have  set  before  thee  an  open  door,  and  no  man  can  shut  it;  for  thou  hast  a  little 
strength,  and  hast  kept  my  word,  and  hast  not  denied  my  name. — Because  thou  hast 
kept  the  v/ord  of  my  patience,  I  also  will  keep  thee  from  the  hour  of  temptation, 
which  shall  come  upon  all  the  world."  (Ch.  iii.  9,  10.)  The  promises  of  the  Lord  are 
as  sure  as  his  threatenings.  Philadelphia  alone  long  withstood  the  power  of  the 
Turks,  and,  in  the  words  of  Gibbon,  "at  length  capitulated  with  the  proudest  of  the 
Ottomans.  Among  the  Greek  colonies  and  churches  of  Asia,"  he  adds,  "  Philadelphia 
is  still  erect:  a  column  in  a  scene  of  ruins."  (Ch.  61.)  "  It  is  indeed  an  interesting 
circumstance,"  says  Mr.  Hartley,  "  to  find  Christianity  more  flourishing  here  than  in 
many  other  parts  of  the  Tur]tish  empire:  there  is  still  a  numerous  Christian  popula- 
tion ;  they  occupy  300  houses.  Divine  service  is  performed  every  Sunday  in  five 
churches."  Nor  is  it  less  interesting  in  these  eventful  times,  and  notwithstandiiig 
the  general  degeneracy  of  the  Greek  church,  to  learn  tliat  the  present  bishop  of  Phil- 
adelphia accounts  "  the  Bible  the  only  foundation  of  all  religious  belief;"  and  that  he 
admits  that  "abuses  have  entered  into  the  church,  which  former  ages  might  endure, 
but  the  present  must  put  them  down." — Ii  may  well  be  added,  as  stated  by  Mn 
Hartley,  "  The  circumstance  that  Philadelphia  is  now  called  AUah-Shehr,  the  city  of 
God.  when  vieved  in  connexion  with  the  promises  made  to  that  church,  and  especially 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


e02  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

with  that  of  writing  the  name  of  the  city  of  God  upon  its  faithful  members,  is,  to  say 
the  least,  a  singular  concurrence."  From  the  prevailing  iniquities  of  men  many  a 
sign  has  been  given  how  terrible  are  the  judgments  of  God.  But  from  the  fidelity  of 
the  church  in  Philadelphia  of  old  in  keeping  his  word,  a  name  and  memorial  of  his 
faithfulness  has  been  left  on  earth,  while  the  higher  glories  promised  to  those  that 
overcame,  shall  be  ratified  in  heaven ;  and  toward  them,  but  not  them  only,  shall  the 
glorified  Redeemer  confirm  the  truth  of  his  blessed  words,  "  Him  that  overcometh 
Will  I  make  a  pillar  in  the  temple  of  my  God  ;"  even  as  assuredly  as  Philadelphia, 
when  all  else  fell  around  it,  "  stood  erect,"  our  enemies  themselves  being  judges,  "  a 
column  in  a  scene  of  ruins." 

"  And  unto  the  angel  of  the  Church  of  the  Laodiceans  write.  These  things  saitk 
the  Amen,  the  faithful  and  true  Witness,  the  beginning  of  the  creation  of  God ;  I 
know  thy  works,  that  thou  art  neither  cold  nor  hot :  I  would  thou  wert  cold  or  hot 
So  then  because  thou  art  lukewarm,  and  neither  cold  nor  hot,  I  will  spew  thee  out  of 
my  mouth.  Because  thou  sayest,  I  am  rich  and  increased  with  goods,  and  have  need 
of  nothing;  and  knowest  not  that  thou  art  wretched,  and  miserable,  and  poor,  and 
blind,  and  naked :  I  counsel  thee  to  buy  of  me  gold  tried  iu  the  fire,  that  thou  may  est 
be  rich  ;  and  white  raiment,  that  thou  mayest  be  clothed,  and  that  the  shame  of  thy 
nakedness  do  not  appear ;  and  anoint  thine  eyes  with  eye-salve,  that  thou  mayest  see." 
(Rev.  iii.  14,  &c.)  All  the  other  churches  were  found  worthy  of  some  commendation, 
and  there  was  some  blessing  in  them  all.  The  church  of  Ephesus  had  labored  and 
not  fainted,  though  she  had  forsaken  her  first  love  ;  and  the  threatened  punish- 
ment, except  she  repented,  was  the  removal  of  her  candlestick  out  of  its  place. 
A  faithless  and  wicked  few  polluted  the  churches  of  Pergamos  and  Thyatiraby  their 
doctrines  or  by  their  lives;  but  the  body  was  sound,  and  the  churches  iiad  a  portion 
in  Christ.  Even  in  Sard  is,  though  it  was  dead,  there  was  life  in  a  few  who  had  not 
defiled  their  garments ;  "  and  they  shall  walk  with  me  in  white,  said  the  Lord,  for 
they  are  worthy." 

But  in  what  the  Spirit  said  to  the  church  in  Laodicea,  there  was  not  one  word  ol 
approval ;  it  was  lukewarm  without  exception,  and  therefore  it  was  wholly  loathed. 
The  religion  of  Jesus  had  become  to  them  as  an  ordinary  matter.  They  would  attend 
to  it  just  as  they  did  to  other  things  which  they  loved  as  well.  The  sacrifice  of  the 
Son  of  God  upon  the  cross  was  nothing  thought  of  more  than  a  common  gift  by  man. 
They  were  not  constrained  by  the  love  of  Christ  more  than  by  other  feelings.  They 
could  repeat  the  words  of  the  first  great  commandment  of  the  law,  and  of  the  second, 
that  is  like  unto  it ;  but  they  showed  no  sign  that  the  one  or  the  other  was  truly  a 
law  to  them.  There  was  no  Dorcas  among  them,  who,  out  of  pure  Christian  love, 
made  clothes  for  the  poor.  There  was  no  Philemon,  to  whom  it  could  be  said,  "  The 
church  in  thy  house,"  and  who  could  look  on  a  servant  as  "  a  brother  beloved."  There 
was  no  servant  who  looked  to  the  eye  of  his  Father  in  heaven  more  than  to  that 
of  his  master  on  earth,  and  to  the  recompense  of  eternal  reward  more  than  to  the  hire- 
ling \yages  of  a  day ;  and  who,  by  showing  all  good  fidelity,  sought  to  adorn  the 
doctrine  of  God  his  Saviour  in  all  things.  There  was  nothing  done,  as  everytiiing 
siiould  be,  heartily,  as  to  the  Lord,  and  not  unlo  men.  The  power  of  the  world  to 
come,  and  of  that  which  now  is,  hung,  as  it  were,  even  balanced  in  their  minds;  each 
had  its  separate  influence  and  weight,  even  to  a  scruple;  and  they  were  kept  distinct, 
as  if  there  should  never  be  any  interference  between  them,  or  as  if  they  were  to  hang 
in  separate  scales. 

'I'his  was  given  unto  the  world,  arid  that  unto  God,  as  if  these  Christian  men  had 
been  full  of  the  faith,  that  the  revealed  will  of  the  Most  High  had  no  title  to  a  su- 
preme ascendency  over  them,  that  all  "  the  deeds  done  in  the  body  would  never  be 
brought  into  judgment,  and  that  lukewarmness  was  requital  enough  for  redeeming 
love.  Their  only  dread  seemed  to  be  lest  they  should  be  righteous  overmuch.  And 
for  fear  of  that,  which  would  have  been  inconsistent  with  their  character,  though  not 
with  their  profession,  they  disregarded  the  words  of  one  who  was  wiser  than  Solo- 
mon, and  who  had  laid  down  his  life  for  their  sakes:  they  did  not  strive  to  enter  in 
at  the  strait  gate  ;  to  be  perfect  was  no  purpose  of  theirs  ;  there  was  no  fight  in  their 
faith,  no  running  in  their  race,  no  wrestling  in  their  warfare,  no  victory  in  their  work. 
Yet  they  could  show  a  goodly  form  or  framework  of  religion,  on  which  they  had 
raised  many  a  high  hope. 

They  trusted  to  redemption  through  Christ,  while  they  were  not  redeemed  from 


fflSTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


603 


604  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

sin,  nor  actuatea  oy  tne  love  of  God.  They  used  the  means  of  grace,  but  neglected 
the  end  for  which  that  grace  had  appeared.  They  were  rich,  they  thought,  and  in- 
creased with  goods,  and  had  need  of  nothing.  But  they  wanted  zeal ;  and  all  they 
had  was  nothing  worth.  Whatever  they  vainly  imagined  themselves  to  be,  the  Spirit 
knew  them  truly,  and  told  them  what  they  were,  even  wretched,  and  miserable,  and 
poor,  and  blind,  and  naked.  They  had  done  no  evil,  they  thought,  but  they  did  little 
good.  And  they  neither  felt  nor  lived  as  if  they  knew  that  whatsoever  is  not  of  faith 
is  sin.  Their  lukewarmness  was  worse,  for  it  rendered  their  state  more  hopeless 
than  if  they  had  been  cold.  For  sooner  would  a  man  in  Sardis  have  felt  that  the  chill 
of  death  was  upon  him,  and  have  cried  out  for  life,  and  called  to  the  physician,  than 
would  a  man  of  Laodicea,  who  could  calmly  count  his  even  pulse,  and  think  his  life 
secure,  while  death  was  preying  on  his  vitals.  The  character  of  lukewarm  Christians, 
a  self-contradicting  name,  is  the  same  in  every  age.  Such  was  the  church  of  the 
Ijaodiceans.     But  what  is  that  city  noAv,  or  how  is  it  changed  from  what  it  was  ? 

Laodicea  was  the  metropolis  of  the  Greater  Phrygia  ;  and,  as  heathen  writers 
attest,  it  was  an  extensive  and  very  celebrated  city.  Instead  of  then  verging  to  its 
decline,  it  arose  to  its  greatest  eminence  only  about  the  beginning  of  the  Christian 
era.  "  It  was  the  mother-church  of  sixteen  bishoprics."  Its  three  theatres,  and  the 
immense  circus,  which  was  capable  of  containing  upward  of  thirty  thousand  spec- 
tators, the  spacious  remains  of  which  (with  oilier  ruins  buried  under  ruins)  are  yet 
to  b  '  seen,  give  proof  of  the  greatness  of  its  ancient  wealth  and  population,  and  indi- 
cate too  strongly,  that  in  that  city  where  Christians  were  rebuked  without  exception 
for  their  lukewarmness,  there  were  multitudes  who  were  lovers  of  pleasure  more 
than  lovers  of  God.  The  amphitheatre  was  built  after  the  Apocalypse  was  written, 
and  the  warning  of  the  Spirit  had  been  given  to  the  church  of  the  Laodiceans  to  be 
zealous  and  repent ;  but  whatever  they  there  may  have  heard  or  beheld,  their  hearts 
would  neither  have  been  quickened  to  a  renewed  zeal  for  the  service  and  glory  of 
God,  nor  turned  to  a  deeper  sorrow  for  sin,  and  to  a  repentance  not  to  be  repented  of. 
But  the  fate  of  Laodicea,  though  opposite,  has  been  no  less  marked  than  that  of  Phil- 
adelphia. There  are  no  sights  of  grandeur  nor  scenes  of  temptation  around  it  now. 
Its  own  tragedy  may  be  briefly  told.  It  was  lukewarm,  and  neither  cold  nor  hot; 
and  tnerefore  it  was  loathsome  in  the  sight  of  God.  It  was  loved,  and  rebuked,  and 
chastened  in  vain.  And  it  has  been  blotted  from  the  world.  It  is  i.ow  as  desolate 
as  its  inhabitants  were  destitute  of  the  fear  and  love  of  God;  and  as  the  church  of 
the  Laodiceans  was  devoid  of  true  faith  in  the  Saviour,  and  zeal  in  his  service.  It  is, 
as  described  in  his  Travels  by  Dr.  Smith,  "  utterly  desolated,  and  without  any  in- 
habitant, except  wolves,  and  jackals,  and  foxes."  It  can  boast  of  no  human  inhabit- 
ant, except  occasionally  when  wandering  Turkomans  pitch  their  tents  in  its  spacious 
amphitheatre.  The  "finest  sculptured  fragments"  are  to  be  seen  at  a  considerable 
depth,  in  excavations  which  have  been  made  among  the  ruins.  (Arundel's  Travels, 
p.  85.)  And  Col.  Leake  observes,  "  There  are  fev/  ancient  cities  more  likely  than 
Laodicea  to  preserve  many  curious  remains  of  antiquity  beneath  the  surface  "of  the 
soil ;  its  opulence,  and  the  earthquakes  to  which  it  was  subject,  rendering  it  probable 
that  valuable  works  of  art  were  often  there  buried  beneath  the  ruins  of  the  public  and 
private  edifices."  A  fearful  significancy  is  thus  given  to  the  terrific  denunciation, 
"  Because  thou  art  lukewarm,  and  neither  cold  nor  hot,  I  will  spew  thee  out  of  my 
mouth." 

"  He  that  hath  ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches." 
The  Spirit  searcheth  all  things,  yea,  the  deep  things  of  God.  Each  church,  and  each 
individual  therein,  was  weighed  in  the  balance  of  the  sanctuary,  according  to  their 
works.  Each  was  approved  of  according  to  its  character,  or  rebuked  and  warned  ac- 
cording to  its  deeds.  Was  the  church  itself  pure,  the  diseased  members  alone  were  to 
be  cut  off.  Was  the  church  itself  dead,  yet  the  few  names  in  which  there  was  life, 
were  all  written  before  God,  and  not  one  of  those  who  overcame  would  be  blotted 
out  of  the  book  of  life.  All  the  seven  churches  were  severally  exhorted  by  the  Spirit 
according  to  their  need  The  faith  delivered  to  the  saints  was  preached  unto  them 
all ;  and  all,  as  Christian  churches,  possessed  the  means  of  salvation.  The  Son  of 
man  walked  in  the  midst  of  them,  beholding  those  who  were,  and  those  who  were 
not  his. 

By  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  and  by  the  written  word,  every  man  in  each  of  the 
churches  was  warned,  and  every  man  was  taught  in  all  wisdom,  that  every  man 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE,  60;. 

might  be  presented  perfect  in  Christ  Jesus.  And  in  what  the  Spirit  said  unto  each 
and  all  of  the  churches  which  he  that  hath  ears  to  hear  was  commanded  to  hear,  the 
promise  of  everlasting  blessedness,  under  a  variety  of  the  most  glorious  representa- 
tions, was  given,  without  exception,  restriction,  or  reservation,  to  him  that  over- 
comelh.  The  language  of  love,  as  well  as  of  remonstrance  and  rebuke,  was  urged 
even  on  the  lukewarm  Laodiceans.  And  if  any  Christian  fell,  it  was  from  his  own 
resistance  and  quenching  of  the  Spirit ;  from  his  choosing  other  lords  than  Jesus  to 
have  dominion  over  him  ;  from  his  lukewarmness,  deadness,  and  virtual  denial  of  the 
faith;  and  from  his  own  wilful  rejection  of  freely-oflfered  and  dearly-purchased  grace, 
sufficient,  if  sought,  and  cherished,  and  zealously  used,  to  have  enabled  him  to  over- 
come and  triumph  in  that  warfare  against  spiritual  wickedness  to  which  Christ  hath 
called  his  disciples;  and  in  which,  as  the  finisher  of  their  faith,  he  is  able  to  make 
the  Christian  more  than  conqueror. 

But  if  such,  as  the  Spirit  described  them  and  knew  them  to  be,  were  the  churches, 
and  Christians  then,  what  are  the  churches  and  what  are  Christians  now  ?  Or  rather, 
we  would  ask  of  the  reader,  what  is  your  own  hope  toward  God,  and  what  the  work 
of  your  faith  ?  Tf,  while  Christianity  was  in  its  prime,  and  when  its  divine  truths  had 
scarcely  ceased  to  reach  the  ears  of  believers  from  the  lips  of  apostles,  on  whose 
heads  the  Spirit  had  visibly  descended,  and  cloven  tongues,  like  as  of  lire,  had  sat ;  if, 
even  at  that  time,  one  of  the  seven  churches  of  Asia  had  already  departed  from  its 
first  love;  if  two  others  were  partially  polluted  by  the  errors  in  doctrine,  and  evils  in 
the  practice,  of  some  of  their  members ;  if  another  had  only  a  few  names  that  were 
worthy,  and  yet  another  none;  and  if  they  who  formed  the  last  and  worst  of  these, 
thought  themselves  rich  and  increased  with  goods,  and  that  they  had  need  of  noth- 
ing; and  knew  not  that,  being  lukewarm,  they  were  wretched,  and  miserable,  and 
poor,  and  blind,  and  naked ;  have  you  an  ear  to  hear  or  a  heart  to  understand  such 
knowledge  ?  and  do  you,  professing  yourself  a  Christian,  as  they  also  did,  see  no 
cause  or  warning  here  to  question  and  examine  yourself,  even  as  the  same  Spirit 
would  search  and  try  you,  of  your  works,  and  charity,  and  service,  and  faith,  and 
patience  ? 

What  is  your  labor  of  love,  or  wherein  do  you  labor  at  all  for  his  name's  sake,  by 
whose  name  you  are  called  ?  What  trials  does  your  faith  patiently  endure?  what 
temptations  does  it  triumphantly  overcome?  Is  Christ  in  you  the  hope  of  glory,  and 
is  your  heart  purified  through  that  blessed  hope  ?  To  a  church  we  trust  you  belong ; 
but  whose  is  the  kingdom  within  you?  What  principles  ever  actuate  you  which 
Christ  and  his  apostles  taught  ?  Where,  in  your  affections  and  life,  are  the  fruits  of 
the  Spirit — love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness,  goodness,  meekness,  temper- 
ance ?  Turn  the  precepts  of  the  gospel  into  questions,  and  ask  thus  what  the  Spirit 
would  say  unto  you,  as  he  said  unto  the  churches. 

What  the  Spirit  said  unto  primitive  and  apostolic  churches,  over  which  "  the  be- 
loved disciple"  personally  presided,  may  suffice  to  prove  that  none  who  have  left 
their  first  love,  if  ever  they  have  truly  felt  the  love  of  Jesus — that  none  who  are 
guilty  of  seducing  others  into  sin  and  uncleanness — that  none  who  have  a  name  that 
they  live,  and  are  dead — and  that  none  who  are  lukewarm,  are  worthy  members  of 
any  Christian  communion  ;  and  that  while  such  they  continue,  no  Christian  commu- 
nion can  be  profitable  to  them.  But  unto  them  is  "  space  to  repent"  given.  And  to 
them  the  word  and  Spirit  speak  in  entreaties,  encouragements,  exhortations,  and 
warnings,  that  they  may  turn  from  their  sins  to  the  Saviour,  and  that  they  may  live 
and  not  die.  But  were  there  one  name  in  Sodom,  or  a  few  in  Sardis,  that  are  the  Lord's, 
he  knows  and  names  them  every  one;  and  precious  in  his  sight  is  the  death  of  his 
saints.  Some,  on  the  other  hand,  may  be  sunk  into  the  depths  of  Satan,  though  in 
outward  fellowship  with  a  church,  were  such  to  be  found,  as  pure  as  once  was  that 
of  Thyalira.  Whatever,  therefore,  the  profession  of  your  faith  may  be,  seek  the  king- 
dom of  God  and  his  righteousness;  that  kingdom  which  is  righteousness  and  peace 
and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  that  righteousness  which  is  through  faith  in  Christ, 
who  gave  himself  for  the  church,  that  he  might  sanctify  and  cleanse  it.  And  what- 
ever dangers  may  then  encompass  you  around,  fear  not — only  believe;  all  things  are 
possible  to  him  that  believeth. 

It  was  by  keeping  the  word  of  the  Lord,  and  not  denying  his  faith,  by  hearing 
what  the  Spirit  said,  that  the  church  of  Philadelphia  held  fast  what  they  had,  and  no 


606  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE  ^ 

man  took  their  crown,  though  situated  directly  between  the  church  of  Laodicea, 
which  was  lukewarm,  and  Sardis,  which  was  dead.  And  dead  as  Sardis  was,  the 
Lord  had  a  few  names  in  it  which  had  not  defiled  their  garments — Christians,  worthy 
of  the  name,  who  lived,  as  you  yourself  should  ever  live,  in  the  faith  of  the  Lord 
Jesus — dead  unto  sin,  and  alive  unto  righteousness ;  while  all  around  them,  though 
naming  the  name  of  Jesus,  were  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins.  Try  your  faith  by  its 
fruits;  judge  yourself  that  you  be  not  judged;  examine  yourself  Avhether  you  be  ia 
the  faith  ;  prove  your  own  self;  and  with  the  whole  counsel  of  God,  as  revealed  in 
the  gospel,  open  to  your  view,  let  the  rule  of  your  self-scrutiny  be  what  the  Spirit 
said  unto  the  churches. 

Many  prophecies  remain  which  are  not  here  noticed.  But  were  any  gainsayers 
to  ask  for  more  obvious  facts  and  some  demonstration  of  the  truth  of  prophecy,  which 
your  own  ears  might  hear  and  your  eyes  see,  you  have  only  to  hear  how  they 
speak  evil  of 'the  things  that  they  understand  not — how  they  speak  great  swelling 
words  of  vanity  to  allure  others,  promising  them  liberty  while  they  themselves  are 
the  children  of  corruption  ;  you  have  only  to  look  on  these  scuffers,  and  mockers,  and 
false  teachers,  who  have  come  in  the  last  times ;  who  walk  after  their  own  lusts, 
who  despise  government,  who  are  presumptuous  and  self-willed,  and  who  foam  out 
their  own  shame,  to  hear  and  to  see  the  loud  and  living  witnesses  of  the  truth  of 
God's  holy  and  unerring  word.  (2  Pet.  iii.  3  ;  Jude  xiii.)  Such  have  been,  and  such 
are,  the  enemies  of  the  Christian  faith.  Yet  it  calls  them  from  darkness  to  light,  and 
from  death  to  life.  Turn  ye,  turn  ye:  why,  it  asks  of  these  boasters  of  reason,  why 
will  ye  die  ? 

If  you  have  seen  any  wonderful  things  out  of  the  law  of  the  Lord,  and  have  looked, 
though  from  afar  off,  on  the  judgments  of  God  that  have  come  upon  the  earth,  lay 
not  aside  the  thought  of  these  things  when  you  lay  down  this  book.  Treat  them 
not  as  if  they  were  an  idle  tale,  or  as  if  you  yourself  were  not  to  be  a  witness — 
and  more  than  a  witness^of  a  far  greater  judgment,  which  shall  be  brought  nigh 
unto  you,  and  shall  be  your  own. 

If,  in  traversing  some  of  the  plainest  paths  of  the  field  of  prophecy,  you  have  been 
led  by  a  way  which  you  knew  not  of  before,  let  that  path  lead  you  to  the  well  of 
living  waters,  which  springeth  up  into  everlasting  life  to  every  one  that  thirsts  after 
it  and  drinks.  Let  the  words  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  be  to  you  this 
wellspring  of  the  Christian  life.  Let  the  word  of  God  enlighten  your  eyes,  and  it 
will  also  rejoice  your  heart.  Search  the  Scriptures,  in  them  ^here  are  no  lying  divi- 
nations; they  testify  of  Jesus,  and  in  them  you  will  find  eternal  life.  Pray  for  the 
teaching  and  the  aid  of  that  Spirit  by  whose  inspiration  they  were  given.  And  above 
all  Christian  virtues,  that  may  bear  witness  of  your  faith,  put  on  charity,  love  to  God 
and  love  to  man,  the  warp  and  woof  of  the  Christian's  new  vesture  without  a  seam; 
even  that  charity,  or  love,  by  which  feith  worketh,  which  is  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit, 
the  end  of  the  commandment,  the  fulfilling  of  the  law,  the  bond  of  perfectness,  and  a 
better  gift  and  a  more  excellent  way  than  speaking  with  tongues,  or  interpreting,  or 
prophesying,  and  without  which  you  would  be  as  nothing,  though  you  understood  all 
mystery  and  all  knowledge.  From  the  want  of  this  the  earth  has  been  covered  with 
ruins.  Let  it  be  yours,  and  however  poor  may  be  your  earthly  portion,  it  will  be  in- 
finitely more  profitable  to  you  than  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  and  all  their  glory. 
Prophecies  shall  fall ;  tongues  shall  cease;  knowledge  shall  vanish  away;  the  earth 
and  the  works  that  are  therein  shall  be  burned  up  ;  but  charity  never  faileth. 

If  you  have  kept  the  word  of  the  Lord,  and  have  not  denied  his  name,  hold  that 
fast  which  thou  hast,  that  no  man  take  thy  crown.  But  if  heretofore  you  have  been 
lukewarm,  and  destitute  of  Christian  faith,  and  zeal,  and  hope,  and  love,  it  would  be 
'•ain  to  leave  you  with  any  mortal  admonition  ;  henr  what  the  Spirit  saith,  and  harden 
not  your  heart  against  the  heavenly  counsel,  and  the  glorious  encourajenient  given 
unto  you  by  that  Jesus  of  whom  all  the  prophets  hear  witness,  and  unto  whom  all 
things  are  now  committed  by  the  Father.  "  I  counsel  thee  to  buy  of  me  gold  tried 
in  the  fire,  that  thou  mayst  be  rich  ;  and  white  raiment,  that  thou  mayst  be  chjthed, 
and  that  the  shame  of  thy  nakedness  do  not  appear;  and  anoint  thine  eyes  with  eye- 
salve,  that  thou  mayest  see.  As  many  as  I  love  I  rebuke  and  chasten  ;  be  zealous, 
therefore,  and  repent.  Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock  :  if  any  man  hear  my 
voice,  and  open  the  door,  I  will  come  in  to  him,  and  will  sup  with  him,  and  he  with 


41. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  607  ^ 


me.  To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  grant  to  sit  with  me  ia  my  throne,  even  as  I 
also  overcame,  and  am  set  down  with  my  Father  in  his  throne.  He  thai  hath  an  ear 
to  hear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches." 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

CONTAINING   AN  ACCOTTNT   OF   THE   FINAL   DESTRUCTION   OF   JERUSALEM   BT  THE   ROMANS. 
AS   FORETOLD   BT   OUR   BLESSED   REDEEMER   A   SHORT   TIME   BEFORE   HIS   DEATH. 

The  Jews  remain  to  this  day  not  only  the  guardians  of  the  Old  Testament  scrip- 
tures but  livio"-  witnesses  of  the  truth  of  many  prophecies,  which,  in  ihe  first  ages 
of  their  history ,'unfolded  their  fate  until  the  latest  generations.  Jewish  and  heathen 
historians  fully  describe  the  dreadful  miseries  which  they  suffered  when  all  their 
cities  were  laid  waste,  when  Jerusalem  itself  was  destroyed  in  the  seventieth  year  ot 
the  Christian  era,  and  the  remnant  of  their  race,  after  an  almost  uninterrupted  pos- 
session of  Judea  by  their  forefathers  for  fifteen  hundred  years,  were  driven  from  their 
country  and  scattered  throughout  the  world.  A  brief  detail  of  the  unparalleled 
miseries  which  they  then  endured  may  serve  to  connect  their  former  history  with 
their  subsequent  alike  unparalleled  fate,  and  to  show  that  the  prophecies  respecting 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  are  as  circumstantial  and  precise,  and  were  as  minutely 
fiilfilled,  as  those  in  which  their  more  recent  and  present  history  may  be  read. 

The  Israelites  were  chosen  to  be  a  peculiar  people.  The  worship  of  the  only  liv- 
ing and  true  God  was  maintained  among  them  alone  for  many  ages,  while  idolatry 
and  polytheism  (or  the  worship  of  many  gods)  otherwise  universally  prevailed.  But 
the  Father  of  the  universe  is  no  respecter  of  persons.  A  divine  law  was  given  to 
the  descendants  of  Abraham,  and  blessmgs  and  curses  were  set  before  them,  to  cleave 
to  their  race  in  every  age,  according  as  they  would  observe  and  obey  the  command- 
ments of  the  Lord,  or  refuse  to  hearken  unto  his  voice,  and  to  do  all  his  command- 
ments and  statutes.  Their  history,  and  their  continued  preservation  as  a  people,  is 
thus  an  express  record  and  manifestation  of  the  doings  of  Providence.  To  read  of 
their  calamities  is  to  see  the  judgments  of  God ;  and  to  compare  them  with  the 
prophecies  is  to  witness  the  truth  of  his  word.  There  were  intermingled  seasons  of 
prosperity  and  triumph,  or  of  oppression  and  misery,  as  they  enjoyed  or  forfeited 
their  promised  blessings,  throughout  the  long  period  that  they  dwelt  in  the  land  ot 
Canaan.  But  their  punishments  were  to  rise  progressively  with  their  sins ;  and  so 
awfully  sinful  were  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  after  the  time  of  their  merciful  visi- 
tation had  passed,  and  when  the  dark  unbroken  era  of  their  miseries  began,  that 
Josephus,  their  great  historian,  and  the  greatest  of  their  generals  in  their  wars  with 
the  Romans,  has  recorded  his  opinion  that,  had  they  delayed  their  coming,  the  city 
would  have  been  swallowed  up  by  an  earthquake  or  overflowed  by  water,  or,  as  it 
was  worse  than  Sodom,  would  have  been  destroyed  by  fire  from  heaven.*  Ihe 
vial  of  wrath  was  not  poured  out  till  the  measure  of  their  iniquities  was  full. 

Instruments  are  never  wanting  for  the  execution  of  the  purposes  of  God ;  nor, 
when  needful  for  the  confirmation  of  his  word,  is  there  any  want  of  full  testimony 
that  his  declared  purposes  have  been  fulfilled.  There  is  nothing  similar  in  history 
to  the  siege  and  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  to  the  miseries  which  its  inhabitants 
inflicted  and  brought  upon  themselves  by  their  savage  barbarity  and  unyielding  obsti- 
nacy; nor  was  there  ever  any  other  city  or  country  of  whose  destruction,  devastation, 
and  misery,  there  is  so  clear  and  authenticated  a  detail.  Josephus,  himself  a  Jew 
and  an  eye-witness  of  the  facts  he  relates,  gives  a  circumstantial  account  of  the  whole 
war,  which  furnishes  complete  evidence,  not  only  of  the  truth  of  what  Moses  and 
the  prophets  had  foretold,  but  also  of  all  that  in  clearer  vision,  and  to  the  perturba- 
tion and  astonishment  of  his  disciples,  Christ  had  explicitly  revealed  concerning  its 
then  approaching  fate.     Heathen  writers  also  record  many  of  the  facts. 

The  prophecies  from  the  Old  Testament  and  from  the  New  relative  to  the  siege 
and  destruction  of  Jerusalem  are  so  numerous,  that  the  insertion  of  them  at  length 
would  occupy  a  greater  space  than  can  here  be  devoted  to  the  consideration  of  the 

*  Josephus's  History  of  the  Wars  of  the  Jews,  book  5,  chap.  13,  4  6. 


608  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

subject.  The  reader  may  peruse  them  as  they  are  to  be  found  m  the  written  word: 
Levit.  xxvi.  14,  &c. ;  Dent,  xxviii.  15,  &;c. ;  Isa.  xxix.  1,  &c.  ;  Ezek.  vi.  7;  Jer.  xxvi. 
18;  Micah,  iii.  12;  Matt.  xxi.  33,  &c.  ;  xxii.  1-7;  xxiv. ;  Mark,  xiii. ;  Luke,  xx.  9- 
19  ;  xxi. ;  xxiii.  27-31.  They  require  no  other  exposition  of  their  meaning.  Exclu- 
sive of  literal  predictions,  frequent  allusions  are  interspersed  throughout  the  Gospels 
respecting  the  abolition  of  the  Mosaic  dispensation,  and  the  utter  subversion  of  the 
Jewish  state. 

A  nation  of  fierce  countenance,  of  an  unknown  tongue,  and  swift  as  the  eagle 
flielh,  were  to  come  from  a  distant  land  against  the  Jews — to  despoil  them  of  all 
their  goods — to  besiege  them  in  all  their  gates — to  bring  down  their  high  and  fenced 
walls.  Tliey  were  to  be  left  few  in  number — to  be  slain  before  their  enemies;  the 
pride  of  their  power  was  to  be  broken ;  their  cities  to  be  laid  waste,  and  themselves 
to  be  destroyed — to  be  brought  to  nought — to  be  plucked  from  off  their  own  land — 
to  be  Sold  iato  slavery,  and  to  be  so  despised  that  none  would  buy  them.  Their  high 
places  were  to  be  rendered  desolate — their  bones  to  be  scattered  about  their  altars; 
Jerusalem  was  to  be  encompassed  round  about — to  be  besieged  with  a  mount — to 
have  forts  raised  against  it — to  be  ploughed  over  like  a  field — to  become  heaps,  and  to 
come  to  an  end.     The  sword,  the  famine,  and  the  pestilence,  were  to  destroy  them. 

The  Jews  lived  fearless  of  judgments  like  these,  when  they  dwelt  in  peace,  and 
would  not  listen  to  the  voice  of  Jesus.  They  would  have  no  king  but  Caesar ;  and 
they  trusted  in  the  power  of  the  Roman  empire  as  the  security  of  their  state.  But 
He  whom  they  rejected  showed  how  God  had  rejected  them,  how  they  were  filling 
up  the  measure  of  their  fathers,  and  how  all  these  judgments  that  had  been  de- 
nounced of  old,  and  others  of  which  their  fathers  had  not  heard,  were  to  be  felt  by 
many,  and  to  be  all  witnessed  by  some  who  were  living  then.  And  the  Man  of 
sorrows,  whose  face  was  set  as  a  flint  against  his  own  unequalled  sufferings,  and 
who  shed  not  a  tear  on  his  own  account,  was  moved  to  pity,  and  his  heart  was  melted 
into  tenderness,  on  contemplating  the  great  crimes  and  the  coming  calamities  of  the 
wicked,  impenitent,  and  devoted  city :  "  when  he  beheld  Jerusalem,  he  wept  over  it." 

The  expiration  of  thirty-six  years  from  the  death  of  Christ  to  the  destruction  oi 
Jerusalem ;  the  death,  previous  to  that  event,  of  at  least  two  of  the  evangelists  who 
record  the  prophecies  concerning  it ;  the  manner  in  which  the  predictions  and  allusions 
respecting  the  fate  of  Jerusalem  are  interwoven  throughout  ihe  gospel ;  the  warning 
given  to  the  disciples  of  Christ  to  escape  from  the  impending  calamities,  and  the  an- 
nunciation of  the  signs  whereby  they  would  know  of  their  approach ;  the  dread  that 
was  cherished  by  some  of  the  earliest  converts  to  the  Christian  faith  that  the  day  of 
judgment  was  then  a'  hand,  and  which  had  arisen  from  the  prophecies  concerning 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  being  closely  connected  with  those  relative  to  the  second 
coming  of  Christ  and  the  end  of  the  world  (all  of  which  things  his  disciples  had 
asked  him  to  reveal) ;  the  unanimous  assent  of  antiquity  to  the  prior  publication  of 
the  gospel ;  and  the  continued  truth  of  the  prophecy  still  manifested  in  Jerusalem 
being  yet  trodden  down  of  the  Gentiles, — afford  as  full  a  proof  as  could  now  be 
thought  of  that  the  predictions  were  delivered  previous  to  the  event. 

No  coincidence  can  be  closer  in  relation  to  the  facts  than  that  which  subsists  be- 
tween the  predictions  of  Jesus  and  the  narrative  of  the  Jewish  historian.  Yet,  as 
the  reader  will  doubtless  perceive,  this  coincidence  is  not  more  clear  than  that  which 
subsists  between  the  testimony  of  modern  unbelievers  and  those  prophecies  which 
refer  to  the  past  and  present  desolation  of  Judea :  wars,  rumors  of  wars,  and  com- 
motions ;  nations  rising  against  nation,  and  kingdom  against  kingdom  ;  famines,  pes- 
tilences, and  earthquakes  in  divers  places;  though  the  greatest  of  human  evils  that 
mortals  fear  were  to  be  but  the  "  beginning  of  sorrows" — the  heralds  of  heavier  woes. 
Many  false  Christs  were  to  appear,  and  to  deceive  many.  The  disciples  of  Jesus 
were  to  be  persecuted,  afflicted,  imprisoned,  hated  of  all  nations,  and  brought  before 
rulers  and  kings  for  his  name's  sake,  and  many  of  them  were  to  be  put  to  death. 
Iniquity  was  to  abound,  and  the  love  of  many  was  to  wax  cold  ;  but  the  gospel  of  the 
kingdom  was  to  be  preached  in  all  the  world.  The  abomination  of  desolation  was 
to  be  seen  standing  in  the  place  where  it  ought  not.  Jerusalem  was  to  be  compassed 
about  with  armies,  a  trench  was  to  be  cast  about  it,  and  they  were  to  be  hemmed  in 
on  every  side.  And  there  were  to  be  fearful  sights  and  great  signs  from  heaven. 
These  were  to  be  the  signs  that  the  end  of  Jerusalem  was  at  hand.  And  there  was 
to  be  great  distress  upon  the  land,  and  wrath  upon  the  people  ;  the  tribulation  was  to 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  600 

De  such  as  had  never  been,  and  would  never  be.  The  Jews  were  to  fall  by  the  edge 
of  the  sword;  a  remnant  was  to  be  led  captive  into  all  nations;  of  the  temple,  and 
of  Jerusalem  itself,  one  stone  was  not  to  be  left  upon  another;  and  it  was  to  be  trodr 
den  down  of  the  Gentiles  till  the  time  of  the  Gentiles  should  be  fulfilled. 

The  prodigies  which  preceded  the  war,  as  related  by  Josephus,  are  these: 

A  comet,  which  bore  the  resemblance  of  a  sword,  hung  over  the  city  of  Jerusa- 
lem for  the  space  of  a  whole  year. 

A  short  time  before  the  revolt  of  the  Jews,  a  most  remarkable  and  extraordinary 
light  was  seen  about  the  altar  of  the  temple.  It  happened  at  the  ninth  hour  of  the 
night  preceding  the  celebration  of  the  feast  of  the  passover,  and  continued  about 
half  an  hour,  giving  a  light  equal  to  that  of  day.  Ignorant  persons  considered  this 
unusual  and  wonderful  appearance  as  a  happy  omen  ;  but  those  of  superior  judgment 
averred  that  it  was  a  prediction  of  approaching  war ;  and  their  opinion  was  fully 
confirmed  by  the  event. 

The  eastern  gate  of  the  interior  part  of  the  temple  was  composed  of  solid  brass, 
and  was  of  such  an  immense  weight  that  it  was  the  labor  of  twenty  men  to  make 
it  fast  every  night.  It  was  secured  with  iron  bolts  and  bars,  which  were  let  down 
into  a  large  threshold  consisting  of  an  entire  stone.  About  the  fifth  hour  of  the 
night  this  gate  opened  without  any  human  assistance;  immediate  notice  of  which 
being  given  to  the  officer  on  duty,  he  lost  no  time  in  endeavoring  to  restore  it  to  its 
former  situation ;  but  it  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty  that  he  accomplished  it. 
There  were  likewise  some  ignorant  people  who  deemed  this  to  be  a  second  good 
omen,  insinuating  that  Providence  had  thereby  set  open  a  gate  of  blessings  to  the 
people ;  but  persons  of  superior  discernment  were  of  a  contrary  opinion,  and  con- 
cluded that  the  opening  of  the  gate  predicted  the  success  of  the  enemy,  and  destruc- 
tion of  the  city. 

A  short  time  after  the  celebration  of  the  feast  of  the  passover,  before  the  setting 
of  the  sun,  the  appearance  of  chariots  and  armed  men  were  seen  in  the  air,  in  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  country,  passing  round  the  city  among  the  clouds. 

While  the  priests  were  going  to  perform  the  duties  of  their  function,  according  to 
custom,  in  the  inner  temple,  on  the  feast  of  Pentecost,  they  at  first  heard  an  mais- 
tinct  murmuring,  which  was  succeeded  by  a  voice,  repeating,  in  the  most  plain  and 
earnest  manner,  these  words:  "  Let  us  be  gone,  let  us  depart  hence." 

But  the  most  extraordinary  circumstance  of  the  whole  was  this.  Some  time  be- 
fore the  commencement  of  the  war,  and  while  the  city  appeared  to  be  in  the  most 
perfect  peace,  and  abounded  in  plenty,  there  came  to  the  feast  of  tabernacles  a 
simple  countryman,  a  son  of  one  Ananias,  who,  without  any  previous  intimation,  ex- 
claimed as  follows:  "A  voice  from  the  east;  a  voice  from  the  west;  a  voice  from 
the  four  quarters  of  the  world  ;  a  voice  to  Jerusalem,  and  a  voice  to  the  temple ;  a 
voice  to  men  and  women  newly  married  ;  and  a  voice  to  the  nation  at  large."  In 
this  manner  did  he  continue  his  exclamations,  in  various  places  through  all  the 
streets  of  the  city ;  at  which  some  persons  of  eminence  in  the  city  were  so  offended, 
that  they  ordered  him  to  be  apprehended,  and  severely  whipped.  This  was  accord- 
ingly done,  but  he  bore  his  sufferings  not  only  without  complaint,  but  without  saying 
a  word  in  his  own  defence ;  and  no  sooner  was  his  punishment  ended,  than  he  pro- 
ceeded in  his  exclamations  as  before.  By  this  time  the  magistrates  were  suspicious 
(and  indeed  not  without  reason)  that  what  he  had  said  proceeded  from  the  divine 
impulse  of  a  superior  power,  that  influenced  his  words.  In  consequence  of  this, 
they  sent  him  to  thegovernor  of  Judea,  who  directed  that  he  should  be  whipped  with 
the  greatest  severity.  This  order  was  so  strictly  obeyed,  that  his  very  bones  were  seen, 
notwithstanding  which,  he  neither  wept  nor  supplicated,  but,  in  a  voice  of  mourning, 
between  each  stroke,  exclaimed,  "  Wo,  wo  to  Jerusalem  !"  From  this  very  ex- 
traordinary behavior,  the  governor  was  induced  to  interrogate  him  with  respect  to 
his  character,  and  the  places  of  his  birth  and  residence,  and  what  could  prompt  him 
to  act  as  he  had  done.  He  would  not,  however,  make  any  answer  to  either  of  these 
questions;  upon  which  the  governor  found  himself  under  the  necessity  of  dismissing 
him,  as  a  man  out  of  his  senses.  From  this  period  to  the  commencement  of  the 
war,  he  was  never  known  either  to  visit  or  speak  to  any  of  the  citizens,  nor  was  he 
heard  to  say  any  other  words  than  the  melancholy  sentence,  "  Wo,  wo  to  Jerusalem." 
Those  who  daily  punished  him,  received  no  ill  language  from  him ;  nor  did  those 
who  fed  him  receive  his  thanks ;  but  what  he  generally  said  to  every  one  was,  an 


610  A  NEW  AND   COMPLETE 

ominous  prediction.  It  was  remarked  that  on  public  festivals  he  was  more  vocifer- 
ous than  at  other  times;  and  in  the  manner  before  mentioned  he  continued  for  the 
space  of  more  than  three  years  ;  nor  did  his  voice  or  strength  appear  to  fail  him  till' 
his  predictions  were  verified  by  the  siege  of  Jerusalem.  As  soon  as  this  event  took 
place,  he  went  for  the  last  time  on  the  wall  of  the  city,  and  exclaimed  with  a  more 
powerful  voice  than  usual,  "  Wo,  wo  to  this  city,  this  temple,  and  this  people ;" 
and  concluded  his  lamentation  by  saying,  "  Wo,  wo  be  to  myself."  He  had  no 
sooner  spoken  these  words  than,  in  the  midst  of  these  predictions,  he  was  destroyed 
by  a  stone  thrown  from  an  engine. 

Having  thus  mentioned  the  very  singular  prodigies  which  preceded  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem,  as  related  by  Josephus,  we  shall  now  proceed  to  give  an  account  of  the 
circumstances  which  occasioned  the  war,  together  with  its  progress,  which  at  length 
brought  on   the  final  ruin  and  destruction  of  the  Jewish  state. 

The  commencement  of  the  war  was  occasioned,  partly  by  the  infamous  behavior 
of  Albinus,  the  Roman  governor  of  Judea,  and  partly  by  the  refractoriness  of  many 
of  the  principal  people  of  Jerusalem.  Albinus  was  a  man  totally  abandoned  to  every 
degree  of  vice.  Avarice,  corruption,  extortion,  oppression,  public  and  private,  were 
equally  familiar  to  him.  He  accepted  bribes  in  civil  and  personal  causes,  and  op- 
pressed the  nation  by  the  weight  of  arbitrary  taxes.  If  any  oflender,  however  atro- 
cious, convicted  of  robbery  or  assault  by  himself,  or  any  other  magistrate,  was  under 
sentence  of  the  law,  a  friend  and  a  bribe  would  insure  his  liberty;  and  this  governor 
never  found  any  man  guilty  who  had  money  to  procure  his  innocence. 

At  this  time  there  was  a  strong  faction  in  Jerusalem,  who,  wishing  for  a  change 
of  government,  the  most  opulent  of  them  privately  compounded  with  Albinus,  in 
case  any  disturbance  should  happen.  There  was  likewise  a  set  of  men  who  would 
not  be  easy  while  the  state  was  at  peace ;  and  Albinus  engaged  these  in  his  interest. 
The  leaders  of  these  mutineers  were  each  attended  by  daring  fellows  of  their  own 
turn  of  mind;  but  the  governor  was  the  most  abandoned  villain  of  the  whole,  and 
had  guards  always  ready  to  execute  his  orders.  The  event  proved  that  the  injured 
did  not  dare  to  complain  ;  those  who  were  in  any  danger  of  losing  part  of  their  prop- 
erty were  glad  to  compound  to  save  the  rest,  and  the  receiver  proved  the  worst  of 
thieves.  In  short,  there  appeared  to  be  no  sense  of  honor  remaining ;  and  a  new 
slavery  seemed  to  be  predicted  from  the  number  of  tyrants  then  in  power,  through 
the  land  of  Judea. 

Such  was  the  character,  and  such  were  the  manners,  of  Albinus,  who,  in  a  short 
time,  was,  by  order  of  the  emperor  Nero,  removed  from  his  office,  and  Gessius  Flo- 
rus  placed  in  his  stead.  This'  however,  was  far  from  being  an  advantageous  change 
for  the  Jews,  Florus  being  so  much  more  abandoned  in  his  principles  than  the  former, 
as  not  to  admit  even  of  the  least  comparison.  Albinus  was  treacherous,  but  observed 
a  secrecy  in  his  crimes  that  had  the  appearance  of  modesty  ;  but  Florus  was  so  con- 
summate in  his  wickedness,  that  he  boasted  of  his  iniquitous  behavior,  and  declared 
himself  the  general  enemy  of  the  nation.  His  conduct  in  the  province  he  governed 
was  more  like  that  of  ;in  executioner  than  a  governor;  for  he  treated  all  the  people 
like  criminals,  and  extended  his  rapine  and  tyranny  beyond  all  bounds.  He  was 
equally  devoid  of  compassion,  and  dead  to  all  sense  of  honor;  cruel  to  the  unfortu- 
nate, and  utterly  abandoned  in  cases  so  enormous  that  impudence  itself  would  blush 
at  the  recollection  of  them.  He  exceeded  all  the  men  of  his  time  in  making  lies 
and  impositions  pass  for  truth ;  and  was  equally  artful  in  discovering  new  modes  of 
doing  mischief.  He  gave  ^uch  encouiagement  to  the  sons  of  rapine  and  plunder,  that 
he  might  as  well  have  proclaimed  that  every  man  was  at  liberty  to  seize  whatever 
he  could  lay  his  hands  on,  provided  that  he  himself  obtained  a  share  of  the  plunder. 
His  avarice  was  carried  to  such  an  extravagant  pitch,  that  the  inhabitants  of  the 
province  were  reduced  to  degrees  of  poverty  little  short  of  starving;  and  many  of 
them  left  the  country  in  absolute  want  of  the  necessaries  of  life. 

The  daily  oppressions  of  Florus  on  the  people  throughout  the  province  of  Judea 
irritated  them  to  the  most  violent  degree,  and  being  fearful  lest  they  should  lay  a 
complaint  against  him  before  the  emperor,  Florus,  to  avoid  the  consequences  of  such 
a  proceeding,  resolved  to  continue  his  oppressions  till  they  should  enter  into  open 
rebellion,  whereby  l^s  villanous  proceedings  would  be  greatly  lessened  in  the  eyes 
of  his  master.  This  had  the  desired  effect,  for  the  factious  party  in  Jerusalem,  Avho 
for  some  time  had  been  inclined  to  revolt,  encouraging  the  greater  part  of  the  people 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  611 

of  that  city  to  oppose  the  measures  of  Florus,  an  insurrection  took  place,  and  a  reso- 
lution was  formed  to  oppose  the  Romans  wiih  all  their  might. 

It  iiappened  at  this  lime  that  King  Agrippa  was  at  Jerusalem,  and  being  fearful 
of  the  dreadful  consequences  that  were  likely  to  ensue,  he  summoned  the  people  to- 
gether, and  strongly  exhurted  them  to  desist  from  any  violent  proceedings,  telling 
them  that  if  they  did,  it  must  inevitably  prove  their  destruction.  He  advised  them 
to  a  patient  submission  to  Florus,  till  another  governor  should  be  appointed  by  the 
emperor,  Avho,  in  all  probability,  would  remove  the  grievances  under  whicn  they  then 
labored.  But  this,  instead  of  subsiding,  only  inflamed  the  passions  of  the  multitude, 
who  not  only  made  use  of  the  most  opprobrious  language,  but  likewise  maltreated 
the  king.  In  consequence  of  this,  Agrippa  left  Jerusalem  ;  previous  to  which  he 
despatched  messengers  to  Florus,  who  was  then  at  Cesarea,  informing  him  of  the 
manner  in  which  he  had  been  treated,  and  requesting  that  he  would  immediately 
send  a  proper  force  to  repel  the  insurgents. 

No  sooner  had  Agrippa  left  Jerusalem  than  the  factious  JeAVS  began  to  carry  their 
design  into  execution.  To  this  purpose  great  numbers  of  them  got  privately  into  the 
Roman  garrison  called  Massada,  where  they  surprised  the  soldiers,  every  one  of 
whom  they  put  to  death,  and,  in  their  stead,  substituted  a  guard  of  their  own  people. 
About  this  juncture  there  happened  likewise  another  commotion  in  the  temple  of  Jeru- 
salem. A  bold  and  factious  young  man,  named  Eleazar  (son  of  the  then  high-priest), 
who  was  at  that  time  a  military  ofRcer,  persuaded  a  number  of  his  friends  among  the 
priests  not  to  accept  of  any  offering  or  sacrifice  but  from  the  Jews.  This  circum- 
stance laid  the  foundation  of  a  war  with  the  Romans;  for,  in  consequence  of  the 
request  of  Eleazar,  when  the  sacrifices  of  Nero  were  presented,  according  to  custom, 
to  be  offered  up  for  the  success  of  the  people  of  Rome,  they  were  rejected.  So  new 
and  extraordinary  a  proceeding  gave  great  offence  to  the  high-priest  and  persons  of 
distinction,  who  protested  against  it,  and  earnestly  recommended  the  continuance  of 
so  reasonable  a  custom  as  that  of  offering  prayers  for  princes  and  governors.  But  the 
insurgents,  relying  on  the  strength  of  their  numbers,  were  obstinate  for  obedience  to 
their  orders;  every  one  who  wished  for  innovation  was  on  their  side,  and  they  con- 
sidered Eleazar,  Avho  was  a  man  of  courage,  and  in  office,  as  the  head  of  their  party. 

In  consequence  of  the  great  obstinacy  of  the  insurgents,  the  high-priest,  and  most 
eminent  of  the  Pharisees,  assembled  together  in  order  to  deliberate  on  the  most  proper 
mode  of  proceeding  at  so  critical  a  juncture,  being  apprehensive  tliat  if  the  tumult 
was  not,  by  some  means  or  other,  suppressed,  it  must  be  attended  with  the  most 
fatal  consequences.  Having  consulted  for  some  time,  they  at  length  resolved  to  try 
what  could  be  done  to  appease  the  passions  of  the  multitude;  and  for  this  purpose 
they  assembled  the  people  before  the  brazen  gate,  on  the  inside  of  the  temple  toward 
the  east.  Here  they  represented  to  them  the  rashness  of  the  enterprise  in  which 
they  had  engaged,  and  which  would  certainly  involve  their  country  in  a  ruinous  war. 
They  then  adverted  to  the  unreasonable  ground  of  the  dispute,  and  the  evident  in- 
justice on  which  it  was  founded;  they  told  them  that  their  ancestors  were  so  fax 
from  refusing  or  furbidding  the  oblations  of  strangers  (which  they  wuuld  have  deemed 
a  kind  of  impiety)  that  they  considered  them,  in  some  degree,  as  a  part  of  their  own 
worship.  They  likewise  mentioned  the  presents  which  had,  I'rom  time  to  time,  been 
made  by  strangers  to  the  temple,  which  were  still  preserved  as  ornaments  in  that 
sacred  place,  and  in  remembrance  of  those  who  gave  them.  They  further  told  them, 
that  the  provoking  a  war  with  the  Romans  Avould  be  at  least  disgaceful,  if  not  ruinous, 
to  Jerusalem  ;  that  new  modes  of  religion  would  certainly  be  adopted,  as  nothing  less 
could  be  expected  by  the  interdiction  of  every  sort  of  people  except  Jews,  from  offer- 
ing oblations  and  prayers  to  God  in  his  holy  temple.  It  was  urged  that  this  was 
such  an  inhuman  injunction  as  could  not  be  excused  in  the  case  of  a  private  person  ; 
but  that  it  was  utterly  unpardonable  to  extend  it  to  the  whole  people  of  Rome,  and 
eventually  even  excommunicating  the  emperor  himself  It  was  asked  what  would 
be  the  consequence  if  such  contempt  should  be  returned,  and  those  who  had  re- 
fused others  the  liberty  of  offering  their  prayers  and  oblations,  should  themselves 
be  denied  the  privilege  of  public  worship  ?  They  concluded  with  telling  them, 
that  if  they  persisted  in  their  obstinacy,  the  city  would  be  left  void  of  discipline ; 
and  every  ill  consequence  would  certainly  happen,  unless  they  repented  of  all  the  un- 
charitable things  they  had  done,  and  made  satisfaction,  before  the  emperor  should  be 
informed  of  their  violert  proceedings. 


612  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

But  all  these  circumstances  were  of  none  effect ;  the  insurgents,  who  wished 
for  war  rather  than  peace,  were  determined  to  prosecute  their  design  with  the 
utmost  vigor;  and  in  this  they  were  further  encouraged  from  the  conduct  of  the 
Levites,  who  quitted  the  altar,  and  joined  themselves  to  their  party. 

The  high-priest  and  people  of  rank,  finding  the  populace  despised  all  obedience  to 
law,  and  that  themselves  Avould  probably  be  the  first  that  would  be  censured  by  the 
Romans,  consulted  together  what  means  were  the  most  eligible  to  take  in  order  to 
save  themselves  and  country  from  destruction.  After  deliberating  for  some  time  on 
this  head,  they  at  length  resolved  to  send  deputies  to  Florus  and  Agrippa,  represent- 
ing the  conduct  of  the  people  in  its  true  light,  and  requesting  them  to  send  forces  to 
1.0  .Jerusalem,  in  order  to  pm  a  speedy  end  to  the  rebellion. 

The  news  of  the  insurrection  at  Jerusalem  was  highly  agreeable  to  Florus,  whose 
disposition  led  him  to  inflame  rather  than  to  endeavor  to  suppress  the  war.  This  was 
evidently  evinced  by  his  delay  in  giving  an  answer  to  the  deputies,  knowing  thereby 
that  it  would  afford  the  rebels  an  opportunity  of  augmenting  their  forces.  On  the 
contrary,  Agrippa  consulted  only  the  general  welfare,  being  desirous  of  doing  all  in 
jiis  power  to  save  both  parlies;  and  by  this  means  to  secure  Jerusalem  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  Jews,  and  bind  the  Jews  in  subjection  to  the  Romans.  To  effect 
this  he  despatched  two  thousand  auxiliary  horse  to  Jerusalem,  under  the  command 
(if  Darius,  a  very  able  and  experienced  general.  On  their  arrival  at  the  city  they 
were  joined  by  the  rulers  and  high-priest,  together  with  the  rest  of  the  people  who 
wished  for  peace.  The  insurgents  had  already  possessed  themselves  of  the  temple 
and  lower  city ;  and  therefore  the  royal  troops  immediately  seized  on  the  upper  city, 
being  resolved,  if  possible,  to  reduce  the  rebels  to  subjection.  It  was  not  long  before 
a  skirmish  took  place,  and  the  combatants  on  both  sides  made  use  of  their  bows  and 
arrows,  with  which  they  galled  each  other  incessantly.  The  insurgents  made  their 
attacks  in  the  most  desperate  manner;  but  the  royal  forces  appeared  to  have  a  supe- 
rior knowledge  of  the  military  art.  The  principal  operation  the  latter  had  in  view 
was  to  compel  the  sacrilegious  faction  to  abandon  the  temple ;  while,  on  the  contrary, 
Eleazar  and  his  adherents  labored  with  equal  zeal  to  get  the  upper  town  mto  their 
possession.  The  contest  continued  without  intermission  for  some  days,  in  all  which 
time,  though  there  was  a  great  slaughter  on  both  sides,  not  the  least  advantage  was 
obtained  by  either.  At  length,  however,  the  insurgents,  bein^  resolved  to  engage  in 
the  most  hazardous  enterprise,  assaulted  the  king's  troops  with  such  violence  as  to 
throw  them  into  the  greatest  confusion  and  disorder;  and  this  advantage  they  im- 
proved to  such  a  degree,  that,  equally  overcome  by  superior  numbers  and  more  de- 
termined resolution,  the  royal  troops  were  obliged  to  abandon  the  upper  town,  of 
which  the  rebels  immediately  possessed  themselves,  and  thereby  became  masters  of 
the  whole  city. 

Elated  with  this  success,  the  insurgents  immediately  repaired  to  the  house  of  the 
high-priest,  which  they  first  plundered,  and  then  reduced  to  ashes.  This  being  done, 
they  resolved,  in  the  next  place,  to  set  fire  to  the  offices  of  record,  and  consume  both 
them  and  all  their  contents.  As  soon  as  this  was  known,  the  persons  who  had  the 
care  of  those  places  were  so  terrified,  that  they  immediately  abandoned  their  trust, 
each  man  seeking  his  own  security  by  flight;  on  Avhich  both  offices  and  records  were 
reduced  to  ashes. 

The  next  day  after  the  insurgents  had  committed  these  outrages,  they  made  an  at- 
tack on  the  castle  of  Antonia,  and,  after  only  two  days'  resistance,  made  themselves 
masters  of  it,  having  done  which,  they  burnt  the  castle,  and  put  all  the  garrison  to 
the  sword.  After  this  they  proceeded  to  the  palace,  in  which  were  the  troops  sent 
by  Agrippa  to  suppress  the  insurrection:  they  immediately  invested  the  place,  and 
having  divided  themselves  into  four  bodies,  made  an  attempt  to  undermine  the  walls; 
while  those  within  were  under  the  necessity  of  remaining  inactive,  as  their  strength 
was  insuffh-icnt  for  them  to  sally  forth  with  any  hopes  of  success.  The  assailants 
continued  (heir  operations  with  great  resolution  for  several  days,  till  at  length  the  be- 
sieged, finding  they  must  either  fall  by  the  sword,  or  be  starved  into  compliance, 
deserted  the  jjlace,  and  fled  for  security  to  the  castles  of  Hippon,  Phasael  and  Mari- 
amne.  But  nc  sooner  had  the  soldiers  quitted  the  place,  than  the  rebels  immediately 
broke  in,  and  unmercifully  put  to  death  every  person  they  met  with;  having  done 
which,  they  plundered  the  palace  of  all  its  valuable  furniture,  and  concluded  the  out- 
rage by  setting  fire  to  the  camp. 


fflSTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  613 

While  these  things  were  transacting  at  Jerusalem,  a  most  dreadful  massacre  took 
place  in  Cesarea,  not  less  than  twenty  thousand  Jews  being,  at  the  instigation,  of 
Florus,  put  to  death  by  the  Romans  in  one  day.  This  horrid  slaughter  so  irritated 
the  Jews,  that  they  became  universally  outrageous,  and,  dividing  themselves  into 
distinct  bodies,  dispersed  into  different  parts,  with  a  full  resolution  of  seeking  revenge 
on  their  enemies.  They  first  laid  waste  a  great  number  of  villages  in  Syria,  and 
then  destroyed  several  principal  cities,  among  which  were  Philadelphia,  Gibonitis, 
Garasea,  Pella,  and  Scythopolis.  They  then  proceeded  to  Sebaste  and  Askelon,  both 
of  which  places  surrendered  without  opposition.  Having  effectually  reduced  these 
two  fortresses,  they  next  proceeded  to  Gaza,  which  they  totally  destroyed;  and,  con- 
tinuing their  ravages,  laid  waste  a  great  number  of  villages  on  the  frontiers  of  Syria, 
putting  to  death  all  the  inhabitants  wherever  they  went. 

On  the  other  hand  the  Syrians  wreaked  their  vengeance  on  all  the  Jews  they  could 
find,  not  only  in  countrv  places,  but  in  many  principal  cities  throughout  Syria,  all  of 
whom  they  put  to  the  sword.  In  short  the  whole  country  was  in  the  most  deplorable 
situation,  there  being,  as  it  were,  two  armies  in  every  city;  nor  was  any  safety  to  be 
expected  for  the  one  but  in  the  destruction  of  the  other.  In  the  city  of  Alexandria 
no  less  than  fifty  thousand  Jews  were  put  to  death  by  the  Romans  ;  and  the  only 
places  in  which  the  Jews  escaped  the  general  carnage  were  Sidon,  Apamia,  and  An- 
tioch. 

Cestius,  the  governor  of  Syria,  who  at  this  time  resided  at  Antioch,  observmg 
the  contempt  in  which  the  Jews  were  held  throughout  the  whole  province,  resolved 
to  take  advantage  of  this  circumstance,  and  prosecute  the  war  against  thein  with 
the  utmost  vigor.  For  this  purpose  he  raised  a  considerable  army,  consisting  of 
the  whole  twelfth  legion  which  he  commanded  at  Antioch;  two  thousand  select 
men  from  the  other  legions,  and  four  divisions  of  horse,  exclusive  of  the  royal  aux- 
iliaries, which 'consisted  of  two  thousand  horse  and  three  thousand  foot,  all  armed 
with  bows  and  arrows. 

With  this  formidable  army  Cestius  left  Antioch,  and  proceeded  toward  Ptole- 
mais,  in  his  ivay  to  which  he  was  joined  by  a  great  number  of  people  from  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  country.  The  first  material  place  he  came  to  was  Zabulon, 
otherwise  called  Andron,  the  most  defensible  city  of  Galilee,  and  by  which  Judea  was 
divided  from  Ptoleraais.  On  his  arrival  at  this  place  he  found  that  it  was  amply 
stored  with  all  kinds  of  provisions,  but  not  a  single  person  was  to  be  seen  in  the 
town,  the  inhabitants  having,  on  his  approach,  fled  to  the  mountains  for  security. 
In  consequence  of  this  Cestius  gave  his  soldiers  permission  to  plunder  the  city ; 
which  being  done,  he  ordered  it  to  be  burnt  and  levelled  with  the  ground.  He  then 
proceeded  to  several  other  places  in  the  neighborhood  of  Zabulon,  all  of  which  he 
served  in  like  manner,  and  then  repaired  to  Ptolemais.  On  this  occasion  the  Syrians 
were  so  anxious  fur  obtaining  of  plunder,  that  they  could  not  be  prevailed  on  to  retire 
in  time;  but  many  of  t^em  remained  behind,  and,  on  the  retreat  of  Cestius  with 
the  greater  part  of  his  forces,  the  Jews,  taking  courage,  fell  on  the  plunderers,  and 
nearly  two  thousand  of  them  were  put  to  the  sword. 

After  staying  a  short  lime  at  Ptolemais,  Cestius  proceeded  to  Cesarea,  whence 
he  despatched  a  division  of  his  army  to  Joppa,  with  orders  that,  if  they  could  get 
an  easy  possession  of  the  place,  they  should  take  it;  but  if  they  found  that  the 
inhabitants  made  preparations  to  defend  it,  they  should,  in  that  case,  wait  till  the 
arrival  of  the  rest  of  the  array.  The  Romans,  however,  no  sooner  arrived  at  the 
place  than  they  immediately  laid  siege  to  it,  and,  with  very  little  diffioulty,  even 
made  themselves  masters  of  it.  The  inhabitants  were  so  far  from  being  able  to 
resist  the  attack,  that  they  had  not  even  an  opportunity  of  making  their  escape;  so 
that  the  whole,  both  men,'  women,  and  children,  were  put  to  the  sword,  the  number 
amounting  to  not  less  than  eight  thousand.  The  Romans  then  plundered  the  city, 
and.  having  reduced  it  to  ashes,  they  returned  to  their  general  at  Cesarea.  In  the 
meantime  a  body  of  Roman  horse  made  similar  destruction  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Cesarea,  where  they  ravaged  the  country,  killed  great  numbers  of  the  inhabitants, 
took  possession  of  their  effects,  and  then  burnt  their  towns  to  the  ground. 

From  Cesarea  Cestius  departed  with  his  army  to  Antipatris,  on  his  arrival  at  which 
place  he  was  informed  that  a  great  number  of  Jews  had  got  into  the  tower  of  Aphec, 
whither  he  sent  a  number  of  his  troops  to  rout  them.  The  Jews,  finding  themselves 
totally  unable  to  sustain  the  shock,  abandoned  the  place  to  the  Romans,  who  first 

39 


oi4  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

stripped  it  of  everything  that  was  valuable,  and  then  set  fire  to  it ;  having  done 
which  they  departed,  but  not  without  destroying  several  villages  in  its  neighborhood, 
and  putting  such  of  the  inhabitants  as  could  not  effect  their  escape  to  the  sword. 

Cestius  proceeded  with  his  army  from  Antipatris  to  Lydda,  in  which  city  he  found 
no  more  than  fifty  men,  all  the  rest  being  gone  to  Jerusalem,  in  order  to  be  present 
at  the  celebration  of  the  feast  of  tabernacles.  The  remaining  fifty  Cestius  ordered  to 
be  put  to  death,  which  being  done,  he  set  fire  to  the  town,  and  then  proceeded  by  the 
way  of  Bethoron,  to  a  place  named  Gabaoh,  about  fifty  furlongs  from  Jerusalem, 
where  he  encamped  his  army. 

The  Jews,  convinced  of  the  great  danger  they  were  in,  from  the  appearance  of  so 
formidable  an  army,  laid  aside  their  former  scruples  with  regard  to  their  sacred  days, 
and  applied  themselves  strictly  to  their  arms.  Imagining  that  their  force  was  now 
sufficient  to  cope  with  the  Romans,  they  made  a  desperate  sally  on  the  sabbath-day, 
regardless  of  their  ancient  prejudices,  and,  with  a  furious  uproar,  attacked  the  enemy. 
On  the  first  charge  they  put  the  front  of  the  Romans  into  great  disorder,  and  pene- 
trated so  far  into  the  main  body  of  the  army,  that  had  it  not  been  for  a  detachment 
of  foot  which  remained  entirely  unbroken,  and  a  party  of  horse  that  unexpectedly 
came  to  their  relief,  Cestius  and  his  whole  army  would  have  been  certainly  cut  to 
pieces.  In  this  encounter  four  hundred  of  the  Roman  cavalry  were  slain,  and  one 
hundred  and  fifteen  of  the  infantry  ;  while  of  the  Jews  there  fell  a  very  small  number. 
The  main  body  of  the  Jews,  retreating  in  good  order,  went  back  into  the  city ;  and, 
in  the  meantime,  the  Romans  retired  toward  Bethoron.  A  strong  party  of  the  Jews, 
however,  under  the  command  of  one  Gioras,  pursued  the  enemy,  several  of  whom 
they  killed  :  they  likewise  seized  a  number  of  carriages,  and  a  quantity  of  baggage, 
which  they  found  in  the  pursuit,  all  of  which  they  conveyed  safe  to  Jerusalem. 

Cestius  and  his  army  remained  in  the  field  three  days  after  this  action,  during 
which  time  a  party  of  the  Jews  was  stationed  on  the  adjacent  hills  to  watch  his 
movements.  On  the  fourth  day  Cestius  advanced  with  his  whole  army,  in  a  regular 
manner,  to  the  borders  of  Jerusalem,  where  many  of  the  people  were  so  terrified  by 
the  faction,  that  they  were  afraid  to  take  any  step  of  consequence :  while  some  ot 
the  principal  promoters  of  the  sedition  were  so  alarmed  at  the  conduct  and  discipline 
of  the  Romans  on  their  march,  that  they  retired  from  the  extremities  of  the  city,  and 
took  refuge  in  the  temple.  Cestius  in  his  way  to  Jerusalem  burnt  Cenopolis,  and  a 
place  which  was  denominated  the  wood-market.  Thence  he  advanced  to  the  upper 
town  of  the  city,  and  pitched  his  camp  at  a  small  distance  from  the  palace. 

While  Cestius  was  thus  situated  with  his  army,  Ananus,  and  several  other  men 
among  the  Jews,  called  aloud  to  the  Roman  general,  offering  to  open  the  gates  to 
liim;  but  either  through  diffidence  or  fear  of  their  fidelity,  he  was  so  long  in  con- 
sidering whether  or  not  he  should  accept  the  offer,  that  he  was  at  length  restrained 
from  it  by  the  people,  who  were  so  irritated  at  Ananus  and  his  companions,  that 
they  compelled  them  to  retreat  from  the  walls  of  the  city,, and  retire  to  their  own 
houses  for  protection. 

After  this  the  Jews,  with  a  view  of  defending  the  walls  of  the  city,  repaired  to  the 
different  turrets,  and  for  five  successive  days  defended  them  against  all  the  efforts  of 
the  Romans,  though  they  pushed  the  attack  with  the  utmost  impetuositv.  On  the 
sixth  day  Cestius  made  an  assault  on  the  north  side  of  the  temple,  with  a  select 
force  chosen  from  his  troops  and  bowmen ;  but  the  Jews  discharged  such  a  violent 
quantity  of  shot  and  stones  from  the  porch  and  galleries,  that  the  Romans  were  not 
only  repeatedly  compelled  to  retire  from  the  severity  of  the  charge,  but,  for  a  time, 
obliged  to  abandon  the  enterprise. 

Being  thus  repulsed,  the  Romans,  after  some  time,  had  recourse  to  the  following 
singular  invention.  Those  in  front  placing  their  bucklers  against  the  wail  of  the 
city,  and  covering  their  heads  and  shoulders  with  them,  those  who  stood  next  closed 
their  bucklers  to  the  former,  till  the  whole  body  was  covered,  and  made  the  appear- 
ance of  a  tortoise.  The  bucklers  being  thus  conjoined  were  proof  against  all  the 
darts  and  arrows  of  the  enemy;  so  that  the  Romans  had  the  opportunity  of  under- 
mining the  walls  without  being  exposed  to  danger.  The  first  thing  they  did  was  to 
attempt  setting  fire  to  the  gates  of  the  temple,  which  circumstance  so  terrified  the 
faction,  that  they  considered  themselves  as  ruined,  and  many  absolutely  abandoned 
the  town;  nor  were  the  quiet  party  less  elevated  with  joy  than  the  rebels  were  de- 
pressed by  despair. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


315 


616  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

While  things  were  in  this  situation  the  people  demanded  that  (he  gates  might  be 
opened  to  Cestius,  whom  they  considered  in  the  light  of  a  friend  and  preserver. 
This  was  a  most  favorable  opportunity  for  Cestius,  and  had  he  maintained  the  siege 
only  a  short  time  longer,  the  whole  town  must  havesubmitied.  But,  not  considering 
the  good  disposition  of  the  people  in  general,  or  reflecting  on  the  despair  into  which 
the  rebels  were  thrown,  as  if  he  had  been  infatuated,  he  suddenly  drew  off  his 
men,  and,  contrary  to  all  sense  and  reason,  abandoned  the  siege,  at  a  time  when 
his  prospects  were  belter  than  they  had  been  at  any  former  period.  The  revolters 
were  so  much  encouraged  at  this  unexpected  circumstance,  that  they  attacked  the 
rear  of  CJestius's  army,  and  destroyed  great  numbers  both  of  his  cavalry  and  infantry. 
On  the  first  night  after  Cestius  retreated  from  the  siege,  he  took  up  his  residence  in 
a  camp  which  he  had  fortified  at  a  place  named  Scopus;  and  on  th-e  following  day 
he  continued  his  march,  but  was  closely  pursued  by  the  Jews,  who  annoyed  him  as 
he  went,  and  destroyed  a  considerable  number  of  his  troops.  On  the  whole  this  was 
a  very  disastrous  attack  to  the  Romans,  and  attended  with  very  little  loss  on  the  part 
of  the  Jews. 

Cestius  having  retreated  as  far  as  Gabaoh,  there  encamped  with  his  army,  and, 
during  two  days,  employed  his  thoughts  in  what  manner  he  should  direct  his  future 
conduct.  On  the  third  day  he  found  that  the  Jews  were  so  greatly  increased  in 
numbers,  that  the  whole  face  of  the  country  was  covered  with  them;  and  that  should 
he  continue  any  longer  at  Gabaoh,  it  must  be  attended  with  the  most  fatal  conse- 
quences. He  therefore  issued  orders  that  the  army  should  be  eased  of  a-11  their 
encumbrances,  that  they  might  march  with  the  greater  expedition ;  he  likewise  di- 
rected that  all  the  mules,  asses,  and  other  beasts  of  burden,  should  be  killed,  except 
onlj^  as  many  as  were  necessary  to  carry  such  weapons  and  machines  as  might 
afterward  be  wanted  for  their  own  defence. 

In  this  situation  the  Roman  army  proceeded  toward  Bethoron,  Cestius  marching 
at  their  head.  While  they  continued  in  the  open  country  they  did  not  receive 
any  interruption  from  the  Jews;  but  as  they  advanced  into  hollow  ways  and  de- 
files, the  enemy,  who  closely  pursued,  charged  them  in  front  and  rear,  and  dis- 
charging repeated  volleys  of  arrows  and  darts,  prodigious  numbers  of  them  were 
killed.  The  Romans,  however,  with  great  difficulty,  got  at  length  to  Bethoron, 
under  cover  of  the  night ;  upon  which  all  the  passes  near  that  place  were  secured 
by  the  Jews,  in  order  to  prevent  the  retreat  of  their  adversaries. 

Cestius,  finding  in  what  a  disagreeable  manner  he  was  surrounded,  and  that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  retreat  within  sight  of  the  enemy,  devised  a  scheme  to  favor 
his  escape.  Having  stationed  four  hundred  of  his  troops  on  the  tops  of  the  houses, 
he  ordered  that  they  should  act  the  part  of  sentinels,  calling  as  loud  as  they  were 
able  to  the  watches  and  guards,  as  if  the  army  was  still  in  its  encampment.  While 
this  plan  was  going  forward  Cestius  collected  his  troops,  with  which  he  left  Betho- 
ron, and  continued  to  march  with  them  during  the  whole  course  of  the  night.  In 
the  morning,  when  the  Jews  found  that  the  place  had  been  deserted  by  the  main 
body  of  the  army  during  the  night,  they  were  so  enraged,  that  they  immediately  at- 
tacked the  four  hundred  Romans  who  had  acted  as  sentinels,  slew  every  one  of 
them,  and  then  instantly  marched  in  pursuit  of  Cestius ;  but  his  troops  having  ob- 
tained a  whole  night's  march  on  them,  and  proceeded  with  the  utmost  rapidity 
on  the  following  day,  it  was  not  possible  to  overtake  them.  Such  were  the  liurry 
and  confusion  in  which  the  Romans  had  fled,  that  they  dropped  by  the  way  all 
their  slings,  machines,  and  other  instruments  for  battery  and  attack;  which  being 
seized  by  the  pursuers,  they  afterward  turned  them  to  their  own  advantage.  The 
Jews  pursued  their  enemies  as  far  as  Antipatris;  but  finding  it  in  vain  to  continue  the 
pursuit,  they  carefully  preserved  the  engines,  stripped  the  dead,  collected  all  the 
booty  they  could,  and  then  returned  toward  Jerusalem,  singing  songs  of  triumph  for  so 
important  a  victory.  In  this  contest  there  fell,  of  the  Romans  and  their  auxiliaries, 
three  hundred  and  eighty  cavalry,  and  not  less  than  four  thousand  of  the  infantry. 

Elated  with  this  distinguished  success,  the  Jews,  on  their  return  to  Jerusalem,  ap- 
pointed one  Joseph,  the  son  of  Gorion,  a  man  of  great  emmence,  together  with  the 
high-priest,  as  governors  of  the  city.  They  likewise  sent  commanders  into  the  dif- 
ferent provinces  of  Judea  and  Galilee,  in  order  to  secure  those  places  against  the  power 
of  the  Romans.  Among  others  Joseph,  or  Josephus,  the  celebrated  Jewish  historian, 
was  sent  to  take  upon  him  the  government  of  Galilee,  the  principal  lowus  in  which 


fflSTORY  OF  THE  BIBLL.  61? 

he  immediately  ordered  to  be  fortified,  and  every  necessary  preparation  made  for  at- 
tacking the  enemy,  should  they  attempt  to  invade  that  province. 

In  the  meantime  the  emperor  Nero,  having  received  intelligence  of  the  defeat  of 
Cestius  in  Judea,  was  thrown  into  the  utmost  consternation  ;  but  he  dissembled  his 
fears,  by  ostentatiously  asserting  that  it  was  owing  to  the  misconduct  of  his  general, 
and  not' to  their  own  valor,  that  the  Jews  were  indebted  for  victory;  for  he  imagined 
mat  it  would  be  derogatory  to  the  sovereign  state  of  the  Roman  empire,  and  to  his 
superiority  over  other  princes,  to  discover  a  concern  at  the  common  occurrences  of 
life.  During  this  contention  between  his  fear  and  his  pride,  he  industriously  sought 
for  a  man  qualified  to  assume  the  important  task  of  chastizing  the  revolted  Jews,  pre- 
servnig  the  east  in  tranquillity,  and  the  allegiance  of  several  other  nations  who  had 
manifegted  a  disposition  to  free  themselves  from  the  power  of  the  Romans.  On  ma- 
ture deliberation,  Nero  at  length  judged  Vespasian  to  be  the  only  man  possessed  ol 
abilities  adequate  to  the  important  enterprise.  Vespasian  was  then  arrived  to  an  ad- 
vanced age,  and  from  his  earlv  years  had  been  engaged  in  a  continued  succession  of 
military  exploits.  From  ihese'considerations,  together  with  his  approved  courage 
and  fidelity,  and  his  having  sons  for  hostages  of  his  loyalty,  the  emperor  determined 
to  appoint  him  to  the  command  of  his  army  in  Syria.  .    .       , 

In  consequence  of  this  resolution  Vespasian,  having  received  his  commission  from 
Nero,  which  he  accompanied  with  the  strongest  professions  of  friendship  and  fidelity, 
commanded  his  son  Tiius  to  lead  the  fifih  and  tenth  legions  into  Alexandria,  while 
himself  departed  from  Aehaia,  and,  crossing  the  Hellespont,  proceeded  by  land  into 
Syria,  where  he  assembled  all  the  Roman  forces,  and  the  auxiliaries  which  the 
princes  of  the  adjoining  places  had  gathered  together. 

In  the  meantime  the  Jews,  being  transported  to  the  most  excessive  degree  of  ex-  , 
travagance  by  the  conquest  they  had  gained  over  the  Roman  army  under  the  com- 
mand of  Cestius,  determined  to  prosecute  the  war  with  the  utmost  vigor.  Accord- 
ingly they  formed  their  best  troops  into  a  body,  and  marched  against  the  ancient  city 
of  Ascalon,  with  a  resolution  of  attempting  the  reduction  of  that  place,  against  the 
inhabitants  of  which  thev  had  the  most  implacable  enmity.  The  Jewish  arrny  was 
under  the  command  of  Niger  of  Perea,  Silas,  a  Babylonian,  and  John,  an  Essene. 
who  were  men  equally  celebrated  for  valor,  and  skill  in  the  management  of  war. 

Ascalon  was  surrounded  by  a  wall  of  surprising  strength ;  but  the  whole  garrison 
consisted  only  of  a  troop  of  cavalry  and  a  company  of  foot,  under  the  command  of  an 
officer  named  Anthony.  The  Jews  being  impatient  to  encounter  the  Romans,  marched 
with  the  utmost  expedition,  intending  to  attack  them  by  surprise;  but  Anthony,  get- 
ting intelligence  of  their  design,  stationed  his  cavalry  without  the  town,  in  order  to 
rep°ulse  the"  enemy.  The  Roman  forces  were  composed  of  veteran  troops,  completely 
armed,  well  disciplined,  and  perfectly  obedient  to  order.  The  Jews  had  the  superi- 
ority in  point  of  numbers  ;  but  they  were  indifferently  equipped  for,  and  by  no  means 
expert  in,  the  art  of  war,  and  the  army  consisted  entirely  of  infantry.  Anthony's 
troops  received  the  first  charge  with  great  resolution:  his  horse  broke  the  first  ranks 
of  the  adverse  army,  which  were  immediately  put  to  the  rout :  great  numbers  were 
crushed  to  death  by  their  own  people,  and  wherever  they  fled  they  were  pursued  by 
the  Romans.  The  Jews  exerted  their  utmost  endeavors  to  rally  their  forces;  buv 
this  was  prevented  by  the  Romans,  Avho  pursued  the  advantage  they  had  gained  till 
ten  thousand  of  the  enemy  were  slain,  among  whom  were  the  two  generals,  Johia 
and  Silas.  Niger,  the  surviving  general,  with  the  rest  of  the  Jews,  most  of  wh,»fli 
were  wounded,  escaped  to  a  town  in  Idumea,  named  Sabis. 

The  resolution  of  the  Jews,  however,  was  not  abated  by  the  terrible  defeat  tney 
had  sustained  ;  but,  founding  their  hopes  of  success  on  the  recollection  of  former  vic- 
tories, they  were  animated  to  a  more  violent  desire  of  revenge.  Thev  therefore  ool- 
eeted  together  a  much  more  numerous  army  than  before,  and  determined  to  make  a 
Bccond  at'tempt  against  Ascalon,  notwithstanding  their  want  of  military  skill  ana  d's- 
cipline,  the  fatal  effects  of  which  they  had  already  experienced.  But  all  their  hopts 
were  soon  vanished  ;  for  being  surprised  by  an  ambush  which  Anthony  had  stationed 
in  the  way  they  were  to  pass,  they  were  entirely  routed,  without  being  able  to  form 
themselves  into  the  order  of  battle.  Eight  thousand  Jews  were  slain  on  the  spot ; 
and  the  rest,  with  Niger,  their  general,  put  to  flight.  Being  closely  pursued  by  the 
Romans,  Niger  sought  refuge  in  a  castle  belonging  to  the  village  of  Bezedel.  This 
castle  was  supposed  to  be  impregnable  ;    and  therefore,  as  the  only  effectual  means 


618  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

of  de?iroyin<j  both  Niger  and  the  castle,  the  Romans  set  fire  to  it,  after  which  tuey 
departed,  iriuniphins  in  the  idea  that  the  leader  of  the  Jews  must  inevitably  perish 
in  the  flames.  Nisjer,  being  sensible  that  this  must  be  the  case,  if  he  continued  m 
his  station,  threw  himself  from  the  top  of  the  castle  into  a  vault  o£  considerable 
depth,  where,  after  three  days,  he  was  found  alive  by  his  friends,  who  were  searching 
for  his  remains,  in  order  to  give  them  interment.  This  unexpected  event  transported 
the  Jews  from  a  state  of  despondency  into  the  contrary  extreme  of  joy;  and  tne 
preservation  of  their  general,  whom  they  considered  as  an  instrument  essentially  ne- 
cessary in  the  prosecution  of  the  war,  they  attributed  to  divine  interposition. 

During  these  transactions,  Vespasian  arrived  with  his  army  at  Autioch,  where  King 
Agrippa,  attended  by  his  troops,  was  waiting  to  receive  him.  Hence  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Ptolemais,  where  the  inhabitants  of  Sepphoris,  a  city  in  Galilee,  had  as- 
sembled on  occasion  of  his  expected  arrival.  These  were  a  well-disposed  people, 
and  being  conscious  of  the  great  power  of  the  Romans,  as  well  as  desirous  of  making 
provision  for  their  own  safety,  they  acknowledged  Cestius  Gallius  as  their  governor, 
previous  to  the  arrival  of  Vespasian,  binding  themselves  to  act  in  perfect  obedience 
to  his  commands,  even  against  their  own  countrymen,  and  at  the  same  time  declaring 
their  allegiance  to  the  state  of  Rome.  They  received  a  garrison  from  Cestius  Gal- 
lius, and  solicited  Vespasian  to  grant  them  a  number  of  cavalry  and  infantry  suffi- 
cient for  their  defence,  in  case  they  should  be  attacked  by  the  Jews.  Vespasian 
readily  complied  with  this  request ;  for  Sepphoris  being  the  most  extensive  and 
strongest  city  in  Galilee,  he  judged  it  expedient  to  keep  so  important  a  place  in  a 
proper  state  of  defence. 

The  number  of  troops  granted  by  Vespasian  to  the  people  of  Sepphoris  were,  a 
thousand  cavalry  and  six  thousand  infantry ;  the  whole  of  which  were  placed  under 
the  command  of  Placidus,  the  tribune.  After  these  troops  had  been  drawn  up  on  the 
great  plain,  the  foot,  for  the  security  of  the  city,  were  quartered  within  the  walls, 
and  the  horse  were  ordered  into  the  camp.  The  Roman  troops  made  daily  excursions 
into  the  neighborhood,  where  they  committed  many  acts  of  violence,  and  greatly 
mcommoded  Joseph  (the  governor  of  Galilee)  and  his  friends.  Not  satisfied  with 
ravaging  the  country,  they  made  booty  of  whatever  they  could  obtain  from  the  towns, 
and  treated  the  inhabitants  with  so  much  severity  that  they  were  under  the  necessity 
of  remaining  within  the  walls. 

Matters  being  thus  circumstanced,  Joseph  exerted  his  utmost  efforts  to  make  him- 
self master  of  Sepphoris;  but  he  found  it  so  strongly  fortified,  that  it  appeared  to  be 
impregnable,  and  despairing  of  success,  either  by  stratagem  or  force,  he  abandoned 
all  further  thoughts  of  the  enterprise.  This  so  irritated  the  Romans,  that  they  sub- 
jected the  people  to  the  most  terrible  calamities  of  fire  and  sword,  putting  those  who 
attempted  resistance  to  instant  death,  reducing  the  rest  to  slavery,  and  making  booty 
of  all  the  property  they  could  find. 

In  the  meantime,  Titus  repaired  to  his  father  Vespasian,  at  Ptolemais,  taking  with 
him  the  fifth,  tenth,  and  fifteenth  legions,  Avhich  were  reckoned  to  be  the  best  disci- 
plined and  most  courageous  of  the  Roman  troops.  These  were  followed  by  a  troop 
of  horse  from  Cesarea,  with  a  great  number  of  auxiliaries,  both  horse  and  fcot,  from 
other  places.  The  whole  army  amounted  to  sixty  thousand,  exclusive  of  the  train 
of  baggage,  and  a  great  number  of  domestics,  most  of  whom,  having  been  trained 
to  the  practice  of  war,  were  but  little  inferior  to  the  soldiers  in  courage  and  dexterity. 

During  the  time  Vespasian  was  with  his  son  Titus  at  Ptolemais,  he  ordered  every 
necessary  measure  to  be  pursued  for  the  proper  regulation  and  supply  of  his  army. 
In  the  meantime,  Placidus  made  an  excursion  into,  and  overran,  the  whole  province 
of  Judea,  where  he  took  a  great  number  of  prisoners,  most  of  whom  he  put  to 
death.  These  were  people  destitute  of  courage,  but  such  as  possessed  a  greater 
share  of  intrepidity  made  a  courageous  resistance,  and  secured  themselves  in  the 
cities,  and  other  places  of  strength,  which  had  been  fortified  by  Joseph.  Placidus 
determined  to  direct  his  arms  against  those  places  where  the  Galileans  had  fled  for 
sanctuary  ;  and  Jotapata  being  the  strongest  hold  they  possessed,  he  resolved  that 
his  first  exploit  should  be  to  attempt  the  reduction  of  that  place.  The  inhabitants 
of  Jotapata,  however,  gaining  intelligence  of  the  design  of  Placidus,  and  that  he  was 
marching  with  all  expedition  against  the  place,  sallied  from  the  town,  in  order  to  give 
him  battle.  They  attacked  the  Romans  by  surprise,  and  as  the  fate  of  their  wives, 
cJ^ildren,  and  country,  depended  on  the  issue  of  the  contest,  they  fought  with  the 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  619 

most  astonishing  bravery,  and  with  such  success,  that  they  effectually  repulsed  the 
enemy  ;  after  which,  Placidus  drew  off  his  army. 

Vespasian,  having  resolved  to  make  an  excursion  into  Galilee,  issued  marching  or- 
ders to  his  troops,  according  to  the  military  discipline  of  the  Romans,  and  departing 
from  Ptolemais,  encamped  his  army  on  the  frontiers  of  Galilee.  He  might,  indeed, 
have  advanced  farther,  but  his  stopping  there  was  designed  to  strike  a  terror  into  the 
enemy  by  the  formidable  appearance  of  his  army.  In  this  conjecture  he  was  not 
deceived,  for  the  news  of  his  approach  threw  the  Jews  into  the  greatest  consterna- 
tion ;  and  Joseph's  followers,  who  were  encamped  at  some  distance  from  Sepphoris, 
descried  their  leader,  even  before  the  enemy  came  in  sight.  Being  thus  abandoned, 
and  finding  that  the  spirits  of  the  Jews  were  entirely  depressed,  that  the  majority 
of  his  people  had  already  joined  the  enemy,  and  that  the  rest  seemed  inclined  to 
follow  their  example,  he  relreated  to  Tiberias,  accompanied  by  a  few  of  his  people 
whom  he  could  trust,  and  who  still  maintained  their  fidelity. 

The  first  place  Vespasian  laid  siege  to  after  his  arrival  in  Galilee,  was  the  city  of 
Gadara,  which,  not  having  a  sufficient  number  of  inhabitants  to  defend  it,  he  subdued, 
with  very  little  difficulty,  on  the  first  assault.  The  natural  enmity  of  the  Romans 
against  the  Jews,  together  with  a  principle  of  revenge  for  their  having  defeated 
Cestius,  induced  them  to  put  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  promiscuously  to  the 
sword ;  and,  not  satisfied  with  setting  fire  to  the  conquered  city,  they  burnt  and  ut- 
terly laid  waste  the  neighboring  small  towns  and  villages,  and  subjected  the  inhab- 
itants to  slavery. 

In  the  meantime,  Joseph  (the  leader  of  the  Jews  in  Galilee)  left  Tiberias,  and 
retired  to  the  strong  city  of  Jotapata,  which  gave  great  encouragement  to  the  Jews 
of  that  place.  Joseph's  retreat  was  soon  made  known  to  Vespasian  by  a  deserter, 
who  advised  the  besieging  of  Jotapata,  observing  that,  if  Joseph  could  be  taken,  the 
war  must  inevitably  terminate  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  Jews.  Pleased  with  this 
information,  and  hoping  to  get  into  his  power  the  person  whom  he  considered  as  the 
most  formidable  of  his  enemies,  Vespasian  despatched  Placidus  and  ^butius  (the 
latter  of  whom  was  one  of  the  most  celebrated  men  of  the  army  for  bravery  and 
military  skill)  with  a  thousand  cavalry,  commanding  them  to  environ  the  city  with 
the  greatest  expedition,  and,  if  possible,  prevent  the  escape  of  Joseph. 

The  next  morning  Vespasian  issued  orders  for  his  whole  army  to  march,  and,  in 
the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  encamped  about  seven  furlongs  to  the  north  of  the 
city.  The  Romans  being  greatly  fatigued  by  their  march,  did  not  attempt  anything 
till  the  next  morning,  when  they  began  to  assault  the  city,  which  was  defended  with 
great  bravery.  Vespasian  ordered  the  bowmen  and  slingers  to  compel  the  Jews  to 
desert  the  walls,  while  himself,  with  a  body  of  infantry,  began  an  assault  from  an 
eminence  convenient  for  battering  the  place;  but  Joseph,  at  the  head  of  the  Jews, 
made  so  furious  an  attack  on  the  enemy,  that  he  compelled  them  to  retreat. 

The  next  day  the  besiegers  renewed  the  assault,  and  in  this  action  both  parties  dis- 
played the  most  distinguished  instances  of  valor.  The  Jews  were  encouraged  by  the 
undaunted  firmness  and  resolution  with  which,  contrary  to  the  most  sanguine  expec- 
tations, they  had  sustained  the  first  assault;  and  the  shame  of  having  been  repulsed 
invigorated  the  spirits  of  the  Romans.  Notwithstanding  the  great  danger  and  diffi- 
culty of  the  enterprise,  the  latter  continued  to  pursue  their  attacks  with  the  utmost 
vigor,  while  the  Jews,  regardless  of  their  great  numbers  and  strength,  made  frequent 
sallies  against  them  with  considerable  advantage. 

The  city  of  Jotapata  was  situated  on  a  rock,  and  utterly  inaccessible,  except  on  the 
north,  where  a  part  of  it  stood  on  the  brow  of  a  mountain.  This  quarter  Joseph 
caused  to  be  strongly  fortified,  thereby  precluding  the  enemy  from  taking  advantage 
of  another  mountain  by  which  it  was  overlooked,  and  which,  with  the  other  moun- 
tains adjoining,  so  entirely  enclosed  the  place,  that  it  could  only  be  seen  at  a  very 
small  distance. 

After  several  days'  fruitless  attempts,  Vespasian,  finding  the  place  so  admirably 
situated  for  defence,  and  that  he  had  to  contend  with  an  intrepid  and  determined 
enemy,  assembled  a  council  of  his  principal  officers,  in  order  to  debate  on  the  most 
proper  means  of  obtaining  a  victory.  The  issue  of  this  deliberation  was,  that  a  large 
terrace  should  be  raised  on  that  side  of  the  city  which  appeared  to  be  the  least  capa- 
ble oi  resistance.     Accordingly,  the  whole  army  was  employed  in  the  work,  which 


^20  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

they  pursued  with  surprising  rapidity,  and  the  utmost  efforts  of  the  Jews  to  oppose 
them  proved  ineffectual. 

In  the  meantime  Joseph  ordered  the  wall  of  the  city  to  be  raised  in  proportion  to 
the  advancement  of  the  enemy's  works.  The  Jews  at  first  declined  the  undertaking 
urging  the  impossibility  of  pursuing  their  business,  as  they  should  be  continually  ex- 
posed to  the  enemy.  To  remove  these  fears,  Joseph  suggested  the  following  inven- 
tion, as  a  defence  against  fire,  stones,  and  other  weapons.  He  caused  large  stakes  to 
be  fixed  in  the  ground,  and  raw  hides  of  beasts  to  be  stretched  upon  them,  the  yield- 
ing quality  of  which  would  prevent  any  material  effect  from  the  lances  and  stones, 
and  at  the  same  time  their  moisture  would  damp  the  fire  of  the  enemy.  The  Jews, 
thinking  themselves  secure  through  Joseph's  contrivance,  continued  indefatigably  in- 
dustrious in  the  work  both  night  and  day ;  and  they  soon  erected  a  wall  several 
cubits  high,  on  which  were  formed  towers  and  strong  embattlements. 

Vespasian  now  relinquished  all  hopes  cf  subduing  the  place  by  storm  ;  he  therefore 
blocked  it  up,  flattering  himself  with  the  expectation,  that  by  cutting  off  all  commu- 
nication, the  consequent  necessities  of  the  people  would  perform  the  business  of  the 
sword,  or  at  least  render  them  incapable  of  making  any  advantageous  resistance. 
There  was  an  abundant  supply  of  corn  and  all  other  necessaries  in  the  town,  except- 
ing water,  which  latter  article  they  only  received  from  the  clouds,  there  being  neither 
spring  nor  fountain  widiin  the  walls  of  the  city.  The  prospect  of  a  scarcity  of  water 
induced  Joseph,  who  was  determined  not  to  abandon  himself  to  despair,  to  limit  each 
man  to  a  daily  allowance,  in  consequence  of  which  a  universal  discontent  prevailed 
among  the  people.  This  circumstance  could  not  be  concealed  from  the  Romans,  who, 
from  an  adjacent  hill,  observed  the  people  assembled  to  receive  their  respective  por- 
tions, and  were  otherwise  informed  of  the  general  discontent  which  had  taken  place 
on  that  occasion.  Vespasian  was  in  continual  expectation  of  making  himself  master 
of  the  town  ;  but  Joseph,  to  convince  him  that  he  was  not  likely  to  succeed  from 
their  distress  for  Avant  of  water,  hit  upon  the  following  stratagem :  he  caused  great 
numbers  of  wet  cloths  to  be  hung  upon  the  battlements,  which  were  no  sooner  ob- 
served by  the  Romans,  than  they  concluded  a  scarcity  of  water  could  not  prevail  in 
the  town,  as  in  that  case  they  would  hardly  make  use  of  such  an  article  in  so  profuse 
a  manner.  In  consequence  of  this,  Vespasian  no  longer  entertaining  hopes  that  the 
enemy  would  surrender  through  want  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  had  again  recourse 
to  arms.  This  proved  a  circumstance  highly  agreeable  to  the  Jews,  who,  being  re- 
duced to  the  greatest  distress,  entertained  the  most  terrible  apprehensions  of  falling 
miserable  sacrifices  to  famine,  to  which  they  infinitely  preferred  a  glorious  death  in 
in  the  field. 

In  the  midst  of  this  distress,  Joseph  recollected  that  on  the  west  side  of  the  city 
there  was  a  hollow  or  gutter  in  a  place  so  little  frequented,  that  it  was  not  likely  to 
have  been  observed  by  the  enemy.  In  consequence  of  this,  he  sent  messengers  to 
the  Jews  without  the  city,  requesting  them  to  cause  water  and  other  necessaries  to 
be  conveyed  to  him  through  this  passasfe  and,  as  a  proper  security  to  the  mes- 
sengers, he  ordered  them  to  be  covered  with  hides  of  beasts,  and  to  go  on  their  hands 
and  feet,  that,  in  case  of  being  observed  by  the  watch,  they  might  be  mistaken  for 
dogs  and  other  animals. 

This  scheme  had  for  some  time  the  desired  effect,  and  an  intercourse  was  main- 
tained between  those  without  the  city  and  »hose  within,  to  the  great  satisfaction  of 
the  latter.  But  at  length  the  Romans  discovered  the  project,  which  they  effectually 
destroyed  by  closely  blocking  up  the  passage,  and  thereby  cutting  off  all  communica- 
tion whatever. 

Joseph  now  perceived  that  it  would  be  fruitless  to  attempt  a  longer  defence  of  the 
city,  and  therefore  he  joined  with  several  of  the  principal  men  in  suggesting  the 
means  of  escape.  The  people,  suspecting  on  what  subject  they  were  met  to  delib- 
erate, repaired  in  great  multitudes  to  Joseph,  earnestly  supplicating,  that  as  he  was 
the  only  man  from  whom  they  could  expect  relief,  he  would  not  desert  them  in  their 
then  extremity ;  observing,  that  while  he  was  secure  they  could  not  despair  of  suc- 
cess, and  declaring  that  they  could  not  die  more  honorably  than  while  acting  in  obe- 
dience to  his  commands.  They  told  him  that  if  it  should  prove  their  misfortune  to 
fall  into  the  power  of  the  Romans,  he  would  acquire  the  immortal  fame  of  having 
equally  scorned  to  fly  from  the  enemy,  or  desert  the  people  under  his  protection  :  that 
by  leaving  them  he  would  manifest  a  conduct  similar  to  that  of  a  man  taking  upoQ 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  621 

him  the  command  of  a  ship  in  temperate  weather,  and  abandoning  it  in  a  storm; 
they  likewise  added,  that  after  losing  the  only  man  in  whom  they  could  place  a  con- 
fidence of  success,  they  could  no  longer  cherish  the  hope  of  relieving  their  country. 

Joseph,  who  was  unwilling  to  have  it  believed  that  his  intention  was  engrossed  on 
the  means  of  providing  for  his  own  safety,  told  them,  that  if  they  were  compelled  to 
surrender,  his  remaining  with  them  could  not  possibly  operate  in  their  favor ;  whereas, 
if  he  obtained  his  liberty,  he  might  be  able  to  draw  an  army  out  of  Galilee  sufliciently 
early  to  raise  the  siege ;  and  that  his  continuing  in  the  city  would  be  productive  of 
unfortunate  instead  of  happy  consequences,  since  the  expectation  of  making  him  a 
prisoner  would  induce  the  Romans  to  continue  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  siege, 
which  they  might  probably  decline  if  he  could  effect  an  escape. 

But  these  arguments,  instead  of  reconciling  the  multitude,  rendered  them  still  more 
importunate,  and  with  the  most  bitter  lamentations  they  urgently  supplicated  that 
he  would  still  continue  his  protection  to  them.  Impressed  with  tenderness  and  grat- 
itude toward  the  people,  Joseph  considered  that  if  he  remained  in  the  town,  they 
would  attribute  his  compliance  with  their  request  to  the  influence  they  had  over  him, 
and  that  if  he  persisted  in  a  refusal,  they  might  probably  detain  him  by  force;  and 
therefore  resolved  to  share  the  common  danger,  he  addressed  them  as  follows :  "  My 
dear  friends  and  faithful  countrymen,  the  period  is  arrived  when  we  are  required  to 
exert  our  utmost  bravery,  since  in  that  alone  we  can  place  our  hopes  of  safety.  If 
we  lose  our  lives  our  reward  will  be  a  large  share  of  honor,  and  our  names  will  be 
endeared  to  the  latest  posterity." 

This  address  was  received  with  universal  satisfaction  by  the  people,  immediately 
after  which  Joseph,  at  the  head  of  the  most  courageous  of  the  Jews,  assaulted  the 
enemy's  guards,  whom  he  compelled  to  desert  their  trenches  and  retreat  to  the  camp. 

Joseph  and  his  army  now  defended  themselves  against  the  power  of  the  Romans 
with  the  most  astonishing  power  and  resolution.  This  they  continued  to  do  for  the 
space  of  forty  days,  when  a  deserter  represented  to  Vespasian  the  state  of  the  town, 
informing  him  that  through  the  loss  of  men,  and  the  hard  duty  which  the  survivors 
were  obliged  incessantly  to  perform,  the  garrison  was  so  reduced  that  it  must  neces- 
sarily surrender  to  a  vigorous  attack,  and  more  especially  if  advantage  was  to  be 
taken  of  a  favorable  opportunity  for  making  the  assault  by  surprise.  He  likewise 
strongly  advised  the  Roman  general  to  attempt  the  enterprise  before  daylight,  when 
the  Jews  would  not  be  apprehensive  of  danger,  and  the  vigilance  of  the  guard  abated 
by  fatigue  and  an  inclination  to  sleep. 

Vespasian,  being  sensible  that  the  Jews  possessed  a  remarkable  fidelity  to  each 
other,  which  the  most  excruciating  torments  could  not  force  them  to  violate,  was  un- 
willing at  first  to  put  any  confidence  in  what  the  deserter  had  related.  He  had  been 
witness  to  a  recent  instance  of  the  amazing  constancy  and  resolution  of  the  Jews,  ia 
the  case  of  one  of  Joseph's  people,  who  being  made  a  prisoner,  and  interrogated 
respecting  the  state  of  the  city,  refused  to' divulge  a  single  circumstance,  and  per- 
sisted in  that  resolution  during  the  most  excessive  torments,  and  while  he  was  under- 
going the  sentence  of  crucifixion.  Considering,  however,  that  the  information  of  the 
deserter  might  possibly  be  founded  in  truth,  and  that  no  ill  consequences  were  likely 
to  ensue  from  his  appearing  to  believe  that  to  be  the  case,  Vespasian  ordered  the  man 
to  be  secured,  and  every  necessary  preparation  to  be  made  for  the  attack. 

The  Roman  army  began  a  silent  march  at  an  appointed  hour  of  the  night,  which 
had  been  previously  agreed  upon  according  to  the  plan  laid  down  by  the  deserter. 
On  their  arrival  at  the  walls  of  the  town,  finding  the  sentinels  asleep,  they  imme- 
diately despatched  them,  and  without  the  least  molestation  entered  the  city,  followed 
by  a  large  body  of  troops  under  the  command  of  the  tribune  Placidus.  Notwithstand- 
ing it  was  open  day  before  the  Romans  gained  possession  of  the  fort  and  made  them- 
selves masters  of  the  town,  the  Jewish  army  was  so  exhausted  and  fatigued  by  inces- 
sant labor  and  watching,  that  tliey  did  not  entertain  the  least  idea  of  their  danger  till 
the  enemy  had  actually  gained  their  point;  and  even  those  who  were  awake  were 
almost  equal  strangers  to  the  misfortune,  as  they  could  not  clearly  distinguish  objects 
on  account  of  a  thick  fog  which  then  prevailed,  and  continued  till  the  whole  Roman 
army  had  gained  admittance  into  the  city. 

The  Romans,  recollecting  the  suflTeriiigs  they  had  undergone  during  the  course  of 
the  siege,  laid  aside  every  sentiment  of  humanity  and  compassion  toward  the  besieged. 
They  threw  manv  o*"  ♦he  Jews  from  the  top  of  the  fort,  who  were  instantly  killed  by 


622  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

the  fall,  and  others,  who  had  courage  enough  to  make  resistance,  were  either  pressed 
to  death  by  the  immense  crowds  of  the  enemy,  or  forced  down  precipices,  and  killed 
by  the  ruins  which  fell  from  above.  Such  of  the  guards  as  first  observed  the  city  to 
be  taken  fled  to  a  turret  on  the  walls,  where  they  were  attacked  by  the  enemy, 
against  whom,  for  some  time,  they  made  a  resolute  defence.  Being  oppressed  by 
numbers,  they  off'ered  to  capitulate ;  but  their  proposals  were  rejected  and  the  whole 
put  to  the  sword.  Every  Jew  who  was  met  by  the  Romans  on  that  day  was  put  to 
instant  death  ;  and  during  some  following  days  they  carefully  searched  for  such  as 
had  concealed  themselves  in  private  places,  all  of  whom,  except  women  and  chil- 
dren, they  destroyed.  Having  thus  obtained  a  complete  victory,  Vespasian,  after 
withdrawing  his  forces  from  the  town,  ordered  the  fortress  to  be  burnt,  which  was 
accordingly  done,  and  the  whole  city  laid  in  ruins. 

The  Romans,  induced  partly  by  personal  enmity,  and  partly  by  an  officious  zeal  to 
ingratiate  themselves  into  the  favor  of  their  general,  assiduously  employed  themselves 
m  searching  every  part  of  the  adjoining  country,  in  order  to  find  out  the  leader 
of  the  Jews.  It  was  Joseph's  fortune  to  escape  through  the  midst  of  his  enemies, 
and  to  find  a  deep  pit,  having  a  passage  leading  to  a  spacious  cavern,  in  which  h^ 
discovered  forty  distinguished  Jews  who  had  there  taken  sanctuary,  and  were  sup- 
plied with  sufficient  necessaries  to  last  them  several  days.  The  enemy  being  in  pos- 
session of  the  whole  adjacent  country,  Joseph  judged  it  unsafe  to  venture  abroad  by 
day,  and  therefore  he  left  his  retreat  only  by  night,  with  a  view  of  discovering  if 
there  remained  any  probability  of  effecting  an  escape;  but  finding  the  enemy  exceed- 
ingly vigilant,  he  repeatedly  returned  to  the  cavern  despairing  of  success.  On  the 
third  day  he  was  betrayed  by  a  woman ;  in  consequence  of  which,  Vespasian 
despatched  Faulinus  and  Gailanicus,  two  tribunes,  to  the  place  where  he  was  secreted, 
authorizing  them  to  assure  Joseph,  that,  on  condition  of  leaving  his  retreat,  he 
should  meet  with  a  kind  and  honorable  reception.  Joseph,  conscious  that  the  injuries 
the  Romans  had  sustained  at  his  hands  entitled  him  to  punishment  rather  than 
reward,  thought  it  unsafe  to  rely  on  Vespasian's  word  of  honor,  and  therefore  he  de- 
clined the  proposal.  In  consequence  of  this,  Vespasian  sent  another  tribune,  named 
Nicanor,  who  had  long  been  intimately  acquainted  with  Joseph,  and  was  in  fact  his 
most  sincere  friend.  Nicanor  forcibly  expostulated  with  him  on  the  impropriety  of 
refusing  to  comply  with  Vespasian's  request ;  he  represented  to  him  the  generosity 
and  benevolence  of  the  Romans  toward  those  they  conquered:  that,  so  far  from  Ves- 
pasian's entertaining  an  enmity  against  him,  he  highly  esteemed  him  as  being  a  man 
of  singular  intrepidity,  and  possessed  of  other  eminent  virtues;  and  that  the  Roman 
general  must  indisputably  have  favorable  views,  since  he  condescended  to  propose 
terms  to  a  man  who  was  already  subject  to  his  power.  "  Can  you  imagine,"  said 
Nicanor,  "  that  Vespasian  would  employ  a  friend  in  an  office  of  treachery,  or  that  I 
would  accept  from  him  so  dishonorable  a  commission?" 

Notwithstanding  these  remonstrances,  Joseph,  for  some  time,  declined  a  compli- 
ance ;  but  at  length,  from  the  very  forcible  arguments  and  advice  of  Nicanor,  he 
agreed  to  submit.  In  consequence  of  this,  his  companions  instantly  drew  their 
swords,  and  threatened,  if  he  surrendered,  to  put  him  to  death.  Joseph,  being  appre- 
hensive that  they  might  carry  their  designs  into  execution,  was  desirous  of  avoiding 
so  horrid  an  intention;  to  efi'ect  which  he  addressed  them  as  follows:  "Why,  my 
good  friends,  do  you  suff"er  yourselves  to  be  so  far  transported  by  the  violence  of  pas- 
sion as  to  cherish  the  idea  of  separating  the  soul  and  body,  which  are  so  intimately 
united  by  nature  ?  To  fall  by  the  hand  of  a  victor  in  a  war  maintained  according  to 
the  laws  of  arms,  is  without  dispute  a  glorious  fate.  I  should  make  no  greater  diffi- 
culty of  taking  away  my  own  life  than  of  requesting  a  Roman  to  perform  that  office; 
but  if  the  Romans  are  inclined  to  show  mercy  to  an  enemy,  will  reason  justify  that 
enemy  in  having  no  mercy  on  himself?  No  death  can  be  more  honorable  than  that 
of  the  man  who  yields  his  life  to  the  superior  power  of  an  adversary  that  means  to 
deprive  him  of  the  inestimable  blessing  of  liberty.  But  the  Romans  wish  not  our 
deaths  and  all  animosity  should  now  cease,  for  the  cause  of  our  contention  is  at  an 
end.  The  man  who  rejects  life  when  his  duty  requires  him  to  preserve  it,  is  as  pu- 
sillanimous as  he  who,  in  opposition  to  the  dictates  of  honor,  trembles  to  meet  his 
fate.  Is  it  not  from  the  fear  of  death  alone  that  we  hesitate  to  yield  to  thp  R-maus? 
Shall  we  precipitate  ourselves  into  certain  destruction  for  the  purpose  of  avoiding  a 
threatened  danger,  which  probably  may  uot  arrive  ?     If  you  conceive  that  we  ought 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  623 

to  die  to  avoid  slavery,  I  must  request  you  to  recollect  that  we  enjoy  not  liberty  in 
the  miserable  situation  to  which  we  are  now  reduced.  If  you  suppose  him  to  be  a 
brave  man  who  deprives  himself  of  life,  I  would  ask  what  opinion  you  would  form 
of  the  commander  of  a  vessel  who  during  a  calm  should  sink  his  ship  from  an  ap- 
prehension that  a  tempest  might  arise?  The  desire  of  preserving  life  is  a  principle 
implanted  in  the  whole  animal  creation  ;  and  therefore  to  deprive  ourselves  of  exist- 
ence is  to  violate  the  order  of  nature,  and  offer  a  sacrilegious  insult  to  God.  If  we 
desire  to  live,  may  we  not  indulge  that  desire,  since  we  have  given  exemplary  proofs 
of  our  courage  and  virtue?  But  if  we  are  resolved  to  die,  let  us  fall  by  the  hands 
of  our  conquerors.  We  shall  have  no  cause  for  regret  if  the  Romans  prove  treach- 
erous ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  we  shall  resign  our  lives  with  pleasure,  since  we  shall 
enjoy  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  the  perfidy  of  the  enemy  must  necessarily 
diminish  the  glory  of  their  victory,  and  render  them  infamous  to  the  latest  pos- 
terity." 

Joseph  imagined  that  these  arguments  would  have  induced  the  Jews  to  relinquish 
the  determination  of  putting  an  end  to  his  life  ;  but  in  this  he  found  himself  mistaken, 
for  instead  of  appeasing,  his  address  provoked  them  to  the  utmost  extravagance  of 
rage ;  they  approached  him  with  their  swords  drawn,  upbraided  him  in  the  most 
severe  terms  as  being  of  a  contemptibly  irresolute  disposition,  and  threatened  him 
with  instant  death.  Thus  situated,  Joseph  addressed  his  companions  in  the  most 
soothing  manner,  which  seldom  fails  to  gain  respect  from  those  who  have  been 
accustomed  to  obey;  he  called  one  by  his  name,  took  another  by  the  hand,  and  en- 
deavored to  engage  the  attention  of  the  rest  by  arguments  and  such  other  means  as 
he  conceived  to  be  best  adapted  for  obtaining  the  end  he  had  in  view.  Thus,  by  a 
singular  address  in  applying  to  the  various  humors  and  dispositions  of  his  com- 
panions, Joseph  averted  the  danger  that  threatened  him.  The  rage  of  the  Jews 
subsided,  their  esteem  and  veneration  for  their  general  revived,  and  they  freely  gave 
him  his  liberty  to  act  as  he  should  think  proper.  Being  thus  relieved  from  the  ex- 
tremity to  which  he  was  reduced  by  the  Romans  on  one  hand,  and  by  his  own  coun 
trymen  on  the  other,  Joseph  surrendered  himself  to  Nicanor,  who  immediately  con- 
ducted him  to  Vespasian. 

The  desire  of  seeing  Joseph  appear  before  the  Roman  general  caused  prodigious 
lumbers  of  people  to  assemble,  some  of  whom  rejoiced  to  see  that  he  was  alive,  while 
others  vented  menaces  and  the  most  bitter  execrations  against  him.  Those  who  were 
sufficiently  near  to  observe  his  person,  recollected  the  many  extraordinary  incidents 
of  his  life,  and  reflecting  on  his  then  situation,  were  greatly  astonished  on  the  com- 
parison. Notwithstanding  the  inveteracy  which  the  Roman  general  had  entertained 
against  Joseph,  they  tenderly  compassionated  him  in  his  captivity ;  but  Titus  was 
most  particularly  affected,  for  on  account  of  his  advanced  age,  and  the  unconquerable 
dignity  of  his  mind  in  the  most  extreme  dangers  and  distresses,  he  entertained  a  great 
veneration  for  Joseph,  whose  former  elevated  station  and  great  exploits,  together 
with  the  humiliating  condition  to  which  he  was  iiow  reduced,  he  most  seriously  con- 
sidered, and  then  proceeded  to  make  some  reflections  on  the  chance  of  war,  and  the 
mutability  of  human  affairs.  Those  who  heard  Titus  adopted  his  sentiments;  and 
he  greatly  contributed  toward  the  preservation  of  Joseph,  by  influencing  Vespasian  ia 
his  favor. 

Vespasian  intimated  his  intentions  of  sending  Joseph  to  Nero,  and  ordered  him  to 
be  kept  a  close  prisoner.  In  consequence  of  this  Joseph  requested  to  have  an  audience 
with  Vespasian,  which  being  granted,  he  was  conducted  to  the  general's  apartment, 
whence  every  person  was  dismissed,  except  Titus  and  two  of  his  friends.  In  the 
presence  of  these  Joseph,  addressing  himself  to  Vespasian,  spoke  as  follows:  "You 
see  me  here,  sir,  your  prisoner,  and  perhaps  you  consider  me  in  no  other  character; 
but  believe  me,  I  am  no  less  than  a  messenger  sent  by  Providence  to  impart  to  you 
a  matter  of  the  highest  importance.*  Had  I  not  been  charged  with  this  commission, 
I  should  have  acted  consistent  with  the  character  of  a  Jewish  general,  and  have  died 
rather  than  have  submitted  to  be  made  a  prisoner.  It  is  unnecessary  to  send  me  to 
Nero,  since  Vespasian  is  so  near  succeeding  to  the  empire,  which,  upon  his  decease, 

*  While  Joseph  was  witii  his  companions  in  the  cavern,  he  had  a  most  remarkable  vision,  in  wWch  were 
oommurii-ated  to  him  the  success  and  grandeur  which  the  Romans  should  experience,  and  the  miseries 
which  should  attend  the  Jews.  It  was  likewise  revealed  to  him  that  Vespasian  should  become  emperor, 
and  that  himself  should  be  the  messenger  of  that  intelligence  ;  and  this  it  was  that  made  lam  so  strenuous 
in  requesting  his  companions  to  spare  his  life. 


624  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

will  devolve  on  his  son  Titus.  Let  me  be  kept  a  prisoner,  and  guarded  with  unre. 
mitting  circumspection ;  I  only  request  to  remain  the  prisoner  of  Vespasian,  who,  by 
the  right  of  conquest,  is  become  the  master  of  my  life  and  liberty,  and  will,  in  a  short 
time,  be  advanced  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  Roman  empire.  If  it  shall  hereafter  ap- 
pear that  I  have  made  use  of  any  artifice  to  induce  you  to  repose  confidence  in  an 
impostor,  you  will  perform  an  act  of  justice  in  subjecting  me  to  the  most  severe  and 
exemplary  punishment." 

At  first  Vespasian  considered  Joseph's  address  as  a  mere  fiction,  contrived  for  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  his  faVor;  but  experiencing  certain  indications,  and  finding  them 
exactly  correspond  with  what  Joseph  had  related,  his  doubts  gradually  subsided,  and 
he  gave  full  confidence  to  the  pred'ction.  One  of  the  persons  who  was  permitted  to 
be  present  at  the  interview,  observed  to  Joseph,  that  since  he  pretended  to  a  knowl- 
edge of  future  events,  he  requested  to  be  informed  by  what  means  it  happened  that 
he  remained  ignorant  of  the  destruction  of  Jotapata,  and  of  his  own  captivity.  To 
which  Joseph  replied,  he  had  predicted  to  the  inhabitants  that  the  town  would  be  con- 
quered, and  himself  made  a  prisoner  by  the  enemy.  In  consequence  of  this  reply, 
Vespasian  ordered  a  secret  inquiry  to  be  made  among  the  Jewish  prisoners  relative 
to  the  truth  of  what  he  had  asserted ;  this  was  accordingly  done,  and  the  Jews  con- 
firming every  particular  related  by  Joseph,  the  general  was  induced  to  judge  more 
favorably  of  what  he  had  foretold  respecting  himself. 

Joseph  continued  to  be  guarded  with  the  greatest  circumspection;  but  the  irksome- 
ness  of  confinement  was  in  a  great  degree  mitigated,  by  his  being  allowed  every  ac- 
commodation and  convenience,  together  with  the  particular  respect  and  kindness 
which  he  received  from  Titus. 

After  the  conquest  of  Jotapata,  and  the  total  destruction  of  that  city,  Vespasian 
repaired  with  his  array  to  Cesarea,  where  he  took  up  his  winter  quarters;  but  that 
he  might  not  overburden  the  inhabitants  of  that  city,  he  sent  the  fifth  and  tenth 
legions  to  Scythopolis. 

Early  in  the  ensuing  spring  Vespasian  renewed  his  operations  against  the  Jews. 
He  sent  his  son  Titus  at  the  head  of  a  considerable  army  into  one  part  of  Judea, 
while  himself  went  into  another;  and  between  them  they  reduced  the  most  principal 
places  in  that  country,  the  inhabitants  of  some  of  which  quietly  submitted  :  but 
others,  after  holding  out  with  the  utmost  resistance  in  their  power,  were  conquered, 
and  great  numbers  put  to  the  sword. 

After  these  conquests  Vespasian  returned  to  Cesarea,  where  he  formed  the  resolu- 
tion of  laying  siege  to  Jptusalem  ;  but  Avhile  he  was  making  the  necessary  prepara- 
tions for  this  purpose,  he  received  an  account  of  the  death  of  Nero,  after  a  reign  of 
hirteen  years  and  eight  days.  In  consequence  of  this  intelligence,  Vespasian  sus- 
pended his  preparations  for  the  expedition  toward  Jerusalem.  Finding  that  Galba 
was  destined  to  succeed  to  the  empire,  he  thought  it  would  not  be  a  prudent  measure 
to  take  so  important  a  step  without  express  orders  for  so  doing.  He  therefore  de- 
spatched his  son  Titus  to  wait  on  Galba,  at  once  to  congratulate  him  on  the  succession 
to  the  empire,  and  to  take  his  directions  how  to  act  in  the  then  emerijency  of  aifairs. 
King  Agrippa  (who  was  at  this  time  in  Cesarea)  being  desirous  to  embark  with  Titus 
on  this  interesting  occasion,  they  set  sail  in  the  same  vessel ;  but  while  they  were  on 
their  voyage  (which  was  exceedingly  tedious  owing  to  the  contrariety  of  the  wind)  and 
near  to  Achaia,  they  received  intelligence  that  Galba  was  slain,  after  having  governed 
only  seven  months,  and  that  Otho  succeeded  him,  who  reigned  only  three  months. 
This  change  in  affairs  did  not  prevent  Agrippa  from  prosecuting  his  journey  from 
Achaia  to  Rome;  but  Titus  sailed  thence  to  Syria,  and  proceeded  with  all  expediiicn 
to  his  father  at  Cesarea. 

A  short  time  after  the  return  of  Titus  to  Cesarea,  Vespasian  received  intelligence 
that  a  civil  war  had  broke  out  in  Rome,  occasioned  by  Vitellius,  a  daring  and  enter- 
prising man,  who,  on  the  death  of  Otho,  had,  with  the  assistance  of  a  great  body  of 
German  soldiers,  possessed  himself  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  empire.  Vespasian  was 
a  man  who  had  a  just  opinion  of  the  respect  that  should  be  sliown  to  superiors,  and 
was  as  well  calculated  to  obey  as  to  command  ;  but  notwithstanding  this,  he  was 
greatly  chagrined  to  acknowledge  the  supreme  authority  of  him  who  rather  seized 
the  empire  as  a  plunder,  than  became  possessed  of  it  as  an  honor.  In  a  word,  this 
astonishing  change  in  the  public  affairs  affected  him  to  such  a  degree,  that  he  could 
DO  longer  enterlam  any  idea  of  prosecuting  foreign  wars,  when  his  couutrv  at  home 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  625 

was  distractjd  by  the  most  disagreeable  circumstances.  Yet,  though  his  indignation 
on  the  one  hand  urged  him  to  a  speedy  revenge,  yet  on  the  other  he  was  deterred 
from  putting  his  design  into  execution,  by  the  consideration  of  the  difficulties  and 
hazards  that  would  attend  so  long  a  journey  in  the  midst  of  winter,  beside  the  prob- 
ability of  many  unexpected  incidents  which  might  happen  before  he  could  arrive  in 
Italy. 

While  Vespasian  was  debating  this  subject  in  his  mind,  the  officers  of  his  army 
(all  of  whom  were  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  revolutions  which  had  taken 
place  in  Rome)  associated  together,  and  discoursed  with  the  utmost  freedom  on  the 
affairs  of  the  state  and  government.  Among  other  thing  they  exclaimed  most  vio- 
lently against  the  German  soldiers,  who  Avere  the  protectors  of  Vitellius,  ridiculing 
them  as  a  band  of  dissolute  and  effeminate  creatures,  who  would  be  afraid  to  face 
even  the  usual  terrors  of  war.  "  What,"  said  they,  "  shall  people  like  these  dispose 
of  armies,  or  rather  sell  them  to  the  highest  bidder?  Is  it  possible  for  them  to  im- 
agine that  we  who  have  undergone  all  the  fatigue  attending  excessive  labor,  till  we 
are  grown  old  in  the  use  of  arms, — that  we  will  ever  submit  to  be  governed  by  an 
emperor  chosen  by  them,  when  we  have  a  prince  of  our  own  who  is  much  more  wor- 
thy of  the  government?  Besides,  if  we  omit  the  present  opportunity  of  testifying 
our  gratitude  for  the  numerous  obligations  we  owe  to  the  generosity  of  Vespasian,  it 
is  not  very  probable  that  a  similar  prospect  of  paying  him  the  proper  compliment  will 
ever  again  offer.  Exclusive  of  these  considerations,  the  personal  merit  of  Vespasian 
hath  as  much  better  qualified  him  for  the  dignity  of  emperor,  than  that  of  Vitellius, 
as  our  merits  have  qualified  us  for  the  choice,  beyond  that  of  those  who  have  elected 
him.  With  regard  to  Vespasian,  there  can  be  no  debate  or  competition;  for  the 
senate  and  people  of  Rome  are  entirely  in  his  interest;  nor  would  they  even  listen  to 
an  insinuation  of  the  licentiousness  and  debauches  of  Vitellius  being  put  in  competi- 
tion with  ihe  modest  and  temperate  behavior  of  Vespasian  ;  for  this,  in  fact,  would 
be  to  prefer  an  abandoned  tyrant  to  an  humane  prince.  After  all  we  have  said,  let  it 
De  considered  what  a  ridiculous  figure  we  should  make,  and  how  egregiously  we 
should  be  duped;  we,  who  of  all  men  living,  have  the  greatest  obligations  to  Vespa- 
sian, if  the  senate  themselves  should  elect  him  emperor,  and  thus  take  out  of  our 
hands  the  merit  of  so  distinguished  an  action,  while  we  are  idly  debating  on  the 
method  of  proceeding  in  such  an  exigency." 

To  this  purpose  was  the  conversation  of  the  officers  under  Vespasian.  Their  first 
meetings  were  held  in  a  secret  manner  ;  but  having  publicly  declared  their  sentiments 
to  the  soldiers,  all  of  whom  agreed  with  them  in  opinion,  they  resolved  to  make 
choice  of  Vespasian  as  emperor,  and  entreated  him  to  take  under  his  protection  an 
empire  that  was  shaken  to  its  foundation.  Vespasian  had  for  a  long  time  been  the 
support  of  the  empire;  but  he  was  so  far  from  being  ambitious  of  the  dignity  of  em- 

f»eror,  that  he  absolutely  declined  it,  declaring  that  he  chose  rather  to  continue  in  that 
ine  of  life  to  which  he  had  been  accustomed,  than  accept  of  the  pomp  and  dignity  to 
which  he  was  invited.  But  the  more  desirous  Vespasian  was  to  avoid  this  compli- 
ment, the  more  earnestly  did  the  people  press  his  acceptance  of  it ;  till  at  length,  on 
his  repeated  refusal,  they  advanced  to  him  with  drawn  swords,  and  threatened  his 
destruction  if  he  any  longer  refused  accepting  an  honor  of  which  he  was  so  deserving. 
Still,  however,  for  a  time,  he  refused ;  but  at  length  yielded  to  an  importunity  that 
was  not  to  be  resisted. 

The  government  of  the  empire  was  no  sooner  accepted  by  Vespasian,  than  Mucia- 
nus  and  the  other  officers  joined  with  the  whole  body  of  the  army  in  requesting  that 
he  would  immediately  march  his  forces  against  Vitellius;  but  Vespasian  thought  it 
would  be  most  prudent  first  to  bring  over  to  his  interest  the  people  of  Alexandria,  by 
means  of  which  he  should  obtain  such  advantages  as  would  not  only  secure  himself, 
but,  in  all  probability,  crown  his  enterprise  with  success.  Egypt,  on  account  of  the 
prodigious  quantity  of  corn  which  it  produced,  was  deemed  one  of  the  most  important 
branches  of  the  empire:  wherefore  Vespasian  was  of  opinion,  that  if  he  could  but  pos- 
sess himself  of  that  country,  the  people  of  Rome  might  be  induced  rather  to  expel 
Vitellius,  than  run  the  risk  of  starving  if  they  refused  so  to  do,  which  would  be  the 
natural  consequence  if  they  could  not  obtain  proper  assistance  from  Egypt. 

These  observations  being  highly  approved  of  by  the  officers,  Vespasian  immedi- 
ately wrote  a  letter  to  Tiberius,  the  then  governor  of  Alexandria,  informing  him  that, 
at  the  importunity  of  his  soldiers,  he  had  been  prevailed  on  to  take  the  government 


326  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

into  his  own  hands,  and  that  he  thought  he  could  not  act  more  prudently  than  to  re- 
quest the  favor  of  his  advice  and  assistance  in  the  office  of  administration.  Tiberius 
had  no  sooner  read  this  letter  than,  with  the  utmost  freedom  and  goodwill,  he  took 
an  oath  of  fidelity  to  Vespasian,  and  caused  the  like  to  be  done  by  all  the  inhabitants 
of  the  city.  This  oath  was  taken  with  every  possible  demonstration  of  joy  and 
esteem;  for  they  were  previously  informed  of  the  good  intentions  of  the  new  emperor, 
and  confided  in  his  virtue  and  honor.  Tiberius  made  a  generous  use  of  the  power 
intrusted  to  him  for  the  public  welfare,  and  immediately  began  to  make  the  necessary 
preparations  for  receiving  Vespasian. 

Intelligence  of  Vespasian's  being  advanced  to  the  dignity  of  ruling  the  empire  was 
propagated  with  the  utmost  speed  through  every  part  of  the  eastern  country;  and 
wherever  this  news  arrived,  it  was  so  grateful  to  the  people,  that  the  inhabitants  of 
the  several  cities  kept  a  holyday  on  the  occasion,  and  offered  up  their  prayers  that 
the  reign  of  Vespasian  might  be  long  and  happy.  Several  ambassadors  from  Syria 
and  other  provinces,  waited  on  Vespasian,  with  congratulatory  addresses  on  his  being 
appointed  to  the  government  of  the  empire.  Among  the  rest  was  Mucianus,  the 
governor  of  Syria,  who  gave  him  the  utmost  assurance  of  the  loyalty  and  affectioa  of 
the  people  in  general,  which  they  had  testified  by  cheerfully  taking  the  oath  of 
fidelity  lo  his  person  and  authority. 

These  favorable  circumstances  struck  a  deep  impression  on  the  mind  of  Vespasian, 
who  could  not  help  seriously  reflecting  that  they  had  less  the  appearance  of  being  the 
work  of  chance  than  the  immediate  effect  of  a  disposing  Providence;  and  he  thought 
it  appeared  that  he  had  not  been  raised  to  so  distinguished  an  elevation  by  the  power 
of  fortune,  but  by  divine  interposition.  Reflecting  on  this  subject  there  occurred  to 
his  mind  several  prophetical  hints  which  had  happened  in  the  course  of  his  life,  ail 
tending  to  the  same  end.  Among  the  rest  he  could  not  but  recur  to  the  circumstance 
of  Joseph  having,  while  he  remained  a  prisoner,  and  during  the  life  of  Nero,  called 
him  by  the  title  of  emperor.  This  singular  prediction  had  great  influence  on  the 
mind  of  Vespasian,  and  the  greater,  because  the  parly  was  still  a  prisoner:  wherefore 
sending  for  Mucianus  and  others  of  his  oflScers,  he  spoke  to  them  of  the  singular 
courage  and  bravery  of  Joseph,  and  how  gallantly  he  had  behaved  himself  at  the 
siege  of  Jolapata.  After  this  he  mentioned  several  other  particulars  respecting  him, 
and  ai  length  adverted  to  the  subject  of  his  predictions :  "  Those,"  said  he,  "  I  at 
first  imagined  to  be  nothing  more  than  contrivances  for  his  own  preservation ;  but  the 
event  has  proved  that  they  were  actually  the  result  of  divine  providence;  wherefore, 
my  friends,  it  would  be  an  indelible  disgrace  in  me  longer  to  detain,  in  the  abject 
condition  of  a  prisoner,  the  person  who  first  declared  to  me  the  news  of  my  advance- 
ment." 

Having  said  this  Vespasian  instantly  sent  for  Joseph,  and,  in  the  presence  of  the 
Company,  restored  him  to  his  liberty.  From  this  instance  of  gratitude  in  Vespasian, 
his  officers  formed  the  most  favorable  idea  of  their  own  situation,  thinking  that  they, 
who  were  his  faithful  friends  and  servants,  should  experience  every  indulgence  under 
so  kind  a  master.  During  this  scene  Titus  was  present,  who,  in  a  most  submissive 
manner,  hinted  to  his  father,  that  the  single  granting  of  liberty  to  Joseph  was  leaving 
the  generosity  of  his  plan  incomplete:  that  his  chains  ought  not  only  to  be  taken  off, 
but  broken,  for  if  that  was  not  done  the  dishonor  of  his  imprisonment  would  remain 
with  him,  though  his  person  was  restored  to  liberty.  Vespasian,  coinciding  in  this 
opinion,  gave  immediate  orders  that  his  chains  should  be  cut  to  pieces  ;  which  cir- 
cumstance not  only  gave  the  most  extensive  freedom  to  Joseph,  but  so  raised  his  rep- 
utation as  a  prophet,  that  every  person  was  disposed  to  give  credit  to  any  of  his 
future  predictions  in  as  full  and  ample  a  manner  as  they  had  done  to  what  he  had 
already  foretold. 

A  general  council  was  now  held  to  consider  the  most  proper  measures  to  be  tak&a 
in  the  then  exigency  of  affairs,  in  which  it  was  resolved  that  Titus  should  prosecute 
the  war  against  the  Jews,  and  that  Vespasian  should  go  to  Alexandria,  and  use  such 
methods  as  he  thought  advisable  for  suppressing  the  disturbances  al  Rome,  occasioned 
by  the  usurper  Vitellius. 

On  Vespasian's  arrival  at  Alexandria  he  was  received  by  the  people  of  that  city 

'  with  the  utmost 'demonstrations  of  joy;  and  measures  were  instantly  concerted  for 

reducing  Vitellius,  and  quieting  the  disturbances  which  then  took  place  at  Rome. 

For  this  purpose  he  despatched  a  considerable  army  of  cavalry  and  foot,  under  the 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE  627 

command  of  Mucianus,  through  Cappadocia  and  Phrygia,  into  Italy,  being  afraid  to 
trust  his  troops  by  sea  during  the  winter  season. 

In  the  meantime  Antonius  Primus  (an  excellent  soldier  who  had  been  banished  by 
Nero,  but  restored  by  Galba,  a  friend  to  Vespasian)  marched  at  the  head  of  the  third 
legion  to  give  battle  to  Viielltus,  the  latter  of  whom  being  informed  of  his  intentions, 
sent  a  strong  army  under  the  command  of  Csecinna  to  oppose  him.  As  soon  as  Cae- 
cinna  met  Antonius  (which  was  on  the  confines  of  Italy),  he  was  struck  with  terror 
at  the  numbers,  order,  and  discipline  of  his  army.  He  was  totally  at  a  loss  how  to 
act  he  did  not  dare  to  risk  a  battle,  nor  could  he  think  of  running  away  from  them; 
and  therefore  he  chose  rather  to  be  considered  as  a  deserter  than  a  coward.  Having 
assembled  his  centurions,  tribunes,  and  all  the  rest  of  his  officers,  he  exerted  the  ut- 
most power  of  his  oratory  in  a  declaration  of  the  different  degrees  of  merit  between 
Vespasian  and  Vitellius.  The  one  he  extolled  to  the  highest  degree,  and  depreciated 
the  character  of  the  other;  and  all  this  with  a  fixed  design  to  prevail  on  the  soldiers 
of  Vitellius  to  take  part  with  Vespasian.  The  speech  he  made  on  this  occasion  was 
to  this  effect :  "Vitellius  possesses  nothing  more  than  the  name  of  an  emperor; 
whereas  the  claim  of  Vespasian  is  not  only  founded  on  the  strictest  equity,  but  his 
person  is  stamped  with  the  indubitable  marks  of  the  imperial  character.  Besides, 
the  troops  of  Vespasian  are  so  numerous  and  well-chosen,  that  it  will  be  in  vain  for 
us  to  think  of  entering  into  a  contest  with  him.  This  being  the  case,  had  we  not 
better  now  act  the  same  part,  as  of  our  own  choice  and  free  will,  that  we  shall  other- 
wise be  compelled  to  do  through  the  force  of  mere  necessity?  While  I  say  this,  I 
am  certain  that  Vespasian  is  able  to  carry  his  design  into  execution  without  our  aid 
or  assistance;  but  Vitellius,  so  far  from  being  able  to  protect  his  adherents,  is  by  no 
means  in  a  condition  to  defend  himself." 

These  arguments  were  urged  with  so  much  zeal  that  Caecinna  obtained  the  point 
at  which  he  labored,  and  prevailed  on  his  troops  to  go  over  to  Antonius.  But  on  the 
following  night  Csecinna's  people,  partly  repenting  of  what  they  had  done,  and  partly 
in  fear  of  the  consequence,  in  case  Vitellius  should  prove  successful  in  the  contest, 
advanced  in  a  rage,  with  drawn  swords,  to  despatch  Csecinna,  which  they  would 
have  certainly  done,  had  not  the  tribunes  strongly  interposed  in  his  favor.  Hereupon 
they  desisted  from  taking  away  his  life,  but  insisted  that,  as  a  traitor,  he  should  be 
immediately  sent  in  chains  to  Vitellius. 

As  soon  as  Antonius  was  informed  of  this  event,  he  immediately  went  with  a  party 
to  attack  them  as  deserters.  For  some  time  they  made  a  faint  resistance,  but  receded 
on  the  first  violent  attack,  and  fled  toward  Cremona.  Antonius  interposing  with  his 
cavalry  between  the  fugitives  and  the  town,  and  entirely  surrounding  them,  destroyed 
great  numbers  on  the  spot,  and,  pursuing  the  rest,  put  the  whole  to  the  sword,  ex- 
cept their  general  Caecinna,  whom  he  set  at  liberty,  and  despatched  to  Vespasian  with 
an  account  of  the  victory. 

After  this  defeat,  Antonius  marched  with  his  army  toward  Rome;  information  of 
which  being  made  known  to  Sabinus,  the  brother  of  Vespasian,  he  that  same  night 
assembled  the  city  guards,  and  possessed  himself  of  the  capital.  On  the  following 
day  great  numbers  of  persons  of  distinguished  rank  joined  his  party,  among  whom 
was  Domitian,  brother  to  Titus,  and  younger  son  to  Vespasian. 

Vitellius  paid  little  regard  to  the  proceedings  of  Antonius,  the  principal  view  of 
his  resentment  being  directed  toward  Sabinus,  and  the  other  persons  who  had  joined 
with  him  in  the  revolt ;  and  being  by  nature  of  a  savage  and  ferocious  disposition, 
but  particularly  so  to  those  of  distinguished  rank,  he  despatched  a  body  of  his  own 
troops  to  attack  them.  In  this  enterprise  the  most  singular  instauc3S  of  bravery 
were  displayed  on  both  sides;  but  in  the  end,  the  troops  of  Vitellius  became 
victorious.  Domitian,  and  other  Romans  of  the  first  rank,  made  their  escape; 
but  the  greater  part  of  the  people  were  destroyed,  and  the  victors,  after  plunder- 
ing the  temple  of  Janus,  burnt  it  to  the  ground.  With  respect  to  Sabinus,  he  was 
made  prisoner,  and  conducted  to  Vitellius,  who  ordered  him  immediately  to  be  put 
to  death. 

The  next  day  Antonius  arrived  with  his  army,  when  a  desperate  battle  ensued 
between  him  and  the  troops  of  Vitellius.  The  forces  of  Antonius  being  divided, 
they  engaged  in  three  different  parts  of  the  city  at  the  same  time,  and  the  contest 
was  continued  for  that  day  without  any  material  advantage  on  either  side.  Early 
the  next  morning  Mucianus  w.ilh  his  army  entered  Rome,  and  joining  that  of  Anfo 


628  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

nius,  the  attack  was  renewed  with  the  utmost  vigor,  and  the  troops  of  Vitellius 
being  defeated,  were  all  put  to  the  sword. 

Thus  was  this  mighty  city  taken  by  her  own  natural  subjects  ;  and  as  it  was  fatal 
10  many  ihousands,  so  likewise  was  it  to  Vitellius  himself,  whom  the  soldiers  drag- 
ged out  of  his  palace,  and  (without  hearkening  to  any  entreaties,  binding  his  hands 
Behind  him,  and  throwing  a  halter  about  his  neck)  drew  him  into  the  public  Forum, 
through  the  main  street,  called  Via  Sacra.  As  he  went  along,  they  used  the  most 
opprobrious  language,  and  treated  him  with  the  greatest  indignity  they  could  pro- 
ject ;  they  pelted  him  with  dung  and  filth,  and  held  the  point  of  a  sword  under  his 
chin  to  prevent  his  concealing  his  face.  At  length  they  conducted  him  to  the  com- 
mon place  of  execution,  where,  with  many  blows  and  wounds,  they  despatched  him 
m  the  5fJth  year  of  his  age,  and  after  a  short  reign  of  only  eight  months.  Having 
wreaked  their  vengeance  thus,  they  dragged  his  body  from  the  spot  where  they  had 
killed  him,  and  threw  it  into  the  river  Tiber;  after  which,  they  not  only  made  his 
brother,  and  only  son,  but  likewise  all  whom  they  met  with  of  his  party,  victims  to 
their  resentment. 

As  soon  as  the  fury  of  this  carnage  was  over,  the  Roman  senate  assembled,  and, 
with  unanimous  consent,  not  only  declared  Vespasian  emperor,  but  conferred  the  title 
of  Caesar  upon  his  two  sons,  Titus  and  Domitian  ;  nominating  the  former  to  be  con- 
sul with  his  father  for  the  ensuing  year,  and  the  latter  to  be  praetor  with  consular 
power.  They  likewise  rewarded  Mucianus  and  Antonius,  with  several  others,  for 
contributing  to  this  happy  revolution  ;  and  despatched  couriers  to  Vespasian,  at  Alex- 
andria, to  tender  him  their  homage  and  obedience,  and  to  desire  his  speedy  return  to 
Rome.  ■  On  this  occasion  the  people  made  two  festivals,  one  for  their  deliverance 
'rom  the  tyranny  of  Vitellius,  and  the  other  for  the  happy  advancement  of  Vespasian 
o  the  government  of  the  empire.     But  it  is  now  lime  to  return  to  Titus. 

Before  Vespasian  left  Judea,  he,  by  the  advice  of  his  council,  committed  the  man- 
igernent  of  the  war  against  the  Jews  to  his  son  Titus,  well  knowing  his  extraordi- 
lary  valor  and  skill  for  such  an  undertaking.  Hiriiself  had  reduced  most  of  the 
jountry,  except  Jerusalem ;.  but  Jerusalem  was  the  capital  city,  fortified  with  three 
walls  on  every  side,  except  where  it  was  fenced  with  deep  valleys,  having  the  castle 
of  Antonia,  the  temple,  the  palace  of  Acra,  the  towers  on  Mount  Sion,  and  several 
other  places  almost  impregnable ;  so  that  great  consultation,  and  a  preparation  of 
many  materials,  were  required  to  carry  on  such  a  siege. 

The  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  had  been  for  a  long  time  in  the  most  distressed  sit- 
aation,  owing  to  the  several  parties  and  factions  which  had  taken  possession  of  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  city,  and  were  not  only  murdering  each  other,  but,  in  their  rage 
and  madness,  destroyed  such  a  quantity  of  provisions  as  might  have  served  the  city 
for  several  months. 

Jerusalem  was  involved  m  these  sad  circumstances,  when  Titus,  with  a  powerful 
army,  and  all  kinds  of  warlike  engines,  approached,  and  sat  down  within  six  or  seven 
furlongs  of  the  city,  a  little  before  the  feast  of  the  passover.  By  these  means  he  shut 
up  an  infinite  number  of  people  who  had  come  from  all  parts  to  that  solemnity, 
which,  in  a  short  time,  occasioned  a  great  consumption  of  their  provisions. 

On  the  first  appcanance  of  so  formidable  an  army,  the  several  factions  unanimously 
igreed  to  oppose  it ;  in  consequence  of  which,  they  sallied  out  with  great  resolution 
and  furv,  and  putting  the  Romans  to  disorder,  obliged  them  to  abandon  their  camp, 
and  fly  to  the  mountains.  But  the  Jews  were  at  last  repulsed,  and  driven  into  the 
Mty  by  Titus,  who  particularly  distinguished  himself  as  a  courageous  and  expert 
warrior. 

When  Titus  had  properly  placed  his  engines  (which  was  not  done  without  great 
opposition),  he  battered  the  outward  walls,  and,  on  the  third  day  of  May,  making  a 
breach,  entered  and  took  possession  cf  the  northern  quarter  of  the  city,  as  far  as  the 
castle  of  Antonia,  and  the  valley  of  Kedron.  Having  done  this,  he  gave  the  besieged 
all  possible  assurances  of  pardon  and  civil  treatment  if  they  would  but  submit:  but 
they,  judging  his  order  to  be  the  effect  of  cowardice,  refused  to  accept  of  any  terms 
or  conditions  whatever. 

On  the  fifth  day  after  this  Titus  broke  through  the  second  wall,  and  though  the 
Desieged  made  several  sallies,  and  drove  him  out  again,  yet  he  recovered  the  place, 
and  possessed  himself  of  the  lower  city. 

Though  Titus  was  now  thoroughly  convinced,  in  his  own  mind,  that  he  could  by 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


629 


40 


630  •  -^  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

force  of  arms  easily  make  a  complete  conquest  of  the  city,  yet  he  was  willing,  if  pes 
sible,  to  effect  it  without  any  further  loss  of  blood.  He  therefore,  in  the  first  place, 
sent  a  messenger  to  the  Jews,  requesting  that  they  would  have  so  much  regard  to 
their  own  interest  as  to  surrender  a  place,  of  which  he  could,  at  any  time,  make  him- 
self master.  But  this  not  answering  his  wishes,  he  despatched  Joseph  to  them, 
thinking  that  when  they  were  addressed  by  their  own  countryman,  and  in  a  language 
familiar  to  them,  it  might  probably  be  attended  with  success.  In  conformity  to  the 
directions  given  by  Titus,  Joseph  first  walked  through  several  parts  of  the  city,  after 
which,  stopping  on  an  elevated  spot,  within  the  hearing  of  the  enemy,  he  addressed 
them  in  words  to  this  effect :  "  Countrymen  and  friends,  it  is  my  earnest  request, 
that  if  you  have  any  esteem  for  your  lives  and  liberties,  any  veneration  for  your  city, 
your  temple,  and  your  country,  you  will,  on  the  present  occasion,  give  a  proper  testi- 
mony of  your  sensibility,  and  learn,  even  from  strangers  and  enemies,  to  have  a 
jrr>per  regard  to  your  own  interest.  You  may  have  observed,  that  the  Romans  en- 
tertani  so  great  a  veneration  for  sacred  things,  that  they  make  a  scruple  of  seizing 
anything  that  is  holy ;  and  this  they  do,  though  they  never  presumed  to  have  any 
share,  concern,  or  interest,  in  your  communion  ;  whereas  you,  on  the  contrary,  instead 
of  protecting  the  religion  in  which  you  were  educated,  seem  conspiring  to  complete 
Us  destruction.  Are  you  not  by  this  time  convinced  that,  your  fortresses  being  beaten 
down,  and  a  great  part  of  your  walls  left  'in  a  defenceless  condition,  your  weakness 
is  sufficiently  exposed,  and  that  it  is  an  absolute  impossibility  to  support  yourselves 
much  longer  against  so  formidable  a  power  as  that  with  which  you  have  to  contend  ? 
It  is  true,  that  engaging  in  the  cause  of  liberty  is  a  glorious  task,  provided  it  be  un- 
dertaken before  that  liberty  is  likely  to  be  lost  or  forfeited  ;  but  when  the  latter  is  the 
case,  it  is  idle  to  think  of  attempting  to  throw  it  off,  and  all  further  endeavors  will 
rather  tend  to  produce  a  disgraceful  death,  than  give  the  opportunity  of  preserving  a 
life  of  honorable  freedom.  A  state  of  bondage  to  a  master  whom  a  man  of  honor 
would  blush  to  acknowledge  his  superior,  is  indeed  a  scandalous  state ;  but  submis- 
sion to  a  people  whose  authority  is  acknowledged  by  the  whole  world,  is  by  no  means 
disgraceful.  Conscious  of  this  truth,  your  ancestors,  who  were  more  wise  and  pow- 
erful than  you  are,  were  induced  to  pay  allegiance  to  the  Romans,  which  they  cer- 
tainly would  not  have  done  had  they  not  been  fully  convinced  that  it  was  the  will  of 
Providence  they  should  submit.  But  wherefore  would  you  any  longer  continue  a 
contest  that  is,  in  effect,  already  decided  ?  For  if  your  walls  were  yet  perfect,  and 
the  siege  actually  raised,  so  long  as  the  Romans  resolved  not  to  quit  the  place,  you 
must  soon  be  starved  into  submission.  Famine  has  already  made  great  havoc  among 
you,  and  the  calamity  will  daily  increase,  as  there  is  no  guarding  against  the  conse- 
quence of  the  severities  of  hunger.  It  will  therefore  well  become  you  to  recollect 
yourselves,  and  take  advice  while  it  may  be  serviceable  to  you.  The  Romans  are  of 
a  liberal  disposition,  and  will  be  ready  to  forgive  all  that  is  past,  if  you  do  not  con- 
tinue to  exasperate  them  till  forgiveness  would  look  like  weakness.  But  if  you 
resist  till  they  storm  the  city,  instead  of  mercy,  you  will  fatally  experience  their 
resentment  from  the  point  of  the  sword." 

These  friendly  admonitions  made  not  the  least  impression  on  the  perverse  Jews, 
who,  instead  of  paying  attention  to  them,  treated  Joseph  with  the  utmost  contempt, 
and,  had  he  not  been  properly  guarded,  would  have  put  him  to  death.  In  conse- 
quence of  this,  Titus  resolved  to  proceed  with  the  utmost  severity  against  them. 
Accordingly,  when  any  fled  from  the  city  (which  great  numbers  were  constrained  to 
do  on  account  of  the  want  of  provisions),  they  were  no  sooner  taken  than  Titus  or- 
dered them  to  be  scourged  and  crucified.  This,  however,  he  did  not  do  from  motives 
of  cruelty,  but  with  a  view  of  striking  terror  in  the  multitude,  in  hopes  that  they 
would  the  sooner  give  up  all  opposition,  and  surrender  themselves  to  the  superior 
force  of  his  arms. 

Finding  every  method  ineffectual  to  bring  the  Jews  to  submission,  Titus,  on  the 
12th  of  May,  began  four  mounts  for  his  battering-rams,  two  near  the  castle  of  Anto- 
nia,  where  he  was  in  hopes  of  taking  the  temple,  and  two  near  the  monument  of 
John,  the  high-priest,  where  he  supposed  he  might,  without  much  difficulty,  break 
into  the  upper  city.  But  in  two  bold  sallies,  the  besieged  ruined  and  destroyed  the 
mounts,  and,  having  burnt  several  battering-rams,  and  other  engines,  pressed  for- 
ward, and  broke  into  the  very  camp  of  the  Romans.  At  length  they  were  repulsed 
by  Titus,  who  (in  a  council  of  war)  resolved  to  surround  the  whole  city  with  a  wall, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  631 

or  intrenchment,  to  hinder  the  flight  of  the  besie^rec],  and  to  prevent  all  relief  from 
corning  into  the  city,  thereby  strictly  verifying  the  words  of  our  blessed  Redeemer. 
"The  days  shall  come  upon  thee,  that  thine  enemies  shall  cast  a  trench  about  thee 
and  compass  thee  around,  and  keep  thee  in  on  every  side."  Luke  xix.  43. 

This  work  was  executed  with  such  astonishing  celerity,  that  the  whole  was  fin- 
ished within  the  space  of  a  few  days.  But  it  made  no  impression  on  the  besieged, 
notwithstanding  the  famine  began  to  rage  with  the  most  horrid  violence,  and  such  a 
mortality  ensued,  that  within  the  space  of  three  months  no  less  than  llo,OSO  car- 
casses of  the  poorer  sort  were  carried  to  be  buried  at  the  public  charge,  6011,000  were 
thrown  out  at  the  gates ;  and  when  the  number  of  dead  bodies  increased  to  such  a 
degree  that  they  had  no  place  to  bury  them,  they  gathered  them  together  in  the 
largest  houses  adjoining,  and  there  shut  them  up. 

All  this  time  the  famine  increased  to  such  a  degree,  that  wives  took  the  meat  out 
of  their  husbands'  mouths,  children  from  their  parents,  and  mothers  from  their 
children;  old  men  were  driven  from  their  meat  as  persons  of  no  use,  and  young  men 
tortured  to  confess  where  their  provisions  lay  ;  sinks  and  holes  were  continually 
raked  to  find  offal  for  food,  and  the  very  soldiers  (who  were  the  last  that  would 
want)  began  to  eat  girdles,  shoes,  hay,  and  other  articles  ;  and,  what  was  worst  of 
all,  and  the  most  shocking  to  human  nature,  a  woman  of  quality  even  boiled  her 
own  child  with  an  intent  to  eat  it.  This  act  appeared  so  detestable  in  the  eyes  of 
'J'itus,  that  (after  having  repeatedly  offered  peace  and  pardon  to  the  Jews  if  they 
would  submit,  and  as  often  received  a  denial)  he  publicly  declared  that  "  he  would 
bury  the  abominable  crime  in  the  ruins  of  their  country,  and  not  suffer  the  sun  to 
shine  upon  that  city,  whose  mothers  eat  their  own  children,  and  whose  fathers,  no 
less  culpable,  did,  by  their  obstinacy,  reduce  them  to  such  an  extremity." 

With  this  resolution  he  ordered  all  the  groves  to  be  cut  down  within  a  consider- 
aole  distance  of  the  city,  and,  causing  more  mounts  to  be  raised,  on  the  first  of  July 
he  began  to  batter  the  wall  of  Antonia,  and,  on  the  fifth,  entered  the  castle  by  force, 
and  pursued  the  flying  Jews  even  to  the  temple.  Both  Titus  and  Josephus  again  ex- 
horted them  to  surrender,  but  all  to  no  purpose:  they  absolutely  refused  every  accom- 
modation, and  even  boasted  that  rather  than  submit  they  would  glory  in  enduring 
the  worst  of  miseries.  Titus,  hearing  this,  in  order  to  make  an  easy  ascent  to  the 
temple,  ordered  the  fortress  of  Antonia  to  be  razed  to  the  ground,  and  having  seized 
the  north  and  west  porticoes,  or  cloisters  of  the  outward  range  of  the  temple,  he  set 
them  on  fire,  as  the  Jews  did  other  porticoes,  to  hinder  the  Romans  from  making 
their  approaches. 

On  the  eighth  day  of  August  Titus,  perceiving  that  the  walls  of  the  inner  temple 
were  too  strong  for  the  battering-rams,  and  that  the  foundation  of  the  gates  could  not 
be  undermined,  was  obliged  to  set  fire  to  them,  yet  still  with  an  intent,  if  possible,  to 
save  the  temple  itself;  but  it  so  fell  out  that,  on  the  tenth,  a  certain  soldier,  contrary 
to  the  command  of  the  general,  cast  a  flaming  firebrand  through  the  golden  window 
into  the  chambers  and  buildings  on  the  north  side,  which  immediately  set  them  on 
fire.  The  utmost  endeavors  were  used  to  prevent  the  fatal  effects  of  this  proceeding, 
but  to  no  purpose.  The  flames  spread  throughout  the  whole  fabric,  and  soon  con- 
sumed the  most  beautiful  structure  that  ever  was  erected ;  while  the  Roman  soldiers, 
pursuing  their  victory  with  the  most  imaginable  fury  and  revenge,  cut  to  pieces  every 
person  they  found  about  the  temple,  and  then  set  fire  to  the  rest  of  the  buildings. 

During  this  state  of  general  confusion,  those  who  were  the  chiefs  in  the  sedition, 
found  means  to  retire  lo  the  upper  and  strongest  part  of  the  city,  called  Sion.  situated 
upon  a  steep  rock,  where  they  endeavored  to  defend  themselves  to  the  last.  But, 
Titus  having  raised  his  batteries  and  made  a  breach  in  the  wall,  they  lost  all  their 
courage,  abandoned  the  towers,  which  were  their  only  strength,  and  in  vain  sought 
to  escape  by  hiding  themselves  in  vaults  and  privies,  whence  both  John*  and  Simoc 

*  This  Jolm  was  tlie  son  of  one  Levi,  and  one  of  the  principal  men  belonging  to  the  city  of  Grichala. 
When  TiUis  laid  siege  to  that  place,  John,  under  pretence  of  surrendering  it,  made  his  escape,  and  went, 
with  a  party  of  men  to  Jerusalem,  where,  joining  with  the  zealots,  and  being  naturally  a  crafty  man,  elo- 
quent in  speech,  and  ambitious  beyond  measure,  he  soon  began  to  assume  a  sovereign  power  over  the 
rest,  and  became  ihe  comnrander  of  one  faction,  as  Simon,  the  son  of  Gioras  did  of  another.  Simon,  having 
gathered  together  a  great  number  of  robbers  and  murderers,  went  into  the  mountainous  parts  of  the  coun- 
try, reduced  alt  Idurnea,  and  some  places  in  Judea,  after  which  he  encamped  near  Jerusalem,  and  was  at 
length  let  in  by  the  citizens  to  defend  them  against  John,  who,  at  the  head  of  the  zealots,  did  many  cruel 
and  tyrannical  actions.  So  that  Simon  and  his  army  were  in  the  city,  while  John  and  his  adherents  were 
in  the  temple,  fighting  gjid  destroying  one  another,  e^en  wlii}e  the  enemy  was  at  the  walls 


632  A  NEW  AND  COMPLETE 

(two  principal  ringleaders  of  their  different  factions)  were  dragged  out,  and  the 
foTner  condemned  to  perpetual  imprisonment,  while  the  latter  was  preserved  to 
giice  the  victor's  triumph. 

The  Romans,  having  now  gained  the  walls,  and  with  shouts  of  joy  placed  their 
colors  upon  the  towers^  broke  loose  all  over  the  cicy,  and  ranged  up  and  down  the 
streets,  killing  all  that  fell  in  their  way  without  distinction,  till  the  passages  were 
filled  up  with  the  carcasses,  and  the  channels  of  the  city  ran  down  with  blood,  as  if  it 
had  been  to  quench  the  fire,  which  was  become,  as  it  were,  one  general  conflagra- 
tion. 

To  this  fatal  end  was  the  famous  city  of  Jerusalem,  after  a  siege  of  above  five 
months,  reduced,  in  the  second  year  of  Vespasian's  reign,  and  thirty-eight  years  after 
our  Lord's  crucifixion.  In  this  siege  it  was  computed  that  1,100,000  perished,  and 
97,000  were  taken  captives,  beside  237,490  (according  to  Josephus)  who  fell  in  the 
wars  which  preceded  it. 

The  greater  part  of  the  buildings  in  the  city  being  consumed  by  fire,  and  the 
soldiers  having  neither  rapine  nor  object  left  for  their  rage  and  indignation  to  work 
upon,  Titus  ordered  them  to  lay  the  remaining  parts  of  the  city  and  temple  level  with 
the  ground :  which  order  was  so  punctually  executed  that  (except  three  towers, 
which,  for  their  strength  and  beauty,  were  left  as  monuments  to  posterity  of  the  once 
magnificence  of  the  city)  the  whole  was  laid  so  flat  that,  when  the  Romans  left  the 
place,  it  looked  as  if  it  had  never  been  inhabited. 

While  these  things  were  transacting  at  Jerusalem,  Vespasian,  who  entered  upon 
the  government  in  the  fifty-ninth  year  of  his  age,  was  received  at  Rome  with  all 
imaginable  joy  and  triumph  by  the  people.  They  considered  him  as  the  only  person 
whose  virtues  and  excellences  could  recover  the  languishing  state  of  the  empire:  nor 
were  they  mistaken,  for  he  began  immediately  to  act  in  conformity  to  what  they  had 
expected,  by  administering  justice,  and  reforming  the  laws  and  customs  of  Rome, 
honorably  reAvarding  those  who  had  served  him,  and  pardoning  his  adversaries  with 
the  most  sinfjular  clemency. 

In  the  meantime  the  news  of  the  conquest  of  Jerusalem  reached  Rome,  which  oc- 
casioned the  greatest  rejoicings  in  that  city,  the  people  universally  proclaiming  the 
praises  of  Titus,  who  had  shown  himself  so  expert  a  soldier  and  commander ;  and 
in  consequence  of  this  a  triumph  was  decreed  both  for  him  and  his  father,  the 
latter  having  conducted  the  beginning  of  the  war  with  no  less  eclat  than  the  former 
had  finished  it. 

When  Titus  returned  to  Rome  he  was  received  with  the  universal  applause  ot 
the  people,  and  within  a  few  days  after  both  the  father  and  son  entered  upon  their 
triumph,  which  was  more  solemn  and  magnificent  than  had  ever  before  been  seen 
in  Rome.  Among  other  rich  and  glorious  spoils  were  great  quantities  of  gold 
taken  out  of  the  temple,  and  the  body  of  the  Jewish  law,  Avhich  were  exhibited 
to  the  view  of  the  people.  This  was  the  first  time  that  Rome  ever  saw  the  father 
and  son  triumph  together;  and  as  Vespasian  built  a  new  temple  to  Peace,  where- 
in he  deposited  most  of  the  Jewish  spcrils,  so  Titus  had  a  triumphal  arch  of  great 
beauty  and  magnificence  erected  to  his  honor,  whereon  were  inscribed  all  his  noble 
exploits  against  the  Jews,  and  which,  as  a  lasting  monument  of  the  impiety  and 
perverseness  of  that  nation,  remains  almost  entire  to  this  day. 

Such  was  the  end  of  the  once  famous  city  of  Jerusalem,  and  such  the  end  of 
the  Jewish  polity ;  from  Avhich  time  those  obstinate  and  perverse  people  were  nu 
longer  a  nation,  but  have  ever  since  been  dispersed  and  despised  throughout  the 
whole  face  of  the  earth. 


END  O^   THE   NEW   TESTAMENT  flISTOKT. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


633 


Arch  ol  Til  us.   Rome. 


Present  iippearHUce  of  .lerusaiL-in. 


J 


f 


APPENDIX. 


LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

The  Bible  of  the  Christians  is,  without  exception,  the  most  remarkable  work  now 
m  existence.  In  the  libraries  of  the  learned,  there  are  frequently  seen  books  of  an 
extraoidinary  antiquitv,  and  curious  and  interesting  from  the  nature  of  their  contents  ; 
but  none  approach  the  Bible,  taken  in  its  complete  sense,  in  point  of  age,  while  cer- 
tainly no  production  whatever  has  any  pretension  to  rival  it  in  the  dignity  of  compo- 
sition, or  the  important  nature  of  the  subjects  treated  of  in  its  pages.  The  word 
Bible  is  of  Greek  origin,  and,  in  signifying  simply  The  Book,  is  expressive  of  its  su- 
periority over  all  other  literary  productions.  The  origin  and  nature  of  this  every 
way  singular  work,  how  it  was  preserved  during  the  most  remote  ages,  and  how  it 
became  known  to  the  modern  world  in  its  present  shape,  form  a  highly  interesting 
chapter  of  literary  history. 

The  Bible  comprehends  the  entire  foundation  of  the  religious  belief  of  the  Tews 
and  Christians,  and  is  divided  into  two  distinct  portions,  entitled  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  the  former  being  that  which  is  esteemed  by  the  Jewish  nation,  but  both 
being  essential  in  forming  the  faith  of  the  Christian.  The  Old  Testament  is  the 
largest  department  of  the  work,  and  appears  a  collection  of  detached  histories, 
moral  essays,  and  pious  poetical  effusions,  all  placed  together  in  the  order  of  time, 
or,  as  they  may  serve,  for  the  purpose  of  mutual  illustration.  On  taking  a  glance  at 
the  contents,  the  principal  subject  of  narration  seems  the  history  of  the  Jews,  com- 
mencing with  an  account  of  the  creation  of  the  world,  and  tracing  their  history  gen- 
ealogically, through  a  series  of  striking  vicissitudes  and  changes  of  situation.  But 
when  we  examine  the  narrative  minutely,  it  is  found  that  there  is  another  meaning 
than  that  of  mere  historical  elucidation.  It  is  perceived  that  the  whole  train  of 
events  recorded,  the  whole  of  those  lofty,  impassioned  strains  of  poetry  which  dis- 
tinguish the  volume,  are  precursory  and  prophetic  of  a  great  change,  which,  at  a  fu- 
ture period,  was  to  be  wrought  on  the  moral  properties  and  fate  of  mankind,  by  the 
ciuning  to  the  earth  of  a  Messiah. 

The  authorship  of  the  Old  Testament  has  been  universally  ascribed,  by  both  Jews 
and  Christians,  to  God  himself,  though  not  by  direct  composition,  but  by  spiritually 
influencing  the  minds  of  certain  sages  to  accomplish  the  work,  or,  in  ordinary  phrase- 
;>!(jgy,  by  inspirimr  or  endowing  them  with  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  transactions 
!o  be  recorded  and  predicted,  in  a  way  suitable  to  the  great  end  in  view.  The  Bible 
is  hence  usually  termed  the  Sacred  Scriptures.  The  periods  when  the  act  of  writing 
all  or  most  part  of  the  Scriptures  took  place,  as  well  as  most  of  the  names  of  those 
Avho  were  instrumental  in  forming  the  work,  have  been  ascertained  with  surprising 
accuracy,  both  from  written  evidence  in  the  narratives  themselves,  and  from  the  well- 
preserved  traditions  of  the  Jews.  At  whatever  time  the  different  books  were  writ- 
ten, they  were  not  collected  and  put  into  a  connected  form  till  long  after  their  im- 
mediate authors  were  deceased;  and  their  present  arrangement,  as  we  shall  after- 
ward fully  explain,  is  of  comparatively  modern  d<ite. 

According  to  the  order  in  which  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament  now  stand,  those 
of  an  historical  nature  are  appropriately  placed  at  the  beginning.  The  first  five  books, 
having  a  chain  of  connexion  throughout,  are  Genesis,  Exodus,  Leviticus,  Numbers, 
and  Deuteronomy.     These  are  styled   the  Pentateuch,  such  being  the  Greek  com- 


LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  635 

pound  for  five  books.  They  are  likewise  entitled  the  Books  of  Moses,  from  the 
belief  that  that  enlightened  Jewish  leader  composed  them. 

The  Jews,  or  Hebrews,  take  the  name  of  the  sacred  books  from  the  first  word 
with  which  each  begins ;  but  the  Greeks,  whom  our  translators  generally  follow, 
take  the  names  from  the  subject-matter  of  them.  Thus,  the  first  book  is  called  by 
the  Hebrews,  Bereshith,  which  signifies  "  In  the  beginning,"  these  being  the  first 
words  :  but  the  Greeks  call  it  Genesis,  which  signifies  "  production,"  because  the  cre- 
ation of  the  world  is  the  first  thing  of  which  it  gives  an  account.  It  likewise  con- 
tains an  account  of  the  increase  of  mankind ;  of  their  corruption  of  manners,  and  its 
;ause ;  of  their  punishment  by  the  deluge  (an  event  which,  by  scientific  investigation 
and  historical  research,  is  placed  beyond  a  doubt) ;  of  the  origin  of  the  Jewish  peo- 
ple from  Abraham ;  of  the  manner  in  which  God  was  pleased  to  have  them  gov- 
erned ;^and,  particularly,  of  the  nature  of  the  special  superintendence  vouchsafed  to 
the  Jewish  nation  by  the  Creator.  This  comprehensive  narrative  reaches  from  the 
creation  of  the  world  till  the  death  of  Joseph,  or  a  period  of  2,369  years.  In  another 
part  of  the  Scriptures,  reference  is  made  to  the  Book  of  Jasher,  and  it  is  believed 
that  Genesis  is  there  meant ;  for  Jasher  signifies  "  the  Just,"  and,  according  to  St.  Je- 
rome, a  learned  Christian  writer,  the  name  of  the  Book  of  the  Just,  or  the  Authen- 
tic Book,  was  applied  to  it  from  its  containing  the  history  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and 
Jacob. 

Exodus,  the  title  of  the  second  book  of  Moses,  signifies  in  the  Greek,  "  The  going 
out,"  and  was  applied  from  the  account  which  it  gives  of  the  Israelites  going  out  of 
Egypt.  In  it  are  related  the  cruel  Egyptian  slavery  under  which  the  Jews  groaned; 
their  delivery  by  flight  and  passage  through  the  Red  sea;  the  history  of  the  estab- 
lishment of  their  very  peculiar  laAV,  and  many  remarkable  transactions  ;  concluding 
with  the  building  of  the  tabernacle,  or  place  appropriated  to  the  service  of  the  Di- 
vinity. This  book  comprises  the  history  of  145  years,  from  the  death  of  Joseph  till 
the  building  of  the  tabernacle.  The  Hebrews  call  it  Velle  Shemoth,  that  is,  in  En- 
glish, "  These  are  the  names,"  which  are  the  words  with  which  it  begins. 

The  third  book  of  Moses  is  called  Leviticus,  because  it  contains  the  laws  which  God 
commanded  should  be  observed  by  those  of  the  tribe  of  Levi  who  ministered  at  the  al- 
tar. It  treats  at  large  of  all  the  functions  of  the  Levites  ;  of  the  ceremonial  of  religion  ; 
of  the  different  sorts  of  sacrifices;  of  the  distinction  of  clean  and  unclean  beasts; 
of  the  different  festivals ;  and  of  the  year  of  jubilee,  or  continued  holyday.  It  like- 
wise presents  us  with  an  account  of  what  happened  to  the  Jews  during  the  space  of 
one  month  and  a  half;  that  is,  from  the  time  the  tabernacle  was  erected,  which  was 
the  first  day  of  the  first  month  of  the  second  year  after  the  Israelites  came  out  of 
Egypt,  till  the  second  month  of  the  same  year,  when  God  commanded  the  people  to 
be  numbered.  The  Hebrews  called  this  "book  Vayicre,  that  is,  "And  he  called," 
these  being  the  first  words ;  they  call  it  also  The  Law  of  the  Priests. 

In  the  fourth  book,  which  we  call  Numbers,  Moses  numbers  the  Israelites,  and 
that,  too,  in  the  beginning  of  the  book,  which  shows  whence  it  had  its  name.  The 
Hebrews  call  it  Vayedavber,  that  is,  "  And  he  spake."  This  book  contains  the  history 
of  all  that  passed  from  the  second  month  of  the  second  year  after  the  Israelites 
came  out  of  Egypt,  till  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  month  of  the  fortieth  year; 
that  is,  it  contains  the  history  of  thirty-nine  years,  or  thereabouts.  In  it  we  have  also 
the  history  of  the  prophet  Balaam,  whom  the  king  of  the  Midianites  brought  to 
curse  the  people  of  God,  and  who,  on  the  contrary,  heaped  blessings  upon  the  Israel- 
ites, and  foretold  the  coming  of  the  Messiah.  It  particularly  mentions,  also,  thp 
tAvo-and-forty  encampments  of  the  Israelites  in  the  Avilderness. 

The  fifth  book  is  called  Deuteronomy,  a  Greek  term  which  signifies,  "The  secoiid 
law,"  or,  rather,  "  The  repetition  of  the  law,"  because  it  does  not  contain  a  law  dif- 
ferent from  that  which  was  given  on  Mount  Sinai ;  but  it  repeats  the  same  law,  for 
the  sake  of  the  children  of  those  who  had  received  it  there,  and  were  since  dead  in 
the  wilderness.  The  Hebrews  call  it  Elle-haddebarim,  that  is,  "These  are  the 
words."  Deuteronomy  begins  with  a  short  account  of  what  had  passed  in  the  wil- 
derness, and  then  Moses  repeats  what  he  had  before  commanded  in  Exodus,  Leviti- 
cus, and  Numbers,  and  admonishes  the  people  to  be  faithful  in  keeping  the  com- 
mandments of  God.  After  this,  he  relates  what  had  happened  from  the  beginning  of 
the  eleventh  month,  to  the  seventh  day  of  the  twelfth  month  of  the  same  year,  which 
was  the  fortieth  after  their  leaving  Egypt.     The  discourse  which  is  at  the  begin 


636  APPENDIX. 

ning  of  this  book  was  made  to  the  people  by  Moses,  on  the  first  day  of  the  eleventh 
month.  Accordmg  to  Josephus,  he  died  on  the  first  day  of  the  twelfth  ;  and  the 
Israelites,  as  the  Scriptures  say,  mourned  for  him  in  the  plains  of  Moab  thirty  days, 
and,  consequently,  during  the  whole  of  the  twelfth  month. 

The  Jews  called  the  Pentateuch  "  The  Law,"  without  doubt  because  the  law  ot 
God  which  Moses  received  on  Mount  Sinai  is  the  principal  part  of  it ;  and  it  is  as 
little  to  be  doubted  whether  that  great  man  was  the  writer  of  the  Pentateuch.  This 
is  expressly  declared  both  in  Exodus  and  Deuteronomy.  But  as  an  account  of  the 
death  of  Moses  is  given  in  the  last  eight  verses  of  this  book,  it  is  therefore  thought 
that  these  verses  were  added  either  by  Joshua  or  Ezra.  The  opinion  of  Josephus 
concerning  them  is  very  singular ;  he  pretends  that  Moses,  finding  his  death  approach- 
uig,  and  being  willing  to  prevent  an  error  into  which  the  veneration  the  people  had 
for  him  might  cause  the  Jews  to  fall,  wrote  this  account  himself,  without  which 
the  Jews  would  probably  have  supposed  that  God  had  taken  htm  aivay,  like  Enoch. 

After  the  death  of  Moses,  Joshua,  by  the  order  of  the  Divine  Being,  took  upon 
himself  the  conducting  of  the  Hebrew  people,  and  succeeded  Moses,  to  whom  he 
had  been  a  faithful  servant,  and  by  whom  he  had  been  instructed  in  what  he  ought 
to  do.  It  is  uncertain  Avhelher  the  book  which  contains  the  history  of  this  successor 
of  Moses  be  called  Joshua,  from  the  subject  of  it,  or  from  his  having  been  the  wri- 
ter of  it.  But  it  is  certain  that  it  contains  an  account  of  what  passed  from  the 
death  of  Moses  to  that  of  Josiiua.  Nevertheless,  there  are  several  things  in  it  which 
did  not  come  to  pass  till  after  the  death  of  this  great  man,  and  which,  consequently, 
could  not  have  been  written  by  him.  The  common  opinion  as  to  the  length  of  time 
t  contains  is,  that  Joshua  discharged  his  office  only  for  seventeen  years,  and  that, 
therefore,  this  book  contains  no  more  than  the  history  of  that  number  of  years. 

After  the  death  of  Joshua,  the  Israelites  were  governed  by  magistrates,  who  ruled 
under  the  general  designation  of  Judges;  and  the  book  which  contains  the  history  of 
these  rulers  is  called.  The  Book  of  Judges.  This  history  begins  with  the  death  of 
Joshua,  and  reaches  to  that  of  Samson.  We  here  see  the  people  of  God  often  en- 
slaved in  punishment  of  their  crimes,  and  often  wonderfully  delivered  from  slavery. 
Toward  the  end  of  it,  we  have  some  instances  of  this  people's  inclination  to  idolatry, 
and  of  the  corruption  of  their  manners,  even  before  they  had  been  brought  into 
slavery.  Such  are  the  histories  of  Micah,  and  of  the  Benjamites  who  abused  the 
Levite's  wife.     This  book  contains  the  history  of  three  hundred  and  seventy  years. 

During  the  time  of  the  government  of  the  Judges,  there  Avas  a  great  famine  in 
the  land  of  Israel,  which  forced  Elimelech,  a  native  of  Bethlehem,  to  retire  into  the 
land  of  Moab,  with  his  wife  Naomi,  and  two  children.  Elimelech  died  there,  as  also 
his  two  sons,  who  had  married  two  Moabitish  women,  one  of  whom  was  named 
Ruth.  Naomi,  after  the  death  of  her  liusband  and  her  children,  returned  to  Bethle- 
hem, accompanied  by  Ruth,  iier  daughter-in-law,  who  was  there  married  to  Boaz, 
Elimelech's  near  relation,  and  the  heir  to  his  estate.  The  book  which  contains  this 
history,  is  called.  The  Book  of  Ruth.  The  beginning  of  it  shows  that  it  happened 
in  the  time  of  the  Judges,  but  under  which  of  them  is  not  certainly  known ;  some 
place  it  in  the  time  of  Shamgar,  or  of  Deborah.  As  to  the  writer  of  this  book,  some 
think  that  the  books  of  Judges  and  Ruth  were  both  written  by  Samuel ;  others  at- 
tribute them  to  Hezekiah,  and  others  to  Ezra.  The  Jews  place  the  book  of  Ruth 
among  the  five  books  which  they  usually  read  on  all  the  festivals  in  the  year.  These 
five  books  are,  the  Song  of  Songs,  Ruth,  the  Lamentations  of  Jeremiah,  Ecclesiastes, 
and  the  book  of  Esther.  In  the  Hebrew  bibles  they  are  printed  or  written  apart  by 
themselves,  and  are  bound  up  together. 

The  four  books  following  Ruth  are  called  by  the  Greeks,  and  also  in  some  Latin 
bibles.  The  History  of  the  Reigns.  Others  call  them  all.  The  Books  of  Kings, 
because  they  give  an  account  of  the  establishment  of  the  monarchy,  and  of  the  suc- 
cession of  the  kings,  who  reigned  over  the  whole  kingdom  at  first,  and  over  the  king- 
doms of  Judah  and  Israel  after  its  division.  At  the  beginning  of  these  books  is  given 
the  history  of  the  prophet  Samuel,  which  gives  light  to  that  of  The  Kings.  The 
Jews  call  the  first  two  of  these  books.  The  Books  of  Samuel :  perhaps  because  they 
contain  the  history  of  the  two  kings,  who  were  both  anointed  by  Samuel;  and  be- 
cause what  is  said  of  Saul  in  the  first,  and  of  David  in  the  second,  proves  the  truth 
oi  Samuel's  prophecies.   They  give  the  name  of  The  Books  of  Kmgs  only  to  the  other 


LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  637 

two,  which,  in  the  Latin  and  French  bihies,  are  called  the  Third  and  Fourth  Books 
of  Kings. 

The  First  Book  of  Kings,  or  the  First  of  Samuel,  contains  the  history  of  the  high- 
priest  Eli,  of  Samuel,  and  of  Saul.  As  the  first  year  of  Eli's  high-priesthood  falls 
on  the  year  of  the  world  2848,  and  the  death  of  Saul  in  2949,  the  history  cf  this  book 
must  comprehend  the  space  of  one  hundred  and  one  years. 

The  Second  contains  the  reign  of  David,  which  is  the  history  of  about  forty  /ears. 
It  is  commonly  believed  that  Samuel,  Nathan,  and  Gad,  were  the  writers  of  these 
two  books,  and,  indeed,  they  are  called,  in  the  end  of  the  first  book  of  Chronicles, 
David's  historians. 

The  Third,  or,  according  to  the  Hebrews,  the  First  Book  of  Kings,  begins  with  a 
relation  of  the  manner  in  which  Solomon  came  to  the  throne,  and  contains  the  whole 
of  his  reign.  After  that,  an  account  follows  of  the  division  of  the  kingdom,  and  the 
history  of  four  kings  of  Judah  and  eight  kings  of  Israel.  All  these  reigns,  including 
that  of  Solomon,  which  occupies  the  first  forty  years,  comprise  the  space  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-six  years. 

The  Fourth  of  these  books  contains  the  history  of  sixteen  kings  of  Judah,  and 
twelve  kings  of  Israel.  It  likewise  gives  an  account  of  the  prophets  who  lived  dur- 
ing this  time.  It  is  quite  uncertain  who  were  the  writers  of  the  last  two  mentioned 
books.  They  are  by  some  attributed  to  Jeremiah  or  Ezra,  but  no  very  convincing 
proofs  have  been  adduced  in  support  of  this  opinion.  It  is  evident,  indeed,  that  these 
books  form  a  varied  collection  of  several  particular  histories. 

The  name  of  Paralipomena,  which  in  Greek  signifies  the  "  history  of  things  omit- 
ted," is  given  to  the  two  books  which  follow  those  of  The  Kings.  These  form,  in 
fact,  a  supplement,  containing  what  had  been  omitted  in  the  Pentateuch,  and  the 
books  of  Joshua,  Judges,  and  Kings,  or  rather  they  contain  a  fuller  description  of 
some  things  which  had  been  therein  only  briefly  related.  Some  give  them  the  name 
of  Chronicles,  because  they  are  very  exact  in  mentioning  the  time  when  every  trans- 
action happened.  We  divide  them  into  two  books,  as  do  also  the  Jews,  who  call 
them  Dibere  Hayanim,  that  is,  an  "  historical  journal,"  the  matters  of  which  they 
treat  having  been  taken  from  the  journals  of  the  kings.  In  the  original  language, 
however,  the  word  days  often  signifies  the  year  ;  and,  in  this  sense,  we  may  under- 
stand the  term  to  signify  properly  "annals."  The  generally-received  opinion  is,  that 
Ezra  was  the  writer  of  these.  In  the  first  book,  he  begins  with  a  succinct  historical 
abridgment,  from  the  creation  of  Adam  to  the  return  of  the  Jews  from  their  cap- 
tivity ;  and  then  he  resumes  the  history  of  David,  and  carries  it  on  to  the  consecra- 
tion of  Solomon,  that  is,  down  to  the  year  before  Christ  1015.  The  history  contained 
in  the  second  book  reaches  down  to  the  year  before  Christ  536,  when,  upon  the  expi- 
ration of  the  seventy  years  of  captivity,  Cyrus  gave  the  Jews  leave  to  return  to  their 
own  country. 

Ezra  wrote  the  history  of  the  return  of  the  Jews  from  the  captivity  of  Babylon  into 
Judea.  It  is  the  history  of  about  eighty-two  years,  from  the  year  of  the  world  3468, 
when  Cyrus  became  master  of  the  eastern  empire,  by  the  death  of  his  father,  Cam- 
byses,  in  Persia,  and  his  father-in-law,  Cyaxares,  in  Media,  to  the  year  3550,  which 
was  the  twentieth  year  of  the  reign  of  Artaxerxes,  surnamed  Longimanus.  This 
book  bears  the  name  of  Ezra,  who  was  the  writer  of  it. 

The  next  book  is  a  continuation  of  that  of  Ezra,  and  therefore  it  is  by  some  called 
the  Second  Book  of  Ezra.  It  was  Nehemiah,  however,  whose  name  it  also  bears, 
who  wrote  it,  as  is  said,  by  the  advice  of  Ezra.  It  contains  the  account  of  the  re- 
establishment  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  temple,  and  the  Avorship  of  God.  It  is  the  his- 
tory of  about  thirty-one  years;  that  is  to  say,  from  the  twentieth  year  of  the  reign 
of  Artaxerxes  Longimanus,  to  the  reign  of  Darius  Nothus,  his  son,  which  began  in 
the  year  of  the  world  358L 

After  this  general  history  of  the  Jews,  follow  two  histories  of  particular  persons, 
viz.,  Esther  and  Job.  The  first  contains  the  account  of  a  miraculous  deliverance  of 
the  JeAvs,  which  was  accomplished  by  means  of  the  heroine  named  Esther.  The  Scrip- 
ture says  it  happened  under  the  reign  of  Ahasuerus,  king  of  Persia  ;  but  as  there  have 
been  several  Persian  kings  of  that  name,  it  is  not  exactly  known  in  which  reign  it 
is  to  be  dated.  Dr.  Liirhtfoot  thinks  it  was  that  Artaxerxes  who  hindered  the  build- 
ing of  the  temple,  and  who,  in  the  book  of  Ezra,  is  called  also  Ahasuerus,  after  his 
great  grandfather,  the  king  of  the  Medes. 


638  APPENDIX 

The  history  of  Job,  which  is  next  in  order,  is  not  only  a  narration  of  his  actions,  but 
contains  also  the  entire  discourses  Avhich  this  pious  man  liad  with  his  wife  and  his 
friends,  and  is,  indeed,  one  of  the  most  eloquent  books  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  It  is 
generally  conjectured  that  Moses  was  the  writer  or  compiler  of  this  book;  but  this 
is  very  uncertain. 

Next  to  the  historical  books  of  Scripture  follow  those  of  a  moral  nature.  The  first 
of  these  is  the  Book  of  Psalms,  which  is  likewise  in  some  measure  historical ;  for 
they  recite  the  miracles  which  God  had  wrought,  and  contain,  as  it  were,  an  abridg- 
ment of  all  that  had  been  done  for  the  Israelites,  and  that  had  happened  to  them. 
The  Hebrews  call  them  "  the  Book  of  Praises,"  by  which  they  mean,  "  of  the  Praises 
of  God."  The  word  psalm  is  Greek,  and  properly  signifies  the  sound  of  a  stringed 
instrument  of  music.  The  Hebrews  sung  the  Psalms  with  different  instruments. 
We  make  but  one  book  of  them  all,  but  the  Hebrews  divide  them  into  five  parts, 
which  all  end  with  the  words  Amen,  Amen.  Though  the  Psalms  bear  the  name  of 
David,  yet  they  were  not  all  composed  by  him ;  some  of  them  are  more  ancient,  and 
others  are  of  a  later  date  than  his  time;  some  of  them  being  ascribed  to  Moses, 
Samuel,  and  Ezra.  Speaking  of  the  dedication  of  the  second  temple,  Prideaux  says, 
"  In  this  dedication,  the  146th,  the  147th,  and  the  148th  psalms  seem  to  have  beeu 
sung ;  for  in  the  Septuagint  versions  they  are  styled  the  Psalms  of  Haggai  and 
Zechariah,  as  if  they  had  been  composed  by  them  for  this  occasion ;  and  this,  no 
doubt,  was  from  some  ancient  tradition :  but,  in  the  original  Hebrew,  these  Psalms 
have  no  such  title  prefixed  to  them,  neither  have  they  any  other  to  contradict  it."  It 
is  not  probable,  however,  that  all  those  whose  nam.es  they  bear  were  the  true  authors 
of  them  ;  it  is  more  likely  that  these  are  only  the  names  of  those  to  whom  they  were 
first  given  to  sing. 

After  the  Psalms  are  the  Proverbs,  which  are  a  collection  of  moral  sentences,  of 
which  Solomon  was  the  writer.  This  name  is  given  them  by  the  Greeks,  but  the 
Hebrews  call  them  Myste,  that  is,  parables,  or  comparisons ;  and  the  word  may  also 
signify  sentences,  or  maxims.  It  is  a  collection  of  divine  precepts,  proper  for  every 
age,  and  every  condition  of  life. 

The  book  which  follows  is  also  a  moral  one,  and  was  likewise  composed  by  Solo- 
mon. The  Greeks  call  it  Ecclesiastes,  which  answers  to  the  name  of  Koheleth, 
which  it  bears  in  the  Hebrew.  Both  these  words  signify,  in  our  language,  a  preacher, 
or  one  wlio  speaks  in  an  assembly.  In  this  book  is  given  an  admirable  picture  of  the 
vanity  of  the  world. 

Among  the  moral  books  is  also  reckoned  the  Song  of  Songs;  that  is  to  say,  accord- 
ing to  the  Hebrew  manner  of  speaking,  a  most  excellent  song.  This  book  has  noth- 
ing of  morality  in  it,  and  therefore,  it  is  thought  the  only  reason  of  its  being  placed 
here  is  because  it  was  a  third  work  of  Solomon  ;  for  there  is  not  one  moral  or  religious 
maxim  in  it,  and  the  name  of  God  is  not  so  much  as  mentioned  in  it,  except  once 
in  the  original  Hebrew,  where  it  is  used  adjectively.  It  is  an  Epithalamium,  or  nup- 
tial song,  wherein,  by  the  expressions  of  love  between  a  bridegroom  and  his  bride, 
are  set  forth  and  illustrated  the  mutual  affections  that  pass  between  Ged  and  a  dis- 
tinguished remnant  of  mankind.  It  is  a  sort  of  dramatic  poem  or  pastoral :  the  bride 
and  bridegroom,  for  the  more  lively  representation  of  humility  and  innocence,  are 
brought  in  as  a  shepherd  and  shepherdess.  We  learn  from  St.  Jerome,  that  the  Jews 
were  not  permitted  to  read  this  song,  or  the  chapters  at  the  beginning  of  the  book  of 
Genesis,  till  they  were  thirty  years  old. 

In  regard  to  the  prophets,  it  may  be  observed,  that  all  the  Old  Testament  is  con- 
sidered to  be  in  substance  one  continued  prophecy  of  the  coming  of  Jesus  Christ ;  so 
that  all  the  books  of  which  it  consists  are  understood  to  be  in  some  sense  prophetical. 
But  this  name  is  more  especially  given  to  those  books  which  were  written  by  persons 
who  had  a  clearer  knowledge  of  futurity,  who  forewarned  both  kings  and  people  of 
what  would  happen  to  them,  and  who  at  the  same  time  pointed  out  what  the  Mes- 
siah was  to  do,  whom  they  who  are  acknowledged  to  have  been  prophets  had  always 
in  view  :  and  this  is  what  ought  most  especially  to  be  taken  notice  of  in  their  writings. 

The  prophecies  bear  the  name  of  those  to  whom  they  belong.  Some  learned  men 
are  of  opinion  that  the  prophets  made  abridgments  of  the  discourses  which  they  had 
written,  and  fixed  them  up  at  the  gates  of  the  temple,  that  all  the  people  might  read 
them  ;  aiid  that  after  this  the  ministers  of  the  temple  might  take  them  awav,  and 
place  them  among  'he  archives,  which  is  the  reason  why  we  have  not  the  prophecies 


LITERARY  HISTORY  CF  THE  BIBLE.  639 

in  the  order  in  which  they  were  written.  But  the  interpreters  of  Scripture  have  long 
since  labored  to  restore  that  order,  according  to  the  course  of  their  history. 

The  worlis  of  the  prophets  are  divided  into  two  parts,  the  first  of  which  contains 
the  greater,  and  the  second,  the  lesser  prophets.  This  distinction,  of  course,  does  not 
apply  at  all  to  the  persons  of  the  prophets,  but  only  to  the  bulk  of  their  works.  The 
greater  prophets  are  Isaiah,  Ezekiel,  Daniel,  and  Jeremiah.  The  Lamentations  of 
Jeremiah  make  a  separate  book  by  themselves,  containing  that  prophet's  descriptions 
of  the  destruction  of  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  and  of  the  captivity  of  the  people.  The 
lesser  prophets  are  Hosea,  Joel,  Amos,  Obadiah,  Jonah,  Micai,  Nahum,  Habakkuk, 
Zephaniah,  Haggai,  Zechariah,  and  Malachi.  They  were  formerly  contained  in  one 
single  volume,  which  the  Hebrews  call  Thereaser,  which  means  twelve,  or  the  book 
of  the  twelve.  * 

The  dates  of  many  of  the  prophecies  are  uncertain,  but  the  earliest  of  them  was 
in  the  days  of  Uzziah,  king  of  Judah,  and  Jeroboam  the  Second,  his  contemporary, 
king  of  Israel,  about  200  years  before  the  captivity,  and  not  long  after  Joash  had  slain 
Zechariah,  the  son  of  Jehoiada,  in  the  court  of  the  temple.  Hosea  was  the  first  of 
the  writing  prophets,  and  Joel,  Amos,  and  Obadiah,  published  their  prophecies  about 
the  same  time. 

Isaiah  began  his  remarkable  prophecies  a  short  time  afterward,  but  his  book  is 
placed  first,  because  it  is  the  largest  of  them  all,  and  is  more  explicit  relative  to  the 
advent  of  Christ  than  any  of  the  others.  The  language  of  this  eminent  writer  is  ex- 
ceedingly sublime  and  affecting ;  so  much  so,  that  it  has  never  been  equalled  by  any 
profane  poet  either  in  ancient  or  modern  times.  It  is  impossible  to  read  some  of  the 
chapters  without  being  struck  by  the  force  of  the  prophetic  allusions  to  the  character 
and  sufferings  of  the  Messiah  ;  and  in  consequence  of  these  prevailing  characteristics, 
the  author  is  ordinarily  styled  the  evangelical  prophet,  and  by  some  of  the  ancients, 
a  fifth  evangelist.  The  Jews  say  that  the  spirit  of  prophecy  continued  forty  years 
during  the  second  temple  ;  and  Malachi  they  call  the  seal  of  prophecy,  because  in  him 
the  succession  or  series  of  prophets  broke  off,  and  came  to  a  period.  The  book  of 
Malachi,  therefore,  appropriately  closes  the  sacred  record  of  the  Old  Testament. 

The  second  and  lesser  division  of  the  Bible  relates  entirely  to  the  Christian  re- 
ligion, or  the  fulfilment  of  that  which  was  predicted  in  the  preceding  and  more 
ancient  department  of  the  work.  This  division  of  the  sacred  Scriptures  is  generally 
styled  the  New  Testament ;  and  that  portion  of  it  which  relates  to  the  history  of  the 
life  of  Christ  is  called  the  Gospel,  and  by  some  the  Evangel,  both  these  words  having 
the  same  meaning,  and  implying  good  news,  or  glad  tidings,  from  the  circumstance 
that  the  narratives  contain  an  account  of  things  which  are  to  benefit  mankind. 

The  New  Testament,  like  the  Old,  is  a  compilation  of  books  written  by  different  in- 
spired individuals,  and  all  put  together  in  a  manner  so  as  to  exhibit  a  regular  account  of 
the  birth,  actions,  and  death  of  Christ — the  doctrines  he  promulgated — and  the  prophe- 
cies regarding  the  future  state  of  the  church  which  he  founded.  The  historical  books 
are  the  four  gospels  and  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  all  these  being  of  the  character  of 
narratives  of  events;  the  doctrinal  are  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  and  some  others ;  the 
prophetic  book  is  the  last,  and  this  is  called  the  Revelation  or  Apocalypse  of  St.  John, 
having  been  written  by  that  aposlle  while  he  was  in  the  island  of  Patmos. 

The  writers  of  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  are  generally  well  known,  each 
having  the  name  of  the  author  affixed  to  it,  with  the  exception  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  which,  it  is  presumed,  was  compiled  by  St.  Luke.  It  was  long  disputed 
whether  St.  Paul  was  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  ;  TertuUiau,  an  an- 
cient Christian  writer,  and  some  others,  attribute  it  to  St.  Barnabas ;  others  to  St. 
Luke ;  and  others  to  St.  Clement ;  while  some  think,  with  greater  probability,  that 
St.  Paul  dictated  it,  and  St.  Luke  acted  as  the  writer ;  and  that  the  reason  why  the 
name  of  the  true  author  was  not  affixed  to  it,  was  because  he  was  disliked  by  the 
Jews.  The  four  evangelists,  or  writers  of  the  leading  narratives,  are  St.  Matthew, 
St.  Mark,  St.  Luke,  and  St.  John ;  these  having  been  companions  to  Christ  during 
his  ministrations,  and,  therefore,  personally  acquainted  with  his  life  and  character. 
Each  of  the  four  books  is  principally  a  repetition  of  the  history  of  Christ,  yet  they 
all  possess  a  difference  of  style,  and  each  mentions  some  circumstances  omitted  by  the 
others,  so  that  the  whole  is  essential  in  making  up  a  complete  life  of  the  Messiah. 
These  distinctions  in  the  tone  of  the  narratives,  and  other  peculiarities,  are  always 
considered  as  strong  circumstantial  ev'dence  ic  proof  of  their  authenticity,  and  gf 


643  APPENDIX. 

there  having  been  no  collusion  on  the  part  of  the  writers.  But,  indeed,  the  events 
they  record  are  detailed  in  so  exceedingly  simple  and  unaffected  a  manner,  that  it  is 
impossible  to  suppose  that  they  were  written  with  a  view  to  impose  on  the  credulity 
of  mankind.  The  veracity  and  actual  belief  of  the  evangelists  themselves  are  placed 
beyond  a  doubt. 

The  first  book  is  written  by  Matthew,  who  was  by  birth  a  Jew,  and  exercised  the 
profession  of  a  publican — that  is,  a  collector  of  the  public  tax  or  assessment  imposed 
upon  the  Jewish  people  by  their  conquerors,  the  Romans.  Matthew,  who  was  also 
called  by  the  name  of  Levi,  was  one  of  the  twelve  apostles  of  Christ,  and  he  is  said 
to  have  written  his  narrative  about  eight  years  after  the  departure  of  his  Master 
from  the  earth.  Many  of  the  ancients  say  that  he  wrote  it  in  the  Hebrew  or  Syriac 
anguage ;  but  Dr.  Whitby  is  clearly  of  ^pinion  that  this  tradition  is  entirely  void  of 
buudation,  and  that  it  was  doubtless  written  in  Greek,  as  the  other  parts  of  the  New 
Tesiamenl  were.  Yet  it  is  probable  that  there  might  be  an  edition  of  it  in  Hebrew, 
published  by  St.  Matthew  himself,  at  the  same  time  that  he  wrote  it  in  Greek;  the 
former  for  the  Jews,  the  latter  for  the  Gentiles,  when  he  left  Judea  to  preach  among 
the  heathen. 

In  regard  to  Mark,  the  writer  of  the  second  Gospel,  it  may  be  observed,  that 
although  Mark,  or  Marcus,  was  a  Roman  name,  and  a  very  common  one,  yet  we 
have  no  reason  to  think  but  that  he  was  by  birth  a  Jew ;  but  as  Saul,  when  he  went 
among  the  Gentiles,  took  the  Roman  name  of  Paul,  so  did  this  evangelist  take  that 
of  Mark,  his  Jewish  name,  perhaps,  being  Mardacai,  as  Grotius  observes.  Jerome 
and  TertuUian  say  that  he  was  a  disciple  of  the  Apostle  Peter,  and  his  interpreter  or 
amanuensis.  We  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  both  he  and  Luke  were  of  the 
number  of  the  seventy  disciples  who  companied  all  along  with  the  apostles,  and  who 
had  a  commission  like  to  theirs:  so  that  it  is  no  diminution  at  all  to  the  validity  or 
value  of  this  Gospel  that  Mark  was  not  one  of  the  twelve,  as  Matthew  and  John 
weie.  Jerome  says,  that  after  the  writing  of  this  Gospel  he  went  into  Egypt,  and 
was  the  first  that  preached  the  gospel  at  Alexandria,  where  he  founded  a  church,  to 
which  he  was  a  great  example  of  holy  living. 

The  Gospel  of  St.  Mark  is  much  shorter  than  that  of  Matthew,  not  giving  so  full 
au  account  of  Christ's  sermons  as  that  did,  but  insisting  chiefly  on  his  miracles  ;  and 
•.n  regard  to  these,  also,  it  is  very  much  a  repetition  of  what  we  have  in  Matthew, 
many  remarkable  circumstances  being  added  to  the  stories  there  related,  but  not 
many  nevv  matters.  There  is  a  tradition  that  it  was  first  written  in  Latin,  because 
it  was  written  at  Rome  ;  but  this  is  generally  thought  to  be  without  foundation,  and 
that  it  was  written  in  Greek,  as  was  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  the  Greek 
being  the  more  universal  language. 

Luke,  the  name  of  the  third  evangelist,  is  considered  by  some  to  be  a  contraction 
of  Lucilius,  and  it  is  said  by  St.  Jerome  to  have  been  borne  at  Antioch.  Some  think 
that  he  was  the  only  one  of  all  the  penmen  of  the  Scriptures  that  was  not  of  the 
Israelites;  that  he  was  a  Jewish  proselyte,  and  was  converted  to  Christianity  by  the 
ministry  of  St.  Paul  at  Antioch,  and  after  his  coming  into  Macedonia  he  was  his  con- 
slant  companion.  He  had  employed  himself  in  the  study  and  practice  of  physic,  and 
hence  Paul  calls  him  "  Luke,  the  beloved  physician."  It  is  more  than  probable, 
however,  as  is  testified  both  by  Origen  and  Epiphanius,  that  he  was  one  of  the 
seventy  disciples,  and  a  follower  of  Christ  when  he  was  upon  earth;  and  if  so,  he 
was  most  likely  to  be  a  native  Israelite.  Luke  most  probably  wrote  his  Gospel  at 
Rcnie,  a  little  before  he  wrote  his  history  of  the  "  Acis  of  the  Apostles,"  which  is  a 
continuation  of  the  former,  when  he  was  there  with  Paul,  while  he  was  a  prisoner, 
and  "  preaching  in  his  own  hired  house,"  with  which  the  history  of  the  Acts  con- 
cludes. In  this  case,  it  must  have  been  Avritten  about  twenty-seven  years  after 
Christ's  departure,  and  about  the  fourth  year  of  the  reign  of  Nero.  Jerome  says  that 
St.  Luke  (lied  when  he  was  eighty-four  years  of  age,  and  that  he  was  never  married. 
Dr.  Cave  observes  that  "  his  way  and  manner  of  writing  are  accurate  and  exact,  his 
style  polite  and  elegant,  sublime  and  lofty,  yet  perspicuous ;  and  that  he  expresses 
himself  in  a  vein  of  purer  Greek  than  is  to  be  found  in  the  other  writers  of  this  holy 
history."  Thus  he  relates  several  things  more  copiously  than  the  other  evangelists, 
and  thus  he  especially  treats  of  those  things  which  relate  to  the  priestly  office  of 
Christ. 
The  fourth  evangelist,  John,  was  one  of  the  sons  of  Zebedee,  a  fisherman  of  Gali- 


LTTERARY  HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  641 

ee,  the  brother  of  James,  one  of  the  twelve  apostles,  and  distinguished  by  the 
Honorable  appellation,  "  that  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved."  The  ancienis  tell  us  that 
fohn  lived  the  longest  of  all  the  apostles,  and  was  the  only  one  of  them  that  died  a 
natural  death,  all  the  rest  suffering  martyrdom  ;  and  some  of  them  say  that  he  wrote 
this  Gospel  at  Ephesus,  at  the  request  of  the  ministers  of  the  several  churches  of 
Asia,  in  order  to  combat  certain  heresies.  It  seems  most  probable  thai  he  composed 
it  before  his  banishment  into  the  isle  of  Patmos,  for  there  he  wrote  his  Revelation, 
the  close  of  which  seems  designed  for  the  closing  up  of  the  canon  of  scripture ;  in 
which  case  this  Gospel  could  not  have  been  written  after.  It  is  clear  that  he  wrote 
the  last  of  the  four  Evangelists,  and,  comparing  his  Gospel  with  theirs,  we  may 
observe  that  he  relates  what  they  had  omitted,  and  thus  gleans  up  what  they  had 
passed  by. 

These  four  Gospels  were  early  and  constantly  received  by  the  primitive  church, 
and  read  in  Christian  assemblies,  as  appears  by  the  writings  of  Justin  Martyr  and 
Irenaeus,  who  lived  little  more  than  one  hundred  years  after  the  origin  of  Christianity ; 
they  declared  that  neither  more  nor  fewer  than  four  were  received  by  the  church. 
A  Harmony  of  these  four  Evangelists  was  compiled  by  'I'atian  about  that  time,  which 
he  called  "  The  Gospel  out  of  the  four."  In  the  third  and  fourth  centuries  there 
were  gospels  forged  by  divers  sects,  and  published,  one  under  the  name  of  St.  Peter, 
another  of  St.  Thomas,  another  of  St.  Philip,  &c.  But  they  were  never  ovvned  by 
the  church,  nor  was  any  credit  given  to  them,  as  the  learned  Dr.  Whitby  shows. 
And  he  gives  this  good  reason  why  we  should  adhere  to  these  written  records  :  "  be- 
cause," says  he,  "  whatever  the  pretences  of  tradition  may  be,  it  is  not  sufficient  to 
preserve  things  with  any  certainty,  as  appears  by  experience.  For  whereas  Christ 
said  and  did  many  memorable  things  which  were  not  Avritien,  tradition  has  not  pre- 
served any  one  of  them  to  us,  but  all  is  lost  except  what  was  written ;  and  that,  there- 
fore, is  what  we  must  abide  by." 

After  the  Gospel,  or  history  of  Jesus  Christ,  follows  the  history  of  what  passed 
after  his  ascension,  and  was  transacted  by  the  apostles.  The  book,  therefore,  which 
contains  this  history  is  called  "  The  Acts  of  the  Apostles."  It  is  a  history  of  the 
rising  church  for  about  the  space  of  thirty  years.  It  was  written,  as  has  been 
already  observed,  by  St.  Luke  the  Evangelist,  when  he  was  with  St.  Paul  at  Rome, 
during  his  imprisonment  there.  In  the  end  of  the  book  he  mentions  particularly  his 
being  with  Paul  in  his  dangerous  voyage  to  Rome,  when  he  was  carried  thither  a 
prisoner ;  and  it  is  evident  that  he  was  with  him  when,  from  his  prison  there,  Paul 
wrote  his  epistles  to  the  Colossians  and  Philemon ;  for  in  both  of  these  he  is  named 
by  him. 

Next  to  this  come  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  which  are  fourteen  in  number :  one  to 
the  Romans,  two  to  the  Corinthians,  one  to  the  Galatians,  one  to  the  Ephesians,  one 
to  the  Philippians,  one  to  the  Colossians,  two  to  the  Thessalonians,  two  to  Timothy, 
one  to  Titus,  one  to  Philemon,  and  one  to  the  Hebrews.  They  contain  that  part  of 
ecclesiastical  history  which  immediately  follows  after  what  is  related  in  the  Acts. 
The  principal  matter  contained  in  them  is  the  establishment  or  confirmation  of  the 
doctrine  which  Jesus  Christ  taught  his  disciples.  According  as  the  difficulties  which 
raised  disputes  among  the  Christians,  or  the  heresies  which  sprung  up  in  ihe  church 
from  the  first  age  of  it,  required,  St.  Paul  in  these  epistles  clears  up  and  proves  all 
matters  of  faith,  and  gives  excellent  rules  for  morality.  His  epistles  may  be  con- 
sidered as  a  commentary  on,  or  an  interpretation  of,  the  four  books  of  the  Gospel. 

The  Epistle  to  the  Romans  is  placed  first,  not  because  of  the  priority  of  its  date, 
but  on  account  of  its  superlative  excellence,  it  being  one  of  the  longest  and  fullest  of 
all,  and  perhaps,  also,  on  account  of  the  dignity  of  the  place  to  which  it  is  written. 
It  is  gathered  from  some  passages  in  the  epistle,  that  it  was  written  in  the  year  of 
Christ  56,  from  Corinth,  while  Paul  made  a  short  stay  there  in  his  way  to  Troas. 
He  was  then  going  up  to  Jerusalem,  with  the  money  that  was  given  to  the  poor 
saints  there ;  which  is  spoken  of  in  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  the  epistle. 

The  two  epistles  to  the  Corinthians  were  written  about  a  year  after  that  to  the 
Romans,  viz.,  A.  D.  57 ;  that  to  the  Galatians,  A.  D.  56 ;  to  the  Ephesians,  A.  D.  61 ; 
to  the  Pt  ilippians,  A.  D.  62  ;  lo  the  Colossians,  A.  D.  62 ;  two  to  the  Thessalonians, 
A.  D.  51  and  52 ;  the  first  to  Timothy,  A.  D.  64  ;  the  second  to  Timothy,  A.  D.  66 ; 
to  Titus,  A.  D.  65 ;  to  Philemon,  A.'  D.  62 ;  and  that  to  the  Hebrews,  A.  D.  62. 
From  which  chronology  it  appears  that  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul  are  placed  ia  tne  New 


r>42  APPENDIX. 

Testament  rather  according  to  the  dignity  of  the  cities  to  which  they  were  sent  than 
according  to  the  order  of  time  in  which  they  were  written  ;  for  the  Epistles  to  the 
Thessalonians  were  those  he  wrote  first,  though  that  to  the  Romans  is  placed  before 
them.  Interpreters  are  agreed  that  the  last  epistle  which  he  wrote  was  the  second 
to  Timothy. 

St.  Paul  wrote  to  the  churches  of  some  particular  places,  or  to  some  particular  per- 
sons; but  the  other  epistles  which  follow  his  are  called  catholic,  because,  with  the 
exception  of  the  second  and  third  of  St.  John,  they  were  not  addressed  to  any  par- 
ticular church  or  individual,  as  his  were,  but  to  the  whole  church  in  general.  These 
are,  one  of  St.  James,  two  of  St.  Peter,  three  of  St.  John,  and  one  of  St.  Jude. 

The  date  of  most  of  these  epistles  is  extremely  uncertain;  but  the  most  generally- 
received  chronology  of  them  is  as  follows:  that  of  St.  James,  A.  D.  61;  of  St.  Peter, 
A.  D.  66  and  67  ;  of  St.  John,  A.  D.  80  and  90 ;  of  St.  Jude,  A.  D.  66. 

•It  has  sometimes  occurred  to  the  minds  of  many  well-disposed  persons,  that  it 
would  have  been  belter  for  Christianity  had  there  never  been  any  other  record  of  its 
origin  and  doctrines  than  the  writings  of  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and  John.  But, 
however  plain  and  satisfactory  the  histories  of  these  evangelists  may  be,  and  how- 
ever little  they  admit  of  controversy,  it  has  to  be  remembered  that  it  required  the 
strong  arguments  and  illustrations  brought  forward  in  the  epistles,  by  Paul  and 
others,  to  combat  the  sophistry  of  the  Greeks,  and  the  self-sufficient  philosophies  of 
other  races  of  man.  Paul,  the  chief  of  the  epistle  writers,  who  became  a  Christian 
by  conversion  after  Christ  had  departed  from  the  earth,  is  the  great  champion  of  the 
faith,  and  exposes,  in  strong  and  dauntless  language,  the  hidden  depravities  of  the 
human  heart ;  so  that  where  the  affecting  discourses  and  sufferings  of  the  Messiah 
fail  to  convert  and  convince,  the  reasoning  of  this  great  writer  is  calculated  to  silence 
and  subdue  those  who  stubbornly  resist  the  benignant  influence  of  the  Christian  faith. 
The  first  division  of  the  Scriptures,  as  already  mentioned,  is  into  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments.  The  New  belongs  to  the  Christians,  but  the  Old  was  received  from  the 
Jews ;  and  it  is  from  them,  therefore,  that  we  must  learn  what  the  number  of  the 
books  of  it  originally  was,  and  everything  else  relating  to  this  most  ancient  and  in- 
teresting production. 

The  celebrated  Jewish  writers,  Josephus  and  Philo,  reckon  two  and  twenty  canoni- 
cal books  in  the  Old  Testament,  which  is  the  number  of  the  letters  in  the  Hebrew 
alphabet :  and  to  make  out  this,  they  join  the  book  of  Ruth  to  that  of  Judges,  and 
the  Lamentations  of  Jeremiah  to  the  book  of  his  Prophecies.  But  other  Jewish  doc- 
tors divide  the  book  of  Ruth  from  that  of  Judges,  and,  making  likewise  a  separate 
book  of  the  Lamentations  of  Jeremiah,  they  reckon  four  and  twenty  books  in  all.  In 
order  to  accommodate  this  number  to  that  of  the  letters  of  the  alphabet,  they  repeat 
the  letter  yod  three  times,  as  they  say,  in  honor  to  the  great  name  of  God  Jehovah, 
of  which  yod  is  the  first  letter;  and  in  Chaldee,  three  yods  together  were  used  to 
express  this  adorable  name:  but  as  the  modern  Jews  thought  this  savored  too  much 
of  what  Christians  call  the  Trinity,  they  use  only  two  yods  for  this  purpose.  St. 
Jerome  is  of  opinion  ihat  St.  John  had  this  division  of  the  Hebrew  scriptures  in 
view,  when  in  his  Revelation  he  speaks  of  the  four  and  twenty  elders  who  paid 
adoration  to  the  Lamb  of  God. 

The  Jews  divide  the  whole  of  these  books  into  three  classes,  namely,  the  Law,  the 
Prophets,  and  the  Hagiographa  or  Holy  Writings,  which  last  division  includes  more 
particularly  the  poetical  parts;  and  some  are  of  opinion  that  Jesus  Christ  alludes  to 
this  division  of  the  Scripv.ires,  when  he  says  that  "all  things  must  be  fulfilled  that 
were  written  in  the  law  of  Moses,  and  in  the  prophets,  and  in  the  psalms,  concerning" 
him.  For  the  book  of  Psalms,  they  understand  all  the  books  of  the  third  class.  The 
Law  comprehends  the  Pentateuch ;  that  is,  Genesis,  Exodus,  Leviticus,  Numbers, 
and  Deuteronomy.  The  Prophetical  books  are  eight,  viz:  (1)  Joshua,  (2)  Judges, 
with  Ruih,  (3)  Samuel,  (4)  Kings,  (5)  Isaiah,  (6)  Jeremiah,  (7)  Ezekiel,  and  (8) 
the  twelve  Lesser  Prophets.  The  first  four  books  of  this  division  are  called  the  For- 
mer Prophets,  and  the  last  four  the  Latter  Prophets.  The  Hagiographa,  or  Holy 
Writings,  arc  nine,  viz:  (1)  Job,  (2)  the  Psalms,  (3)  Proverbs,  (4)  Ecelesiastes,  (5^ 
The  Song  of  Songs,  (6)  Daniel,  (7)  Chronicles,  (8)  Ezra,  with  Nehemiah,  and  (9) 
Esther.  The  Jews  do  not  put  Daniel  in  the  rank  of  a  prophet,  although  they  ac- 
knowledgf;  him  to  have  been  a  man  inspired  by  God,  and  whose  writings  are  full  of  the 
clearest  prophecies  concerning  the  time  of  the  Messiah's  coming,  and  what  should 


LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  643 

I  appcn  to  their  nation.  Jesus  Christ,  therefore,  gives  him  the  name  of  a  Prophet, 
and  the  Jewish  doctors  are  much  puzzled  to  find  out  a  proper  reason  for  their  not 
doing  the  same.  "  It  is,"  says  Maimonides,  "because  everything  that  Daniel  wrote 
was  not  revealed  to  him  when  he  was  awake  and  had  the  use  of  his  reason,  but  in 
the  night,  and  in  obscure  dreams."  But  this  is  a  very  unsatisfactory  account  of  the 
matter;  and  others  are  of  opinion  that  the  name  of  a  Prophet  was  commonly  given 
to  those  only  who  were  of  a  certain  college,  and  whose  business  it  was  to  wriie  the 
annals ;  and  that,  therefore,  their  works  were  ranked  among  the  prophetical  books, 
though  they  did  not  contain  a  single  prediction  of  anything  to  come,  as  the  books  of 
Joshua  and  Judges ;  while,  on  the  contrary,  the  works  of  those  who  were  not  of 
these  colleges  of  the  prophets  were  not  ranked  among  the  prophetical  books,  although 
they  contained  true  prophecies. 

The  Latins  agree  with  the  Jews  as  to  the  number  of  the  Psalms,  which  is  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty;  but  both  they  and  the  Greeks  divide  them  differently  from  the  He- 
brews. In  the  Greek  Bible  and  the  Vulgate,  or  common  Latin  version,  the  ninth 
and  tenth,  according  to  the  Hebrew,  make  but  one  psalm ;  and  therefore,  in  order  to 
make  up  the  number  of  a  hundred  and  fifty,  they  divide  the  hundred  and  forty-sev- 
enth into  two. 

This  is  the  general  division  of  the  sacred  books  among  the  Jews,  But  they  divide 
the  Pentateuch,  in  particular,  into  certain  paragraphs  or  sections,  which  they  call 
Parashiuth,  and  which  they  subdivide  mto  the  Great  and  Little.  A  Great  section 
contains  as  much  as  is  to  be  read  in  the  synagogue  in  a  week.  There  are  in  all  fifty- 
four  of  these,  inasmuch  as  there  may  be  so  many  weeks  in  a  year ;  for  the  Jews  are 
obliged  to  read  all  the  Pentateuch  over  once  every  year,  finishing  it  on  the  feast  of 
tabernacles,  and  beginning  it  again  on  the  next  sabbath  day.  In  the  time  of  the 
persecution  by  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  they  also  selected  fifty-four  sections  to  be  read 
out  of  the  Prophets,  which  have  ever  since  constituted  the  second  lessons  in  the 
Jewish  synagogue-service.  The  Little  sections,  which  are  subdivisions  of  the 
Greater,  are  made  according  to  the  subjects  they  treat  of;  and  these  Great  and  Little 
sections  are  again  of  two  sorts,  one  of  which  is  called  Petncholh,  that  is,  open  sec- 
tions; and  the  other  Sethumoih,  that  is,  close  sections.  The  former  commences  in 
the  Hebrew  Bibles  always  at  the  beginning  of  lines,  and  are  marked  with  three  P's  if 
it  be  a  great  section,  and  with  only  one  if  it  be  a  little  section;  because  P  is  the  first 
letter  of  the  word  Petuchoth.  Every  open  section  takes  its  name  from  its  first  word; 
and  thus  the  first  section  in  the  whole  Bible  is  called  Bereshith,  which  is  the  first 
word  of  the  Book  of  Genesis  in  Hebrew.  The  close  sections  begin  the  middle  of  a 
line,  and  are  marked  with  the  letter  Samech,  which  is  the  first  letter  of  the  word 
Sethumoth ;  if  it  be  a  great  section  it  has  three  Samechs;  if  a  little  section,  only 
one.  Every  great  section  is  also  divided  again  into  seven  parts,  which  are  read  in 
the  synagogue  by  so  many  different  persons.  If  any  priest  be  present,  he  begins,  and 
a  Levite  reads  after  him ;  and  in  the  choice  of  the  rest,  regard  is  had  to  their  dignity 
and  condition.  The  divisions  of  the  prophetical  books  already  mentioned  are  read 
jointly  with  those  of  Moses,  in  the  same  manner.  These  latter  divisions  they  call 
Hap/ilerotk,  a  term  which  signifies,  in  Hebrew,  dismissions ;  because  after  this  read- 
ing is  over  they  dismiss  the  people. 

The  Jews  call  the  division  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  into  chapters,  Perakim,  which 
signifies  fragments ;  and  the  division  into  verses  they  call  Pesukim,  a  word  of  nearly 
the  same  signification  as  the  former.  These  last  are  marked  out  in  the  Hebrew 
Bibles  by  two  great  points  at  the  end  of  them,  called  hence  Soph-Pasuk,  that  is,  the  end 
of  the  verse.  But  the  division  of  the  Scriptures  into  chapters  and  verses,  as  we  now 
have  them,  is  of  a  much  later  date.  The  Psalms,  indeed,  were  always  divided  as  at 
present ;  for  St.  Paul,  in  his  sermon  at  Antioch  in  Pisidia,  quotes  the  second  Psalm. 
Biat  as  to  the  rest  of  the  Holy  Scrip  ures,  the  division  of  them  into  such  cnapters  as 
at  present,  is  what  the  ancients  knew  nothing  of  Some  attribute  it  to  Stephen 
Langton,  who  was  archbishop  of  Canterbury  in  the  reigns  of  King  John  and  his  son 
Henry  the  Third.  But  the  true  author  of  this  invention,  as  is  shown  by  Dean  Pri- 
deaux  at  great  length,  was  Hugo  de  Sancto  Caro,  who,  being  from  a  Dominican  monk 
advanced  to  the  dignity  of  a  cardinal,  and  the  first  of  that  order  that  was  so,  is  com- 
monly :alled  Hugo  Cardinalis. 

This  Cardinal  Hugo,  who  flourished  about  the  year  1240,  and  died  in  1262,  had 
labored  much  in  the  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  made  a  comment  upon  the 


644  APPENDIX. 

whole  of  them.  The  carrying  on  of  this  work  gave  him  the  occasion  of  invent- 
ing the  first  concordance  that  was  made  of  the  Scriptures — that  is,  of  the  vulgar 
Ldtin  Bible  ;  for,  conceiving  that  such  an  index  of  ail  the  words  and  phrases  in  the 
Bible  would  be  of  great  use  for  the  attaining  of  a  better  understanding  of  it,  he  pro- 
jected a  scheme  for  the  making  of  such  an  index,  and  forthwith  set  a  great  number 
of  the  monks  of  his  order  on  the  collecting  of  the  words  under  their  proper  classes 
in  every  letter  of  the  alphabet,  in  order  to  this  design ;  and,  by  the  help  of  so  niany 
hands,  he  soon  brought  it  to  what  he  intended.  This  work  was  afterward  much 
improved  by  those  who  followed  him,  especially  by  Arlottus  Thuseus,  and  Conradus 
Halberstadius,  the  former  a  Franciscan  and  the  other  a  Dominican  friar,  who  both 
lived  about  the  end  of  the  same  century.  But  the  whole  intention  of  the  work  being 
for  the  easier  finding  of  any  word  or  passage  in  the  Scriptures,  to  make  it  answer  this 
purpose  the  cardinal  found  it  necessary,  in  the  first  place,  to  divide  the  book  into  sec- 
tions, and  the  sections  into  other  divisions,  that  by  these  he  might  the  better  make 
the  references,  and  the  more  exactly  point  out  in  the  index  where  any  word  or  pas- 
sage might  be  found  in  the  text;  and  these  sections  are  the  chapters  into  which  the 
Bible  has  ever  since  been  divided.  For,  on  the  publishing  of  this  concordance,  the 
usefulness  of  it  being  immediately  discerned,  all  were  desirous  to  have  it;  and,  for 
the  sake  of  the  use  of  it,  they  all  divided  their  bibles  as  Hugo  had  done;  for  the 
references  in  the  concordance  being  made  by  these  chapters  and  the  subdivisions  of 
them,  unless  their  bibles  were  so  divided  too,  the  concordance  would  be  of  no  use  to 
them.  And  thus  this  division  of  the  several  books  of  the  Bible  into  chapters  had  its 
original,  which  has  ever  since  been  made  use  of  in  all  places  and  among  all  people, 
wherever  the  Bible  itself  is  used  in  these  western  parts  of  the  world ;  for  before  this 
there  was  no  division  of  the  books  in  the  vulgar  Latin  bibles  at  all. 

But  the  subdivisions  of  the  chapters  were  not  then  by  verses  as  now.  Hugo's  way 
of  subdividing  them  was  by  the  letters  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  F,  G,  placed  in  the  margin  at 
equal  distances  from  one  another,  according  as  the  chapters  were  longer  or  shorter. 
In  long  chapters  all  these  seven  letters  were  used,  in  others  fewer,  as  the  length  of 
the  chapters  required;  for  the  subdivision  of  the  chapters  by  verses,  which  is  now  in 
all  our  bibles,  was  not  introduced  into  them  till  some  ages  after ;  and  then  it  was 
from  the  Jews  that  the  use  of  it,  as  we  now  have  it,  took  its  original  on  the  follow- 
ing occasion. 

About  the  year  1430,  there  lived  here  among  the  western  Jews  a  famous  rabbi, 
called  by  some  Piabbi  Mordecai  Nathan,  by  others  Rabbi  Isaac  Nathan,  and  by  many 
by  both  these  names,  as  if  he  were  first  called  by  one  of  them,  and  then,  by  a  change 
of  it,  by  the  other.  This  rabbi  being  much  conversant  with  the  Ciiristians,  and 
having  frequent  disputes  with  their  learned  men  about  religion,  he  thereby  came  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  great  use  which  they  made  of  the  Latin  concordance  composed 
by  Cardinal  Hugo,  and  the  benefit  which  they  had  from  it,  in  the  ready  finding  of 
anyplace  in  the  Scriptures  which  they  had  occasion  to  consult ;  which  he  was  so 
much  taken  with,  that  he  immediately  set  about  making  such  a  concordance  to 
the  Hebrew  Bible  for  the  use  of  the  Jews.  He  began  this  work  in  the  year  1438, 
and  finished  it  in  1445,  being  seven  years  in  composing  it ;  and  the  first  publishing  of 
it  happening  about  the  time  when  printing  was  invented,  it  has  since  undergone  sev- 
eral editions  from  the  press.  The  Buxtorfs,  father  and  son,  bestowed  much  pains  on 
tliis  work;  and  the  edition  of  it  published  by  them  at  Basil  in  1632  is  by  far  the  most 
complete,  and  has  deservedly  the  reputation  of  being  the  best  book  of  the  kind  that 
is  extant.  Indeed,  it  is  so  useful  for  the  understanding  of  the  Hebrew  scriptures,  that 
no  one  who  employs  his  studies  in  this  way  can  have  a  better  companion;  it  being 
the  best  dictionary,  as  well  as  the  best  concordance  to  them. 

In  the  composing  of  this  book,  Rabbi  Nathan  finding  it  necessary  to  follow  the  same 
division  of  the  Scriptures  into  chapters  which  Hugo  had  made  in  them,  it  had  the  like 
effect  as  to  the  Hebrew  bibles  that  Hugo's  had  as  to  the  Latin,  causing  the  same  di- 
visions to  be  made  in  all  the  Hebrew  bibles  which  were  afterward  either  written  out 
or  printed  for  common  use;  and  hence  the  division  into  chapters  first  came  into  the 
Hebrew  bibles.  But  Nathan,  though  he  followed  Hugo  in  the  division  into  chapters, 
yet  did  not  do  so  in  the  division  of  the  chapters  by  ihe  letters  A,  B,  C,  &:c.,  in  the 
margin,  but  introduced  a  better  usage  by  employing  the  division  that  was  made  by 
verse.  This  division,  as  already  mentioned,  was  very  ancient ;  but  it  was  till  now 
without  any  numbers  put  to  the  verses.     The  numbering,  therefore,  of  the  verses  in 


LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  645 

the  chapters,  and  the  quoting  of  the  passages  in  every  chapter  by  the  verses,  v^ere 
Rabbi  Nathan's  invention;  in  everything  else  he  followed  the  pattern  w^hich  Cardinal 
Hugo  had  set  him.  But  it  is  to  be  observed,  that  he  did  not  number  the  verses  any 
otherwise  than  by  affixing  the  numerical  Hebrew  letters  in  the  margin  at  every  fifth 
verse;  and  this  has  been  the  usage  of  the  Jews  in  all  their  Hebrew  bibles  ever  sinw, 
except  that  latterly  they  have  also  introduced  the  common  figures  for  numbering  the 
intermediate  verses  between  every  fifth.  Vatalibius  soon  after  published  a  Latin 
Bible  according  to  this  pattern,  with  the  chapters  divided  into  verses,  and  the  verses 
so  numbered ;  and  this  example  has  been  followed  in  all  other  editions  that  have 
been  since  put  forth.  So  that,  as  the  Jews  borrowed  the  division  of  the  books  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  into  chapters  from  the  Christians,  in  like  manner  the  Christians  bor- 
rowed that  of  the  chapters  into  verses  from  the  Jews.  But  to  this  day  the  book  of 
the  law,  which  is  read  by  the  Jews  in  their  synagogues  every  sabbath  day,  has  none 
of  these  distinctions,  that  is,  is  not  divided  into  verses  as  the  Bible  is. 

The  division  of  the  books  of  Scripture  into  great  and  little  sections,  does,  without 
doubt,  contribute  much  to  the  clearing  up  of  their  contents ;  and  for  this  reason,  as 
well  as  because  they  found  it  practised  in  the  synagogues,  the  Christians  also  divided 
the  books  of  the  New  Testament  into  what  the  Greeks  call  pericopes,  that  is,  sec- 
tions, that  they  might  be  read  in  their  orxler.  Each  of  these  sections  contained, 
under  the  same  title,  all  the  matters  that  had  any  relation  to  one  another,  and  were 
solemnly  read  in  the  churches  by  the  public  readers,  after  the  deacons  had  admon- 
ished the  faithful  to  be  attentive  to  it,  crying  with  a  loud  voice,  "Attendance,  Let  us 
attend."  The  name  of  titles  was  given  to  these  sections,  because  each  of  them  had 
its  own  title.  Robert  Stephens,  the  famous  printer,  who  died  at  Geneva  in  1559, 
gets  the  credit  of  being  the  first  who  made  the  division  of  the  chapters  of  the  New 
Testament  into  verses,  and  for  the  same  reason  as  Rabbi  Nathan  had  done  before 
him  as  to  the  Old  Testament;  that  is,  for  the  sake  of  a  concordance  which  he  was 
then  composing  for  the  Greek  Testament,  and  which  was  afterward  printed  by  Henry 
Stephens,  his  son,  who  gives  this  account  of  the  matter  in  his  preface  to  the  concord- 
ance. Since  that  time,  this  division  of  the  whole  Bible  by  chapters  and  verses,  and 
the  quoting  of  all  passages  in  them  by  the  numbers  of  both,  has  grown  into  use 
everywhere  among  us  in  these  western  parts ;  so  that  not  only  all  Latin  bibles,  but 
all  Greek  ones  also,  as  well  as  every  other  that  has  been  printed  in  any  of  the  mod- 
ern languages,  have  followed  this  division.  They  who  most  approve  of  this  division 
of  the  Bible  into  chapters  and  verses,  as  at  present  used,  agree  that  a  much  more 
convenient  one  might  be  made;  since  it  often  happens  that  things  which  ought  to  be 
separated  are  joined  together,  and  many  things  which  ought  to  be  joined  together 
are  divided. 

The  respect  which  the  Jews  have  for  the  sacred  books,  and  which  even  degener- 
ates into  superstition,  is  one  of  the  principal  of  their  religious  practices.  Nothing 
can  be  added  to  the  care  they  take  in  writing  them.  The  books  of  the  ancients  were 
of  a  different  form  from  ours;  they  did  not  consist  of  several  leaves,  but  of  one  or 
more  skins  or  parchments  sewn  together,  and  fastened  at  the  ends  to  rollers  of  wood, 
upon  which  they  were  rolled  up;  so  that  a  book  when  thus  shut  up  might  easily  be 
sealed  in  several  places.  And  such  was  the  book  mentioned  in  the  Revelations, 
which  St.  John  says  "  was  sealed  with  seven  seals,"  and  which  no  one  but  "  the 
Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  could  open  and  explain." 

The  Hebrew  manuscripts  of  the  Bible  are  of  two  kinds — the  rolled  ones,  or  those 
used  in  the  synagogues,  and  the  square  ones,  or  those  which  are  to  be  found  in  pri- 
vate collections.  The  rules  laid  down  by  the  Jews  Avith  respect  to  their  manuscripts 
tiave  undoubtedly  tended  much  to  preserve  the  integrity  of  the  text.  They  are  di 
rected  to  be  written  upon  parchment,  made  from  the  skin  of  a  clean  animal,  and  to 
be  lied  together  with  strings  of  similar  substance,  or  sewn  with  goat's-hair,  which 
has  been  spun  and  prepared  by  a  Jewess.  It  must  be  likewise  a  Jew  that  writes  the 
law,  and  they  are  extremely  diligent  and  exact  in  it,  because  the  least  fault  in  the 
world  profanes  the  book.  Every  skin  of  parchment  is  to  contain  a  certain  number 
of  columns,  which  are  to  be  of  a  precise  length  and  breadth,  and  to  contain  a  certain 
number  of  words.  They  are  to  be  written  with  the  purest  ink,  and  no  word  is  to  be 
written  by  heart  or  with  the  points;  it  must  be  first  orally  pronounced  by  the  copyist. 
The  name  of  God  is  directed  to  be  written  with  the  utmost  attention  and  devotion, 
and  the  transcriber  is  to  wash  his  pen  before  he  inscribes  it  on  the  parchment.     If 

43 


M6  APPENDIX. 

there  should  chance  to  be  a  word  with  either  a  deficient  or  a  redundant  letter,  or 
should  any  of  the  prosaic  part  of  the  Old  Testament  be  written  as  verse,  or  vice 
versa,  the  manuscript  is  vitiated.  No  Hebrew  manuscript  with  any  illumination  is, 
on  any  account,  admitted  into  a  synagogue,  although  private  individuals  are  permit- 
ted to  have  them  ornamented  for  their  own  use ;  but  in  the  illustrations,  the  resem- 
blance of  any  animal  denounced  by  the  Jews  as  unclean  can  not  be  admitted. 
Among  the  modem  Jews,  the  book  of  Esther,  in  particular,  is  frequently  decorated 
with  rude  figures  of  various  kinds;  but  with  respect  to  this  book,  it  must  be  observed 
that,  owing  to  its  wanting  the  sacred  name  of  God,  it  is  not  held  in  such  repute  for 
holiness  as  the  other  books  are.  The  manuscripts  for  private  use  may  be  either  upon 
parchment,  vellum,  or  paper,  and  of  various  sizes.  "  There  is,"  says  Prideaux,  "  in 
the  church  of  St.  Dominic,  in  Bononia,  a  copy  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  kept  with 
a  great  deal  of  care,  which  they  pretend  to  be  the  original  copy  written  by  Ezra  him- 
self; and  therefore  it  is  there  valued  at  so  high  a  rate,  that  great  sums  of  money 
have  been  bomwed  by  tiie  Bononians  upon  the  pawn  of  it,  and  again  repaid  for  its 
redemption.  It  is  written  in  a  very  fair  character  upon  a  sort  of  leather,  and  made 
up  in  a  roll  according  to  the  ancient  manner;  but  it  having  the  vowel-points  an- 
nexed, and  the  writing  being  fresh  and  fair,  without  any  decay,  both  these  particu- 
lars prove  the  novelty  of  that  copy.  But  such  forgeries  are  no  uncommon  things 
among  the  papistical  sect." 

To  open  and  shut  up  the  roll  or  book  of  the  law,  to  hold  it,  and  to  raise  and  show 
it  to  the  people,  are  three  offices,  which  are  sold,  and  bring  in  a  great  deal  of 
money.  The  skins  on  which  the  law  is  written  are  fastened  to  two  rollers, 
whose  ends  jut  out  at  the  sides,  beyond  the  skins,  and  are  usually  adorned  with 
silver ;  and  it  is  by  them  that  they  hold  the  book  when  they  lift  it  up,  and  ex 
hibit  it  to  the  congregation ;  because  they  are  forbidden  to  touch  the  book  itself 
with  their  hands.  All  who  are  in  the  synagogue  kiss  it,  and  they  Avho  are  not 
near  enough  to  reach  it  with  their  mouths,  touch  the  silken  cover  of  it,  and  then 
kiss  their  hands,  and  put  the  two  fingers  with  which  they  touched  it  upon  their 
eyes,  which  they  think  preserves  the  sight.  They  keep  it  in  a  cupboard,  which 
supplies  the  place  of  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  and  they  therefore  call  this  cupboard 
Aaron,  which  is  the  Hebrew  name  for  the  ark ;  and  this  is  always  placed  in  the 
east  end  of  the  synagogue.  He  who  presides  chooses  any  one  whom  he  pleases 
to  read  and  explain  the  scripture,  which  was  a  mark  of  distinction;  as  we  see  in 
the  thirteenth  chapter  of  the  Acts,  where  we  find  the  rulers  of  the  synagogue  de- 
siring the  apostles,  when  they  were  in  the  synagogue,  to  make  a  discourse  to  the 
people.  Ordinarily  speaking,  a  priest  began,  a  Levite  read  on,  and  at  last  one  of 
the  people,  whom  the  president  chose,  concluded.  He  who  reads  stands  upright, 
and  is  not  suffered  so  much  as  to  lean  against  a  wall.  Before  he  begins,  he  says 
with  a  loud  voice,  "  Bless  ye  God  ;"  and  the  congregation  answer,  "  Blessed  be  thou, 
0  my  God,  blessed  be  thou  for  ever ;"  and  when  the  lesson  is  ended,  the  book  is 
rolled  up,  and  wrapped  in  a  piece  of  silk. 

The  Jews  still  retain  so  great  a  veneration  for  the  Hebrew  tongue,  that  they  do  not 
think  it  lawful  to  use  any  other  bibles  in  the  synagogues  but  such  as  are  written  in 
that  language.  Tliis  was  what  enraged  them  so  much  against  the  Hellenistic  or 
Graecising  Jews,  who  read  the  Septuagint  Greek  version  in  their  synagogues ;  and  so 
much  were  they  grieved  that  this  version  was  ever  made,  that  they  instituted  a  fast, 
m  which  they  annually  lament  this  as  a  misfortune.  But  because  the  Hebrew  was, 
after  the  captivity,  no  longer  the  vulgar  tongue,  there  was  an  interpreter  in  the  syna- 
gogues, who  explained  to  the  people  in  the  Chaldee,  or  common  tongue,  what  was 
read  to  them  in  the  Hebrew.  The  use  they  made  of  the  Scriptures,  however,  gave  the 
people  at  least  an  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  Hebrew  language.  And  thus  we  see 
the  eunuch  who  is  mentioned  in  the  Acts,  could  read  Isaiah,  and  understand  enough 
of  it  to  form  the  question  which  he  put  to  Philip,  concerning  the  passage  in  the 
prophecy  relating  to  Jesus  Christ. 

After  having  spoken  of  the  books  contained  in  the  Bible,  and  of  the  divisions  of 
those  books  which  have  been  used  by  the  Jews  and  the  Christians,  both  in  ancient 
and  modern  times,  it  may  now  be  necessary  to  examine  a  little  into  the  language  in 
which  they  were  written.  The  Old  Testament  was  originally  written  in  the  Hebrew 
tongue;  and  this  language  is  generally  considered  as  having  the  best  claims  to  be 
considered  the  most  ancient  at  present  existing  in  the  world,  and,  perhaps,  as  the 


LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  THE  B\huE.  647 

primeval  tongue  of  the  human  race.  By  the  Hebrew  language,  therefore,  is  meant 
that  which  was  spoken  by  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob,  and  the  twelve  patriarchs,  which 
was  afterward  preserved  among  their  posterity,  and  in  which  Moses  wrote,  it  being 
improbable  that  he  would  employ  any  other  language  than  that  which  was  in  use 
among  the  Jews. 

This  language  is  supposed  by  some  to  derive  its  name  from  Heber,  great-grand- 
son to  Shem,  whose  posterity  were  denominated  Hebrews ;  but  it  is  much  more 
likely  that  it  received  its  name  from  its  being  the  mother-tongue  of  the  descendants 
of  Abraham,  who  were  called  Hebrews,  not  because  they  were  descended  from  He- 
ber, but  because  Abraham,  having  received  a  command  from  God  to  leave  the  coun- 
try where  he  lived,  which  was  beyond  the  Euphrates,  passed  that  river,  and  came 
into  the  land  of  Canaan,  where  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  gave  him  the  name  of 
the  Hebrew,  that  is,  one  that  has  passed  over;  in  the  same  manner  as  the  French 
call  all  those  that  live  beyond  the  mountains,  Ultramontanes. 

The  reasons  that  demonstrate  the  antiquity  of  the  Hebrew  tongue  are  many.  In 
the  first  place,  the  names  which  the  Scripture  explains  are  therein  drawn  from  He- 
brew roots.  It  was  thus  that  the  first  man  was  called  Adam,  because  he  had  been 
formed  out  of  the  gruuiid,  which  in  Hebrew  is  called  Adamah.  The  first  woman 
was  called  Eve,  because  she  was  the  origin  of  life  to  all,  evach  in  Hebrew  signifying 
to  live.  The  name  of  Cain,  which  comes  from  Canah,  signifying  to  acquire,  or  get, 
alludes  to  wha*  Eve  said  when  he  was  born:  "I  have  got  a  man  from  the  Lord." 
The  explanation  of  these  names  is  not  to  be  found  in  any  language  but  the  Hebrew ; 
and  as  this  relation  between  names  and  things  does  not  occur  in  any  other  language, 
it  is  in  it  alone  that  we  can  see  the  reasons  why  the  first  human  beings  were  so  called. 

The  names  of  an  immense  number  of  people,  also,  who  are  descended  from  the 
Hebrews,  show  the  antiquity  both  of  the  nation  and  the  language.  The  Assurians, 
for  instance,  derive  their  name  from  Ashur,  the  Elamites  from  Elam,  the  Arameans  from 
Aram,  the  Lydians  from  Lud,  the  Medes  from  Madai,  and  the  lonians  from  Javan, 
who  are  all  traced  in  the  Hebrew  bible  to  Shem,  Ham,  and  Japhet.  These  names 
have  no  signification  in  any  language  but  the  Hebrew,  which  shows  that  they  are 
derived  thence,  as  are  also  ilie  ancient  names  of  the  pagan  deities ;  to  which  we  must 
add  the  remark  which  several  learned  men  have  made,  namely,  that  there  is  no 
language  in  which  some  remains  of  the  Hebrew  are  not  to  be  found. 

A  very  apposite  example,  in  allusion  to  the  meaning  of  proper  names  in  Hebrew, 
is  to  be  found  in  the  Book  of, Ruth,  toward  the  end  of  the  first  chapter,  where  it  is 
said,  "And  the  whole  town  was  in  commotion  about  them;  and  the  women  said.  Is 
this  Naomi?  And  she  said,  Call  me  not  Naomi  (which  means  Delightful) ;  call  me 
Marah  (which  means  Biller):  for  the  Almighty  (Emer)  hath  caused  bitterness  ex- 
ceedingly to  me.  I  went  away  full,  and  Jehovah  hath  caused  me  to  return  empty; 
wherefore  then  do  ye  call  me  Naomi,  since  Jehovah  hath  brought  affliction  on  me, 
and  the  Almighty  hath  caused  evil  to  befall  me?" 

Thus  we  see  that  in  Hebrew,  as  well  as  in  most  of  the  oriental  languages,  all 
proper  names  are  significnnt  words;  and  this  is  found  to  be  the  case  also  among 
many  of  the  nations  of  Africa.  This  circumstance  has  a  great  effect  in  increasing  the 
eneigy  of  the  diction  in  these  tongues;  for  it  not  unfrequently  happens,  as  in  the  case 
of  Naomi,  that  the  speaker  or  writer,  in  addressing  a  person  by  his  name,  makes  use 
of  it  at  the  same  time  as  a  word  of  ordinary  signification,  to  express  something 
in  the  inward  disposition  or  the  outward  circumstances  of  the  possessor.  Instances 
of  this  occur  in  almost  every  page  of  the  Hebrew  scriptures;  and,  as  may  readily  be 
supposed,  it  is  impossible  in  such  cases,  for  any  common  translation  to  do  justice  to 
the  energy  of  the  original.  We  have  a  very  remarkable  example  of  this  in  the 
twenty-fifth  chapter  of  1  Samuel,  at  the  twenty-fifth  verse,  in  which  Abigail, 
speaking  of  her  husband  Nabal,  says  to  David:  "Let  not  my  lord  set  his  mind  at 
all  now  toward  the  man  of  Belial  (that  is,  worthless),  this  same  person,  Nabal 
(which  means  a  scoundrel) ;  for  like  his  name  so  is  he;  Nabal  is  his  name,  and  Ne- 
helah  (that  is,  vileness)  is  with  him." 

In  speaking  of  the  meaning  of  proper  names,  however,  the  most  extraordinary  ex- 
ample, perhaps,  that  can  be  produced  from  any  book,  either  ancient  or  modern,  is  the 
fiHowing,  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  fifth  chapter  of  Genesis :  the  names  of  the  ten 
:  atediluvian  patriarchs,  from  Adam  to  Noah  inclusive,  are  there  given ;  and  when 
iheso  ten  names  are  Uterally  translated,  and  placed  in  the  order  in  which  they  occur. 


(548  APPENDIX. 

they  form  altogether  the  following  very  remarkable  sentence  in  English :  man,  ap- 
pointed, miserable,  lamenting,  the  God  of  glory,  shall  descend,  to  instruct,  his  death 
sends  to  the  afflicted,  consolation  ! 

We  need  not  be  surprised,  therefore,  at  what  is  mentioned  in  the  Spectator  (No. 
221),  of  a  certain  rabbinical  divine  having  taken  the  first  three  of  these  names  as  the 
subject  of  his  discourse,  forming  thus  the  text  of  a  regular  sermon.  "  We  had  a 
rabbinical  divine  in  England,"  says  Addison,  "  who  was  chaplain  to  the  earl  of  Essex 
in  Queen  Elizabeth's  time,  that  had  an  admirable  head  for  secrets  of  this  nature. 
Upon  his  taking  the  doctor  of  divinity's  degree,  he  preached  before  the  university  of 
Cambridnfe  upon  the  first  verse  of  the  first  chapter  of  the  First  Book  of  Chronicles, 
*  in  which,' says  he,  'you  have  the  three  following  words:  'Adam,  Sheth,  Enosh.' 

"  He  divided  tliis  short  text  into  many  parts,  and  by  discovering  several  mysteries 
in  each  word,  made  a  most  learned  and  elaborate  discourse.  The  name  of  this  pro- 
found preacher  was  Dr.  Alabaster,  of  whom  the  reader  may  find  a  more  particular 
account  in  Dr.  Fuller's  Book  of  English  Worthies." 

It  is  evident,  that  although  this  matter  appeared  ridiculous  enough  in  Addison's 
eyes,  so  as  to  furnish  him  with  a  theme  for  a  very  amusing  paper,  yet,  on  considering 
attentively  the  meaning  of  the  original  words  here  used  as  proper  names,  a  great  deal 
)f  very  sound  doctrine  might  be  elicited  by  a  subtile  divine,  even  from  such  an  ap- 
parently insignificant  text. 

In  the  same  way  the  names  of  animals  in  Hebrew  are  found  to  be  words  expressivt 
of  their  qualities,  which  gives  support  to  the  idea  that  this  was  the  language  which 
Adam  used  when  he  gave  them  their  names ;  as  we  find  recorded  in  the  second 
chapter  of  Genesis,  at  the  19ih  verse:  "And  Jehovah  God  formed  out  of  the  ground 
every  beast  of  the  field,  and  he  formed  also  every  fowl  of  the  heavens;  and  he  brought 
them  unto  Adam  to  see  what  he  would  call  them,  and  whatever  Adam  called  it — 
the  living  creature— it  is  its  name." 

Some  of  the  names  of  animals  in  Hebrew  are  still  found  to  be  clearly  descriptive 
of  their  qualities,  and  therefore  in  regard  to  what  animal  is  intended  there  can  in 
such  cases  be  no  dispute.  But  with  respect  to  some  others  the  matter  is  not  so  plain, 
as,  from  the  root  not  being  now  found  in  the  language,  the  ideal  meaning  of  the 
name  can  not  be  so  readily  ascertained  :  and  hence  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Leviticus, 
in  which  the  names  of  certain  clean  and  unclean  animals  are  enumerated,  presents 
diflicuUies  to  a  translator  of  no  ordinary  description. 

There  is,  perhaps,  no  language  in  the  world  so  easily  reduced  to  its  original  ele- 
ments as  the  Hebrew.  As  Wilson  has  well  expressed  it,  "  We  descend  from  words 
to  their  element;  and  the  accurate  knowledge  of  letters  is  the  principal  part  of  He- 
brew grammar.  Its  flexion  nearly  approaches  that  of  the  modern  languages,  par- 
ticularly the  English.  The  relations  and  dependances  of  nouns  are  not  distinguished 
by  terminations,  or  cases,  but  by  particles  or  prepositions  prefixed.  The  persons, 
rnoods,  or  tenses,  of  verbs  are  not  marked  by  the  changes  of  their  last  syllables,  but 
by  means  of  letters  of  a  particular  order,  which  sometimes  appear  in  the  middle, 
sometimes  in  the  beginning,  and  sometimes  in  the  end  of  the  original  word."  In 
fact  the  structure  of  the  Hebrew  language  is  peculiarly  favorable  for  the  expression 
of  energy  and  sublimity.  The  words,  as  is  well  known,  are  remarkable  for  short- 
ness, the  greater  part  consisting  of  not  more  than  two,  three,  or  four  letters ;  few 
words  have  more  than  ten  letters,  and  those  that  consist  of  that  number  are  not 
many.  The  sentences  are  also  for  the  most  part  short,  and  are  quite  free  from  that 
complexity  which  is  apt  to  embarrass  the  reader  when  perusing  even  the  best  authors 
of  Greece  and  Rome.  The  idiom  of  any  language  consists  in  the  order  of  the  words ; 
but  it  is  well  known  that,  in  this  respect,  the  Greek  and  Latin  tongues  are  extremely 
capricious,  the  words  being  arranged  in  them  not  in  the  order  of  the  understanding, 
but  of  the  ear,  according  to  the  sound  rather  than  the  sense.  The  Greek  and  Roman 
writers  place  the  emphatic  words  in  whatever  order  the  sentence  can  be  made  to  run 
most  musically,  though  the  sense  be  suspended  till  the  speaker  or  reader  come  to 
the  end;  and  hence  the  need  of  so  many  flexions  and  syntax-rules  for  a  learner  to 
arrange  them  to  find  out  the  meaning.  Yet  even  for  this  purpose  more  declensions 
than  one  were  not  necessary ;  nor  more  tenses  than  three,  a  past,  a  present,  and  a 
»uture. 

From  this  mass  of  perplexity  the  Hebrew  language  is  entirely  free.  Its  origin^  i 
words,  called  roots  consist  of  a  proper  number  of  letters,  commonly  three,  the  fewest 


LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  649 

that  make  a  perfect  number ;  and  they  express  an  action  finished  or  expressed  by  a 
sin2le  a^ent.  It  has  a  proper  number  of  voices,  that  is,  active,  passive,  and  medial— and 
only  tlie  tenses  that  are  in  nature.  Its  primitive  words  are  more  sentimental  and 
scientific  man  sonorous;  and  they  express  original  ideas,  being  definitions  of  things 
descriptive  of  their  natures. 

The  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin,  and  such  as  are  mimediately  derived  from  them, 
or  constructed  on  their  model,  are  the  only  languages  that  are  formed  on  a  regular 
artificial  plan  ;  and  all  other  tongues  of  which  we  know  anything,  except  perhaps  the 
Persian  and  the  Sanscrit,  must  be  considered  in  comparison  as  mere  gibberish,  being 
qui'e  rude  in  their  original  formation;  nor  is  it  possible  to  reduce  them  to  another 
state,  without  wholly  metamorphosing  them.  That  which  was  never  the  language 
of  a  cultivated,  learned  people,  and  in  which  there  are  no  literary  works  of  taste,  can 
not  be  a  polished  language,  although  it  may  have  been  the  language  of  a  civilized 
nation,  or  of  a  court,  if  they  were  only  an  illiterate  people.  In  a  word,  all  languages 
that  have  a  concourse  of  consonants,  or  silent  letters,  are  rude  in  tlieir  writing  or 
pronunciation,  whatever  their  structure  may  be.  The  Greek  and  Latin  are  free  trom 
the  latter  fault,  and  the  Hebrew  from  both.  "As  Solomon  possessed  the  most  wis- 
dom and  knowledge,"  says  Mr.  Ray,  "and  treated  all  subjects  of  natural  philosophy, 
&rc.,  and  his  court  being  the  most  splendid  and  elegant,  as  people  came  to  it  from  all 
nations,  and  greatly  admired  it.  the  Hebrew  must  be  a  copious,  elegant  language ;  and 
its  structure  is  invariable,  being  the  same  in  Moses  and  Malachi,  at  a  thousand  years 
distance."  In  speaking  of  the  genius  of  a  language,  indeed,  which  is  its  force,  vigor 
or  energy,  the  Hebrew,  may,  without  doubt,  be  said  to  excel  all. 

It  is  evident  therefore  that  if,  as  Longinus  observes,  "  saying  the  greatest  things  in 
the  fewest  words"  be  essential  to  simplicity  and  energy  in  discourse,  the  Hebrew  is 
the  best  language  in  the  world  for  the  purpose.  In  it  we  have  no  superfluous  parts 
of  a  sentence  itT  words,  or  even  in  letters.  A  Hebrew  writer  conveys  his  meaning 
without  circumlocution;  for,  although  he  were  inclined,  he  would  be  unable  to  ac- 
complish ii,  because  the  language  is  quite  unsuitable  in  its  nature  for  being  employed 
in  any  such  way;  and  therefore  if  an  author's  subject  be  good,  even  although  he 
should  possess  but  little  genius,  he  will  find  no  great  difficulty  to  clothe  his  ideas  in 
sublime  and  energetic  language,  if  he  write  in  Heorew. 

Such  is  the  simple  nature  of  the  formation  of  this  primitive  language,  and  which 
seems,  at  the  same  time,  to  entitle  it  more  to  the  claim  of  being  a  philosophical 
tongue  than,  perhaps,  any  other  in  the  world.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  structure 
of  This  very  ancient  language  approaches  closely  to  that  of  the  English,  and  other 
modern  tongues,  as  the  relations  and  dependances  of  nouns,  according  to  what  has 
been  already  remarked,  are  not  distinguished  by  terminations,  or  cases,  as  in  Greek 
and  Latin,  but  by  particles  or  prepositions  (or  little  words)  prefixed,  and  which  are, 
at  the  same  time,  conjoined  with  the  noun,  as  if  they  were  a  part  of  it-  . 

The  advantages  which  the  Hebrew  language  possesses,  above  all  others,  m  the 
simplicity  of  its  formation— its  remarkable  originality,  in  that  it  borrows  from  no 
language,  while  almost  all  others  borrow  from  it— as  also  the  ideality  which  is  found 
to  perv'ade  its  roots  or  primitive  words— have  all  been  considered  as  entitling  it  to 
higher  claims  in  the  consideration  of  philosophers,  than  any  other  language  in  the 
world,  either  ancient  or  modern.  These  notions  have  been  carried  to  such  a  length, 
indeed,  by  some  learned  men,  that  they  gave  rise  to  an  entirely  new  school  of 
philosophy,  generally  known  by  the  designation  of  the  Hutchinsonian  ;  the  disciples 
of  which  are  remarkable  as  being  opposed  in  many  things  to  the  Newtonian  system, 
and  as  being  possessed  with  the  belief  that  in  the  Hebrew  language,  and  in  it  alone, 
are  to  be  found  the  germes  of  all  true  philosophy.  The  system  takes  its  name  from 
John  Hutchinson,  an  English  philosopher  and  critical  author,  who  died  in  1737.  and 
was  remarkable  as  an  opponent  of  Dr.  Woodward  on  natural  history,  and  of  Sii 
Isaac  Newton  in  philosophy. 


INTEGRITY  OF  THE  TEXT. 

The  sacred  books  which  were  written,  as  we  have  seen,  in  Hebrew,  the  language 
of  the  patriarchs,  have  been  preserved  down  to  our  days  without  any  cormotion ;  and 


fi50  APPENDIX. 

the  same  judgment  may  also  be  formed  of  those  other  books  of  Scripture  which  have 
Deen  since  written  in  Greek.  But  before  proving  the  purity  and  integrity  of  these 
original  texts,  it  may  be  necessary  to  remove  a  prejudice  which  may  arise  from  the 
variety  of  different  readings  that  are  found  in  the  manuscript  and  printed  copies  of 
the  Bible. 

The  different  manner  in  which  some  passages  are  expressed  ia  different  manu- 
scripts, together  with  the  omission  or  insertion  of  a  word,  or  of  a  clause,  constitute 
what  are  called  various  readings.  This  was  occasioned  by  the  oversights  or  mistakes 
of  transcribers,  who  deviated  from  the  copy  before  them,  these  persons  not  being,  as 
some  have  supposed,  supernaturally  guarded  against  the  possibility  of  error;  and  a 
mistake  in  one  copy  would,  of  course,  be  propagated  through  all  that  were  taken 
from  it,  each  of  which  copies  might  likewise  have  peculiar  faults  of  its  own,  so  that 
various  readings  would  thus  be  increased  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  transcripts 
that  were  made.  Besides  actual  oversights,  transcribers  might  have  occasioned 
various  readings  by  substituting,  through  ignorance,  one  word,  or  even  letter,  in  place 
of  another;  they  might  have  mistaken  the  line  on  which  the  copy  before  them  was 
written,  for  part  of  a  letter,  or  they  might  have  mistaken  the  lower  stroke  of  a  letter 
for  the  line,  and  thus  have  altered  the  reading ;  at  the  same  time  they  were  unwilling 
to  correct  such  mistakes  as  they  delected,  lest  their  pages  should  appear  blotted  or 
defaced;  and  thus  they  sacrificed  the  correctness  of  their  copy  to  its  fair  appearance. 
Copiers  seem,  not  unfrequently,  to  have  added  letters  to  the  last  word  in  their  lines, 
in  order  to  preserve  them  even,  and  marginal  notes  have  been  sometimes  introduced 
into  the  text.  These  different  circumstances,  as  well  as  others  with  which  we  may 
not  be  acquainted,  did  no  doubt  contribute  very  much  to  produce  and  multiply  mis- 
takes and  variations  in  the  manuscripts  of  the  Hebrew  scriptures.  This  language  is 
more  susceptible  of  corruption,  and  any  alteration  would  be  more  detrimental  in  it 
than  in  others.  In  English,  if  a  letter  be  omitted,  or  altered,  the  mistake  can  be 
easily  corrected,  because  the  word  thus  corrupted  may  have  no  meaning;  but  in  He- 
brew, almost  every  combination  of  the  letters  forms  a  new  word,  so  that  an  alteration 
of  even  one  letter  of  any  description  is  likely  to  produce  a  new  word  and  a  new  mean- 
ing. Thus  putting  all  alterations  made  knowingly — for  the  purpose  of  corrupting  the 
text,  out  of  the  question — we  must  allow  that  from  these  circumstances  connected 
with  the  transcribuig,  some  errata  may  have  found  their  way  into  it,  and  that  the 
sacred  Scriptures  have  in  this  case  suffered  the  fate  of  other  productions  of  antiquity. 

When  we  have  collected  all  the  differences  that  are  found  in  manuscripts  of  the 
original  text,  and  have  selected  from  them  what  are  really  various  readings,  we  are 
able  to  determine,  from  the  number  and  authority  of  the  manuscripts,  with  tolerable 
correctness,  what  is  the  genuine  reading.  Beside  the  authority  of  the  manuscript,  we 
must  also  be  guided  in  determining  the  true  reading  by  the  scope  of  the  passage,  by 
the  interpretations  and  quotations  of  ancient  writers,  by  the  old  versions,  and  not  un- 
frequently by  Scripture  itself;  for  similar  or  parallel  passages  will  often  be  found 
useful  for  this  purpose.  When  all  these  things  are  considered,  it  will  seldom  happen 
that  the  true  reading  of  a  passage  will  be  doubtful ;  yet  should  it  continue  so,  either 
reading  may  contain  a  truth,  though  certainly  both  can  not  be  authentic,  and  iii  a 
theological  point  of  view,  either  of  them  may  be  followed  without  involving  a  doc- 
trinal error;  and  in  such  a  case,  the  common  reading  should  not  be  relinquished. 

To  a  person  who  has  not  considered  the  subject  closely,  it  may  appear  sufficient  to 
overthrow  the  authority  of  the  text,  that  no  less  than  thirty  thousand  various  readings 
of  the  scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  have  been  discovered.  But  when 
these  are  examined  closely,  and  all  that  are  not  properly  various  readings  are  rejected, 
the  number  will  be  considerably  diminished ;  from  these  again  let  all  be  deducted 
which  make  no  alteration  in  the  several  passages  to  which  they  refer,  and  the  reduc- 
.ion  will  be  much  greater ;  and  out  of  the  remainder  there  are  none  found  that  can 
invalidate  the  authority  of  those  doctrines  that  have  been  esteemed  fundamental,  or 
that  can  shake  a  single  portion  of  that  internal  evidence  whereby  the  divine  origin  of 
the  Scriptures  is  supported ;  so  that  the  friends  of  revelation  had  no  grounds  for  the 
alarm  they  felt  at  the  time  wheh  the  subject  of  various  readings  began  to  be  discussed. 
These  observations  apply  strongly  to  the  New  Testament,  which,  as  it  has  been 
transcribed  more  frequently,  and  probably  by  less  skilful  transcribers  than  the  Old, 
has,  in  propprtion,  many  more  various  readings.  Respecting  these,  however,  it  h»^ 
been  said,  that  "  all  the  omissions  of  the  ancient  manuscripts  put  together,  would  n 


LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  651 

■countenance  the  omission  of  any  essential  doctrine  of  the  gospel,  relative  to  faith  or 
morals  ;  and  all  the  additions  countenanced  by  the  whole  mass  of  manuscripts  already 
collated,  do  not  introduce  a  single  point  essential  either  to  faith  or  morals,  beyond 
what  may  be  found  in  the  Complutensian  or  Elzevir  editions.* 

The  manner  in  which  the  original  text  of  the  Scriptures,  particularly  the  He- 
brew, has  been  preserved  free  from  all  material  corruption,  and  handed  down  pure 
through  such  a  long  succession  of  ages,  may  now  form  the  subject  of  our  especial  con- 
sideration. 

It  has  been  supposed  by  many  that  the  Christian  fathers  accused  the  Jews  of  cor- 
rupting the  text ;  but  from  an  examination  of  such  passages  as  seem  to  imply  this,  it 
appears  that  they  spoke  not  of  corrupting  the  text,  but  of  adopting  unfaithful  transla- 
tions. Justin  Martyr,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  of  the  Christian  fathers,  defends  the 
Jews  very  well  as  to  this  point,  and  proves  that  they  have  not  corrupted  the  Scrip- 
tures: and  it  is  past  doubt  they  have  not;  for,  as  St.  Jerome  observes,  before  the 
birth  of  Jesus  Christ  they  had  certainly  made  no  malicious  alterations  in  them.  If 
they  had  done  so,  our  Saviour  and  his  apostles,  Avho  cast  so  many  reproaches  upon 
the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  would  not  have  passed  over  in  silence  so  great  a  crime. 
To  suppose  such  a  thing,  indeed,  were  to  know  little  of  the  attachment  of  the  Jews 
for  the  Scriptures.  Josephus  and  Philo  assure  us  that  they  would  have  undergone  all 
sons  of  torments  rather  liian  have  taken  a  letter  from  the  Scripture,  or  altered  a  word 
in  it.  A  copy  which  had  only  one  fault  in  it  was  by  ihem  thought  polluted,  and  was 
not  suffered  to  be  kept  above  thirty  days;  and  one  that  had  four  faults  was  ordered 
to  be  hid  in  the  earth.  In  the  Babylonian  Talmud  it  is  laid  down  as  a  regulation, 
that  "  the  books  of  the  law  which  have  been  written  by  a  heretic,  a  traitor,  one  Avho 
IS  a  stranger  to  the  Jewish  religion,  an  idolatrous  minister — by  which  they  mean 
a  monk— a  slave,  a  woman,  one  under  age,  a  Cuthsean,  or  Christian,  or  an  apostate 
Israelite,  are  unlawful." 

"  This,"  says  St.  Augustine,  "  is  a  most  visible  effect  of  the  providence  of  God  over 
his  church.  It  pleased  him  that  the  Jews  should  be  our  librarians ;  that,  when  the 
Pagans  reject  the  oracles  of  the*ncient  prophets  concerning  Jesus  Christ,  which  we 
quote  against  them  as  being  invented  by  us,  we  might  refer  them  to  the  enemies  of 
our  religion,  who  will  show  them  in  their  books  the  same  prophecies  Avhich  we  quote 
against  them." 

The  class  of  Jewish  doctors  called  Massorites  were  grammarians,  who  engaged 
with  peculiar  ardor  in  the  revisal  of  the  Hebrew  scriptures.  The  Massoritic  notes 
and  criticisms  relate  to  the  verses,  words,  letters,  vowel-points,  and  accents.  All  the 
verses  of  each  book  and  of  each  section  are  numbered,  and  the  amount  placed  at  the 
end  of  each  in  numerical  letters,  or  in  some  symbolical  word  formed  out  of  them;  the 
middle  verse  of  each  book  is  also  marked,  and  even  the  very  letters  are  numbered: 
and  all  this  is  done  to  preserve  the  text  from  any  alteration,  by  either  fraud  or  neg- 
ligence. For  instance,  Bereshith,  or  Genesis,  is  marked  as  containing  1,534  verses, 
and  the  middle  one  is  at — "  And  by  thy  sword  thou  shall  live"  (xxvii.  40).  The  lines 
are  4,395 ;  its  columns  are  43,  and  its  chapters  50.  The  number  of  its  words  is  27,713, 
and  its  letters  are  78,100.  The  Massoritic  notes,  or  Massorah,  as  the  work  is  called, 
contain  also  observations  on  the  words  and  letters  of  the  verses;  for  instance,  how 
many  verses  end  with  the  letter  samech  ;  how  many  there  are  in  which  the  same 
word  is  repeated  twice  or  thrice;  and  other  remarks  of  a  similar  nature. 

It  seems  now  generally  agreed  upon  that  the  Massorites  of  Tiberias,  during  the 
fourth  century  of  the  Christian  era.  were  the  inventors  of  the  system  of  the  voueJ- 
points  and  accents  in  the  Hebrew  Bible  :  and  although  they  multiply  them  very  un- 
necessarily, it  must  be  allowed  that  this  is  the  most  useful  of  their  works.  From  the 
points  we  learn  how  the  text  was  read  in  their  time,  as  we  know  they  were  guided 
in  affixing  them  by  the  mode  of  reading  which  then  prevailed,  and  which  they  sup- 
posed to  ifiave  been  traditionally  conveyed  down  from  the  sacred  writers. 

The  Massoritic  notes  were  at  first  written  in'  separate  rolls,  but  they  are  now 
usually  placed  in  the  margin,  or  at  the  top  and  bottom  of  the  page  in  printed  copies. 
Many  opinions  are  entertained  about  the  authors  of  them  ;  some  think  they  were  be- 
gun by  Moses  ;  others  regard  them  as  the  work  of  Ezra  and  the  members  of  the  great 
synagogue,  among  whom  were  the  later  prophets  :  while  others  refer  them  entirely 
to  the  rabbins  of  Tiberias,  who  are  usually  styled  the  Massorites,  and  suppose  that 

*  Vide  Dr.  Adam  Clarke's  Tract  on  tlie  Editions  of  tlie  New  Testament. 


652  APPENDIX. 

vney  commenced  this  system,  which  was  augmented  and  continued  at  different  times 
oy  various  authors,  so  that  it  was  not  the  worii  of  one  man,  nor  of  one  age.  It  is  not 
improbable  that  these  notes  were  begun  about  the  time  of  the  Maccabees,  when  the 
Pharisees,  who  were  called  the  masters  of  tradition,  first  began  to  make  their  obser- 
vations on  the  letter  of  the  law  though  they  were  regardless  of  its  spirit.  They  might 
have  commenced  by  numbering  first  the  verses,  next  the  words  and  letters;  and  then, 
when  the  vowel-points  were  added,  others  continued  the  system  by  making  observa- 
tions on  them.  On  the  whole,  then  it  appears  that  what  is  called  the  Massorah 
is  entitled  to  no  greater  reverence  or  attention  than  may  be  claimed  by  any  other 
human  compilation ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  it  must  be  allowed  that  it  has  preserved 
the  Hebrew  text  from  the  time  it  was  formed,  and  conveyed  it  to  us  as  perfect  as 
any  ancient  work  could  be  given. 

The  various  readings  given  in  the  Hebrew  Bibles,  and  which  are  technically  de- 
nominated by  the  Jews  the  Ken  and  Cetib,  are  not  to  be  ascribed  to  Moses  or  the 
prophets,  for  it  can  not  be  supposed  that  inspired  writers  were  ignorant  of  what  was 
the  true  reading  of  the  scripture  text.  One  principal  occasion  of  the  notes  of  the 
Keri  and  Cetib  is,  that  there  are  several  words  Avhich  the  Jews,  either  from  super- 
stitious reverence  or  from  contempt,  are  never  allowed  to  pronounce.  When  they 
meet  with  them  in  the  text,  instead  of  pronouncing  them,  they  pronounce  others  that 
are  marked  by  certain  vowels  or  consonants  in  the  margin.  Thechief  of  these  is  the 
great  name  of  God  Jehovah,  instead  of  which  they  always  read  Ado?iai,  Lord,  or 
Elohiin,  God.  This  is  the  word  called  Tetragranimaton,  or  the  ineffable  name  of 
God,  consisting  of  the  four  letters,  Yod,  He,  Wau,  He.  The  people  were  not  suffered 
to  pronounce  it ;  the  higii-priest  alone  had  that  privilege,  and  that  only  in  the  temple 
once  a  year,  when  he  blessed  the  people  on  the  great  day  of  atonement ;  and  hence  it 
is,  that,  as  this  holy  name  has  not  been  pronounced  since  the  destruction  of  the  tem- 
ple, its  true  pronunciation  is  now  lost.  Galatinus,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  was  the 
first  who  thought  fit  to  say,  that  it  ought  to  be  pronounced  Jehovah;  "  which  did  not 
happen,"  says  Pere  I'Amy,  "  without  a  very  particular  providence  of  God,  who  was 
pleased,  that  when  the  Jews  lost  the  temple  in  which  the  true  God  was  worshipped, 
they  should  at  the  same  time  lose  the  true  pronunciation  of  his  august  name.  It  hap- 
pened, I  say,  because,  being  no  longer  willing  to  be  their  God  (for  the  destruction  of 
the  temple  was  an  authentic  testimony  of  the  divorce  which  he  gave  them),  he  would 
not  leave  them  the  power  of  so  much  as  pronouncing  his  name."* 

Josephus,  himself  a  priest,  says  it  was  unlawful  for  him  to  speak  of  the  name 
whereby  God  was  made  known  to  Moses ;  and  if  it  be  true  that  the  pronunciation  of 
it  was  connected  with  the  temple  service,  it  is  not  surprising  that  all  trace  of  it  should 
be  lost  when  the  temple  was  destroyed,  and  when  the  Jews  grew  every  day  more 
superstitiously  afraid  of  pronouncing  it.  Leusden,  the  great  orientalist,  is  said  to 
have  offered  a  iew  at  Amsterdam  a  considerable  sum  of  money  if  he  would  pronounce 
It  only  once,  but  in  vain. 

Besides  the  various  readings  called  the  Keri  and  Cetib,  which  the  Jews  admit  to 
be  the  oldest,  there  are  two  other  kinds  of  various  readings  which  deserve  our  notice, 
because  they  are  given  in  some  printed  bibles.  The  first  are  those  of  the  eastern  and 
western  Jews;  the  second,  those  between  the  manuscripts  of  Ben  Asher  and  Ben 
Naphtali.  By  the  eastern  Jews  we  are  to  understand  those  of  Babylon  ;  by  the  west- 
ern, those  of  Palestine.  At  Babylon  and  in  Palestine,  after  the  destruction  of  the  city 
and  temple,  there  were  famous  schools  for  many  ages,  and  between  the  learned  men 
of  these  places  much  rivalship  existed;  so  that  each  party,  by  following  their  own 
copies,  gave  rise  to  a  collection  of  various  readings,  or  corrections  of  the  text,  whose 
antiquity  is  acknowledged,  though  it  does  not  appear  exactly  at  what  time  it  was 
made. 

The  other  collection  is  called  after  the  heads  of  two  celebrated  schools — Ben  Asher, 
at  Tiberias,  and  Ben  Naphtali,  at  Babylon,  who  were  two  famous  Massorites,  that 
lived  about  the  year  1,030,  and  were  the  last  of  them.  Both  of  these  rabbles  la- 
bored to  produce  a  correct  copy  of  the  Scriptures,  and  the  followers  of  each  corrected 
theirs  by  that  of  their  master.  The  variations  between  them  relate  to  the  points,  and 
in  but  one  instance  is  there  any  difference  in  the  writing  of  a  word ;  so  that  they  do 
not  affect  the  integrity  of  the  text. 

What  has  been  said  of  the  integrity  of  the  text  of  the  Old  Testament,  may  be  ap- 

*  ViUe  "  Apparatus  Biblicus,  or  an  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures." 


LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  653 

plied  also  to  the  New,  in  so  far  as  it  may  be  charged  with  corruptions,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  negligence  of  transcribers,  as  also  in  consequence  of  ihe  attempt  of 
heretics  o  niaiie  it  conform  to  their  erroneous  sentiments.  Though  it  must  be 
admitted  taat  the  New  Testament  text,  by  being  more  frequently  transcribed  than 
that  of  the  Old,  became  liable  to  a  greater  proportion  of  various  readings,  originating 
from  the  mistakes  of  the  transcribers,  yet  this  very  circumstance  was  likewise  a  sure 
protection  against  wilful  perversion  or  corruption ;  for  in  proportion  as  copies  were 
multiplied,  the  difficulty  of  effecting  a  general  corruption  was  increased  No  such 
system  as  that  of  the  Massorites  was  ever  adopted  to  preserve  the  purity  of  the  New 
Testament  text ;  but  we  have  it  iu  our  power  to  use  various  means  for  ascertaining 
what  is  the  true  reading  of  the  text,  without  having  recourse  to  such  a  plan  as  that 
of  the  Massorah  ;  and  concordances,  which  are  now  brought  to  an  uncommon  degree 
of  perfection,  are  of  great  use  in  preserving  it  from  corruption  ;  in  fact,  the  single  one 
of  Buxtorf  has  done  more  toward  fixing  the  genuine  reading,  and  pointing  out  the 
true  meaning  of  Scripture,  than  the  entire  body  of  the  Massoritic  notes.  We  have 
the  consent  of  the  church,  in  all  ages  and  countries,  to  prove  our  copies  of  the  New 
Testament  scriptures  authentic,  and  the  authenticity  of  the  Hebrew  text  is  confirmed 
by  Christ  and  his  apostles ;  and,  in  concluding  this  part  of  the  subject,  it  may  be  re- 
marked, that  the  general  integrity  of  the  Hebrew  text  receives  additional  confirma- 
tion from  the  ancient  versions,  as  will  more  fully  appear  hereafter. 


ANCIENT  VERSIONS. 

Originally  there  was  but  one  version  of  the  Scriptures  ;  but  a  schism  of  a  remark- 
able nature  which  broke  out  between  the  Jews  and  the  Samaritans,  was  the  cause 
of  producing  another  version;  and  of  this,  and  those  which  followed,  we  are  now 
about  to  speak.  The  Second  Book  of  Kings  furnishes  us  with  the  history  of  this 
schism,  which,  it  will  be  recollected,  was  caused  by  the  setting  up  of  certain  golden 
calves  to  be  worshipped  at  Dan,  in  Bethel,  by  Jeroboam.  Omri  hence  built  Samaria, 
and  made  it  the  capital  of  his  kingdom,  and  thus  was  the  separation  between  Judah 
and  Israel  rendered  complete.  Samaria  was,  at  first,  only  the  name  of  a  city,  but 
afterward  it  became  that  of  a  province.  It  contained  the  tribe  of  Ephraim,  and  the 
half-tribe  of  Manasseh,  which  was  on  this  side  Jordan  ;  so  that  it  was  to  the  north 
of  Judea,  and  between  the  Great  sea,  Galilee,  and  Jordan ;  and  there  was,  therefore, 
no  going  from  Galilee  to  Jerusalem  without  passing  through  this  province.  The  cap- 
ital of  the  district,  subsequent  to  the  captivity,  was  Sichem,  afterward  called  Neapo- 
lis,  or  Naplous,  which  was  situated  between  the  mountains  Gerizim  and  Ebal. 

In  the  reign  of  Hezekiah,  king  of  Judah,  Samaria  was  taken  by  Shalmanezer,  and 
the  ten  tribes  were  carried  into  captivity.  Some  years  after,  Esarhaddon  sent  the 
Cutheans  to  supply  the  place  of  the  Jews,  and  to  inhabit  Samaria;  and  these  people, 
who  knew  not  the  true  God,  but  continued  their  idolatrous  practices,  and  burnt  their 
children  in  the  fire  to  Moloch,  were  punished  for  their  idolatry  with  lions,  which 
made  great  havoc  among  them.  For  this  reason,  at  their  request,  Esarhaddon  sent 
some  of  those  priests  who  had  been  carried  into  captivity,  to  instruct  them,  and  teach 
them  the  worship  of  the  true  God.  They  did  not  embrace  it  with  purity,  however, 
but  mixed  the  remains  of  paganism  with  their  religion;  for  which  reason,  in  the 
writings  of  the  Jewish  rabbies,  they  are  denominated,  in  scorn,  "  The  proselytes  of 
the  lions;"  because  it  was  through  fear  of  them  that  they  mixed  the  worship  of  the 
Creator  with  that  of  their  idols.  Nevertheless,  when  Manasses,  the  son  of  Jaddus, 
the  high-prieit  of  the  Jews,  had  built  the  temple  on  Mount  Gerizim,  the  Samaritans 
then  retained  their  old  superstitions  no  longer,  but  always  contended  that  their  tem- 

f)le  was  more  holy  than  that  of  Jerusalem;  inferring  from  the  ark's  having  been  a 
ong  time  at  Shiloh,  near  Ephraim,  that  the  worship  of  God  had  rather  begun  in 
their  country  than  in  Jerusalem.  According  to  Josephus,  they  claimed  kindred  with 
the  Jews  in  thoi  "prosperity,  but  renounced  all  connexion  with  them  when  they  were 
under  persecutio^i  From  John's  gospel  we  learn,  that  when  the  Messiah  was  oii 
the  earth,  the  Samaritans,  who  received  no  part  of  the  Old  Testament  except  the 
Pentateuch,  had  lost  all  tradition  of  the  revolt  and  subsequent  captivity  of  the  tec 
tribes  ;  thev  considered  themselves  descended  from  the  stock  of  Israel,  claimed  Jacoi 


S54  APPENDIX. 

for  their  father,  and  contended  that  the  "  holy  mountain"  was  in  the  portion  assignpd 
to  them  by  Joshua. 

There  was  no  particular  enmity  between  the  two  nations  until  the  lime  of  Ezra. 
Incensed  by  the  opposition  they  gave  to  tVie  building  of  the  temple,  from  the  time 
their  assistance  was  refused,  he  is  said  to  have  solemnly  excommunicated  them  ;  and 
hence  arose  that  enmity,  which  was  carried  to  such  a  height  that  "  the  Jews  had  no 
dealings  with  the  Samaritans  ;"  and,  from  Ezra's  time,  Samaria  became  a  refuge  for 
the  malcontent  Jews.  Ptolemy  Lagos  carried  numbers,  both  of  the  Samaritans  and 
of  the  Jews,  into  Eg^^pt,  where  a  fierce  contest  took  place  between  them  respecting 
the  sanctity  of  their  temples,  each  party  insisting  that  iheirs  stood  on  the  holy  mount. 
The  point  was  discussed  publicly  in  presence  of  the  king,  and  the  Samaritan  advo- 
cates, failing  in  their  proof,  were  put  to  death.  In  the  year  109  before  Christ,  John 
Hyrcanus  destroyed  the  city  and  temple  of  the  Samaritans,  and,  though  afterward, 
viz.,  in  the  year  25  before  Christ,  King  Herod  built  them  a  city  and  temple,  they  still 
continued  to  worship  on  Mount  Gerizim.  In  the  twelfth  century,  Benjamin  of  Tu- 
dela  found  some  remains  of  these  people  in  that  country,  where  they  are  still  to  be 
found.  During  the  revolt  of  the  Jews,  the  Samaritans  continued  in  their  subjection 
to  the  Romans  ;  and  since  that  period  they  have  always  remained  subject  to  the  dif- 
ferent powers  who  have  been  in  possession  of  that  and  the  neighboring  countries. 

It  is  supposed  that  the  present  Hebrew  character  was  first  adopted  from  the  Chal- 
deans by  Ezra,  at  the  time  when,  after  the  return  of  the  Jews  from  Babylon,  he  col- 
lected the  Scriptures,  and  formed  the  entire  canon.  As  the  people  were  familiarized 
with  the  Chaldee,  he  used  that  character  in  transcribing  the  Old  Testament.  What 
is  now  called  the  Samaritan,  was  the  character  used  by  Moses  and  the  prophets ; 
and  Ezra  relinquished  it  to  the  Samaritans,  it  is  said,  in  order  to  render  the  separation 
between  them  and  the  Jews  more  complete.  Since  that  time,  the  Jews  have  used 
the  character  we  call  the  Hebrew,  and  the  Samaritans  have  retained  the  others. 

The  value  of  the  Samaritan  Pentateuch  is  very  great ;  for,  where  its  text  accords 
with  the  Hebrew  text,  it  confirms  it  most  decidedly;  because,  as  the  Jews  and  Sa- 
maritans were  such  inveterate  enemies,  there  never  could  have  been  any  designed 
corruption  effected  by  them  both.  It  frequently  confirms,  and  sometimes  corrects, 
the  reading  of  the  Hebrew  in  important  places ;  and  it  overturns  all  that  system  of 
rabbinical  trifling,  by  which  mysterious  knowledge  is  said  to  be  communicated 
through  the  shape  and  positions  of  certain  letters,  or  certain  words,  which  they  pre- 
tend Moses  learned  from  God,  because  such  things  can  not  be  applied  to  its  characters. 

As  the  Samaritans  do  not  understand  the  Hebrew  text,  although  in  the  charactei 
of  their  own  language,  they  have  found  it  necessary  to  translate  it  for  common  use. 
For,  as  the  Jews,  after  the  Babylonish  captivity,  degenerated  in  their  language  from 
the  Hebrew  to  the  Babylonish  dialect,  so  the  Samaritans  did  the  same,  most  proba- 
bly, by  bringing  this  dialect  out  of  Assyria  with  them,  when  they  first  came  to  plant 
in  Samaria.  Therefore,  as  the  Jews,  for  the  sake  of  the  vulgar  among  them  who 
underftood  only  the  common  language,  were  forced  to  make  Chaldee  versions  of  the 
Scriptures,  which  they  called  Targunis,  so  the  Samaritans,  for  the  same  reason,  were 
obliged  to  do  the  same  thing,  and  to  make  a  version  of  their  Pentateuch  into  the  vul- 
gar Samaritan,  which  is,  most  probably,  the  most  ancient  translation  of  the  Bible  in 
existence.  This  Samaritan  version  is  not  made,  like  the  Chaldee  versions  among  the 
Jews,  by  way  of  paraphrase,  but  by  an  exact  rendering  of  the  text  word  for  word, 
for  the  most  part  without  any  variation.  Being  perfectly  literal,  the  same  Latin 
translation  answers  both  to  it  and  the  Samaritan  Pentateuch ;  and  all  the  three  are 
published  in  the  Paris  and  London  polyglots. 

There  were  two  causes  which  chiefly  conduced  to  render  the  Greek  language,  at 
one  time,  of  almost  universal  use  in  the  world.  The  first  cause  was  the  conquests 
of  Alexander  the  Great,  who  was,  by  nation,  a  Grecian,  king  of  Macedon,  and  after- 
ward ruler  of  the  greater  part  of  the  then  known  world.  His  vast  empire,  although 
divided,  yet  subsisted  for  a  great  length  of  time,  as  his  office'-s  divided  it  among 
themselves,  and  reigned  in  different  countries,  so  that  the  Greeks  still  continued  to 
have  dominion  in  the  world,  particularly  the  Seleucidse,  in  Syria,  and  the  Ptolomies, 
in  Egypt,  by  which  means  the  Greek  language  became  known  and  in  use,  both  in  Ju- 
dea  and  Egypt.  The  other  cause  of  the  extent  of  this  language,  was  the  high  rep- 
utation the  Greeks  had  acquired  for  learning  and  wisdom,  which  made  many  people 
desirous  of  knowing  their  language,  who  were  not  subject  to  their  dominion. 


LITEKAKVf  HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  655 

This,  then,  was  the  language  which  was  made  use  of  to  give  the  Gentiles  the  first 
knowledge  of  the  Messiah.  The  Greek  version  of  the  Old  Testament  prepared  the 
way  for  the  gospel.  The  Gentiles  read  in  these  books  the  prophecies  which  the 
apostles  showed  had  been  accomplished  in  Jesus  Christ:  and  they  found,  also,  that 
the  obstinate  incredulity  of  the  Jews  had  been  foretold  in  them.  They  could  not 
suspect  the  fidelity  of  the  apostles,  because  this  version  of  the  Scriptures  had  noi 
been  made  by  them ;  nor  could  they  accuse  the  Jews  of  having  altered  these  books, 
because,  as  they  were,  the  Jews  were  condemned  in  them.  Besides,  the  time  at 
which  it  was  made,  gave  this  translation  of  the  Bible  a  prodigious  deal  of  weight ; 
because,  from  its  having  appeared  before  the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ,  neither  Pagans 
nor  Jews  could  say  that  the  ancient  prophecies  therein  contained  had  been  adapted 
to  the  circumstances  of  his  life. 

Whoever  were  the  authors  of  this  the  first  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  Greek, 
commonly  known  by  the  name  of  the  Seventy,  or  the  Septuagint,  and  of  which  the 
Jewish  historians,  Philo  and  Josephus,  have  spoken  much,  no  one  doubts  that  it  was 
made  long  before  the  time  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  it  is  of  great  authority.  Several 
passages  of  the  Old  Testament,  which  are  quoted  in  the  New,  are  taken  thence ; 
and,  being  thus  noticed  by  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament,  from  their  mode  of 
using  it,  we  may  infer  that  it  was  in  general  circulation  among  tjie  apostolic  churches. 
All  the  other  ancient  versions,  likewise,  which  were  publicly  read  in  the  different 
churches  of  the  world,  the  Arabic,  the  Ethiopic,  the  Armenian,  the  Gothic,  the  Illyr- 
ican,  and  the  ancient  Latin,  which  was  in  use  before  St.  Jerome's  time,  were  made 
from  it ;  and,  in  short,  every  one  of  them,  except  the  Syriac,  were  made  from 
that  of  the  Seventy,  and  to  this  day  the  Greek  church,  and  the  churches  of  the 
east,  have  no  other.  It  is  this  version  that  the  fathers  and  doctors  of  the  church 
have  explained  and  commented  upon.  It  was  from  this  version  that  they  drew  their 
decisions  m  matters  of  faith,  and  their  precepts  of  morality.  It  was  by  this  that  they 
confuted  heresies,  and  both  general  and  particular  councils  explained  themselves  by 
it.  Thus,  whoever  the  authors  of  it  were,  its  authority  is  great;  and  that  upon  this 
account  only,  if  no  other,  that  it  was  made  at  a  time  when  the  Hebrew  was  a  living 
language,  and,  consequently,  more  easy  to  be  understood  than  it  is  now,  when  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  come  at  the  true  understanding  of  it,  otherwise  than  by  the  as- 
sistance of  the  ancient  versions.  For  these  reasons,  we  shall  turn  our  attention, 
somewhat  particularly,  to  the  history  of  this  celebrated  version. 

Alexander  the  Great,  on  his  building  of  the  city  of  Alexandria,  in  Egypt,  brought 
a  great  many  Jews  thither  to  help  to  plant  the  new  city;  and  Ptolemy  Soter,  after 
his  death,  having  fixed  the  seat  of  his  government  there,  and  set  his  heart  much 
upon  the  enlarging  and  adorning  of  it,  brought  thither  many  more  of  this  nation 
for  the  same  purpose ;  where,  having  granted  to  them  the  same  privileges  with  the 
Macedonians  and  other  Greeks,  they  soon  grew  to  be  a  great  part  of  the  inhabitants 
of  that  city.  Their  continual  intercourse  with  the  other  citizens,  among  whom  they 
were  there  mingled,  having  obliged  them  to  learn  and  constantly  use  the  Greek  lan- 
guage, the  same  happened  to  them  here,  as  had  happened  to  them  before  at  Baby- 
lon ;  that  is,  by  accustoming  themselves  to  a  foreign  language,  they  forgot  their  own. 
Hence,  from  their  no  longer  understanding  the  Hebrew  language,  in  which  the  Scrip- 
tures had  been  hitherto  first  read,  nor  the  Chaldee,  in  which  they  were  after  that  in- 
terpreted in  every  synagogue,  they  got  them  translated  into  Greek  for  their  own  use, 
that  this  version  might  serve  for  the  same  purpose  in  Alexandria  and  Egypt,  as  the 
Chaldee  paraphrases  afterward  did  in  Jerusalem  and  Judea. 

After  the  time  of  Ezra,  the  Scriptures  were  read  to  the  Jews  in  Hebrew,  and  in- 
terpreted into  the  Chaldee  language ;  but  at  Alexandria,  after  the  writing  of  this 
version,  it  was  interpreted  to  them  in  Greek,  which  was  afterward  done  also  in  all 
other  Grecian  cities  where  the  Jews  became  dispersed. 

There  are  several  opinions  which  modern  writers  have  entertained  respecting  the 
origin  of  the  septuagint  version,  but  the  commonly-received  opinion  is  that  enter- 
tained by  Bishop  Walton,  the  auihor  of  the  London  polyglot,  and  is  the  same  which 
is  given  in  an  historical  account  of  the  transaction,  as  related  by  a  Hellenistic  Jew^ 
who  flourished  m  the  time  of  Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  king  of  Egypt.  The  account 
of  the  affair,  as  contained  in  a  book  written  by  the  person  above  mentioned,  whose 
name  was  Aristeas,  is  as  follows : 


656  APPENDIX. 

King  Ptolemy-  Philadelphus,  having,  by  the  advice  of  Demetrius  Phalerius,  caused 
a  magnificent  library  to  be  erected  at  Alexandria,  and  given  him  the  direclion  of  it, 
this  philosopher  spoke  to  him  of  the  sacred  books  of  the  Jews,  as  of  a  work  which 
would  do  honor  to  his  library.  The  prince,  therefore,  resolved  to  have  a  copy  of  the 
Jewish  law  translated  into  Greek,  his  own  language,  and  that  which  was  tlien  uni- 
versally understood.  For  this  purpose  he  sent  ambassadors  to  Jerusalem,  to  Elea- 
zer,  the  high-priest,  with  magnificent  presents  for  the  temple.  Their  instructions 
were,  to  desire  him  to  give  the  king  a  copy  of  the  sacred  books,  and  to  send  him 
some  persons  of  distinction  and  learning,  who  might  translate  them  into  Greek. 
Aristeas,  who  was  a  chief  officer  in  the  king's  guards,  and  a  chief  man  in  the  king- 
dom of  Egypt,  was  of  this  embassy;  and  Eleazer,  who  received  him  with  honor, 
was,  according  to  Josephus,  the  son  of  Onias  the  First,  the  brother  of  Simon  the 
Just,  who  is  mentioned  in  the  apocryphal  book  called  Ecclesiasticus,  and  grandson  to 
Jaddus,  who  went  to  meet  Alexander  the  Great,  and  made  him  confer  favorable  terms 
upon  the  Jews. 

The  high-priest  consulted  with  the  great  council  of  the  nation,  called  the  sanhe- 
drim, ui  regard  to  Ptolemy's  request,  and  afterward  chose  six  men  out  of  each  tribe — 
sevent)'^-iwo  in  all — gave  them  a  copy  of  the  law,  written  in  letters  of  gold,  upon 
skins  curiously  fastened  together,  and  sent  tliera  into  Egypt.  The  king  received  them 
favorably,  and  showed  a  great  deal  of  respect  for  the  divine  books  ;  he  then  assigned 
them  a  residence  in  the  isle  of  Pharos,  about  seven  furlongs  distant  from  Alexan- 
dria, Avhere  they  completed  the  version  in  seventy-two  days.  Demetrius  caused 
it  to  be  read  publicly  in  the  presence  of  the  priests',  great  men,  and  all  the  Jews, 
who  were  then  very  numerous  at  Alexandria,  and  it  was  universally  applauded  ;  they 
cried  out,  with  one  voice,  that  the  translation  was  just  and  faithful;  and,  in  order  to 
render  it  not  only  authentic,  but  also  unalterable,  they  made  imprecations  against  those 
who  should  attempt  to  make  any  alteration  in  it.  When  it  was  read  to  the  king,  he 
admired  the  wisdom  of  the  lawgiver,  and  commanded  the  books  to  be  deposited  in  his 
library,  allowing  copies  to  be  taken  for  the  use  of  the  Jews ;  he  then  sent  back  the 
seventy-two  elders,  after  having  made  them  some  rich  presents.  The  most  magnifi- 
cent of  these  presents  was  the  freeing  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  Jewish 
captives,  whose  ransom  he  paid,  and  gave  them  liberty  to  return  into  Judea.  This 
version  soon  became  common  among  all  the  Jews  who  spoke  the  Greek  language, 
and  was  read  publicly  in  their  synagogues.  It  is  not  accurately  ascertained  in  what 
year  all  this  took  place;  Walton  thinks  the  opinion  which  fixes  it  in  the  7th  of  Ptn^ 
eray,  and  the  278th  before  Christ,  the  most  probable. 


THE  SEPTUAGINT  AND  VULGATE. 

It  has  generally  been  admitted  that  the  septuagint,  which,  as  has  been  explamed, 
IS  so  called  from  the  number  severity,  or,  more  properly,  seventy-lwo  interpreters,  who 
were  said  to  be  employed  in  the  formation  of  it,  was  the  first  Greek  version  of  the 
Old  Testament.  No  mention  has  been  made  of  any  that  preceded  it.  and  it  can  not 
be  deemed  probable  that  Ptolemy  would  have  taken  so  much  pains  to  procure  a  ver- 
sion of  the  Jewish  law,  had  any  other  previously  existed  ;  and  it  is  equally  improb- 
able he  should  have  been  unacquainted  with  it,  had  it  existed  at  a  time  when,  with 
the  assistance  of  Demetrius,  he  was  procuring  Greek  books  from  every  part  of  the 
world.  It  is  plainly  affirmed  by  Philo,  that  before  his  time  the  law  was  not  known 
in  any  language  but  the  original.  The  acquaintance  with  Jewish  customs  and  Jew- 
ish history,  which  many  heathen  writers,  before  the  reign  of  Ptolemy,  hav:  mani- 
fested, has  led  many  persons  to  conclude  that  they  must  have  derived  their  knowl- 
edge from  a  Greek  version  of  at  least  parts  of  the  Old  Testament.  Yet  we  may 
account  for  the  knowledge  of  Jewish  customs,  &c.,  which  these  writers  display,  with- 
out supposing  that  they  obtained  it  from  any  Greek  version  ;  for  we  have  direct  evi- 
dence that  Aristotle,  at  least,  had  intercourse  with  the  Jews,  for  the  purpose  of 
gaining  information  respecting  their  law  ;  and  as  the  philosophers  were  certainly  ac- 
quainted with  the  doctrine  of  the  Gynmosophists  and  the  Druids,  who  had  not  any 
written  law,  so  we  may  suppose  they  obtained  their  knowledge  of  the  Jewish  reli- 
gion from  personal  intercourse  with  individuals  of  that  nation. 


LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  057 

At  first,  it  is  probable,  the  law  only  was  translated,  for  there  was  no  need  of  the 
otner  books  in  the  public  worship;  no  other  part  of  the  Scriptures  but  the  law  hav- 
ing been  in  early  times  read  in  the  synagogues.  But  afterward,  when  the  reading 
of  the  prophets  also  came  into  use  in  the  synagogues  of  Judea,  in  the  time  of  the 
persecution  under  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  and  the  Jews  of  Alexandria,  who  in  those 
times  conformed  themselves  to  the  usages  of  Judea  and  Jerusalem  in  all  matters  of 
religion,  were  induced  hereby  to  do  the  same  ;  this  caused  a  translation  of  the  proph- 
ets also  to  be  there  made  into  the  Greek  language,  in  like  manner  as  the  law  had 
been  before.  After  this,  other  persons  translated  the  rest  for  the  private  use  of  the 
same  people  ;  and  so  that  whole  version  was  completed  which  we  now  call  the  sep- 
tua^int ;  and  after  it  was  thus  made,  it  became  of  common  use  among  all  the 
churches  of  the  Hellenistical  Jews,  wherever  they  were  dispersed  among  the  Gre- 
cian cities. 

When  the  Hebrew  language  had  ceased  to  be  the  vulgar  tongue,  the  version  of 
the  seventy  was  read  in  the  synagogues,  even  in  Judea  itself.  It  is  true,  this  was 
not  universally  done;  there  was  a  sort  of  division  among  the  Jews  about  it ;  some 
were  for  having  the  Scripture  read  only  in  Hebrew,  and  were  therefore  called  He- 
brews, or  Hebraizers  ;  while  others  read  it  in  Greek,  and  were  called  Hellenists,  that 
is,  Grecians,  or  Grecizers,  as  has  been  already  observed.  As  the  number  of  the  lat- 
ter was  greater  than  that  of  the  Hebrew-Jews,  and  the  apostles  preached  most  fre- 
quently to  them,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  as  St.  Jerome  observes,  that  the  passages 
of  the  Old  Testament  which  are  quoted  in  the  New,  are  sometimes  borrowed  thence. 
It  is  thus  seen  that  this  version  preceded  the  publication  of  the  gospel ;  and  it  has 
been  authorized  by  the  use  which  the  apostles  made  of  it,  as  well  as  the  whole 
church.  It  seems  very  evident  however,  from  various  passages,  as  Parkhurst  has 
remarked,  that  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament,  in  their  citations  of  the  Old,  did 
uot  intend  either  literally  to  translate  the  Hebrew,  or  to  stamp  their  authority  on 
the  SEVENTY  translation,  but  only  to  refer  us  to  the  original  Scriptures. 

The  septuagint  version  was  continued  in  public  use  among  the  Jews  for  more  than 
three  hundred  years;  but  as  it  grew  into  use  among  the  Christians,  it  went  out  of 
credit  with  the  Jews.  In  the  twelfth  year  of  the  emperor  Adrian,  A.  D.  128,  Aqtiila, 
a  native  of  Sinope,  a  city  of  Pontus,  published  a  new  Greek  version  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament. This  man,  who  had  been  a  Christian,  and  afterward  became  a  Jew,  is 
supposed  to  have  undertaken  this  work  in  opposition  to  the  Christians,  not  only  that 
the  SEVENTY  might  be  superseded,  but  that  a  new  version  might  be  given  of  those 
passages  on  which  they  relied  most  in  their  controversies  with  the  Jews.  The  Hel- 
lenistic Jews  received  this  version,  and  afterward  used  it  everywhere  instead  of  the 
septuagint;  and,  therefore,  this  Greek  translation  is  often  made  mention  of  in  the 
Talmud,  or  Compendium  of  Jewish  Doctrines,  but  the  septuagint  never.  The  em- 
peror Justinian  published  a  decree,  which  is  still  extant  among  his  institutions, 
whereby  he  ordained  that  the  Jews  might  read  the  Scriptures  in  their  synagogues, 
either  in  the  Greek  version  of  the  seventy,  or  in  that  of  Aquila,  or  in  any  other  lan- 
guage, according  to  the  country  in  which  they  should  dwell.  But  the  Jewish  doc- 
tors having  determined  against  this,  their  decrees  prevailed  against  that  of  ihe  empe- 
ror, and,  within  a  little  while  after,  both  the  septuagint  and  the  version  of  Aquila 
was  rejected  by  them  ;  and  ever  since,  the  solemn  reading  of  the  Scriptures  among 
them,  in  their  public  assemblies,  has  been  in  the  Hebrew  and  Chaldee  languages. 
"  The  Chaldee,"  says  Prideaux,  "  is  used  in  some  of  their  synagogues  even  to  this 
day,  and  particularly  at  Frankfort,  in  Germany." 

Not  long  after  the  time  of  Aquila,  there  were  two  other  Greek  versions  of  the  Old 
Testament  scriptures  made ;  the  first  by  Theodotion,  who  lived  in  the  time  of  Com- 
modus,  the  Roman  emperor,  and  the  other  by  Symmachus,  who  flourished  a  little 
after  him,  in  the  reigns  of  Severus  and  Caracalla.  The  former  is  supposed  to  have 
belonged  to  Ephesus,  and  fell  into  the  heretical  errors  of  Ebion  and  Marcion,  to 
which  sect  Symmachus  also  belonged,  being  by  birth  a  Samaritan,  and  by  profession 
first  a  Jew,  then  a  Christian,  and,  lastly,  an  Ebionite  heretic.  They  both  of  them 
undertook  the  making  their  versions  with  the  same  deign  as  Aquila  did,  though 
not  entirely  for  the  same  end  ;  for  they  all  three  entered  ")n  this  work  for  me  per- 
verting of  the  Old  Testament  scriptures.  Aquila,  howevc-r,  did  it  for  the  serving  of 
the  iaterest  of  the  Jewish  religion,  the  other  two  for  promoting  the  interest  of  the 
heretical  sect  to  which  they  belonged ;  anH  all  of  them  wrested  the  original  Scriptures 


658  APPENDIX. 

in  their  versions  of  them,  as  much  as  they  could,  to  make  them  speak  for  the  differ- 
ent ends  which  they  proposed.  From  the  circumstances,  therefore,  under  which 
these  versions  were  made,  it  may  be  inferred  that  their  authority  can  not  be  very 
great,  though  from  the  fragments  of  them  which  have  been  collected,  we  may  derive 
considerable  assistance  in  understanding  particular  portions  of  the  Old  Testament. 

In  speakmg  of  the  ancient  versions  of  the  Bible,  it  must  be  observed,  that  there 
are  two  in  the  Syriac  language :  the  Old,  which  is  a  translation  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment from  the  Hebrew,  and  the  New,  which  is  a  translation  of  the  New  Testament 
from  the  Greek.  This  last  is,  beyond  contradiction,  the  most  ancient  that  ever  was 
formed  in  the  Christian  church.  It  is  that  which  the  Christians  in  the  east,  called 
Maronites,  make  use  of  in  their  worship  :  and  they,  as  well  as  the  other  Syrian  Chris- 
tians, boast  very  much  of  its  antiquity ;  for  they  allege  that  one  portion  of  it  was 
made  by  the  command  of  Solomon,  for  the  use  of  Hiram,  king  of  Tyre,  and  the 
other  part  by  the  command  of  Abgarus,  king  of  Edessa.  It  is  certain  this  version 
was  of  considerable  antiquity,  and  was  in  all  likelihood  made  within  the  first  cen- 
tury after  Christ,  and  had  fer  its  author  some  Christian  of  the  Jewish  nation  that 
was  thoroughly  skilled  in  both  the  Hebrew'  and  Syriac  languages ;  and  as  it  is  among 
the  oldest  translations  that  we  have  of  any  part  of  the  Scriptures,  so  it  is  the  best, 
without  any  exception,  that  has  been  made  of  them  by  the  ancients  into  any  lan- 
guage whatsoever.  This  last  character  belongs  to  it  in  respect  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, as  well  as  of  the  Old  ;  and  therefore,  of  all  the  ancient  versions  which  are 
now  consulted  by  Christians  for  the  better  understanding  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  as 
well  of  the  New  Testament  as  of  the  Old,  none  can  better  serve  this  end  than  this 
old  Syriac  version,  when  carefully  consulted  and  well  understood.  To  this  purpose 
the  very  nature  of  the  language  gives  much  assistance ;  for,  it  having  been  the 
mother-tongue  of  those  who  wrote  the  New  Testament,  and  a  dialect  of  that  in 
which  the  Old  was  first  given,  many  things  of  both  are  more  happily  expressed  in 
it  through  this  whole  version  than  can  well  be  done  in  any  other  language. 

The  languages  of  princes  generally  become,  in  time,  the  common  language  of  their 
subjects.  The  conquests  of  Alexander  made  the  Greek  tongue  universal;  and  by 
the  same  means  the  Latin  tongue  extended  itself,  with  the  Roman  empire,  all  over 
the  world ;  so  that,  at  length,  there  was  scarce  a  nation  where,  by  the  help  of  this 
language,  you  might  not  make  yourself  understood. 

It  is  not  known  who  was  the  author  of  the  first  Latin  version  of  the  Scriptures; 
but  St.  Augustine,  a  celebrated  bishop  of  the  Latin  church,  about  A.  D.  400,  tells  us 
that  there  soon  appeared  a  great  number  of  them.  "  We  know  them  who  translated 
the  Scriptures  into  Greek,"  says  he,  "  and  the  number  of  them  is  not  great ;  but  the 
number  of  the  Latin  translators  is  infinite.  When  the  faith  came  to  be  established, 
the  first  man  who  found  a  Greek  copy,  notwithstanding  the  little  knowledge  he  had 
of  the  two  languages,  boldly  undertook  a  translation  of  it."  From  another  passage 
of  his  writings,  it  has  been  generally  concluded  that  there  was  one  particular  version, 
called  "  the  Italian,"  in  higher  estimation  than  the  rest,  and  which  was  the  author- 
ized version  of  the  Roman  churches.  However  this  may  be,  it  is  certain  the  Latin 
church  was  in  want  of  a  version  of  the  Scriptures  formed  directly  from  the  Hebrew, 
as  all  the  Latin  translations  in  existence  at  that  time  had  been  taken  from  the  sev- 
enty. St.  Jerome,  who  was  contemporary  with  St.  Augustine,  was  in  every  respect 
best  suited,  of  any  of  the  learned  men  of  that  time,  to  the  task  of  making  a  new 
translation,  which  he  accordingly  undertook.  He  began  by  correcting  some  books  of 
the  Old  Testament  in  the  Latin  bible,  particularly  the  version  of  the  Psalms,  and 
mai'ked  those  passages  wherein  any  difference  existed  between  the  Latin  version,  the 
Greek  of  the  seventy,  and  the  Hebrew  original.  He  had  early  applied  himself  to 
the  study  of  the  Hebrew  language,  and  at  different  periods  had  the  assistance  of  five 
Jewish  teachers  ;  he  had  access  also  to  the  works  of  Origen,  who  published  what  is 
called  the  Hexapla,  that  is,  the  Bible  m  six  different  languages.  From  these  he  must 
have  derived  considerable  assistance  in  the  work  he  undertook:  that  of  translating 
into  Latin  all  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  to  which  he  added  a  corrected  edition 
of  the  common  "version  of  the  new. 

This  work  of  St.  Jerome  is  still  used  m  the  Roman  Catholic  church,  and  is 
known  by  the  name  of  the  Vxdgale  ;  for  which  some  have  gone  so  far  as  to  claim 
the  authority  and  infallibility  of  an  inspired  production.  At  first,  however,  his  ver- 
sion was  not  generally  received  ;  for  although  many  were  pleased  with  it,  because  it 


LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  669 

was  more  consonant  to  the  original,  and  a  more  literal  translation  than  that  of  the 
SEVENTY,  yet  others,  and  among  the  rest  Augustine,  considered  it  a  rash  attempt, 
and  calculated  to  dimmish  the  authority  of  the  Greek  version.  It  was  approved  of 
by  the  Jews  as  conformable  to  their  text,  and  was  received  into  the  church  gradu- 
ally and  by  tacit  consent,  rather  than  by  the  sanction  of  public  authority, 

Nevertheless,  the  Vulgate  which  we  have  at  present,  and  which  the  celebrated 
council  of  Trent  declared  to  be  authentic,  is  not  the  pure  version  of  St.  Jerome ;  it 
has  in  it  a  great  deal  of  the  ancient  Italian;  but  it  can  not  now  be  discovered  by 
whom,  or  at  what  time,  this  mixture  was  made.  Some  think  that  St.  Jerome  has 
no  part  at  all  in  the  present  Vulgate;  and  it  is  certain  that  the  Psalms  in  it  are  not 
his.  Neverthe\ess,  the  Latin  version  comes  nearer  to  the  Hebrew,  and  is  more  per- 
spicuous, than  the  Septuagint.  Since  the  lime  of  the  council  of  Trent,  namely,  in 
1589  and  1592,  corrected  editions  of  the  Vulgate  have  been  published  under  the  au- 
thority of  the  popes  Sixtus  the  Fifth  and  Clement  the  Eighth. 


MODERN  FOREIGN  VERSIONS. 

We  have  seen,  by  the  preceding  remarks  on  this  subject,  that,  at  some  period  prior 
lo  the  promulgation  of  Christianity,  there  existed  a  valuable  translation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures into  Greek,  entitled  the  Septuagint,  or  the  Seventy,  from  the  number  of  in- 
dividuals engaged  in  its  arrangement.  It  has  also  been  shown,  that  at  an  early 
period  in  the  history  of  the  Christian  church,  a  Latin  translation  of  the  Scriptures  was 
found  called  the  Vulgate.  These  Gre6k  and  Latin  versions  of  the  Bible  did  not 
supersede  the  use  of  the  original  Hebrew  Scriptures,  such  being  ever  preserved  by 
the  Jews  with  the  most  extraordinary  care,  and  generally  made  use  of  by  them  in 
their  synagogues,  while  the  Septuagint  and  Vulgate,  from  being  m  more  modern  lan- 
guages, were  in  more  extensive  use  among  churchmen  and  the  people.  The  exist- 
ence of  these  early  versions  is  therefore  an  incontestable  evidence  that  the  Scriptures 
as  now  found  in  the  original  tongues,  have  not  been  impaired,  interpolated,  or  abused, 
during  the  lapse  of  at  least  two  thousand  years. 

Almost  all  the  modern  nations  of  Europe,  and  part  of  Asia,  have  had  versions  of 
the  Scriptures,  in  whole  or  in  part,  taken  from  other  versions,  or  from  the  originals. 
Arabic  having  become  the  vulgar  language  of  almost  all  the  east,  there  are  several 
versions  of  the  Bible  in  Arabic,  which,  besides  the  Syriac  version  (which  is  under- 
stood by  the  learned  alone),  are  not  only  used  by  the  Maronites  and  other  Christians 
Jn  Asia,  but  also  by  the  Jews  and  Samaritans.  About  the  year  900,  Rabbi  Saadias 
G-aon,  an  Arabian  Jew,  translated  the  Old  Testament,  or,  at  least,  the  Pentateuch, 
into  Arabic.  Another  Jew  of  Mauritania  translated  the  Pentateuch,  and  Erpenius 
printed  his  work.  Risius,  a  monk  of  Damascus,  translated  the  New  Testament. 
The  greater  part  of  these  versions  were  from  the  Septuao-int. 

The  Persians  have  some  manuscript  versions  of  the  Bible.  Rabbi  Jacob  Favos,  a 
Jew,  translated  the  Pentateuch  into  Persian,  and  the  Jews  printed  it  at  Constan- 
tinople in  1546.  This,  with  the  gospels  translated  by  one  Simon,  a  Christian,  are 
inserted  in  the  London  polyglot  ;*  but  these  gospels  are  far  from  being  correctly 
done.  There  have  been  several  other  Persian  versions  of  the  Psalms  and  the  New 
Testament  executed  in  modern  times,  particularly  the  New  Testament  by  Henry 
Martyn,  the  celebrated  English  missionary,  translated  by  him  in  the  city  of  Shiraz  in 
Persia,  and  printed  at  Petersburgh  in  1815. 

The  Turks  have  likewise  some  translations  in  manuscript  of  the  Bible  in  their 
language.  In  1666,  a  Turkish  New  Testament  was  printed  at  London,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  being  dispersed  in  the  east.  It  is  mentioned,  that,  in  1721,  the  Grand  Signo' 
ordered  an  impression  of  bibles  to  be  produced  at  Constantinople,  that  they  might  be 
confronted  with  the  Koran,  oi  Bible  of  the  Mohammedans.  In  the  Report  of  the  British 
and  Foreign  Bible  Society  for  1815,  it  is  mentioned,  that  a  Turkish  translation  in 
manuscript  of  the  whole  Bible  had  been  discovered  in  the  repositories  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Leyden,  where  it  had  remamed  for  a  century  and  a  half.  The  author  of  this 
translation  was  by  birth  a  Pole,  of  the  name  of  Albertus  Boboosky,  and  born  in  the 

*  Polyglot  is  a  Gieek  compound  word,  signifying  many  tongues,  and  is  employed  as  a  title  for  certain 
modern  Scriptures,  printed  in  divers  languages. 


!ffkf. 


660  APPENDIX. 

beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century.  While  a  youth,  he  was  stolen  by  the  Tartars, 
and,  being  sold  to  the  Turks  in  Constantinople,  he  was  by  them  educated  in  the 
Mohammedan  faith.  His  name  was  changed  to  Hali  Bey,  and  when  he  grew  up,  he 
was  constituted  the  chief  dragoman  or  translator  to  Mohammed  the  Fourth.  The 
learning  of  Hali  Bey  was  considerable.  He  understood  seventeen  languages,  and  he 
is  said  to  have  spoken  in  French,  German,  and  English,  like  a  native.  He  was  par- 
ticularly fond  of  the  English  language,  and,  at  the  request  of  the  Hon.  R.  Boyle, 
translated  the  Church  of  England  Catechism  into  Turkish.  He  also  composed  dif- 
ferent works  himself,  several  of  which  have  been  published.  His  chief  work,  how- 
ever, is  his  translation  of  the  whole  Bible  into  the  Turkish  language,  which  was 
undertaken  at  the  instigation  and  under  the  direction  of  the  famous  Levin  Warner, 
Dutch  ambassador  at  the  court  of  the  sultan  at  that  period ;  and  the  translation 
appears  to  have  been  compleied  about  the  year  1666,  the  same  year  in  which  Sea- 
man's translation  of  the  New  Testament  into  Turkish  was  published  at  Oxford. 

The  Armenians  have  a  translation  of  the  Old  Testament,  done  from  theSeptuagmt, 
by  Moses  Grammaticus,  and  two  others,  about  1400  years  ago.  In  1666,  under  the 
direction  of  an  Armenian  bishop,  it  was  printed  at  Amsterdam,  corrected  or  corrupted 
from  the  Vulgate.  Theodorus  Patreus  procured  an  impression  of  an  Armenian  New 
Testament  at  Antwerp  in  1668,  and  of  the  whole  Bible  in  1690.  In  1815,  the  Ar- 
menian Bible,  in  quarto,  for  the  accommodation  of  the  J^rmenian  inhabitants  of 
Russia,  who  subscribed  liberally  for  the  undertaking,  was  printed  at  St.  Petersburgh. 
The  Armenians  are  scattered  all  over  Asia. 

The  Georgians  have  the  Bible  in  their  ancient  language;  but  that  being  now 
almost  obsolete,  and  themselves,  in  general,  brutishly  ignorant,  few  of  them  can 
either  read  or  understand  it.  There  has  never  been,  till  lately,  but  one  edition  of  the 
Georgian  Bible;  it  was  printed  at  Moscow  in  1743  in  a  large  folio  volume. 

The  modern  Greeks  have  recently  received  the  New  Testament  in  their  proper 
tongue,  which  is  considerably  different  from  that  in  which  the  sacred  work  was 
originally  written.  The  edition  is  in  the  Hellenestic  and  Romaic  dialects,  and  was 
printed  in  England  under  the  direction  of  a  society.  It  has  been  approved  of  by  the 
the  patriarch  of  the  Greek  church. 

The  Russians  have  the  Bible  in  their  Sclavonic  tongue,  done  from  the  Greek  by 
Cyril,  their  apostle.  It  was  published  in  1581,  but  being  too  obscure,  Ernest  Gluk, 
a  Swedish  captive,  above  one  hundred  years  ago,  began  to  form  another.  He  died 
before  he  finished  it.  Peter  the  Great  ordered  a  number  of  his  most  learned  clergy 
to  complete  the  work;  and  it  is  supposed  that  the  bibles  distributed  by  imperial 
authority  about  1722  were  of  this  translation.  In  the  course  of  two  hundred  and 
sixty  years,  from  the  time  Avhen  printing  was  first  introduced  into  Russia,  no  more 
than  twenty-two  editions  of  the  Sclavonian  Bible  had  appeared,  prior  to  the  yeai 
1815,  consisting  of  about  fifty  thousand  copies  only. 

The  most  ancient  German  translation  is  that  of  Ulphilas,  bishop  of  the  Goths, 
about  A.  D.  360;  but  he  left  out  the  Books  of  Kings,  lest  they  should  have  excited 
his  savage  countrymen  to  war.  Toward  the  end  of  the  16th  century,  Junius  pro- 
fessed to  publish  an  edition  of  it,  from  a  manuscript  found  in  the  abbey  of  Verden, 
written  in  leiters  of  silver.  An  anonymous  version  was  printed  at  Nuremberg  in 
1477.  Between  1521  and  1532,  Luther  composed  his  translation,  but  Michaelis, 
La  Croze,  and  Bayer,  think  this  was  not  from  the  Gothic  version  of  Ulphilas,  but  one 
about  200  years  later ;  he  published  it  in  seven  parts,  as  it  was  ready.  Some  persons 
of  quality,  masters  of  the  German  language,  revised  it.  Two  catholic  versions,  the 
one  of  Eckius  on  the  Old,  and  Emzer  on  the  New  Testament,  and  another  of  Ulem- 
bern^ius,  were  published  to  depress  tiie  credit  of  Luther's;  but  the  protestants  of  Ger- 
many and  Switzerland  still  use  it,  a  little  corrected.  About  1604,  Piscator  turned 
the  Latin  translation  of  Junius  and  Tremellius  into  a  kind  of  German,  but  too  much 
Latinized.  About  1680,  Athias  published  a  Hebrew-German  translation  of  the  Old 
Testament,  for  the  sake  of  his  Jewish  brethren,  and  Jekuthiel  another;  but  both, 
especially  the  latter,  distorted  several  texts  relative  to  the  Messiah,  kc. 

The  first  Polish  versia-i  of  the  Scriptures  is  ascribed  to  Hadewich,  the  wife  of 
Jagelloii,  Duke  of  Lithuania,  who  embraced  Christianity  A.  D.  1390.  In  1596,  the 
protestants  published  another,  formed  on  Luther's  translation.  There  were  three 
other  versions,,  one  by  James  Wick,  a  Jesuit,  and  the  other  two  by  Socinians,  pub- 
lished in  the  end  of  the  ICth  century. 


LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  6fil 

About  1506,  the  Bohemian  Taborites  published  a  Bible  in  their  language,  done 
from  the  Vulgate.  In  the  end  of  the  16th  century,  eight  Bohemian  divines,  nfter  a 
careful  study  of  the  original  languages  at  Wirtemberg  and  Basil,  published  a  version 
from  the  original  text. 

In  1534,  Olaus  and  Laurence  published  a  Swedish  Bible,  done  from  Luther^s 
trerman  translation.  About  1617,  Gustavus  Adolphus  ordered  some  learned  men  ic 
re.'ise  it ;  and  it  has  been,  since,  almost  universally  followed  in  that  kingdom.  The 
translation  into  the  language  of  Finland  is  thought  to  have  been  done  from  it.  In 
1550,  Peter  Palladius,  and  three  others,  published  a  Danish  version,  done  from  the 
German  of  Luther;  and  there  are  one  or  two  others,  as  also  a  version  in  the  Icelandic 
tongue. 

The  Flemish  oi  Dutch  Bibles,  composed  by  Roman  Catholics,  are  very  numerous; 
but  the  names  of  the  translators  are  scarcely  known,  except  that  of  jN'icolas  Vink,  in 
1548.  The  Calvinists  of  the  Low  Countries  long  used  a  version  done  from  Luther's; 
but  the  synod  of  Dort  appointed  some  learned  men  to  form  a  new  one  from  the 
originals.     It  was  published  in  1637,  and  is  considered  very  exact. 

Since  the  Reformation,  a  vast  number  of  Latin  versions  of  the  Bible  have  been 
made  by  members  of  the  Romish  church.  Pagnin  the  Dominican  was  the  first  afiei 
St.  Jerome  who  translated  the  Old  Testament  into  Latin  from  the  Hebrew.  His 
version  was  printed  at  Lyons  in  1528.  It  is  very  literal,  and  generally  exact.  Arias 
Montanus  retouched  it,  and  made  it  yet  more  literal.  After  Pagnin  came  a  crowd  of 
interpreters,  since  the  Hebrew  language  has  been  more  studied.  Leo  of  Judah,  who, 
though  not  a  Jew,  understood  Hebrew  extremely  well,  began  one,  which  has  since 
been  printed  at  Zurich ;  but  death  having  prevented  him  from  finishing  his  work, 
Theodorus  Bibliander  completed  it.  This  is  the  version  which  Robert  Stephens 
printed  wiih  the  Vulgate  and  Vatablus's  Notes,  without  naming  the  authors  of  it.  Of 
Protestants,  Emmanuel  Tremillius,  who  of  a  Jew  became  a  Christian,  and  Francis 
Junius,  have  also  given  a  Latin  translation,  as  also  Castalio  and  Beza.  These  are 
considered  tolerably  exact,  and  have  been  frequently  reprinted.  Sebastian  Munster 
also  published  a  literal  but  judicious  translation. 

In  1471,  an  Italian  Bible,  done  from  the  Vulgate  by  Nicolas  Malerme,  a  Benedic- 
tine monk,  was  published  at  Venice.  Anthony  Bruccioli  published  another  in  1530, 
but  the  council  of  Trent  prohibited  it.  The  Protestants  have  two  Italian  versions — 
the  one,  which  is  rather  a  paraphrase  than  a  translation,  by  the  celebrated  Diodati, 
published  in  1607,  and  with  corrections  in  1641 — the  other  by  Maximus  Theophilus, 
and  dedicated  to  the  Duke  o-f  Tuscany,  about  1551.  By  an  order  of  King  James  of 
Arragon  to  burn  them,  we  find  there  were  a  number  of  bibles  in  Spanish  about  the 
year  1270,  probably  the  work  of  the  Waldenses.  About  1500,  a  Spanish  version 
was  published,  but  the  translator's  name  is  unknown.  In  1543,  Driander  published 
his  version  of  the  New  Testament,  and  dedicated  it  to  the  Emperor  Charles  the  Fifth. 
In  1553,  the  Jews  published  their  Spanish  version  of  the  Old  Testament,  after 
having  long  used  it  in  private.  Cassiodore,  a  learned  Calvinist,  published  his  Bible 
in  1569,  which  Cyprian  de  Valera  corrected  and  republished  in  1602. 

Peter  de  Vaux,  chief  of  the  Waldenses,  published  the  first  translation  of  the  Bible 
in  French  about  A.  D.  11  GO.  Two  others  were  published  about  the  years  1290  and 
1380  ;  and  in  1550,  by  order  of  the  Emperor  Charles  the  Fifth,  the  doctors  of  Lou 
vain  published  another.  There  are  various  other  French  versions,  particularly  of  the 
New  Testament;  that  of  Mons,  done  from  the  Vulgate,  and  published  in  1665,  with 
the  king  of  Spain  and  archbishop  of  Cambray's  license,  is  in  a  most  clear  and  agree- 
able style.  In  1702,  F.  Simon  published  his  New  Testament,  with  some  literal 
and  critical  notes,  which  the  bishops  of  Paris  and  Meaux  quickly  condemned. 

There  are  many  French  versions  of  the  Bible  done  by  Protestants.  Faber's  trans- 
lation of  the  New  Testament  was  printed  for  those  of  Piedmont,  in  1534.  Next  year, 
Peter  Olivetan's  Bible  Avas  published  at  Geneva,  and,  having  been  reprinted  with  the 
corrections  of  Calvin  and  others,  it  is  now  a  work  of  considerable  exactness.  After 
some  struggling  with  the  French  Protestant  clergy,  Diodati  published  his  in  1644; 
but,  like  his  Italian  and  Latin  versions,  the  translation  is  too  free  and  paraphrastic. 
Le  Clerc  published  his  New  Testament  at  Amsterdam  in  1703,  with  notes  mostly 
borrowed  from  Grotius  and  Hammond.  The  states-general  prohibited  it,  as  inclining 
to  the  Sabellian  and  Socinian  heresies.  La  Cene  published  another,  which  shared 
much  the  same  fate,  on  account  of  its  fancies  and  errors. 


662  APPENDIX. 

The  Bible,  or  at  least  portions  of  it,  principally  by  the  labors  of  the  missionaries  at 
Serarnpore,  are  now  printed  in  nearly  forty  Indian  languages,  and  are  also  to  be  found 
in  Tartar,  in  Calmuc,  and  in  Chinese.  Upon  the  whole,  out  of  the  3,064  languages 
which  are  said  to  exist  in  the  world,  the  Bible  is  now  to  be  found  in  one  hundred  and 
thirty-nine. 


ENGLISH  VERSIONS. 

It  is  probable  that  the  inhabitants  of  Britain,  who  were  first  converted  to  Christi- 
anity by  St.  Augustine,  about  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  century,  had  some  of  the 
scripture  in  their  own  language.  About  A.  D.  709,  Adelm  translated  the  Psalms 
into  English  Saxon,  and  other  parts  of  scripture  were  translated  by  Eadfrid,  a  Saxon, 
about  the  same  time.  Bede,  the  first  ecclesiastical  English  historian,  who  was  born 
at  Jarrow,  on  the  banks  of  the  Tyne,  in  673,  commonly  denominated  the  Vener- 
able Bede,  made  a  translation  of  the  Gospels,  if  not  the  whole  Bible,  into  his  native 
tongue.  The  whole  Bible  was  translated  into  the  Anglo-Saxon  by  order  of  King 
Alfred ;  and  he  himself,  about  A.  D.  890,  undertook  a  version  of  the  Psalms,  but  died 
before  it  was  completed.  The  next  complete  translation  of  the  whole  Bible,  including 
the  apocryphal  books,  was  made  by  John  Wicklifle  into  English  from  the  Latin,  and 
appeared  between  1360  and  13S0.  This  translation  Avas  written,  but  not  printed; 
and  great  objections  were  made  to  it  by  the  clergy  ;  so  that,  in  consequence  of  a  de- 
cree of  Arundel,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  many  persons  were  committed  to  the  flames 
for  reading  WicklifTe's  translation  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament.  The  only  portion 
of  Wickliffe's  version  of  the  Scriptures  which  has  ever  appeared  in  print,  is  the  New 
Testament,  published  in  1731,  by  the  Rev.  John  Lewis,  minister  of  Margate,  in  Kent. 
This  was  reprinted  several  years  ago,  with  a  life  of  this  earliest  of  English  reformers, 
by  the  Rev.  H.  Baber,  A.  M.,  assistant  librarian  at  the  British  museum.  For  the 
gratification  of  our  young  jeaders,  we  •shall  transcribe  the  Lord's  prayer  in  Wickliffe's 
language,  as  a  curious  specimen  of  the  orthography  of  the  times  in  which  this  great 
reformer  lived : — 

"Our  Fadir  that  art  in  hevenys;  halewid  be  thi  name.  Thi  kyngdom  come  to, 
be  thi  will  done  in  erthe  as  in  hevene.  Give  to  us  this  day  our  breede  ouir  other  sub- 
staunce.  And  forgiue  to  us  our  dettis  as  we  forgiven  to  our  dettouris.  And  lede  us 
not  into  temptacioun,  but  delyvere  us  from  yvel.     Amen." 

In  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  William  Tyndale  made  one  of  the  best  English  trans- 
lations of  the  New  Testament.  It  appeared  in  1526,  being  the  first  that  ever  was 
printed  in  the  English  language.  It  was  published  at  Hamburgh  or  Antwerp,  and 
was  dispersed  at  London  and  Oxford.  Tonstal,  bishop  of  London,  and  Sir  Thomas 
More,  bought  up  almost  the  whole  impression,  and  burnt  it  ai  St.  Paul's  Cross.  The 
venders  were  condemned  by  the  star-chamber  to  ride  with  their  faces  to  the  horses' 
tails,  with  papers  on  their  heads,  and  with  the  copies  they  had  dispersed  tied  about 
them,  to  the  standard  ;U  Cheapside,  Avhere  they  were  compelled  to  throw  them  in 
the  fire.  The  price,  however,  enabled  Tyndale  to  proceed,  and,  undismayed,  he  be- 
gan to  translate  the  Old  Testament ;  for  which  he  was  at  length  seized  iii  Flanders, 
and,  having  been  strangled  by  the  common  hangman,  his  body  was  consumed  to 
ashes. 

Previous  to  the  Reforniation,  in  the  time  of  Henry  VIII.,  people  were  so  little  ac 
quainted  with  the  Scriptui  es,  and  so  ignorant  even  in  regard  to  tlie  languages  in  which 
ihey  were  originally  writ, en,  that  the  strangest  assertions  were  made.  Upon  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  Scriptures  in  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  originals,  some  individuals  ex- 
claimed that  "  there  was  now  a  new  language  discovered  called  Greek,  of  which 
people  should  beware,  since  it  was  that  which  produced  all  heresies ;  that  in  this 
language  was  come  forth  a  book  called  the  New  Testament,  which  was  now  in  every 
bf.'Jy's  hands,  and  was  full  of  briars  and  thorns.  And  there  liad  also  another  language 
now  started  up,  which  they  called  Hebrew,  and  that  they  who  learnt  it  were  termed 
Hebrews !" 

When  the  Reformation  in  England  first  took  place,  efforts  were  made  to  promote 
the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  among  the  common  people.  Among  other  devices  for 
the  purpose,  the  following  curious  one  was  adopted.  Bonner,  bishop  of  London, 
caused  six  bibles  to  be  chained  to  certain  convenient  places  in  St.  Paul's  church,  for 


LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  663 

all  that  were  so  well  inclined  to  resort  thither,  together  with  a  certain  adnionition  to 
the  readers,  fastened  upon  the  pillars  to  which  the  bibles  were  chained,  to  this  tentr; 
"  Tbat  whosoever  came  there  to  read  should  prepare  himself  to  be  edified,  and  made 
the  better  thereby;  that  he  should  bring  with  him  discretion,  honest  intent,  charity, 
reverence,  and  quiet  behavior;  that  there  should  no  number  meet  together  there 
as  to  make  a  multitude ;  that  no  such  exposition  be  made  thereupon  but  what  is  de- 
clared in  the  book  itself;  that  it  be  not  read  with  noise  in  time  of  divine  service,  or 
that  any  disputation  or  contention  be  used  about  it ;  that  in  case  they  continued  their 
former  misbehavior,  and  refuse  to  comply  with  these  directions,  the  king  would  be 
forced,  against  his  will,  to  remove  the  occasion,  and  take  tbe  bibles  out  of  the  church." 

Soon  after  the  death  of  Tyndale,  John  Rogers,  afterward  martyr,  finished  the  cor- 
rection of  Tyndale's  translation  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  printed  it  at  Hamburgh, 
under  the  name  of  Thomas  Matthews.  Archbishop  Cranmer  and  Miles  Coverdale 
further  corrected  it.  Cranmer  got  it  printed  by  public  authority  in  England,  and 
King  Henry  ordered  a  copy  of  it  to  be  set  up  in  every  church,  to  be  read  by  every 
one  that  pleased ;  but,  by  advice  of  the  Romish  bishops,  he  soon  after  revoked  this 
order,  and  prohibited  the  Bible.  When  Coverdale,  Knox,  Samson,  Goodman,  Gilby, 
Cole,  and  Whittingham,  were  exiles  during  the  persecution  in  the  reign  of  Mary, 
they  framed  another  translation,  with  short  notes,  and  got  it  printed  at  Geneva.  It 
was  much  valued  by  the  Puritans,  and  in  about  thirty  years  had  as  many  editions. 
The  bishops  being  displeased  with  it,  made  a  new  one  of  their  own,  which  was  read 
in  the  churches,  while  the  Geneva  translation  was  generally  read  in  families.  About 
1583  Laurence  Thompson  published  an  English  version  of  the  New  Testament,  from 
the  Latin  translation,  and  annotations  of  the  learned  Genevan  divine  Theodore  Beza. 
In  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  and  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  English 
catholics  at  Rheims  published  a  version  of  the  whole  Bible,  crowded  with  barbarous 
terms,  and  accompanied  with  notes  calculated  to  support  the  doctrines  of  their  church! 

Of  those  who  translated  the  Geneva  bible,  as  it  is  called,  in  the  reign  of  Mary, 
besides  Coverdale,  we  have  their  own  and  contemporary  testimony,  that  they  well 
understood  the  grace  and  propriety  both  of  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  tongue.  Among 
the  good  Hebrew  scholars  of  this  period,  also,  must  be  reckoned  Bishop  Alley,  after- 
ward one  of  the  translators  of  the  Bishops'  Bible,  who  was  the  author  of  a  Hebrew 
grammar,  and  a  person  universally  learned,  especially  in  divinity  and  languages;  as 
well  as  his  fellow-laborer,  Bishop  Benthan,  who,  about  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of 
Edward  VI.,  is  said  to  have  addicted  his  mind  entirely  to  the  study  of  theology  and 
the  learning  of  the  Hebrew  language.  To  these  may  be  added  Bishop  Davies,  another 
of  the  translators  of  the  Bishops'  Bible,  who,  in  the  time  of  Mary,  fled  from  this 
country,  and,  after  his  return  in  the  following  reign,  served  Wales,  as  well  as  Eng- 
land, with  his  assistance  in  translations  of  the  Bible  from  the  original  into  the  lan- 
guages of  both  countries. 

The  knowledge  of  Hebrew  seems  sometimes  to  have  formed  in  those  days  a 
part  even  of  female  education  for  ladies  of  superior  rank;  and,  accordingly, PaschaJi, 
in  his  translation  of  the  Psalms  from  the  Hebrew  into  Italian  verse,  dedicated  it  to 
Queen  Elizabeth,  as  one  who  was  well  acquainted  with  the  eastern  tongues. 

"  Having  entered  upon  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  we  soon  behold,"  says  Todd,  in  his 
Memoirs  of  Bryan  Walton,  '•  with  grateful  admiration,  the  goodly  company  of  those 
who  made  the  present  version  of  our  Bible  in  the  reign  of  her  successor.  Of  these, 
several,  if  they  have  been  equalled,  have  not  yet  been  excelled  by  any  of  their  coun- 
trymen in  oriental  learning.  With  men  of  similar  studies  "the  kingdom  then 
abounded.  Nor  could  it  well  be  otherwise,  attention  having  been  paid  to  the  culti- 
vation of  such  learning  in  public  schools  (particularly  Merchant-Tailors  school), 
founded  soon  after  the  accession  of  Elizabeth,  and  the  pursuit  being  greatly  encour- 
aged at  both  universities." 

At  the  conference  which  was  held  at  Hampton  Court,  soon  after  the  accession  of 
James,  for  the  settling  of  an  ecclesiastical  uniformity  between  the  two  countries  of 
England  and  Scotland,  the  Puritans  suggested  unanswerable  objections  to  the  Bish- 
ops' Bible  ;  and  the  king  similarly  objected  to  the  Genevan  translation.  He  therefore 
appointed  fifty-four  learned  persons  to  translate  the  Scriptures  anew  into  English,  or, 
at  least,  compose  a  better  translation,  out  of  many.  Seven  of  the  fifty-four  either 
died  or  declined  the  assigned  task.  Foriy-seveu,  who  remained,  were  ranged  into 
six  divisions,  every  individual  of  each  division  translating  the  portion  assigned  to  the 


664  APPENDIX. 

division,  all  of  which  translations  were  collected  together;  and  vv,hen  each  company 
had  determined  on  the  construction  of  their  part,  it  was  proposed  to  the  other  divis- 
ions for  general  approbation.  When  they  met  together,  one  read  the  new  version, 
while  all  the  rest  held  in  their  hands  either  copies  of  the  original,  or  some  valuable 
version:  when  they  observed  any  objectionable  passage,  the  reader  paused  till  they 
considered  and  agreed  on  it.  They  met  at  Oxford,  Cambridge,  and  Westminster, 
beginning  the  work  in  1607,  and  after  the  expiration  of  three  years  it  was  finished, 
and  published  in  1611.  This  Bible,  which  is  now  in  use,  must  be  pronounced  an 
excellent  work,  remarkable  for  the  general  fidelity  of  its  construction,  as  well  as  for 
the  simplicity  of  its  language.  Dr.  Adam  Clarke  remarks,  that  "  those  who  have 
compared  most  of  the  European  translations  with  the  original,  have  not  scrupled  to 
say,  that  the  English  translation  of  the  Bible,  made  under  the  direction  of  King 
James  the  First,  is  the  most  accurate  and  faithful  of  the  whole.  Nor  is  this  its  only 
praise  :  the  translators  have  seized  the  very  spirit  and  soul  of  the  original,  and  have 
expressed  this  almost  everywhere  with  pathos  and  energy."  It  is  still  of  public  au- 
thority in  the  British  dominions  ;  and,  next  to  the  Dutch,  is  perhaps  the  best  transla- 
tion of  the  Bible  extant. 

It  has  been  asserted  by  Mr.  Bellamy,  and  some  others,  that  the  authors  of  our  au- 
thorized translation  confined  themselves  to  the  Septuagint  and  the  Vulgate,  and  did 
not  translate  from  the  Hebrew.  This  assertion,  however,  can  be  at  once  overthrown, 
by  bringing  forward  the  authority  of  the  fifty-four,  or  rather,  as  seven  of  them  died 
before  the  translation  was  finished,  of  the  forty-seven  learned  men,  as  may  be  seen 
by  their  no  less  modest  than  dignified  preface,  or  address  to  the  reader,  inserted  in 
the  edition  of  the  Bible  published  in  the  year  1630,  which  has  this  satisfactory  pas- 
sage among  many  others:  "  If  you  ask  what  they  had  before  them,  truly  it  was  the 
Hebrew  text  of  the  Old  Testament — the  Greek  of  the  New." 

Among  these  translators,  two  of  the  most  noted  for  Hebrew  erudition  Avere  Dr. 
Adrian  iSaravia,  and  Dr.  Richard  Clarke.  Dr.  Saravia,  well  known  as  a  Hebrew 
critic,  "  was  educated,"  says  Mr.  Todd  in  his  life  of  Bryan  Walton,  "  in  all  kinds  of 
literature  in  his  younger  days,  especially  in  several  languages.  He  was  the  master 
of  the  celebrated  oriental  scholar,  Nicholas  Fuller,  who  gratefully  mentions  him  in 
the  preface  to  his  Pdiscellanea  Theologica ;  and  he  was  one  of  those  who  had  suc- 
cessfully answered  an  objection  of  the  Puritans,  which  they  revived  in  the  conference 
at  Hampton  Court,  in  regard  to  a  verse  in  the  old  English  version  of  the  Psalms. 
Next  to  him  in  rank  is  Dr.  Richard  Clarke,  who  thoroughly  understood  three  lan- 
guages, Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew.  Christ  college,  in  Cambridge,  of  which  he  was 
a  fellow,  '  had  a  testimony  of  his  learning  in  his  Hebrew  lectures;  so  had  the  uni- 
versity, in  his  disputations  and  sermons  ;  so  had  the  church,  when  his  majesty  (.lames 
the  First)  called  many  to  the  work  of  the  last  translation  of  the  English  bible;  in 
which  number  he  was,  like  one  of  the  chief  of  David's  worthies,  not  among  the 
thirty,  bitt  among  the  first  three.'  To  him  and  to  Dr.  Saravia,  it  appears  that  the 
portion  assigned  was  from  the  Pentateuch  to  the  book  of  Chronicles." 

One  of  the  best  Hebrew  scholars  of  that  time  was  the  celebrated  English  divine 
and  theological  writer,  Hugh  Broughton,  who  corresponded  with  a  learned  rabbi  at 
Constantinople,  and  used  great  exertions  for  the  conversion  of  the  Jews  there  to 
Christianity.  Mr.  Broughton  was  in  continual  and  most  bitter  controversy  with  the 
bishops,  and  was  not  employed,  as  he  thouiiht  he  should  have  been,  in  the  transla- 
tion of  the  P)ible.  At  the  time  when  our  present  version  was  made,  he  communica- 
ted many  interpretations  to  the  translators,  which,  as  he  afterward  complains,  they 
"  thrust  into  the  margent;"  and  whoever  compares  the  text  of  our  version  Avith  the 
marginal  readings,  will  be  led  to  regret  that  our  translators  did  not  associate  him 
with  them  ;  though,  it  must  be  confessed,  he  would  not  have  proved  a  very  agreeable 
fellow-laborer. 

It  must  be  observed,  that  in  rendering  the  original  text  into  English,  there  are  cer- 
tain words  necessarily  supplied  by  the  translators,  in  order  to  make  out  the  meaning. 
These  supplementary  words  are  printed  in  our  Bible  in  italic  letters,  to  show  that 
they  are  not  in  the  original.  The  greatest  of  these  supplements  occurs  in  the  23d 
verse  of  the  second  chapter  of  the  First  Epistle  of  John,  where  the  translators  have 
supplied  no  fewer  than  Len  words,  in  order  to  make  out  what  they  thought  to  be  the 
pre  per  meaning 

"  From  the  mutability  of  language,"  says  Evans,  "  the  variation  of  customs,  and 


LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  665 

tne  progress  of  knowledge,  several  passages  in  the  Bible  require  to  be  newly  transla- 
ted, or  materially  corrected.  Hence,  in  the  present  age,  when  biblical  literature  has 
been  assiduously  cultivated,  different  parts  of  the  sacred  volume  have  been  transla- 
ted by  able  hands.  The  substituting  a  new  translation  of  the  Bible  in  the  room  of 
the  one  now  in  common  use,  has  been  much  debated.  Dr.  Knox,  in  his  ingenious 
essays,  together  with  others,  argues  against  it;  while  Dr.  Newcome,  the  late  Lord 
Primate  of  Ireland,  the  late  Dr.  Geddes,  of  the  Catholic  persuasion,  and  the  late 
Rev.  Gilbert  Wakefield,  contended  strenuously  for  it.  Bishop  Lowth  and  Professor 
Marsh  have  pointedly  shown  the  necessity  of  bringing  the  text  of  the  Scriptures,  by 
the  aid  of  ancient  manuscripts  and  versions,  as  near  as  may  be  to  perfection."* 

Ainsworth,  Doddridge,  Macknight,  Lowth,  Blaney,  and  others,  have  published  new 
translations  of  parts  of  the  sacred  books  in  English;  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  many 
improvements  might  be  made  upon  the  present  authorized  version,  particularly  in  the 
Old  Testament.  Dr.  Alexander  Geddes,  above  mentioned,  at  his  decease,  had  pro- 
ceeded as  far  as  the  Psalms  in  the  Translation  of  the  Old  Testament ;  but  many  of 
his  variations  from  the  common  version  are  extremely  injudicious.  Archbishop  New- 
come  and  Mr.  Wakefield  published  entire  translations  of  the  New  Testament ;  and 
an  i?nproved  version  of  the  New  Testament,  founded  on  Newcome,  has  been  pub- 
lished by  the  Unitarians,  accompanied  with  notes  and  an  excellent  introduction. 

With  the  professed  object  of  defeating  the  attacks  on  Christianity,  a  new  transla- 
tion of  the  Bible  was  given  to  the  world,  some  years  ago,  by  Mr.  L  Bellamy,  of  Gray's- 
Inn  lane,  London.  This  version  is  in  many  places  so  very  literal  in  its  translation  as 
to  be  imintelligible,  and,  therefore,  unfit  for  any  good  purpose.  The  writer's  forced 
and  erroneous  interpretations,  as  well  as  his  unjustifiable  attacks  upon  other  versions 
and  translators,  were  so  far  from  tending  to  the  accomplishment  of  his  professed  ob- 
ject, that  they  seemed  rather  calculated  to  produce  the  opposite  effect;  and,  con- 
sequently, his  new  translation,  which  made  some  noise  in  its  day,  was  soon  judi- 
ciously consigned  to  oblivion.  And,  upon  the  whole,  it  may  be  observed,  that, 
although  it  is  generally  acknowledged  that  after  the  lapse  of  tioo  hundred  and  twenty 
years,  the  improvements  in  critical  learning,  and  the  discoveries  in  the  pursuits  of 
knowledge,  together  with  hundreds  of  manuscripts  that  have  since  emerged  into 
light,  call  for  a  revision  of  the  present  authorized  version  ;  yet  such  an  attempt  should 
not  be  rashly  ventured  upon,  and  it  should  not  take  place  until  the  necessity  of  it 
becomes  much  more  apparent  to  common  apprehension  than  it  is  at  present.  • 


THE   APOCRYPHA. 

Having  given  an  account  of  the  origin  and  literary  characteristics  of  the  accredited 
and  usually  accepted  books  composing  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  we  noAV  pro- 
ceed to  offer  a  few  details  relative  to  those  books  styled  the  Apocrypha,  a  branch  of 
the  subject  possessed  of  considerable  interest,  and  which  we  shall  treat  in  the  same 
measure  of  impartiality. 

The  term  apocrij-pha  is  Greek,  signifying  hidden  or  concealed,  and  is  used  to  desig- 
nate a  number  of  books,  often  placed  between  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  ot 
otherwise  bound  up  with  them.  Some  writers  divide  the  sacred  books  into  three 
classes,  viz.,  the  canonical,  the  ecclesiastical,  and  the  apocryphal.  In  the  first  they 
place  those  whose  authority  has  never  been  questioned  in  the  catholic  or  universal 
church  ;  in  the  second,  those  which  were  not  received  at  first,  but  which  were  never- 
theless read  in  the  public  assemblies  as  books  that  were  useful,  though  they  never 
placed  them  upon  the  same  footing  of  authority  as  the  former ;  and  in  the  third  they 
placed  the  books  which  were  of  no  authority,  which  could  not  be  made  to  appear  in 
public,  I'ul  were  kept  hidden,  and  were  therefore  called  apocryphal,  that  is,  concealed, 
or  such  as  could  not  be  used  in  public.  "Let  us  lay  aside  those  books  Avhich  have 
been  called  apocryphal,"  says  St.  Augustine,  "  because  their  authors  were  not  known 
to  our  fathers,  who  have  by  a  constant  and  certain  succession  transmitted  down  to 
us  the  authority  and  truth  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Though  some  things  iti  these 
apocryphal  books  are  true,  yet,  as  there  are  in  them  multitudes  of  others  which  are 
false,  they  are  of  no  authority." 

'  Sketches  of  all  Denominations,  p.  135. 


666  APPENDIX. 

The  Apocrypha  consists  of  fourteen  books,  viz .  First  and  Second  Esdras,  Tobit, 
Judith,  the  rest  of  the  chapters  of  the  Book  of  Esther,  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon, 
Ecclesiasticus,  Baruch,  the  Song  of  the  Three  Holy  Children,  the  History  of  Susanna, 
the  Story  of  Bel  and  the  Dragon,  the  Prayer  of  Manasses,  and  the  First  and  Second 
Book  of  the  Maccabees.  Every  attentive  reader  must  perceive  that  these  books 
want  the  majesty  of  inspired  scripture;  and  that  there  are  in  them  a  variety  of  things 
wicked,  false,  and  disagreeing  with  the  oracles  of  God.  None  of  them  were  ever 
found  in  the  proper  Hebrew  tongue;  and  they  were  never  received  into  the  canon  of 
scripture  by  the  Jews,  to  Avhom  the  oracles  of  God  were  originally  committed.  They 
were  partly  read  in  private  by  the  ancient  Christians  as  useful,  but  they  did  not  admi 
them  into  the  canon  of  scripture.  None  of  them  are  found  in  the  catalogue  of  the 
canonical  books  by  Melita,  bishop  of  Sardis,  in  the  second  century ;  nor  does  Origea 
in  the  third,  or  Epiphanius  in  the  fourth,  in  the  least  acknowledge  their  authenticity. 
One  or  two  of  the  writers  of  them  also  ask  pardon  if  they  have  said  anything  amiss; 
which  clearly  shows  that  they  were  not  inspired,  or  at  least  did  not  consider  them- 
selves to  be  so ;  and  therefore  these  books  can  by  no  means  be  considered  as  having 
a  title  to  form  part  of  the  word  of  God.  A  very  simple  analysis  of  the  books  them 
selves  will  be  sufficient  to  demonstrate  this  to  every  attentive  mind. 

I.  It  is  not  known  at  what  time  the  First  Book  of  Esdras  was  w^ritten,  neither  is 
it  known  who  was  the  author  of  it;  but  Prideaux  considers  it  certain  that  he  wrote 
before  the  time  of  Josephus.  It  was  originally  to  be  found  only  in  Greek;  and  in 
the  Alexandrian  manuscript  it  is  placed  before  the  canonical  Book  of  Ezra,  and  is 
there  called  the  First  Book  of  Ezra,  because  the  events  related  in  it  occurred  prior  to 
the  return  from  the  Babylonish  captivity.  In  some  editions  of  the  Septuagiat  it  is 
called  the  First  Book  of  the  Priest  (meaning  Ezra),  the  authentic  book  of  Ezra  being 
called  the  second  book.  In  the  editions  of  the  Latin  Vulgate  previous  to  the  Coun- 
cil of  Trent,  this  and  the  following  book  are  styled  the  Third  and  Fourth  Books  of 
Esdras,  those  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  being  entitled  the  first  and  second  books.  This 
book  is  chiefly  historical,  giving  an  account  of  the  return  of  the  Jews  from  the  Baby- 
lonish captivity,  the  building  of  the  temple,  and  the  re-establishment  of  divine  wor- 
ship. It  is,  in  fact,  nothing  but  a  bad  extract  of  the  last  two  chapters  of  Chronicles, 
and  the  Book  of  Ezra;  and  in  a  great  many  instances  it  even  contradicts  these.  The 
author  falsely  makes  Zorobabel  a  young  man  in  the  days  of  Darius  Hystaspes,  and 
Joakim  to  be  his  son ;  whereas  he  was  the  son  of  Joshua,  the  high-priest.  He  calls 
Darius  king  of  Assyria,  long  after  that  empire  was  utterly  dissolved;  and  makes 
some  inings  to  be  done  under  Darius  which  were  done  under  Cyrus. 

II.  The  author  of  the  Second  Book  of  Esdras  is  likewise  unknown.  It  is  supposed 
to  have  been  originally  written  in  Greek,  though  the  original  of  it  has  never  been 
found  but  in  Latin;  and  there  is  an  Arabic  version,  differing  very  materially  from  it, 
and  having  many  interpolations.  Although  the  writer  personates  Ezra,  it  is  manifest 
from  the  style  and  contents  of  his  book,  that  he  lived  long  after  that  celebrated  Jewish 
reformer.  He  pretends  to  visions  and  revelations;  but  they  are  so  fanciful,  indi- 
gested, ridiculous,  and  absurd,  that  it  is  clear  the  Holy  Spirit  could  have  no  concern  in 
the  dictating  of  them.  He  believed  that  the  day  of  judgment  was  at  hand,  and  that 
the  souls  of  good  and  wicked  men  would  all  be  then  delivered  out  of  hell.  A  great 
many  rabbinical  fables  occur  in  this  book,  parrMuilarly  the  account  of  the  six  days' 
creation,  and  the  story  of  Behemoth  (or  Enoch,  as  it  is  here  called)  and  Leviathan — 
two  monstrous  creatures  that  are  designed  as  a  feast  for  the  elect  after  the  day  of 
resurrection,  &c.  He  says  that  the  ten  tribes  are  gone  away  into  a  country  which 
he  calls  Arsareth,  and  that  Ezra  restored  the  whole  body  of  the  Scriptures,  which 
had  been  entirely  lost.  He  also  speaks  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles  in  so  clear  a 
manner,  that  the  gospel  itself  is  scarcely  more  explicit.  On  these  accounts,  and 
from  the  numerous  traces  of  the  language  of  the  New  Testament,  and  especially  of 
the  Revelation  of  St.  John,  which  are  discoverable  in  this  book,  several  critics  have 
concluded  that  it  was  written  about  the  close  of  the  first  century,  by  some  converted 
Jew,  who  assumed  the  name  of  Esdras  or  Ezra. 

III.  The  Book  of  Tobit,  from  the  simplicity  of  the  narrative,  and  the  lessons  of 
piety  and  meekness  which  it  contains,  has  been  always  one  of  the  most  popul-r  of 
the  apocryphal  writings.  It  Avas  first  written  in  Chaldee  by  some  Babylonian  ^sw; 
but  there  is  no  authentic  inforr.-ation  as  to  his  name,  or  the  time  when  he  flouri'  ^ed. 
It  professes  to  relate  the  history  of  Tobit  and  his  family,  who  were  carried  into    ip- 


LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  667 

tivity  to  Nineveh  by  Shalmanezer,  being  first  be2:un  by  Tobit,  then  continued  by  his 
son  Tobias,  and,  lastly,  finished  by  some  other  of  the  family,  and  afterward  digested 
by  the  Chaldee  author  into  that  form  in  which  we  now  have  it.  The  time  of  this 
history  ends  with  the  destruction  of  Nineveh,  about  six  hundred  and  twelve  years 
before  Christ ;  but  most  commentators  and  critics  agree  in  thinking  that  the  book 
itself  was  not  written  till  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred  years  before 
Christ.  It  has  been  generally  looked  upon,  both  by  Jews  and  Christians,  as  a  genu- 
me  and  true  history  ;  but  it  contains  so  many  rabbinical  fictions,  and  allusions  to  the 
Babylonian  demonology,  that  it  is  much  more  rational  to  suppose  the  whole  book  an 
entire  fable.  It  is  not  probable  that,  in  the  time  of  Sennacherib  and  Esarhaddon,  the 
father  should  live,  as  is  here  said,  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  years,  and  the  son  one 
hundred  and  twenty-seven.  It  is  certain  no  angel  of  God  could  falsely  call  himself 
"  Azarias  the  son  of  Ananias,"  as  this  writer  affirms.  The  story  of  Sarah's  seven 
husbands  being  successively  killed  on  their  marriage-night  by  an  evil  spirit,  and  of 
that  spirit's  being  driven  away  by  the  smell  and  smoke  of  the  roasted  heart  and  liver 
of  a  fish,  and  bound  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  Egypt,  or  of  the  angel  Raphael's  pre- 
senting to  God  the  prayers  of  the  saints,  with  other  matters  evidently  fabulous,  are 
quite  sufficient  to  justify  the  rejecting  of  this  book  entirely  from  the  sacred  canon, 
upon  the  score  of  internal  evidence  alone. 

IV.  The  Book  of  Judith  professes  to  relate  the  defeat  of  the  Assyrians  by  the  Jews, 
through  the  instrumentality  of  their  countrywoman  of  this  name,  who  craftily  cut 
off  the  head  of  Holofernes,  the  Assyrian  general.  This  book  was  originally  written 
in  Chaldee  by  some  Jew  of  Babylon,  and  was  thence  translated  by  St.  Jerome  into 
the  Latin  tongue.  Dr.  Prideaux  refers  this  history  to  the  time  of  Manasseh,  king  of 
Judah ;  Jahn  assigns  it  to  the  age  of  the  Maccabees,  and  thinks  it  was  written  to 
animate  the  Jews  against  the  Syrians;  but  so  many  geographical,  historical,  and 
chronological  difficulties  attend  this  book,  that  Luther,  Grotius,  and  other  eminent 
critics,  have  considered  it  rather  as  a  drama  or  parable  than  a  real  history.  It  has 
been  received  into  the  canon  of  scripture  by  some  as  being  all  true;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  is  the  opinion  of  Grotius  that  it  is  entirely  a  parabolical  fiction,  written  in 
the  time  of  Aniiochus  Epiphanes,  when  he  came  into  Judea  to  raise  a  persecution 
against  the  Jewish  church,  and  that  the  design  of  it  was  to  confirm  the  Jews,  under 
that  persecution,  in  their  hope  that  God  would  send  a  deliverer.  According  to  him, 
by  Judith  is  meant  Judea,  which,  at  the  time  of  this  persecution,  was  like  a  desolate 
widow :  that  her  sword  means  the  prayers  of  the  saints  :  that  by  Bethulia,  the  name 
of  the  town  which  was  attacked,  is  meant  the  temple,  or  the  house  of  the  Lord, 
which  is  called  in  Hebrew  Bethel.  Nabuchodonosor  denotes  the  devil,  and  the  king- 
dom of  Assyria  the  devil's  kingdom,  pride.  Holofernes,  whose  name  signifies  a  min- 
ister of  the  serpent,  means  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  who  was  the  devil's  instrument  in 
that  persecution,  &c.,  &c.  It  is  plain  that  in  this  way,  by  means  of  a  little  ingenuity, 
anything  may  be  made  of  anything;  and  such  conjectures  as  these,  as  an  able  com- 
mentator remarks,  however  ingenious,  are  better  calculated  to  exhibit  the  powers  of 
fancy  and  the  abuse  of  learning,  than  to  investigate  truth,  or  throw  light  on  what  is 
uncertain  and  obscure.  The  noted  deliverance  mentioned  in  this  book  is  there  said 
to  have  happened  after  the  Jews  had  returned  from  their  captivity,  and  had  rebuilt 
the  temple,  and  yet  it  is  said  to  have  been  in  tho  eighteenth  year  of  Nebuchadnezzar, 
which  is  absurd  ;  and  it  is  said  that  they  had  no  trouble  for  eighty  years  or  more 
after  this  deliverance,  which  is  equally  absurd,  as  the  Jews  during  any  period  of  their 
history,  or  indeed  any  other  nation,  never  enjoyed  a  peace  of  such  long  continuance. 
It  is  quite  improbable  that  a  small  town,  as  Bethulia  is  here  represented  to  be,  should 
stand  out  against  so  powerful  an  army,  or  that  the  death  of  the  general  should  have 
made  all  the  troops  betake  themselves  to  a  shameful  flight.  It  is  certainly  wrong,  as 
is  done  in  the  case  of  Judith,  to  commend  a  woman  as  a  devout  fearer  of  the  Lord, 
who  was  guilty  of  notorious  lying,  of  acting  the  part  of  a  bawd,  of  profane  swearing, 
of  murder,  and  of  speaking  in  praise  of  that  committed  by  the  patriarch  Simeon, 
whom  she  claims  as  her  ancestor. 

V.  "  The  rest  of  the  chapters  of  the  Book  of  Esther,  which  are  found  neither  m 
the  Hebrew  nor  in  the  Chaldee,"  were  originally  written  in  Greek,  whence  they  were 
translated  into  Latin,  and  formed  part  of  the  Italic  or  old  Latin  version  in  use  before 
the  time  of  Jerome.  Being  there  annexed  to  the  canonical  Book  of  Esther,  they 
passed  without  censure,  but  were  rejected  by  Jerome  in  his  version,  because  he  con 


668  APPENDIX. 

fined  himself  to  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  and  these  chapters  never  were  extant  in  the 

Hebrew  language.  They  are  evidently  the  production  of  a  Hellenistic  Jew,  but  are 
considered  both  by  Jerome  and  Grotius  as  a  work  of  pure  fiction,  which  was  annexed 
to  the  canonical  book  by  way  of  embellishment.  From  the  coincidence  betweeQ 
some  of  tliese  apocryphal  chapters  and  Josephus,  it  has  been  supposed  that  they  are 
a  compilation  from  the  Jewish  historian  ;  and  this  conjecture  is  further  confirmed  by 
the  mention  of  Plolemy  and  Cleopatra,  who  lived  but  a  short  time  before  Josephus. 
These  additions  to  the  Book  of  Esther  are  often  cited  by  the  father  of  the  church; 
and  the  Council  of  Trent  has  assigned  them  a  place  among  the  canonical  books.* 

The  author  of  these  apocryphal  chapters  says  many  things  that  are  in  direct  contra- 
diction to  the  inspired  historian ;  as  when  he  affirms  that  the  attempt  made  by  the 
eunuchs  to  take  away  the  life  of  Ahasuerus  was  in  the  second  year  of  his  reign ;  that 
Mordecai  was  at  the  very  time  rewarded  for  his  discovery ;  that  Haman  had  been 
advanced  before  this  event,  and  was  provoked  with  Mordecai  for  his  discovery  of  the 
eunuchs ;  that  Haman  was  a  Macedonian,  and  intended  to  transfer  the  government 
of  Persia  to  the  Macedonians.  He  very  stupidly,  also,  represents  Ahasuerus  looking 
uy)on  Esther,  "  as  a  fierce  lion,"  and  yet  "  with  a  countenance  full  of  grace  !"  and  as 
calling  the  Jews  "  the  children  of  the  most  high  and  most  mighty  living  God ;"  and 
as  ordering  the  heathens  to  keep  the  feast  of  Purim. 

VI.  The  book  of  "  The  Wisdom  of  Solomon"  was  never  written  by  that  monarch, 
as  its  author  falsely  pretends;  for  it  was  never  extant  in  Hebrew,  nor  received  into 
the  Jevvish  canon  of  scripture,  nor  is  the  style  like  that  of  Solomon.  It  consists  of 
two  parts :  the  first,  which  is  written  in  the  name  of  Solomon,  contains  a  description 
or  encomium  of  wisdom,  by  which  comprehensive  term  the  ancient  Jews  understood 
prudence  and  foresight,  knowledge  and  understanding,  and  especially  the  duties  of 
religion  and  morality.  This  division  includes  the  first  ten  chapters.  The  second 
part,  comprising  the  rest  of  the  book,  treats  on  a  variety  of  topics  widely  differing 
from  the  subject  of  the  first,  viz.,  reflections  on  the  history  and  conduct  of  the  Israel- 
ites during  their  journeyings  in  the  wilderness,  and  their  subsequent  proneness  to 
idolatry.  Hence  the  author  takes  occasion  to  inveigh  against  idolatry,  the  origin  of 
which  he  investigates,  and  concludes  with  reflections  on  the  history  of  the  people  of 
God.  His  allegorical  interpretations  of  the  Pentateuch,  and  the  precept  which  he 
gives  to  worship  God  before  the  rising  of  the  sun,  have  induced  some  critics  to  think 
that  the  author  was  of  the  Jewish  sect  called  Essenes. 

Although  the  fathers  of  the  church,  and  particularly  Jerome,  uniformly  considered 
this  book  as  apocryphal,  yet  they  recommended  the  perusal  of  it,  in  consideration  of 
the  excellence  of  its  style.  The  third  Council  of  Carthage,  held  in  the  year  397, 
pronounced  it  to  be  a  canonical  book,  under  the  name  of  "  the  Fourth  Book  of  Solo- 
mon," and  the  famous  Council  of  Trent  confirmed  this  decision.  Jerome  informs  us 
that  several  writers  of  the  first  three  centuries  ascribed  the  authorship  of  it  to  Philo 
the  Jew,  a  native  of  Alexandria  who  flourished  in  the  first  century;  and  this  opinion 
is  generally  adopted  by  the  moderns,  on  account  of  the  Platonic  notions  that  are  dis- 
coverable in  it,  as  well  as  from  its  general  style,  which  evidently  shows  that  it  was 
the  production  of  a  Hellenistic  Jew  of  Alexandria.  Drusius,  indeed,  attributes  it  to 
another  Philo,  more  ancient  than  the  person  just  mentioned,  and  who  is  cited  by 
Josephus ;  but  this  hypothesis  is  untenable,  because  the  author  of  the  Book  of  Wis- 
dom was  confessedly  either  a  Jew  or  a  heretical  Christian,  whereas  the  Philo  men- 
tioned by  Drusius  was  a  heathen. 

It  is  quite  evident  that  this  author  had  read  Plato  and  the  Greek  poets  ;  and  he 
employs  a  great  many  expressions  taken  from  them,  such  as  Ambrosia,  the  river  of 
forgetfulness;  the  kingdom  of  Pluto,  &c. ;  as  also  several  words  borrowed  from  the 
Grecian  games,  which  were  not  in  use  till  long  after  the  time  of  Solomon,  whose 
name  he  assumes.  A  great  many  of  his  phrases  seem  to  be  taken  out  of  the  Proph- 
ets, and  even  from  the  New  Testament.  There  are  numerous  passages  in  the  book 
evidently  borrowed  from  the  Prophecies  of  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah;  particularly  in  the 
thirteenth  chapter,  where  there  are  no  less  than  nine  verses  plainly  copied  from  the 
forty-fourth  chapter  of  Isaiah. 

This  author  brings  forward  mauy  things  that  are  contrary  both  to  the  words  of  m- 
spiralion  and  to  common  sense.  He  condemns  the  marriage-bed  as  sinful,  and  also 
excludes  bastards  from  the  hopes  of  salvation :  he  talks  as  if  souls  were  lodged  in 

*  Vide  Home's  Introduction  to  the  Scripture,  vol.  iv.  p.  229. 


/. 


LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  669 

bodies  according  to  their  former  merits;  makes  the  murder  of  Abel  the  cause  of  the 

flood ;  represents  the  Egyptians  as  being  plagued  entirely  by  their  own  idols,  that  is 
to  say,  by  the  beasts  Avhich  they  worshipped,  though  it  is  certain  they  never  wor- 
shipped frogs,  locusts,  or  lice.  He  also  calls  the  divine  Logos,  or  second  person  of 
the  Trinity, "a  vapor  or  steam,  with  many  other  things  that  are  evidently  absurd. 

The  seventh  book  of  the  Apocrypha,  is  entitled  "  The  Wisdom  of  Jesus  the  Son  of 
Sirach,  or  Ecclesiasticus,"  which,  like  the  preceding,  has  sometimes  been  considered 
as  the  production  of  King  Solomon  ;  whence  the  council  of  Carthage  deemed  it 
canonical,  under  the  title  of  the  Fifth  Book  of  Solomon,  and  their  decision  was 
adopted  by  the  council  of  Trent.  It  is,  however,  manifest,  that  it  was  not,  and  could 
not  be  written  by  Solomon,  because  in  it  allusion  is  made  to  the  captivity ;  although 
it  is  not  improbable  that  the  autiior  collected  some  scattered  sentiments  ascribed  to 
Solomon,  which  he  arranged  with  the  other  materials  he  had  selected  for  his  work. 
Sonntag  is  of  opinion  that  this  book  is  a  collection  of  fragments,  or  miscellaneous 
hints  for  a  large  work,  planned  out  and  begun,  but  not  completed.  From  the  book 
itself  it  appears  that  it  was  written  by  a  person  of  the  name  of  Jesus  the  Son  ot 
Sirach,  who  had  travelled  in  pursuit  of  knowledge.  By  reading  the  Scriptures,  and 
other  good  books,  he  attained  a  considerable  share  of  wisdom;  and  by  collecting  the 
grave  and  short  sentences  of  such  as  went  before  him,  and  adding  sundry  of  his  own, 
he  endeavored  to  produce  a  work  of  instruction  that  might  be  useful  to  his  country- 
men. 

This  book  was  originally  written  in  Hebrew,  or  rather  the  Syro-Chaldaic  dialect 
then  in  use  in  Judea  about  the  year  232  before  Christ,  when  the  author  was  probably 
about  seventy  years  of  age.  Jesus,  his  grandson,  who  is  also  called  The  Son  of 
Sirach,  translated  it  into  Greek  during  the  reign  of  Ptolemy  Evergetes,  king  of  Egypt, 
about  140  years  before  Christ,  for  the  use  of  the  Hellenistical  Jews,  among  whom  he 
had  settled  in  Alexandria.  The  Hebrew  original  is  now  lost;  b'H  it  was  extant  in 
the  time  of  Jerome,  for  he  tells  us  that  he  had  seen  it  under  the  title  of  The  Parables  ; 
but  he  says  that  the  common  name  of  it  in  Greek  was  The  Wisdom  of  Jesus  the  Son 
of  Sirach.  The  Latin  version  of  this  book  has  more  in  it  than  the  Greek,  several 
particulars  being  inserted  which  are  not  in  the  other.  These  seem  to  have  been  in- 
terpolated by  the  first  author  of  that  version  ;  but  now  the  Hebrew  being  lost,  the 
Greek,  which  has  been  made  from  it  by  the  grandson  of  the  author,  must  stand  for 
the  original,  and  from  that  the  English  translation  has  been  made.  From  the  sup- 
posed resemblance  of  this  book  to  that  of  Ecclesiasticus,  it  has  received  from  the 
Latin  translator  the  title  of  Ecclesiasticus,  by  which  name  it  is  most  generally  known 
and  referred  to. 

Ecclesiasticus  is  considered  by  far  the  best  of  all  the  apocryphal  books.  The 
ancients  called  it  Panareton,  that  is.  The  Treasury  of  Virtue,  as  supposing  it  to  con- 
tain maxims  leading  to  every  virtue.  It  has  met  with  general  esteem,  also,  in  most 
of  the  western  churches,  and  was  introduced  into  the  public  service  of  the  Church  of 
England  by  the  compilers  of  its  Liturgy.  It  was  frequently  cited  by  the  fathers  of 
the  church  under  the  titles  of"  The  Wisdom  of  Jesus,"  "  Wisdom,"  "  The  Treasures 
of  all  the  Virtues,"  or  "  Logos,  the  Discourse  :"  and  in  those  times  it  was  put  into  the 
hands  of  catechumens,  or  young  Christians  under  examination,  on  account  of  the  edi- 
fying nature  of  its  instruction. 

.  VIII.  The  Book  of  "  Baruch"  is  not  extant  m  Hebrew,  and  only  in  Greek  and 
Syriac ;  but  in  wliat  language  it  was  originally  written  it  is  now  impossible  to  ascer- 
tain. Grotius  is  of  opinion  that  it  is  an  entire  fiction,  and  that  it  was  composed  by 
some  Hellenistical  Jew,  under  the  name  of  Baruch.  The  principal  subject  of  the 
book  is  an  epistle,  pretended  to  be  sent  by  Jehoiakim  and  the  captive  Jews  in  Baby- 
lon, to  their  brethren  in  Judah  and  Jerusalem ;  and  the  last  chapter  contains  an  epistle 
which  falsely  bears  the  name  of  Jeremiah.  This  has  never  been  considered  as  a 
canonical  book,  either  by  the  Jews  or  the  Christians;  and,  indeed,  it  is  little  else 
than  an  arrant  romance.  It  absurdly  pretends  to  have  been  written  by  Baruch  at 
Babylon,  when  it  is  probable  he  never  went  thither :  that  it  was  read  to  Jechoniah 
at  the  river  Sud,  which  is  nowhere  else  mentioned  ;  nor  could  Jeconiah  hear  it  there, 
when  he  was  confined  in  prison.  It  mentions  a  collection  to  buy  sacrifices,  gathered 
by  the  captives  in  Babylon,  and  sent  to  Joakim  the  priest,  along  with  the  sacred  ves- 
sels which  Zedekiah  had  made ;  but  how  could  the  captives  newly  enslaved  in  Baby- 
lon be  able  to  make  collections  ?  How  could  they  send  it  to  a  high-priest  that  did  not 
then  exist  ?     How  could  the  sacred  vessels  which  Zedekiah  made  be  returned  from 


670  APPENDIX. 

Babylon,  when  it  does  not  appear  that  he  made  any?  Or  how  could  they  be  re- 
turned before  they  were  carried  away,  along  with  himself?  The  author  borrows  a 
variet)  of  expressions  from  Daniel,  and  must  therefore  have  lived  after  Baruch  was 
dead.  The  epistle  ascribed  to  Jeremiah  is  neither  written  in  his  style,  nor  at  all  iq 
the  style  of  the  Scriptures  ;  and  it  ridiculously  turns  the  seventy  years  of  the  captivity 
into  seven  generations.* 

IX.  "  The  Song  of  the  Three  Children  in  the  Furnace"  is  placed  in  the  Greek 
version  of  Daniel,  and  also  in  the  Vulgate  Latin  version,  between  the  twenty-third 
and  twenty-fourth  verses  of  the  third  chapter.  It  is  partly  a  poor  imitation  of  the 
148th  Psalm,  and  partly  deprecatory,  not  at  all  suited  to  such  a  deliverance.  It  does 
not  appear  to  have  ever  been  extant  in  Hebrew  ;  and  although  it  has  met  with  a  good 
deal  of  approbation  for  the  piety  of  its  sentiments,  it  was  never  admitted  to  be  canon- 
ical, until  it  was  recognised  by  the  council  of  Trent.  The  account  of  the  flame 
streaming  above  the  furnace  "  forty-and-nine  cubits,"  and  of  the  angel's  "smiting  the 
flame  out  of  the  oven,  and  making  a  moist  whistling  wind  in  it,"  seems  entirely  fab- 
ulous and  romantic ;  nor  is  it  very  consistent  with  the  account  of  the  fire's  loosening 
their  hands.  The  fifteenth  verse  contains  a  direct  falsehood  ;  for  it  asserts  that  there 
was  no  prophet  at  that  time,  when  it  is  well  known  that  Daniel  and  Ezekiel  both 
exercised  the  prophetic  ministry  then  in  Babylon.  This  apocryphal  fragment  is, 
therefore,  most  probably  the  production  of  some  Hellenistic  Jew.  The  hymn  resem- 
bling the  hundred  and  forty-eighth  Psalm,  which  commences  at  the  29th  verse,  was 
so  approved  of  by  the  compilers  of  the  Liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England,  that  they 
appointed  it  to  be  used  instead  of  the  Te  Deum  during  Lent. 

X.  "  The  History  of  Susanna,"  has  always  been  treated  with  some  respect,  but 
has  never  been  considered  as  canonical,  though  the  council  of  Trent  admitted  it  into 
the  number  of  the  sacred  books.  It  is  evidently,  like  the  rest,  the  work  of  some 
Hellenistic  Jew,  and  in  the  Vulgate  version  it  forms  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  the 
Book  of  Daniel.  In  the  Septuagint  version  it  is  placed  at  the  beginning  of  that  book. 
Lamy,  and  some  other  modern  critics  after  Julius  Africanus  and  Origen,  consider  it 
to  be  both  spurious  and  fabulous.  That  it  was  originally  written  in  Greek,  is  mani- 
fest in  the  punishment  pronounced  on  the  elders,  from  the  play  which  is  made  upon 
the  Greek  names  of  the  mastic  and  holm  trees,  under  which  they  said  they  found 
Susanna  and  the  young  man  together.  It  is  evidently  absurd  to  affirm,  that  in  the 
beginning  of  the  captivity,  Joachim,  the  husband  of  Susanna,  was  become  exceedingly 
rich  ;  that  there  were  Jewish  judges  with  the  power  of  life  and  death  in  Chaldea ; 
that  Daniel,  who  was  bred  in  the  court,  had  leisure,  or  being  so  young,  was  admitted 
to  be  a  judge;  that  Susanna  went  into  her  garden  to  wash  at  noonday,  and  did  it 
without  searching  if  anybody  was  there;  or  that  the  elders  attempted  to  force  her, 
v/hen  they  could  not  but  every  moment  expect  the  return  of  her  maids. 

XI.  "  The  History  of  the  Destruction  of  Bel  and  the  Dragon"  is  a  still  more 
romantic  story.  It  is  not  extant  in  either  the  Hebrew  or  the  Chaldee  language,  and  it 
was  always  rejected  by  the  Jewish  church.  Jerome  gives  it  no  better  title  than  that 
of  The  Fable  of  Bel  and  the  Dragon  ;  nor  has  it  obtained  more  credit  with  posterity, 
except  with  the  fathers  of  the  council  of  Trent,  who  determined  it  to  be  a  part  of  the 
canonical  scriptures.  It  forms  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  Daniel  in  the  Latin  Vulgate; 
in  the  Greek  it  was  called  the  Prophecy  of  Habakkuk,  the  son  of  Jesus,  of  the  tribe 
of  Levi;  but  this  is  evidently  false,  f(jr  that  propliet  lived  before  the  time  of  Nebu- 
chadnezzar, and  the  events  pretended  to  have  taken  place  in  this  fable  are  assigned 
to  the  time  of  Cyrus.  There  are  two  Greek  texts  of  this  fragment,  that  of  the  Sep- 
tuagint, and  that  found  in  Theodotian's  Greek  version  of  DanieL 

The  design  of  this  fiction  is  to  render  idolatry  ridiculous,  and  to  exalt  the  true  God, 
but  the  author  has  destroyed  the  illusion  of  his  fiction,  by  transporting  to  Babylon  the 
worship  of  animals,  which  was  never  practised  in  that  country.  It  is  also  quite  im- 
probable that  Cyrus,  a  Persian,  would  worship  a  Babylonian  idol;  nay,  an  idol  that 
was  broken  to  pieces  at  the  taking  of  the  city  !  It  is  absurd  to  imagine  tha  a  man 
of  his  sense  could  believe  an  image  of  brass  and  clay  did  really  eat  and  drink  !  How 
pitiful,  for  Daniel  to  discover  the  coming  of  the  priests  to  devour  the  provisions,  by 
making  the  king's  servants  strew  ashes  on  the  floor,  when  the  priest  might  so  easily 
perceive  them,  or  the  servants  so  readily  inform  concerning  them  !  It  is  absurd  to 
suppose  that  the  newly-conquered'  Babylonians  should,  by  menaces,  oblige  Cyrus  to 
deliver  up  his  beloved  Daniel  to  them,  to  be  cast  into  the  deu  of  lions ;  or  thai 

*  liiown's  Dictionary  of  tlie  Bible. — Art.  Apocrypna. 


LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  671 

Habakkuk  should  be  then  alive  to  bring  him  food  :  or  that  Cyr\is  should  be  seven 
days  before  tie  went  to  the  den,  to  see  what  was  become  of  his  favorite  minion. 

XII.  "  The  Prayer  of  Manasses,"  king  of  Judah,  when  he  was  holden  captive  in 
Babylon,  never  appeared  in  the  Hebrew  language,  and  seems  to  be  the  product  of 
some  Pharisaical  spirit.  It  was  never  recognised  as  canonical,  and  is  rejected  as 
spurious  even  by  the  Church  of  Rome.  It  can  not  be  traced  to  a  higher  source  than 
the  Vulgate  Latin  version;  and,  therefore,  it  has  no  claim  to  be  considered  as  the 
original  prayer  which,  in  the  Book  of  Chronicles,  Manasseh  is  mentioned  to  have 
made,  and  which  it  pretends  to  be.  The  author  speaks  of  just  persons,  such  as  Abra 
ham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  as  being  without  sin,  and  ?iot  called  to  repent. 

XIII.  The  Books  of  the  "  Maccabees"  are  thus  denominated,  because  they  relate 
the  patriotic  and  gallant  exploits  of  Judas  Maccabeus  and  his  brethren.  The  Macca- 
bees arose  in  defence  of  their  brethren  the  Jews,  during  the  dreadful  persecutions  to 
which  they  were  subjected,  on  account  of  their  religion,  under  Antiochus  Epiphanes, 
king  of  Syria,  about  100  years  before  Christ.  The  most  likely  derivation  of  the  title 
Macc;ibees,  is  that  which  lakes  it  from  the  motto  put  by  Judas  in  his  standard,  being 
this  Hebrew  sentence,  taken  out  of  Exodus  xvi.  11,  Mi  Camo-ka  Baelim  Jehovah, 
that  is,  "  Who  is  like  unto  thee  among  the  gods,  0  Jehovah  ?"  which  being  written 

.Jike  the  S.  P.  Q.  R.,  Senatus  Fopulusque  Ro/nanus,  on  the  Roman  standards,  by  an 
abbreviation  formed  by  the  initial  letters  of  these  words  put  together,  made  the  arti- 
ficial word  Maccabi ;  and  hence  all  who  fought  under  that  standard  were  called 
Maccabees  or  Maccabeans. 

The  First  Book  of  Maccabees  is  a  very  valuable  historical  monument,  written  with 
great  accuracy  and  fidelity,  on  which  even  more  reliance  may  be  placed  than  on  the 
writings  of  Josephus,  who  has  borrowed  some  of  his  materials  from  it,  and  has  fre- 
quently mistaken  its  meaning.  It  is,  indeed,  an  excellent  history,  and  comes  the 
nearest  to  the  style  and  manner  of  the  sacred  historical  writings  of  any  extant.  It 
was  written  originally  in  the  Chaldee  language  of  the  Jerusalem  dialect,  which'  was 
the  language  spoken  in  Judea,  from  the  return  of  the  Jews  thither  from  the  Baby- 
lonish captivity ;  and  it  was  extant  in  this  Syro-Chaldaic  language  in  the  time  of 
Jerome,  for  he  tells  us  that  he  had  seen  it.  The  title  which  it  then  bore  was.  The 
Sceptre  of  the  Prince  of  the  Sons  of  God:  a  title  which  is  certainly  suitable  to  the 
character  of  Judas,  who  was  a  valiant  commander  of  the  persecuted  Israelites.  It 
contains  the  history  of  the  Jews  under  the  government  of  the  priest  Matthias  and  his 
sons,  from  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes  to  the  death  of  Simon 
Maccabeus,  a  period  of  about  thirty-four  years  The  author  of  this  book  is  not  cer- 
tainly known :  some  conjecture  that  it  was  written  by  John  Hyrcanus,  the  son  of 
Simon,  who  was  prince  and  high-priest  of  the  Jews  for  nearly  thirty  years,  and  who 
commenced  his  government  at  the  time  when  this  history  ends :  by  others  it  is 
ascribed  to  one  of  the  Maccabees,  and  many  are  of  opinion  that  it  was  compiled  by 
the  men  of  the  great  synagogue.  It  is,  however,  most  probable  that  it  was  com- 
posed in  the  time  of  John  Hyrcanus,  when  the  wars  of  the  Maccabees  are  terminated, 
either  by  Hyrcanus  himself,  or  by  some  persons  employed  by  him.  There  is  both  a 
Greek  and  a  Latin  translation  of  it,  from  the  Syro-Chaldaic  ;  and  our  English  version 
is  made  from  the  Greek. 

There  are  many  things  in  this  book  which  show  that  it  was  not  written  by  inspi- 
ration. The  writer  often  observes,  that  tlterc  was  no  prophet  in  his  times;  and,  in- 
deed, he  has  blundered  into  several  mistakes ;  as,  that  Alexander  the  Great  parted 
his  kingdom  among  his  honorable  servants  while  he  was  yet  alive  ;  that  Antiochus 
the  Great  was  taken  alive  by  the  Romans;  that  they  gave  India  and  Media,  parts  of 
his  kingdom,  to  Eumenes,  king  of  Pergaraus ;  that  the  Roman  senate  consisted  of 
320  persons ;  that  Alexander  Balas  was  the  son  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes ;  and  several 
others  which  are  palpably  absurd. 

XIV.  The  "  Second  Book  of  Maccabees"  is  a  history  of  fifteen  years,  from  the 
execution  of  the  commission  of  Heliodorus,  who  was  sent  by  Seleucus  to  bring  away 
the  treasures  of  the  temple,  to  the  victory  obtained  by  Judas  Maccabeus  over  Nica- 
nor,  that  is,  from  the  year  of  the  world  3828  to  3843.  It  commences  with  two  epis- 
tles sent  from  the  Jews  of  Jerusalem  to  those  of  Alexandria  and  throughout  Egypt, 
exhorting  them  to  observe  the  feast  of  the  dedication  of  the  new  altar,  erected  by 
Judas  Maccabeus  on  his  purifying  the  temple.  The  second  of  these  epistles  is  not 
only  written  in  the  name  of  Judas  Maccabeus,  who  was  slain  thirty-six  years  before, 
but  also  contains  such  fabulous  and  absurd  stuff,  as  could  never  have  been  written  hy 


rr72  APPENDIX. 

the  great  council  of  the  Jews  assembled  at  Jerusalem  for  the  whole  nation,  as  this 
pretends  to  be.  The  epistles,  which  are  confessedly  spurious,  are  followed  by  the 
author's  preface  to  his  history,  which  is  an  abridgment  of  a  larger  work,  compiled 
by  one  Jason,  a  Hellenistic  Jew  of  Gyrene,  who  wrote  in  Greek  the  history  of  Judas 
Maccabeus  and  his  brethren,  and  an  account  of  the  wars  against  Antiochus  Epipha- 
ues,  and  his  son  Eupator,  in  five  books.  The  entire  work  of  Jason  has  long  since 
perished ;  and  Dr.  Prideaux  is  of  opinion  that  the  author  of  this  second  book  of 
Maccabees  was  a  Hellenistic  Jew  of  Alexandria,  because  he  makes  a  distinction  be- 
tween the  temple  in  Egypt  and  that  at  Jerusalem,  calling  the  latter  "  the  Great 
Temple." 

The  compilation  of  this  unknown  author  is  by  no  means  equal  in  accuracy  to  the 
First  Book  of  the  Maccabees,  which  it  contradicts  in  several  instances;  it  is  not  ar- 
ranged in  chronological  order,  and  sometimes  also  it  is  at  variance  with  the  inspired 
writings.  The  author  concludes  it,  begging  excuse  if  he  had  said  anything  unbe- 
coming the  story;  and,  indeed,  he  had  reason  to  do  so,  considering  what  a  number 
of  false  and  wicked  things  he  retails:  as,  that  Judas  Maccabeus  was  alive  in  the 
l8Sth  year  of  the  Seleucidae,  when  he  died  in  the  152d  ;  that  Antiochus  Epiphanes 
was  killed  at  the  temple  of  Nanea,  in  Persia,  whereas  he  died  on  the  frontiers  of 
Babylon,  of  a  terribly  disease;  that  Nehemiah  built  the  second  temple  and  altar, 
whereas  they  were  built  sixty  years  before  he  came  from  Persia;  that  Jeremiah  hid 
the  tabernacle,  ark,  and  altar  of  incense,  in  a  cave;  that  Persepolis  Avas  in  being  one 
hundred  years  after  Alexander  had  burnt  it  to  ashes  ;  that  Judas  did  well  in  offering 
prayers  and  sacrifices  to  make  reconciliation  for  the  dead ;  and  that  Rasis  did  well  in 
murdering  himself  to  escape  the  fury  of  the  Syrians. 

The  name  of  Maccabees  was  first  given  to  Judas,  the  son  of  Matthias,  the  priest 
of  Modin,  and  his  brethren,  for  the  reason  which  has  been  already  mentioned ;  and, 
therefore,  the  two  books  just  spoken  of,  which  give  us  an  account  of  their  actions, 
are  called  the  First  and  the  Second  Book  of  the  Maccabees.  But  because  they  were 
sufferers  in  the  cause  of  their  religion,  others  who  were  like  sufferers  in  the  same 
cause,  and  by  their  sufferings  bore  witness  to  the  truth,  were  in  after  times  called 
also  Maccabees  by  the  Jews.  For  this  reason,  other  two  books,  giving  an  account 
of  other  persecutions  endured  by  the  Jews,  are  found  under  the  title  of  the  Third 
and  Fourth  Books  of  the  Maccabees.  The  Third  Book  contains  the  history  of  a  per- 
secution intended  against  the  Jews  in  Egypt  by  Ptolemy  Philopator,  but  which  was 
miraculously  prevented.  From  its  style,  this  book  appears  to  have  been  written  by 
some  Alexandrian  Jew  ;  it  abounds  with  absurd  fables.  With  regard  to  its  subject, 
it  ought  in  strictness  to  be  called  the  First  Book  of  Maccabees,  as  the  event  it  pro- 
fesses to  relate  occurred  before  the  achievements  of  that  heroic  family  ;  but  as  it  is 
of  less  authority  and  repute  than  the  other  two,  it  is  reckoned  after  them.  It  is  found 
in  most  ancient  manuscripts  of  the  Greek  Septuagint,  particularly  in  the  Alexandrian 
and  Vatican  manuscripts;  but  it  was  never  inserted  in  the  Latin  Vulgate,  nor  in  ou 
English  bibles. 

Of  the  Fourth  Book  of  the  Maccabees  very  little  is  knoAvn.  It  is  destitute  of  ev- 
ery internal  mark  of  credibility,  and  is  supposed  to  be  the  same  as  the  book  "  con- 
cerning the  government  or  empire  of  reason,"  ascribed  to  Josephus  by  Philostratus, 
Eusebius,  and  Jerome.  It  is  extant  in  some  Greek  manuscripts,  in  which  it  is  placed 
after  the  three  books  of  Maccabees.  Dr.  Lardner  thinks  it  is  the  work  of  some  un- 
known Christian  writer.  The  history  contained  in  it  extends  to  about  160  years 
beginning  at  Seleucus's  attempt  to  pillage  the  temple,  and  ending  just  before  the 
birth  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Upon  the  whole,  in  regard  to  these  apocryphal  books,  it  is  to  be  observed,  they  ap- 
pear to  have  been  entirely  the  work  of  Hellenistic  Jews,  and  quite  destitute  of  any 
proper  claim  to  the  authority  of  inspiration.  The  Jews,  after  their  return  from  the 
Babylonish  captivity  to  the  time  of  our  Saviour,  were  much  given  to  religious  ro- 
mances; and  of  this  sort  the  greater  part,  if  not  all,  of  these  books  are  to  be  ac- 
counted. They  were  never  extant  in  Hebrew,  neither  are  they  quoted  in  the  New 
Testament,  or  by  the  Jewish  writers,  Philo  and  Josephus ;  on  the  contrary,  they 
contain  many  things  which  are  fabulous,  false,  and  contradictory  to  the  canonical 
scriptures.  They  are  nevertheless  possessed  of  some  value  as  ancient  writings, 
which  throw  considerable  light  upon  the  phraseology  of  Scripture,  and  upon  the  his- 
tory and  manners  of  the  east, 

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r/. 


r>feo  /''  -J)' 


BS635.S43V.1 

A  new  and  complete  history  of  the  Holy 

Princeton  Theological  Semmary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00050  3203 


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